Narrative

Adventures
A Narrative of the Stories told about the Covenant of Sagehollow and its inhabitants.

(Spring) 1190 - Lenton Prison Breakout
Participants: Arianwen, Essel, Evelyn, Rian, Little John, Erik, Islwyn, Silk.

After a game of football resulted in a few deaths and significant destruction of property, Guy of Gisborne decided to make a statement of power by having the players arrested and sentenced to execution on the trumped-up charges of “disrupting the King’s tax collection”.

The covenant heard via Robin of Loxley’s men that the prisoners were taken to the village of Lenton awaiting public execution, and decided to set out to liberate them and gain some covenfolk.

After passing through Lidby (home of the Forester-in-Fee Ser William Peveral), Hockendale (an unremarkable village with no current lord) and Ernehale (famed for its bees), the group arrived at Lenton and split in two – one to talk to the locals and the other to scout out the prison itself and establish guard patterns.

Essel led the former group, using the Succubus’ Trick to appear male and pretend to be Silk’s apprentice. Silk – disguised as “Edward of Southampton” – met with Steve, a slippery merchant, who reaffirmed Guy’s motivations as wishing to stamp his authority on the area. Essel learned from the barmaid that the soldiers guarding the prison had their own source of ale.

They later spoke to Robert “Bob” the Clerk from an abbey in Derby, on his way to Cambridge to deliver books to a client, who they realised was Edward of Milton, the leader of Schola Pythagoranis. They told him of another group of scholars nearby who would be interested in buying books…

The groups met to discuss their findings, and formulated a plan. Rian began by summoning a collection of wild boars and persuading them to pillage the prison’s food and drink stores to distract the guards. He, Little John and Islwyn stayed in the woods to guide the prisoners to safety once freed. Arianwen flew ahead in her heartbeast form to provide lookout. Essel and Evelyn moved in to liberate the prisoners, accompanied by Silk.

Rian pulled open the cellar door of the prison with magic to grant the boars access, and Essel teleported inside the prison to give the inhabitants a brief summary of who she was, the rescue attempt, and what they were to do. Evelyn then opened the stone wall for them to leave through, and given the choice between joining sorcerers and being executed, they followed.

Silk pinned a note to the prison wall with an arrow along with a pouch, reading ''“Here is a payment for crimes these men have committed. Yours, Robin of Loxley – Loyal Servant of the King”''. Within the pouch was a single silver piece.

A dozen horsemen led by Gisborne arrived after the guards sounded the alarm to request backup in dealing with the boars, so Arianwen slowed them down by creating an illusion of more boars squaring up to them. Though buying the prisoners time to flee on the far side of the prison, she maintained the illusion of the boars standing their ground until a horseman galloped up and lanced one, and upon seeing it go straight through, realised it was witchcraft.

After the sound of Gisborne’s outraged yelling faded as the group made their escape, they talked with the prisoners to discuss terms. After being assured of the mages’ good Christian natures, they agreed to work for the mages for a year, after which they would re-evaluate if needed.

(Spring) 1190 - Trip to Coventry
Participants : Essel, Little John, Alfred, Giles, Silk, Theopania.

Essel assembled a group to accompany her to the Mercer House in Coventry to register the covenant with the Redcaps. Silk took the guise of “Malcolm of Manchester”, a wool merchant travelling with his apprentice, Essel.

In Nottingham, Essel, Silk and Theopania split off to find different resources for the covenant. Theopania’s search for parchment hit a dead end when she discovered that it all came from local Abbeys, who would need to be contacted directly, while Silk tracked down some lab equipment and Essel kept an eye out for any people of interest.

Little John and Alfred decided to go to the pub, leaving the venerable Old Giles to watch the wagon. Being left on his own, in the cold, and having been cooped up in jail or the covenant for the past month, Giles opted to nip off for a pint himself. In the five minutes he was in the pub, the wagon was stolen, and the group were gathered to recover it.

Little John was particularly angered by Giles’ disobedience, and threatened to break his nose. Giles shrugged and told him he was welcome to try it, to which Little John merely scoffed and left him alone.

After bribing some beggars to give them the direction, they followed the wagon outside of town. Not wishing to spill blood, Essel intimidated the thieves into handing back the wagon, backed by Little John and Silk, and Theopania slipped up onto the wagon to put a knife to the driver’s throat to lend added incentive.

Silk wished to take all of their clothes as punishment, but Essel refused and opted to instead take one shoe from each of them, inflicting an uncomfortable walk home on them. With that done, the group headed on to Newark, with Essel warning them to be on their best behaviour due to its status as the English headquarters of the Knights Templar. At the pub, Little John and Alfred opted to head up for a very early night, whilst Essel and Giles nursed a few pints, and Silk and Theopania engaged in a game to steal a coin back and forth from each other’s possession. The following morning, Essel spoke with “Bob the Bookseller”, giving him a list of books she wanted him to get from the nearby abbeys.

En route to Leicester, Essel cast magic to shield some of the group from rain, before the group ran afoul of almost two dozen bandits looking to rob them. Essel simply threw half of them with magic, one dying as he went head-first into the wagon they had parked across the road, and intimidated the rest into surrendering.

They then encountered two women on the road, named Ari d'Emory and Caitlyn, two runaway nuns, who opted to join them for safety on the road. The following night in the pub, Essel offered them employment at Sagehollow, which they later accepted. Silk and Theopania, meanwhile, organised a fight between Old Giles and Little John.

After playing up Little John’s massive size and rippling muscles, compared to the unassuming old man, they got very long odds for Giles and quietly put all their money on him. Giles, as a veteran fisticuffs champion, comfortably knocked out the ex-Varangian, suffering only sore shoulders simply due to his distinguished years, rather than actually being hit. Little John was more than a little miffed when he awoke, especially when Old Giles offered to teach him how to throw a proper punch.

They finally arrived at the Mercer House – outwardly appearing as a comfortable farming estate and manor house – and met with Great William, a giant-blooded Redcap. Essel informed him that Sagehollow was built on the ruins of an old covenant, and requested details of the vis sources and other nearby resources that they had used.

Great William told them that the only lost covenants there were Diedne, and the records detailing it may have been lost when the last Mercere House was burned down in the Schism War; though copies may exist at Duranmar or Harco. Essel decided to write a letter to her parens requesting that be looked into.

Great William also told her that around seventy years ago, a Tytalus mage lived in Sherwood, but had not been heard from in many years and that his mail was being redirected to the mage Regulus in Cad Gadu, who had recently died in a lab accident. His mail was then being collected by his friend, Mara.

Essel thanked him, and asked he put the word across Stonehenge that that she was taking the position of Spring Tenens. Great William agreed, and sent the Redcap Rufus to accompany her back to Sagehollow to see its exact location and gather other important information.

She was then shown to see the Quaesitor Fredegisa of Guernicus, who was another guest of the house who wanted to speak. She casually advised Essel that if she was going to break mundanes out of jail, she should at least close the hole she’d made afterwards. She refused to divulge how she knew, or that she had discussed things with Theopania (having previously been associated with Fredegisa’s covenant) earlier.

Instead, she simply advised Essel keep a lower profile in the future, and she might have an issue that the covenant could resolve in recompense; a group of Templars wished to commission magic items from the Order, and Evelyn of Sagehollow could make them.

Essel was then shown through to speak to the leader of the Templars, Ser Balian, who outlined what items he would like made and agreed to pay a handsome price for them.

Essel then wrote three letters; one for the Redcap Fabian asking for a books on the lore of the Stonehenge Tribunal and the Order of Hermes in general, another to the Shadow Tower asking for information on the Diedne covenant that Sagehollow was built on, and the third to the Shadow Tower noting Ser Balian as a person of interest.

With that done, Essel and the group returned to Sagehollow, accompanied by Rufus.

(Spring) 1190 - Hunting Down the Vis
Participants: Edric, Bryne, Chimi, Cuthbert, Islwyn, Osanna.

Edric gathered the woodland survivalists Bryne and Osanna to protect him as he located some vis sources around Sagehollow. Using his Intellego Vis magic, he discerned three and headed for the nearest. After struggling through dense undergrowth, they sighted a massive black hound – an intelligent protector of the forest – who left them alone.

They eventually reached a glade, housing an ancient roman temple to Venus Genetrix. Travelling in and underground, they found an altar with a skeleton upon it, its hands holding an iron dagger – the vis source – plunged into its ribcage.

Several skeletons began to rise, but were cut down by the grogs and some magic from Edric. He surmised that the skeleton on the altar was likely the high priestess of the temple, who had committed ritual suicide in order to amplify its aura in the face of the Roman Empire’s purges of “heathens”.

After extracting the vim vis from the dagger, he found some stone tablets that were magical in nature and related to rituals, but would need to be decrypted. After heading back to Sagehollow, Edric realised that the skeletons too likely contained vis, and headed back again to extract the corpus vis within.

Returning to Sagehollow once again, he enlisted Cuthbert and Islwyn, and borrowed a pawn of vis from Evelyn to determine the relative values of what he’d found. On their way to next location, they spotted a majestic White Stag, missing its antlers. Believing it to be magical, they followed its trail.

They then crossed paths with a party of hunting nobles, but had enough forewarning to hide amongst the undergrowth. Cuthbert recognised one, Ser Aymeric de Borel, as a man from the south with a reputation as a just and kind man, as well as a noted warrior.

He noticed some of the group, and called out for them to step forth. All the party did except for Edric, conscious of his blatant Gift. Aymeric asked what such an armed group were doing in the King’s Forest, and why Edric refused to step out. They lied that they were looking to hunt Robin Hood, and Edric made out that he was having bowel difficulties and wished not to cause offence.

After taking their names, he joked that other nobles may have attacked first and asked questions later, but he believed them. He advised that they give up on the idea of finding Robin Hood, and said that he’d take issue with Giscard putting a bounty out, as it was his own duty as Sheriff.

He continued on his way, and the group eventually were led to a clearing around a pool. Sat beside it was a strange, wild-looking young woman wearing only a summer dress and holding a pair of antlers. As the group stepped forward, she scampered on all fours straight up to Edric and tried to get at his bag. He moved in behind himself, so she jumped on him and wrestled it away, picking out the hand containing the corpus vis.

Rather bemused, they asked for her name – Chimi. She told them that the hand was similar to the antlers, and Edric concluded that she must be sensitive to magic. She apparently came from “a snowy place between two trees”, which Edric figured was likely a regio. He invited her back to Sagehollow for her unique abilities, which she accepted.

The thought then occurred to him that the White Stag was the vis source, shedding its antlers every year. After stopping back at Sagehollow to deposit the antlers and hand, they headed to the final nearby vis source.

There was a perfect circle of dense trees, around a small hill, from which two brooks flowed out in opposite directions. The stump of a silvery tree sat alone at the top. With Chimi’s help, Edric determined that there was a regio boundary around it, and the group travelled through.

It was the same hill, but the brooks seemingly flowed blood, there was the body of a giant seemingly buried in the hill (its feet sticking out), and the tree was a blood-red oak tree with a sleeping face formed in the trunk. After calling to it and receiving no response, Chimi knocked on its forehead. It opened its eyes and cried bloody tears – the vis source – before returning to slumber. Edric mopped up the vis and the group left the regio.

Back in the mundane world, the group investigated the tree stump and realised it had a piece of sword blade embedded in it. With some magic from Edric, they removed it and saw that it had been severed perfectly in half, and had a series of strange markings down the fuller. They took it and returned to Sagehollow.

(Summer) 1190 - Journey to Cad Gadu
Participants: Essel, Rian, Will, Alfred, Alistair, Lohse, Gillian, Oskar, Silk.

Essel and Rian decided to journey to Cad Gadu; Essel to introduce herself to the mages there as the new Spring Tenens, and Rian to search for information on Regulus that Mara had left behind. They took with them Alfred, Lohse, and Will Scarlet, along with his loyal companions Alistair and Gilly.

A full moon was due as they travelled, so Rian had Will tied to a tree and summoned a group of rabbits to keep his appetite sated, leaving him as a guard dog of sorts overnight. Unfortunately, he chewed through his bonds and escaped.

Upon realising as much the following morning, the group tracked him for many hours into the forest, before they were ambushed by a surprisingly stealthy sixty-foot tall giant, who caught all but Alistair in a net. Essel swiftly escaped using teleportation magic, while the giant stomped off with the rest of the group.

They were taken to a reservoir that had been formed by a vast quantity of boulders damming the river, in which sat an island with a small shanty town built upon it. The giant carried them over to it, leaving them there with a smile before walking up to a mountain to the west.

Will was there laughing at them, having been caught too. There were several others on the island, led by the friar Father Christopher. He explained that the giant were prisoners and basically toys for the giant, who fed them and generally cared for them – though accidentally crushing people underfoot was not unheard of. He often made them perform for his entertainment, possessing a childlike sense of humour.

A massive and aggressive pike lived in the water, preventing them from escaping. Rian attempted to speak to it, but it simply ignored his words and tried to attack him, much to the consternation of the other prisoners.

As they ate the following day, Alfred noticed that there was a strange taste to the food and Rian investigated the supplies given to the prisoners by the giant. They were giant vegetables containing vis, so he used Gather the Essence of the Beast to concentrate it into a more concentrated area.

They learned that the giant lived up in the mountain, and conducted a morning and evening head count of the prisoners as he delivered them food. Rian figured out that he could use the vines used throughout the village as a zipline, melding them together without knots using magic.

Meanwhile, Essel and Alistair investigated the giant’s home – a cave in the mountainside – which resulted in them being found. Essel let herself get captured by the giant to give Alistair the opportunity to escape, before teleporting free of his net once again.

As the giant unknowingly took his empty net to the island, they explored the cave, retrieving more herbam vis from the giant vegetable patch. On the walls were crudely drawn and egotistical paintings of a giant apparently eating men and livestock with relish and fighting dragons.

They then returned to the shoreline and Essel teleported onto the island to speak with Rian, sharing their discoveries and ideas. That night, Rian would create the zipline and Essel would gently illuminate the beach so no one would get too badly hurt landing.

While the prisoners gathered the vines and Alistair cleared a path through the foliage (and set several false trails), Essel returned to the cave and gathered the seed-pods of the giant parsnips, with a view to grow more at the covenant.

That night, Rian made his zipline and the prisoners made it to the shore without much incident. However, while hurrying away, they heard a distant drumming which forced them to dance back towards the island. The mages were protected by their Parma Magica and Lohse didn’t hear it, so she used her enchanting music to enthral the others to a greater extent and force them back away from it.

As they forded a river, Rian heard something large headed for them along it. Will took charge organising the prisoners to cross quickly, while the other combatants readied weapons. Two giant crayfish were heading for the group, intent on eating them. Despite Rian being able to tell them that this “food” would fight back and likely kill at least one of them, they were undeterred until Lohse used her enchanting music once more to get them to feel contentment, causing them to wander away.

Taking stock after leaving the area, the more recently-captured prisoners left the group with thanks to return to their own villages. The remaining villagers had been there for decades, and many were severely warped and unable to return to their previous lives, and so they agreed to join the covenant.

They returned to Sagehollow to drop these new covenfolk off, along with Alistair and Lohse. Silk and his apprentice Oskar were taken instead to facilitate travel through settlements, given the difficulties faced travelling cross-country. Stopping at Nottingham and buying wool, they stopped at a pub in Derby, where Silk encountered “Honest John”, a cheat at dice at least as good as himself.

Essel flirted with Will, arousing great hostility in Gillian. Silk noticed this and wound her up about it, causing her to spike their drinks to ruin any kind of sexual mood that may have been building.

The following day on the road they encountered Honest John once more, who accompanied them for a time. Arriving at the small town of Bakewell, Silk and Will picked up a couple of prostitutes. Essel talked with Gilly and, upon realising the earnestness of her feelings for Will, promised to back off. Rian mildly commented that he had snuck off with a whore and – with a view to give Will some comeuppance for his lechery and foster a friendship between the women - advised that perhaps some payback would be justified.

Upon Silk’s return (apparently not being as lasting a partner as Will), the barman quickly pegged him for a cheat and advised he not rob a particular table, as they’d cause a fight. Silk, however, joined with Honest John to rob them anyway, and when the patrons got aggressive he threw a tankard of beer at the leader.

A fight broke out, and the barman began ringing a bell. Essel, Rian and Gilly refused to bail Silk out of his idiocy, but Will piled in. Eventually an older man carrying a stout walking staff sauntered into the bar, drumming it along the wall as he came. The fight immediately stopped, and as the mood calmed somewhat Silk realised that Honest John had scarpered in the chaos with the money on the table.

The following morning they continued towards Chester, where they once more came across Honest John, who offered to evenly divide the money he’d taken with Silk. Once there, they sold the wool and Honest John set Silk up with a contact, from whom they bought a number of high-quality tools at a good discount to take into Wales.

Once in Wales, they were accosted by various soldiers who they paid “taxes” for passage before arriving at a lake with a small island in the centre. Upon ringing a bell on the dock, a man emerged from the cottage, and after they told him their business, he told them he’d be a while.

The next day, he rowed over to them on a small boat with Maewen of Ex Miscellanea, who officially invited them into Cad Gadu. On the island was a regio boundary, and within lay the covenant – a collection of Greco-Romanic ruins.

Silk sold the tools to the covenfolk, and Rian and Essel waited – the former for the library to be searched for Mara’s letters, and the latter for Immanola to be roused (if cognisant enough). While doing so, they met Cirice of Ex Miscellanea, a mage who was cursed to never physically age beyond childhood.

She wished to leave the decaying Cad Gadu, and asked Essel and Rian of Sagehollow, which they spoke of plainly. She was undeterred, and said that she may wish to move there once she learns the Parma Magica – she would then visit and decide if she wanted to join.

That evening, Essel suggested a party to allow the covenfolk to mingle, which was agreed to. Will and Silk yet again fooled around, this time with some of the less warped covenfolk, while the mages discussed the Stonehenge Tribunal at large.

The following morning they met with Immanola, along with a servant taking notes of the meeting. After introductions, Essel voiced her concerns about the potential raiding of vis sources along the south coast by the Normandy Tribunal. Immanola agreed to attend tribunal with the rest of Cad Gadu, and would allow copies of Mara’s letters with Regulus being given to Rian.

This conversation was slow due to the ancient mage constantly losing her train of thought and forgetting who the Sagehollow mages were, until she suddenly went rigid and seemed to regain her former vigour. Her eyes turned black and her voice strong, saying;

“My warnings of destruction and salvation; ignored and squandered. ''He shall return, though blood and betrayal. Making friends out of slain foes.  Chaos approaches, the song has been sung. Ice, blood and darkness shall reign across Hermes’ children.'' ''Yet, Hope remains; sundered across ten and three.  Harken to me, The Final Days are Nigh!”''

After which she slumped back and returned to her near-senile state, asking yet again who the mages were. They brushed past such a turn of mood and concluded their meeting, with the servant promising them a copy of his notes, with another to be sent to Durenmar as with all of her previous prophecies.

That afternoon, Rian collected the copy of the notes and Mara’s letters, with the group returning back to Sagehollow without incident. They called a council meeting to discuss the events.

(Summer) 1190 - Exploring Sagehollow
Participants: Arianwen, Tancred, Tessora, Chimi, Falko One morning at the covenant as she made her morning prayers, Lady Tessora received a vision; the covenant in flames, a knight being protected from this fire by a shining white light, and a particular wall behind the waterfall within the covenant, where strange symbols were painted with a mixture of chalk, water and oak sap.

Tessora sought her friend Evelyn out, who told her that she was unable to join her as she was busy making the magic items for the templars, but she recommended Arianwen would prove useful, and then provided some oak sap and chalk. After enlisting her, Tessora gathered a couple of available grogs in Chimi and Falko to accompany her, and the group set off to the wall in question.

Chimi immediately felt there was a regio boundary there, albeit dimmed and locked somehow. Mixing the oak sap, chalk and water, Tessora recreated the symbols she saw in her vision on the wall, which opened into some kind of portal. Tessora strode through unwaveringly, emerging into a clearing surrounded by a dense forest, with an overgrown field and two burned and ruined buildings in the middle; a tower and a large house.

Near the forest edge were four pairs of standing stones, including one that they had apparently emerged from. The group assumed that these were all gateways to different parts of the covenant. Walking into the forests at the edges of the regio, they discovered that they simply emerged from the trees on the far side.

Scattered around were half a dozen charred skeletons, including women and children, with their hands bound behind them apparently pre-mortem. Tessora silently began bringing these bodies together and preparing them for burial, which Arianwen objected to on account of them possibly not being Christians; Tessora was somewhat baffled by this, as she felt that any form of burial was better than their bodies being left as they were.

After testing these standing stones with their paste, only one opened, leading to an apparently underground room. One doorway was collapsed, and the other led to a spiral staircase leading down. Following this, they came to a network of excellently built tunnels around a central room, which seemed to be the remnants of a small library.

Inside were two more charred bodies, but Arianwen determined that they had been put to the sword and burned post-mortem. Enough of their clothes remained to identify them as apprentices of the old covenant. Investigating the library further, they found one surviving book in an ancient Celtic language.

This can be read by people with a score in Welsh, but with a penalty to the xp gained.

Continuing on through more tunnels, they encountered more non-functioning standing stones and collapsed sections, before heading down another downwards stairway and down a hallway, in which the magic aura fluctuated hugely. Beyond lay a room frozen in time, where a knight knelt amongst flames, being protected by angelic wings wrapped around him, opposite the charred corpse of a mage engulfed in the same fire.

Lacking any idea of what to do, Tessora simply dropped to her knees and prayed, after which the fires died out, the wings and mage disappeared, and the knight collapsed to the ground, gasping. After gathering himself, he introduced himself as Ser Tancred. The group responded with their names and the fact that they were of the Order of Hermes. Tancred confirmed that he too was a loyal servant of the order, and had been sent there to destroy the Diedne covenant there. Arianwen told him that he had been frozen in time, and that the Schism War had ended some two hundred years ago.

They decided that escorting Tancred back to the covenant took priority over exploring further, and so they brought him back to meet the other mages of Sagehollow, intending to comprehensively explore the rest of the ancient covenant at a later date.

(Autumn) 1190 - Trials at Normanston
Participants: Arianwen, Rian, Tancred, Alfred, Alison, Gillian, Old Giles, Osanna, Theopania

Robin of Loxley’s men limped into the covenant, bruised and bloodied, though suffering no casualties. They had attempted to rob one of Robert Giscard’s wagons, but were ambushed by his men, who were better equipped. Despite the initial surprise, they managed to fend their attackers off and recover a letter from one of their bodies.

This letter was read at the subsequent covenant meeting; Giscard had instructed the men to apprehend Robin Hood, before heading to Normanston to bolster the guards there during the execution of a local witch they had found.

It was decided that Sagehollow would investigate this, led by Arianwen, Rian and Tancred. Whilst passing through villages en route to Normanston, they gathered that the witch was arrested in Corenton, and that Giscard was beefing up security after his embarrassment of the Lenton Prison Break.

Normanston itself was on the verge of becoming a town, subject to being granted a charter from King Richard. The village was under heavy guard as promised, and there were several notable people from in and around Sherwood, including Ser Aymeric de Borel, Guy of Gisborne and Robert Giscard himself. The group split in half; one consisting of Rian, Alfred, Gillian and Osanna to stay outside, and the other consisting of Arianwen, Tancred, Giles and Theopania to venture into the town and gather information.

Several of the group shared the campfire of one of the groups who had come to watch the trial, in which Tancred was approached rather unsubtly by a young woman, who he “gallantly volunteered to escort home”.

The following morning when Tancred awoke, He was covered in blood beside the woman’s body, stabbed many times with a kitchen knife. He scarcely had time to process this when the door was kicked in by guards, who promptly arrested him and threw him into the jail alongside the witch herself.

Though initially terrified, Tancred got the witch to open up a little. She told him that her name was Arianne, and the only “crime” she committed was her magically healing the villagers of Chellaston from a pestilence, despite Giscard’s claims of her attacking people.

The party decided to divide their efforts between uncovering whoever framed Tancred, and how they might break the Witch free. Alfred and Gilly spoke to a friend of the murdered woman, who told them that the previous day, she had told her that if she didn’t make contact with her early that morning, to alert the guards that something was wrong. Apparently, she had been acting strangely ever since she had travelled into the woods to the east of Normanston, which were said to be haunted.

The group split in half; one consisting of Rian, Alfred, Gillian and Osanna to investigate these woods, and the other consisting of Arianwen, Tancred, Giles and Theopania to venture into the town and try to uncover more information and look to ways to get Tancred off the hook.

Following a trail through the woods, the mages noticed that a wraith of some kind was following them, which they did their best to ignore as long as it kept its distance. They came to a standing stone upon a burial mount, which held evidence of being dug at in several places.

They found one such hole leading to a body within, which Arianwen understood to be an ancient Celtic sorcerer called Arawn, a necromancer and contemporary of the founders of the Order of Hermes. Next to the body was a neat hole, indicating a small box had been set there until recently. The mages surmised that the wraith was trying to locate these stolen possessions, and they headed back to Normanston.

Meanwhile, Gilly, disguised as a servant, delivered the prisoners their food and stole a quick conversation with Tancred and the witch, who told her the same things she had shared with Tancred. Theopania broke into the dead woman’s house, discovering that none of the doors or windows were forced, and found under her bed a wooden box covered in Celtic iconography, containing an ornate wooden mask. She took it to see what the mages thought of it.

Given the box was the correct size, age and culture to be the one taken from the burial mound, they concluded that the mask within was the Mask of Arawn; though the area the mask fit within the box also granted a space beneath it for something else.

Seeking to piece together the actual sequence of events behind the witch’s actions and capture, the group travelled to Corenton. They learned that she was tried at Roche Abbey by François Giscard; Robert’s brother, and the Bishop of Nottingham.

They realised that they didn’t have time to travel to the surrounding villages before Tancred was due to be tried and he and the witch then executed, so they visited Ser Aymeric for aid. After deeming him to be an honourable and open-minded man, they persuaded him that both Tancred and the witch were innocent – of their accused crimes, at least – and required a proper trial, rather than the farce that Giscard had put on for Arianne and would likely put on for Tancred.

As one of the King’s Justiciars, he could force Giscard to slow down and do things by the book, which included an allowance of time to gather evidence; no great hardship for him, as he had no love for Giscard or his cronies.

With Aymeric buying them the time they needed, Arianwen travelled to Chellaston and several others to Corenton. In Corenton, the villagers said that the witch certainly hadn’t been captured there, and that they’d heard it was in Tuxfarne. In Chellaston, the villagers said the witch had been captured there, but they had strongly objected to it; she had healed many of them, as she herself had said.

Seeing as they lacked hard evidence, and the word of Giscard’s men would outweigh that of some villagers even were some persuaded to testify, the group decided it would be better to spring Arianne free before the trial and take her to Sagehollow to lie low, rather than to struggle in vain getting her name cleared legally.

Gilly again disguised herself as a servant to get the word to Arianne and Tancred, the latter of whom had been informed that he would be allowed to present a case in his defence in a public trial.

That evening, as the party slept outside the village amongst the crowd that had formed to attend the witch trial, there was a commotion within the camp; several of the group arrived at the scene to find a man brutally stabbed to death, with witnesses claiming it to be done by some manner of otherworldly apparition. After some inquiries, the group learned that he had been looking after an ancient tome, which had then gone missing during his murder. Further investigation was interrupted by the arrival of Guy of Gisborne and Ser Aymeric, who took charge of the scene.

The following day, Tancred’s trial began. His defence consisted of him insisting that he would never be so incompetent or stupid to murder a woman and then fall asleep beside her. He then launched into a scathing tirade of insults directed at Guy, knowing that a transcript would be made a matter of record and word would inevitably spread from the trial’s attendees. Claiming that he would find no true justice in a court in which Guy was a member, he insisted on a trial by combat, which was set for the following day.

Right as the combat was due to start, the other members of the group were at work freeing the witch – with most of the guards attending the trial, they quietly overwhelmed the remainder at the prison, Theopania broke the witch out, and the pair set off to cross the river running beside Normanston via its ferry. Giles led the way, playing up the part of a harmless old man until he got in close to each consecutive guard and knocked them out.

Once clear of Normanston, they met up with the rest of the group, waiting in the woods, and hurried back to Sagehollow as quickly as possible, leaving multiple false trails behind them that they had prepared in advance.

Tancred, meanwhile, fought a fearsome and ruthless knight named Ser Gregor, Guy’s champion. Tancred eventually won after a hard-fought bout, killing him. As Tancred made his way through Normanston, his innocence proven in the eyes of God and his victory celebrated by the people, a small girl asked him to sign her book, which he dutifully obliged.

This book was the Tome of Arawn, and when Tancred pulled her aside to ask her of it, she told him that the man who was murdered was her uncle, leaving her without family, and that she could see the spirit wanted him to have it.

Tancred had the young girl, named Adelaide, imposed upon him as his 'squire', he agreed to train her as a 'custos' of the order, girls not able to be squires in his mind. The pair set off, meeting with the mages and grogs on the way back to Sagehollow.

(Autumn) 1190 - Shopping for Iron
Participants: Evelyn, Tessora, Will, Alison, Bryne, Cuthbert, Haeddi, Richard

(Autumn) 1190 - The Cambridge Fayre
Participants: Essel, Cass, Falko, Islwyn, Oskar, Silk

Essel decided that the next venue on her little tour of covenants was Schola Pythagoranis in Cambridge. Bringing a handful of adventurous covenfolk with her, their first stop was at the Red Boar before truly setting off.

There, she came across Iudicium (a mage from Blackthorn, of House Geurnicus), accompanied by his bodyguard, Dane and the speaker, Petrus. They were also heading towards Cambridge, so they decided to accompany the group.

Dane was utterly silent, and Cass and Silk decided to make it their mission to make him say something. On their first night, at a pub, they hatched a plan with the support of Petrus to steal his underwear off him as he slept. Unfortunately he woke up in the process, and after a pregnant silence, the duo retreated out of the room and neither party spoke of it the following day.

The group were then accosted by bandits on the road, who had suspiciously avoided far easier prey just ahead. After a fracas broke out, in which Falko was badly injured and Cass took one hostage, who wet himself (and, by proxy, her) in fear. After handing him over to Iudicium to (apparently) interrogate, she went off to the cart to change her trousers.

The bandit relayed that they had been offered a bounty by a man called Gar Lawrence for a man fitting Silk’s description, but with a different name. Silk had a vague memory of the man, but had no idea why he would want to harm him.

Meanwhile, Cass used the opportunity of being unobserved to steal all of Dane’s spare underwear and plant them in the bottom of Silk’s pack.

That night as the group made camp, Silk discovered the underwear and went to Cass with them, with the suggestion of this time trying to put all the spare pairs on him as he slept.

As the group ate stew, Islwyn noticed that there seemed to be a person within the reflection of the sword who wasn’t around the campfire, and quietly told Essel about it. She chose not to confront him about it until she had seen it for herself.

Cass and Silk, not knowing this, snuck into Dane’s tent and also spotted the reflection, but continued anyway and were, again, caught by him. This time he leapt out of bed with his sword drawn, but Cass and Silk scampered out before he could untangle himself from all the underwear around his calves, swiftly climbing a tree and observing him as he strode out of the tent, saw they were gone, grunted in frustration, and returned inside.

Cass and Silk chalked that up as a victory – he may not have spoken, but he vocalised.

The following morning, Iudicium had a quiet word with Essel to say that Dane had told him of Cass and Silk’s shenanigans. She apologized and promised to have them punished.

Cass was called over and grilled about her role in the antics, and after some back-and-forth in which she claimed as much innocence as she could feasibly get away with, she essentially apologised for getting caught and promised not to fuck with Iudicium or his companions again. Especially after Essel explained that Iudicium was testing her and the party, and potentially dangerous.

Silk didn’t even bother to protest or show remorse, and instead insisted that it was in Essel’s interest (coming across as incompetent to lower Blackthorn’s guard, and testing Dane’s alertness – and therefore fitness to serve as a bodyguard). Essel didn't agree it was in her best interest, she warned Silk of the consequences.

The pair individually apologised to Iudicium and Dane, and Essel gave Cass her punishment – to play nursemaid to Falko in whatever way he felt he required for the duration of their journey. She decided to give out Silk’s punishment later, and to let him stew for a while first. Essel had calculated (correctly) That the ambush on the road was arranged by Iudicium, both to show he knew a lot about her associates (Gar Lawrence, very obscure) also that he could arrange misfortune on her if he chose. Also to test how she would deal with a threat, without breaking the code. Part of a series of terse questioning and testing that had began from their first meeting in the inn.

The group then moved on and eventually reached Cambridge, where Iudicium said he would leave them and continue on. Essel asked him about the image in the sword, advising him that it may be misconstrued as scrying. Iudicium explained that it was an awakened sword, and asked if she wanted to make an official complaint. Deciding it was wise not to antagonise him, she merely congratulated him on recovering a magical marvel and bade farewell.

Essel made her introductions with the mages at Schola Pythagoranis, giving Cass, Islwyn, Oskar and Silk permission to take the day off to join the fayre that was being held in celebration of the Lord’s child’s nameday. The mages listened to Essel's request to attend the tribunal attentively, but wouldn't agree unless Julia of Voluntus was supportive.

At the fayre, Oskar took special interest in a competition to guess the weight of a pig in horseshoes, in which he aimed high - and then took great pains in advising everyone to lowball, whilst taking every opportunity to feed it on the sly.

Silk set up a betting pool for a melee tournament that was going on, in which a ten year old named Thomas had inexplicably defeated two grown men in bouts. Silk recognised some magical fuckery was afoot, and persuaded many of the crowd that it was beginner’s luck and to bet against him, with Cass putting forward a chunk of the party’s expenses fund in his favour.

Islwyn, as he made his way through the crowd to seek the comfort he can find only in sitting in a tree, noticed an old woman sipping a tankard, who made eye contact and raised it in salute. He noticed that she hadn’t gotten up to refill it, and that it was magical. With his fascination for such things, he was lured towards her and they shared an awkward and stilted conversation.

She introduced herself as Mathilda, and told him that she was Thomas’ faerie godmother, and she’d like his help in saving his life – due to his pride, some kind of demonic imp (she thought) named Bomburkhan had bestowed upon him the ability to win duels against grown men to boost his pride, before removing it all and causing his death in the final.

Islwyn fetched Cass and Silk, and after the next fight they tailed Thomas as he left the fayre. They followed him to a clearing, where they watched him eat from a cornucopia and then retrieve a sword, giving it a few swings before heading off back to the tournament.

They surmised that the sword was clearly magical, and decided that the best way to prevent him from competing any more was to essentially jump him when he went down the path and tie him up.

This all fell apart when he spotted Islwyn hiding up in the tree and demanded to know if he was a goblin. Islwyn froze up, and realising the jig was up, Cass swung into view upside-down from the canopy too. Silk strolled out from behind a bush and convinced the kid that they were indeed goblins, and bullshitting on the spot, claimed that they were seeking his aid to thwart “the Dark Lord… Morgana” – which over the course of the bullshitting also changed names to Morganneth, Morgoth and Morgar – who sought to defeat the “Winter Queen”, preventing the rebirth of Spring.

After much back-and-forth, Thomas refused to help because his responsibility was to protect Cambridge. Silk told him that essentially a substitute hero had been called in to cover for him, the mighty Oskar.

Thomas insisted on going to the tournament, and while he was busy, Silk rushed off to enlist the help of Essel and Oskar. He produced a convoluted plan involving disguising himself, Cass and Islwyn as “goblins”, Essel as “Morgana”, and Oskar as a mighty hero, putting on a performance in which Essel used her magic to throw Thomas away while Cass and Silk pretended to be magically paralysed.

Islwyn then grabbed Thomas by the arm and led him away on a roundabout route winding back to the same clearing, buying time for Silk and Cass to change into more fine clothes, and Essel to change into “the Winter Queen”.

She instructed Thomas to seek out a magical crystal in Nottingham, which was the only way to defeat Morgana, sending him off with all due haste.

When Thomas failed to show up to the tournament, Silk was forced to step forward to face the other finalist, and through a stroke of misfortune on his opponent’s behalf, Silk won. The prize was a longsword and being named the Champion of Cambridge, which he accepted graciously, before handing the sword to Essel to make up for fucking with Dane earlier.

Islwyn was taught by Mathilda to make charms, Cass entered and then absolutely crushed the obstacle course, and Oskar eventually won his pig, which he was absolutely delighted with.

(Spring) 1191 - Red Moon Rising
Participants: Cirice, Rian, Tancred, Adelaide, Arobaite, Bryne, Falko

After a year at the covenant, Rian began to receive vivid night terrors, wherein he stood before a ruined castle in a field of red flowers, and was later killed by a three-pronged object impaling him through the back.

When these terrors refused to subside and continued to ruin his sleep, he sought the advice of Cirice and some of the more well-travelled English covenfolk. After discerning its location as Boristrum Castle and producing no other ideas as to how to bring an end to the night terrors, he decided to investigate it.

Cirice and Tancred chose to accompany him, along with several grogs. After reaching the castle, they saw that it was inhabited by around fifty travellers. They tolerated the group’s presence, but were clearly on edge and less than welcoming.

After poking around and growing increasingly suspicious of the travellers, the group spotted a small contingent heading into the neighbouring Boristrum Forest. Cirice (in fox form) and Bryne shadowed them to a clearing, where they talked with a shadowy and hooded figure, referred to as Fandaniel, a type of being known as an Ascian.

The travellers told Fandaniel of the group’s presence and were subsequently dismissed, and the Ascian was then joined by another, called Lahabrea. The two spoke ominously of their plans going ahead regardless, involving a ritual at the rising of the Red Moon, which was that night.

After reporting back to the group, and some more poking around the various areas of the castle that the travellers had firmly steered them away from, they decided to make a show of leaving and double back before nightfall.

They noticed they were being followed at a distance by some of the travellers, and decided to turn back and attack them to eliminate at least some of their overall numbers and maybe gather some information.

Cirice darted around behind them to slow them if need be, and Tancred mounted on his warhorse and began to ride for them. The travellers, satisfied that the group were indeed leaving, had turned back to return to the castle, and went to force their way past Cirice. She threw up a wall of wind, keeping all but one at bay, who was slowly stepping through the wind to kill her with an axe.

Fandaniel appeared beside her to taunt her, while she was unable to do anything but concentrate on her spell. As he finished and turned to leave, as an afterthought he impaled her through the leg with a three-pronged dagger, almost breaking her concentration.

Luckily Tancred arrived on the scene at this point, charged past the travellers who had been blown over, and decapitated the axeman nearing Cirice in spectacular fashion. After subduing and failing to gather any vital information from the others, the group ran towards the tower to stop whatever ritual was going to be conducted.

Upon arriving all of the travellers were scattered around, dead, and Fandaniel and Lehabrea were stood on the roof of the keep of Boristrum Castle. They delivered a monologue and then disappeared, as the corpses of the travellers rose to their feet to attack the group.

Tancred bade Tiffanius protect Adelaide and ordered her to flee, Cirice created a stone staircase running up to the roof of the castle, and the rest of the group moved to run up it.

They were mobbed by the undead, with Rian being seriously injured. Cirice took on the form of a bear to charge through, and when she then fell through the stairs halfway up, instead cleared a path to the keep’s doors. Bryne was badly wounded defending Rian as Falko dragged him up onto the stairs, as Arrobaite fought his way to join Cirice and Tancred merrily rode in a circle, his sword taking limbs and his horse crushing bones, with undead hanging off him.

Cirice tossed the helpless Bryne into the castle and, after Arobaite darted behind her, backed into the doorway herself, holding them off despite many bleeding wounds. Falko pushed Rian towards the top of the stairs as he held the pursuing undead at bay.

Rian crawled to the roof, only to be met by Fandaniel, who appeared behind him, rammed another three-pronged dagger through his back just like in Rian’s nightmares, and then cut off his head. This was witnessed only by Morvan, who then flew to Falko to vociferously attempt to prevent him from going onto the roof.

Soon after, the duration of whatever ritual had reanimated the corpses ended and they collapsed. Falko reached the top of the stairs, looked over the parapet, and saw Rian’s corpse. He had just enough time to process it, before the duration of the stairs vanished too, and he fell several dozen feet onto the ground, somehow only gaining a broken leg.

Tancred chased down Adelaide and brought her back, and the members of the group who were able to travel went to the nearest village to try and find a healer to help Bryne, Cirice and Falko. Luckily the village had a very skilled, if cantankerous woman referred to only as “Granny”, who went and healed them.

As she waited to see how they fared through the night, she revealed to Tancred that she knew they were members of the Order of Hermes and had dealt with them before, but that she and the small group of witches she had gathered weren’t powerful enough to be “asked the question”, despite their magical capabilities.

She probed him for details of Fandaniel, and the groups’ purpose in going to Boristrum Castle. She then promised to ask her associates to investigate these Ascians and perhaps unearth their schemes, and Tancred told her that if her efforts bore fruit, to go to the Red Boar Inn to contact the covenant.

(Spring) 1191 - Visions at Wishborne
Participants: Evelyn, Tessora, Alison, Islwyn and Theopania

With Evelyn having finished her armour commissioned from the templars, she and Tessora set out from the covenant to meet them to complete the delivery, alongside several grogs.

The road was muddy as shit, and while it was particularly narrow, a wagon came the other way - peasants, with crates of chickens. Evelyn cheerfully waved and nimbly stepped to the side of the road, along with the similarly small Alison. Islwyn took the excuse to climb a tree. Tessora, however, being weighed down by her armour and far from the smallest gal, sank into the mud built up on the roadside and fell in.

The wagon steered to avoid her, and promptly tipped into the ditch on the other side. Islwyn climbed down and they managed to heave her out of the mud, then having to retrieve her boot. The two of them then helped the peasants get their wagon out of the ditch, becoming fatigued in the process, and after parting ways, the group, mud-splattered (or coated) and exhausted, slogged their way to the pub to dry off and rest up a little.

Al Murray, the pub landlord, gave Tessora a weird look, but immediately started sucking up to Evelyn. He gave her two drinks on the house, which was enough to intoxicate her, and Tessora swiftly helped her keep her feet and led her outside to take the air. After she'd settled down, they returned and prepared to leave. The barman laid it on thick about how she should come to their weekly quiz night, and how if she felt the worse for wear again, he'd gallantly walk her home or let her stay the night, etc. etc. Tessora gave him a Look.

The group set off again, by which point the weather had brightened significantly, and on the road they came across a Knight Templar named Ser Baldevere with his two squires, Watt and Ulric. Baldevere was a grizzled early-middle-aged man, and the two squires were maybe twenty. He regarded us weirdly, especially the armoured Tessora, and especially once she stepped forward, bowed, and introduced herself as a Lady. He was clearly weighing up whether to be polite because she was a Lady, or disdainful because she was pretending to be a knight. He opted for the former.

He then gave Evelyn another weird look when she cheerfully introduced herself as the smith who made the armour. Tessora invited them to a picnic in a clearing before they continued. He hesitantly agreed. The squires were very taken with Evelyn, and while they ate were arguing in French - one insisted she was clearly an angel due to such beauty, the other that she was a witch come to lure them to take their souls because beguiling beauty is what they do. A wrestling match broke out, which the Knight immediately ended with a word and a Look.

Islwyn grew fascinated by the way the campfire they'd lit dimmed when Evelyn pulled out the armour to show the templar, and took some kindling from it as a souvenir.

The group set off to Wishborne Manor, which butted up against a forest. Evelyn and Tessora were shown to the manor itself, whilst the others were shuttled off to settle in at the servant’s quarters.

Evelyn showed her armour to them and demonstrated how it would negate nearby fires. Ser Baldevere was happy, and accepted the armour, and then she and Tessora discussed theological matters with the resident priest, Cyrus.

The following day, Ser Baldevere had set off before the group awoke, to use the custom armour to retrieve several relics. Brother-Priest Cyrus spoke to Evelyn and Tessora, where he advised they go to the Caves of Saint Brigit, a holy site where they could partake in a ritual and gain visions of potential futures.

The group set off following his directions, and met the caretakers of the cave, Gerald and Nessa. They had the grogs perform the necessary tasks to help with the ritual, and Evelyn was laid down to receive her vision – of facing a group of Vikings raiding a monastery and despite her efforts, dying to an axe in the chest.

Tessora then had two visions – one in which things were good and peaceful, and another in which she was ordered by Evelyn to butcher the other inhabitants of the covenant – the former for if she keeps Evelyn on the right path, and the latter for if she fails to guide her away from the path of hubris.

After this, the group returned to Wishborne. Ser Baldevere returned shortly afterwards, having retrieved the bodies of several saints to be used as relics. He thanked Evelyn once more for the armour, and after being joined by Cyrus, the two offered to build a church at Sagehollow, ministered by a recently retired knight templar, as well as providing patrols of templars to provide an extra layer of protection.

Evelyn and Tessora wholeheartedly agreed, not considering that this would mean that it would seriously impact the covenant’s only decent income source – Robin’s banditry.

They were then invited to attend mass. Theopania slipped out and went snooping, finding a sackful of seashells, as well as stealing a handful of valuables from Cyrus’ desk. The group then said their farewells to the templars and headed back to Sagehollow.

Asking Evelyn later, the group discovered that the seashells were likely Vis, but didn’t know how the templars would know that or what use they would have for it.

(Spring) 1191 - The Lidby Leet
Participants: Arianwen, Cuthbert, Gillian, Old Giles, Richard

It was decided at the covenant meeting that assart rights needed to be acquired from the nearby Forester-in-Fee, the eccentric Ser William Peveral at Lidby. The castle’s drawbridge was lowered, and any were welcome to enter and gain audience with him.

Arianwen and her retinue entered, with Cuthbert introducing her. Peveral seemed a bookish sort, and was only accompanied by one knight, who wore a close-faced helmet and armour that was deliberately tarnished. From speaking to the locals, the group knew this to be his “pet”, known as “The Black Knight”.

Arianwen explained that she wanted the land in order to attract a good husband, which Peveral seemed receptive to. He then said that the group were free to roam the castle and village as they wish, except for the third floor of the castle and a strange stone and glass building next to it.

Cuthbert, Giles and Gillian went to chat to the locals. Cuthbert discussed the crop yield with a farmer who’d come to petition Peveral for aid – apparently the crop should have sprouted, and despite the fact that there was no blight or anything affecting it, the crops just seemed (in his words) “scared” to emerge.

Looking for any rumours, they also learned of a strange group of people seen travelling in Sherwood Forest, whose descriptions matched several members of the Covenant, including Evelyn and Lady Tessora. Cuthbert noted that they’d have to have a word at the next covenant meeting about perhaps keeping a lower profile where possible.

That evening, invitations were individually extended to the members of the group – even the low-born Giles and Gillian. After Cuthbert and Richard gave them a crash-course in the basics of noble etiquette, and Arianwen and Cuthbert loaned them some more formal clothes, the group attended the dinner.

The Black Knight, who was named Yeshua, was also in attendance, and after being told that he could partake he removed his helmet. He was an Ethiopian, though definitely still a Christian.

In conversation with Peveral, he revealed that he cared little for status, politics or war, and was instead a keen horticulturalist, and enquired as to whether anyone in the group had seen any unusual plants. Giles told him of the “scared” crops that the local farmer had mentioned, but besides that the group kept quiet about things like the giant vegetables of herbam vis that Essel was growing.

After the meal, Peveral took the group to the strange glass building, which functioned as a greenhouse (not that any of the group knew it). Inside was a large collection of strange and exotic plants, the centrepiece of which being a cinnamon tree.

In the tree was a white fox, which hopped down and let itself be petted. Peveral told the group of his story; he had met Yeshua whilst imprisoned, having been captured on his way to the holy land. One night they saw a white fox outside their cell, and shortly thereafter noticed that the gate had been worn away. Taking the opportunity, the pair escaped with Yeshua fighting their way out, and they then followed the white fox to safety and then to a sapling.

Feeling that they should take it, Peveral dug it up and they returned back to England. The sapling grew into the tree the group saw before them, and the fox and Yeshua had both been with him ever since.

The following day, Peveral held the leet. Amongst the attendees was Guy of Gisborne and his retinue, who definitely recognised Arianwen and Old Giles from the trial at Normanston.

Arianwen stayed silent and didn’t engage him, and he stayed throughout the leet until her turn came to formally petition Peveral for the assart rights. She laid out her proposal as before, which Peveral began to accept until Guy interrupted.

He politely inquired as to which house she belonged, which she answered was “Falcone”. With exaggerated confusion, he said that he’d never heard of it, following up by explaining in an overly saccharine manner that although he was of course certain that Arianwen was truly a noble, the good Ser Peveral surely had an obligation to verify such things, as fake claims were not unheard of.

He gave Arianwen six months to travel to Wales, collect her writ of noble birth, and bring it back. This would then be verified by the completely unbiased Francois Giscard, Robert’s brother. After throwing that particular spanner in the covenant’s works, he and his retinue departed, making it clear that he had lingered purely to do that.

That evening after the leet concluded, Arianwen sought out Ser Peveral in private for his thoughts. He told her that he actually got on quite well with Guy, and was surprised by his interruption – he’d never done such a thing before, and Peveral guessed that he’d been acting on orders from Robert Giscard.

Seemingly on Arianwen’s side and believing that she was a noblewoman being unnecessarily obstructed from receiving fair assart rights, he suggested that she contact the low-born Giles of Vennes and his protector and friend, Baron Richard of Blyde. Both men are close friends of King Richard, beyond Giscard’s ability to overrule, and are certainly no fans of his.

(Summer) 1191 - The Miracle of Summerbridge
Participants: Tancred, Tessora, Adelaide, Alfred, Alison, Chimi, Haeddi

As the sun rose on Sagehollow, Lady Tessora was finishing her morning prayers when a near-blinding light appeared in her tent. From it emerged the angel Midael, who told her that she must “go to summer’s bridge, and there find the way to paradise.” He advised that she bring companions capable of communicating and fighting if need be, and that he may be called upon for aid during this quest, though of course he cannot stray from God’s ineffable plan.

Asking around the covenfolk, Richard told her that a village named Summerbridge lay a few days’ travel to the north, within the domain of William of Hartwith. The headsman is called Alwin, and the priest is Father Edward, a young man in his twenties.

After gathering Tancred, their respective squires, and Alfred, Chimi and Haeddi, they set off, stopping at The Red Boar and Normanston – in which Adelaide enthusiastically told an exaggerated account of Tancred’s part in the battle at Boristrum Castle, enlarging Tancred’s existing reputation. The group stayed the night in the town of Danecastle. Bored and interpreting a rivalry between the two knights, Adelaide challenged Alison to a duel. Alison explained that she had no weapons, and was then mocked by Adelaide because she had been entrusted with a long knife by her knight.

Alison scampered off to ask Tessora for a dagger, to which she asked why on earth she would require such a weapon. The squire explained the proposed duel, and Tessora promptly sought Tancred out for a conversation. She explained that it would be far more responsible to have the squires first fight without weaponry. Tancred agreed, and the two established “battlefield conditions” by renting out the mud- and horseshit-covered stables.

After much ineffectual flailing and slipping, the two squires ran headlong into each other, bloodying their noses and falling over. Tancred called an end to the bout, declaring a draw, and Tessora tentatively congratulated them on fighting bravely (if not skilfully).

Setting off the next day, the group reached Summerbridge. The inhabitants clearly saw the group as outsiders, and unanimously wore strange amulets. Tancred and Tessora stabled their horses and the group crossed the stone bridge that the village derived its name from to visit the church.

It was occupied by the young Father Edward, who was surprised to see anyone enter, let alone the ragtag group before him. After initial pleasantries, and Tessora explaining broadly that she was on a holy mission, he told her Summerbridge’s recent history;

A plague had hit the village (and curiously, only the village, with other nearby settlements being completely unaffected), killing hundreds. One of the villagers, Jonathan, claimed to receive a vision from an angel named Castanel, telling him how to cure it.

He did so, saving the village, and they heralded him as the village’s new holy leader. Edward’s congregation dwindled to none, instead attending sermons held by Jonathan where he “reinterpreted” the words of The Bible to relay its “true meaning”.

His followers referred to themselves as the Children of Eden, and had essentially shunned Edward, ignoring him except to provide him with food to live. He said that he still believed Jonathan to be a good man, but wasn’t sure whether he completely believed what he’d been preaching or if he was manipulating the people of Summerbridge.

Edward then told Tessora of how when he was a mercenary in the Holy Land, he bore personal witness to an act of God whilst dying of thirst in the desert – an angel with six faces and six wings appeared, telling him to repent, and then created an oasis to save his life.

After repenting, he went on to meet and befriend the “Keepers of Fire”, who are often (incorrectly in Edward’s view) labelled as heretics, but were in actuality Magi of the Order of Hermes. Tancred stepped aside to pray to Tiffanius, who told him that the Keepers of Fire were old Persian priests and therefore (in a fashion) divine. He also told him that the amulets the Children of Eden wore symbolised a wolf, and whether that was good or bad was unclear.

Tessora promised Edward that they would do everything they could to resolve matters peacefully, but Tancred advised him to pack a bag in case the situation spiralled out of control. Tessora and Edward gave each other heartfelt farewells and best wishes, and then the group set off to see what Jonathan was preaching.

The entire rest of the village were gathered before him as he preached his version of The Bible, impressing upon them the role of women in absolving men of their sins and generally of obeying the commands of all men at all times. Alwin, the former headsman, was front and centre, apparently fully content with relinquishing his role and becoming a loyal follower of Jonathan’s.

As the group quietly joined the back of the congregation to listen, Chimi clearly wasn’t a fan of being near it, sticking her tongue out and shaking her head like a child who’d tasted something she didn’t like – meaning the aura around the congregation was either divine or infernal in nature.

Speaker Jonathan continued espousing the woman’s place in obeying all men, and how if the village continued operating according to the words of Castanel, conveyed through him, then men will gain their wings and ascend to paradise. He also claimed that once humanity was all to adopt this “true” version of The Bible, they all would ascend to Paradise. After Tancred continued to keep a twitchy hand on his sword’s pommel, Tessora pulled him aside. She told him that she would not countenance the killing of the villagers while repentance was still a possibility. He reluctantly accepted, in a “it’s your funeral” kind of way. With that established, they went to talk to Jonathan, and they engaged in a theological debate. Although remaining perfectly calm, Jonathan refused to realise his specious reasoning – such as that the fact that Castanel was a legitimate angel being proven by the fact that he was told… by Castanel, or that if all of humanity were to ascend to Paradise, then humans would be unable to sin, or repent, or do good, thus meaning that none would be able to prove themselves worthy of being in heaven in the first place. Giving up on this approach, the group returned to the church to pray. Tessora’s prayers to Midael went unanswered, but Tancred gleaned some information from Tiffanius; all but confirming that the infernal was behind it, and saying that they should focus their efforts on this Castanel’s “true” servants, instead of Speaker Jonathan. Though they had no idea who those might be or how they could find them. After some further theological discussion with Edward, he and Tessora together explained to Tancred that killing people for committing a major sin is exactly what the devil wants, as it means he gets their souls. It’s far better to offer them the chance to repent and earn forgiveness in the eyes of God, to save their souls. This led to something of an epiphany for the crusader. He and Tessora then turned to Edward and reinforced his shaken faith by reminding him that God tests the faith of his followers, and he never puts a burden too heavy for us to carry (though it would be nice if he didn’t have such high opinions of us at times). The trio planned to hold their own sermon outside the church the following morning to peacefully attempt to steer them back onto the right path – not threatening or accusing them, but simply by preaching God’s virtues and the actual teachings of the bible, and by explaining each of their respective experiences with the divine – Edward in the desert, Tancred with Tiffanius, and Tessora with Midael. With renewed faith, Edward advised they camp outside the village just in case Jonathan incited his speakers to violence, saying that if they attempted to attack the church, he would lock the doors and ring the bell. The group bade him farewell and camped up several hundred metres outside in a forest clearing. The group set up camp outside the village, and during the night, Chimi heard the church bells ringing. Grabbing their horses and going as fast they dared, Tessora, Tancred and the squires arrived outside the gates of Summerbridge, followed by those on foot. Tessora stood up from her horse and clambered over the palisade wall, catching her chainmail on the spiked top.

She tipped over the wall, snapping a chunk of wall off in the process, before slamming inelegantly onto the ground on the far side and rolling down the small earthworks. After recovering the breath that was driven out of her, she lifted the two drop bars holding the gate shut and let the others in.

As the group entered the village, they saw that the entire village was in the square, where they had lit a pyre and burned someone. Given the bells had stopped ringing a while ago, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they had dragged Father Edward out of the church and burned him, and were now attending a speech held by Jonathan.

Tessora strode forward into the square to confront him despite Chimi’s efforts to pull her back. Jonathan explained that they had to purge the nonbeliever, lest he steer others “away from the word of God” as told to them by Castanel with his “lies”.

Tessora exclaimed that he was a peaceful and holy man, and they had committed a mortal sin in murdering him. Chimi, overwhelmed by the aura around her, shouted that they were all bad. At this, a deep voice emanated from the fire, saying “oh yes, they are”.

The fire took a humanoid form and stepped off of the platform, carrying a wicked-looking sword. He revealed that he was Zodiacus, a fallen angel, and he had so easily lured the village into committing great evil. Speaker Jonathan stared at him, horrified, as the villagers either scattered in terror or dropped to their knees in prayer, presumably begging forgiveness.

As Tessora drew her sword and readied her shield, hoofbeats were heard beyond the gate on the far side of the village. Zodiacus raised his hand and the gate exploded inwards, and in rode four knights. Tancred rode off to engage them, assuming that they would otherwise begin slaughtering the villagers to send their souls to hell before they had a chance to repent.

Tessora charged into Zodiacus with an opening swing that would have seriously wounded a normal person, but he shrugged it off with a scratch, before his answering swing went clean through her chainmail and cut a deep gouge in her side. Chimi hurled stones at him to absolutely no effect, before Haeddi took her to run off to the church.

Alfred bravely charged in to assist, but his attack was easily parried, and he was then thrown back with a heavy wound to the chest. Alison and Adelaide gathered the children of the village together. Adelaide lied that she knew where the daemon wouldn’t be able to hurt them – which Alison added was the church. Haeddi was looking through the reliquary for any potentially useful items, assisted by Chimi’s magical sensitivity, eventually finding a broken sword hilt.

Tancred raced over to the bridge before the knights could cross, reigning his horse up to stand side-on to block their passage. The knights wore full-face masked visors and lacked any heraldry or insignia. They could only fight him one at a time, and he wasn’t particularly hard-pressed by the first knight.

Tessora dealt another blow to Zodiacus, but his counterattack battered her sword out of her hand. Alfred staggered back to the church, while Chimi scampered past him on all fours coming the other way, sword hilt in her mouth. Adelaide told Alison to take the children to the church while she split off, slipping round a corner.

She donned the mask that the group had discovered during the Trials at Normanston, which she had secretly stolen for unknown reasons. After doing so, she was visited by the spirit of Father Edward, who guided her in rousing the skeletal remains of knights buried nearby. They clawed out of their graves and she commanded them to run to the aid of Tancred.

Tancred continued his duel with the first knight, whittling his strength down without much issue. Chimi arrived beside Tessora, handing her the broken sword and then scurrying off, but before she could bring it to bear, Zodiacus dealt a colossal downward blow.

Tessora raised her shield to block it, but his sword cleaved straight through her shield and into her shoulder, hacking a chunk out of it. Tessora’s vision faded to black, and then she awoke in a pure white landscape.

Edward was there, casually commenting that they both seem to have fallen. He then explained that God had chosen her to be his sword upon the earth, to protect the good and punish the evil. Tessora responded that she did not consider herself worthy of such a blessing, to which he answered that it was exactly why she was given the role.

He said that Midael will continue to offer guidance when needed, and advised that going on Crusade does not absolve people of their sins – one cannot wash away the blood on their hands with more blood.

With that, they bid each other a fond farewell and Tessora awoke in a corona of holy light. Her wounds had healed and the broken sword in her hand had the missing length formed as a translucent golden blade.

Dealing a truly awesome blow to Zodiacus, he was cast down and as he looked up at the blessed form of Tessora, she planted the point of her sword, dropped to her knees and prayed. A gateway to hell formed and opened behind her, and chains stretched past to wrap around Zodiacus and drag him inexorably in. He begged for Tessora to grant mercy, and that he was sorry for his actions, but she responded that there was no word from a daemon that she could trust. He was pulled in screaming, the gates then clanging shut behind him and disappearing.

Seeing this behind Tancred, two of the three remaining knights at the bridge turned and fled. Before Tancred could close in on the last, the five skeletons that had been summoned by Adelaide leapt over him onto the knight and tore him limb from limb.

Tancred looted the knight’s intact gear and took his cavalry horse, Adelaide ran to his side and excitedly wondered at the “miracle” of the skeletons. The pair returned to the village square, where they saw that Tessora’s skin had become very pale and almost luminous, with a faint halo around her head.

They then filed into the church, while Tessora stopped to talk to Jonathan, still stood where he had been speaking from with a thousand-yard stare full of horror and disbelief. He was appalled at himself for being so easily lured into sin, and sought Tessora to administer whatever justice and punishment that she saw fit. She told him that forgiveness is always possible for the earnest, and bade him to go forth and seek to find it.

He slowly nodded, and told her that he would travel to the Holy Land to repent, before perhaps settling down in France and find some Good to do. She wished that he would find peace, and advised that he avoid fighting in the crusade – instead focusing on helping others. With a farewell, he left the village.

Tessora then retrieved the remains of Father Edward, laying him down in the church before kneeling over the badly injured form of Alfred, laying her hand on his chest and reciting a prayer. Though his wound didn’t heal itself, it stopped bleeding.

Tessora and Tancred told the assembled villagers their experiences with the divine, and shared those of Father Edward in his absence, and the following morning held a funeral service for Father Edward. They knew that his spirit was in heaven, absolved of his sins and stripped of his doubt and pain.

The villagers as a whole seemed distraught at their actions, and prepared to set off – they had committed much sin in Summerbridge, and they too resolved to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Before they left, Alwin told Tancred and Tessora to take whatever supplies from the village that they wished.

After that, the group returned to Sagehollow, with a few of the inhabitants giving Tessora strange looks due to her brighter visage, broken sword, cloven shield and ripped chainmail – but absolutely no damage to herself.

(Summer) 1191 - The Red Boar Lock-In
Participants: Aroh, Cass, Giles, Lohse, Silk, Theopania.

The group heard on the grapevine that the pub landlord of the Red Boar Inn, Al Murray, was holding a lock-in for his regulars. Several grogs decided to attend, with the excuse of convincing him to get him on Sagehollow’s payroll in order to serve as a PO box for the covenant.

The other attendees included a Goblin band, a pair of Satyrs, a river nymph and a water nymph.

There was a menu of available for the night, with each of the alcoholic drinks given a number of points according to their strength;

Food
 * Turnip Surprise & Garden Salad
 * “Oister!” Pi
 * “Meat” Pi
 * “Definitely Chicken” Pi

Ales
 * _____ One For Yourself – The Usual Red Bull Classic (0)
 * Old Goat’s Water – Rough (1)
 * Dr McGloo’s Amber Enema – Medicinal (3)
 * Dwarven Bowel Basher – Got a Kick to it (5) (Not for Children)

Whynes
 * House Whyne – Foamy (0)
 * Nymph’s Golden Shower – Amber, Room Temp (1)
 * Ruby Murray – Deep Red, with a hint of Beetroot (3)
 * Dragon Fire – Rose, Removes the most Stubborn Stains… and organs, probably (5)

The patrons would get that amount of points each time they finished that drink, as well as a number of points for winning each competition.

The first competition was a wrestling knockout match, winner stays on. Unsurprisingly, Old Giles won, though facing a surprisingly spirited opponent in his last fight against Aroh.

The karaoke and dance contest was between the Goblin band and “Lohse and the Pussycats”, consisting of the titular bard Lohse, with backing vocals from Aroh and background dancers of Cass and Theopania. Lohse and the Pussycats won, largely thanks to Lohse herself – Cass and Theopania in particular weren’t exactly graceful, but they were enthusiastic.

Then came the card game, which most of the members cheated at. Though Aroh made a deep run into proceedings through many of the cheaters being found out and eliminated, it came as little surprise when Silk won.

After another round of drinks, several of the patrons found themselves feeling green around the gills and raced to the single-occupancy privy to expel some of their libations. While the others did their best to weave their way between tables and through the door, Cass bounded over the tables and nimbly darted around the scattered bar stools, tankards and other patrons to reach the privy first.

One of the satyrs approached Old Giles with an offer of sacrificing one of his eyes for the youth of a child, but he declined. An offer was also extended to Aroh of some faerie wine in exchange for an exciting story. Aroh accepted, telling the satyr of the battle at Boristrum Castle. The Satyr thanked him, and after handing over the faerie wine, Aroh discovered that he had absolutely no memory of the events he’d just spoken of – he had literally given the satyr his story.

Next came the beauty contest, which was entered by the river nymphs and Old Giles, who stripped down and flexed for the audience. Despite that deeply compelling show, unfortunately the judge was Silk, who had no interest in forty-seven-year-old men. Philistine.

Both nymphs attempted to sway Silk’s opinion by (independently of one another) quietly telling him that the other had some kind of STD; the water nymph with “barnacles” and the forest nymph with “worms”.

Silk eventually selected the water nymph as the victor, and the water nymph sulked. The forest nymph was delighted, and dragged him upstairs to “celebrate”. Cass mischievously left the pub claiming to need the privy, before hearing which room they were occupying and scaling up to the window to peek.

They went at it for a while. Rumours of the nymph’s barnacles proved false, meaning Silk wasn’t keelhauling his crotch. After he eventually rolled off her and staggered downstairs, Cass popped her head up and asked the nymph if she fancied another go with someone who really knew what she was doing. She responded that she couldn’t possibly be unfaithful towards her husband. Cass processed this for a moment, laughed, gave her a thumbs up, and dropped back onto the ground.

Silk was blessed with a +1 to all rolls when on or in rivers, and sex with him always produces children. However, the forest nymph cursed him out of jealousy, and will come to find that any time he moves through the woodland, the ground and foliage will be making efforts to hinder and annoy him, resulting in a -1 to all rolls.

Next came the drinking contest, which was won by one of the satyrs gamely gulping down a frankly frightening amount of alcohol. During this, Cass and Theopania, being less resilient than their comrades, abstained.

Al, in his infinite wisdom, had decided that the last game, after many rounds of drinks and revelry, would be a race around the pub whilst perched atop bar stools.

This was – predictably – a disaster, in which it proved more about finishing it at all than being quick. Cass and Theopania made a very strong start, but hit a path of vomit rounding a corner and both slid and then fell through a doorway. Silk wiped out in spectacular fashion, tripping over at full speed and sliding head-first through a massive puddle of the vomit of several patrons. Eventually, one of the Satyrs won.

The prizes were handed out, the centrepiece of which was to the overall winner; Silk. He was given a mighty and mysterious artefact found from the distant future, the purpose of which is beyond the group's ken but doubtless powerful beyond measure – a hard, fluorescent orange “hat” of some kind.

(Autumn) 1191 - The Basilisk of Longlake
Participants: Cirice, Torvi, Will, Bryne, Falko, Osanna, Richard

Cirice, having returned from a trip to Nottingham to speak to the cats, called a meeting of the Magical Council. She had brought the cats with her, who wished to reside in Sagehollow. In exchange, they would pay generous rent and provide their wealth of knowledge.

The magical council had some queries, but in the end agreed, especially as it would reduce the covenant’s dependence on Robin Hood’s banditry for income.

She then revealed that she heard that the legend of the Basilisk that was slain at Longlake was done so with the aid of a potion brewed from her ancestor Ceridwen’s cauldron, and wished to investigate it. She summoned Will and several grogs and set off to the village on its edge.

Falko spoke to a blind old man playing chess and learned that the Basilisk was slain by a legendary hero now known only as “V”, who had buffed his shield to a mirror to reflect is petrifying gaze. They then went to speak to the village headsman, whose daughter Will not-so-subtly took off to “have a private conversation”.

The headsman told them of how a dozen of the villagers had rowed to the island in the middle of Longlake and hadn’t returned – for fear of losing more villagers, he had forbade anyone else to travel to the island. He then mentioned the villagers were unhappy; not just because of the disappearances and being unable to search for them (or at least recover the bodies), but also because of a “damned pagan witch” who had arrived at the village a few days prior.

The group thanked him for his time and left to find this witch, and quickly found her being accosted my a group of villagers. Richard stepped forward and convinced them to leave her alone – pointing out that Wrath and murder were sins, and surely such good Christians would not commit them.

After they begrudgingly left, Cirice spoke to her. She spoke broken English with a dense Norwegian accent, but managed to convey that she was fleeing soldiers of Guy of Gisborne after her friend Arianne was captured, and was searching for “a group of magic peoples in the forest of Sherwood”, as recommended to her by the woman known as “Grandmother”.

Cirice chose not to tell her that they had met both Arianne and Granny, and that they were likely the people she was looking for. Instead, she asked whether she was a witch, which she hesitantly confirmed.

The witch asked Cirice what they were doing in the village, and when they told her they sought to travel to the island, she resolved to accompany them as payment for rescuing her from the growing anger of the villagers.

They returned back to the headsman and persuaded him to grant them dispensation to head to the island, requisitioning a boat owned by a Captain Redbeard.

The winds were utterly against the boat’s sails, so Cirice summoned a gust of wind to bear them to the island. This was noticed by the pagan, who opted not to say anything in front of the captain. After a rough landing on the beach of the island, they saw that the island was covered in petrified humans, with several small rowboats also beached on the shores. There was a large rocky outcropping in the middle with a cave – obviously, where the basilisk resided.

The group began to light fires to heat rocks up to buff the combatant’s shields; the pagan’s had lit hers comfortably while most of the others were still gathering kindling.

Falko searched for quartz stones, which she offered to help. He warily accepted, and then watched with growing discomfort as she donned her full ritual garb – complete with an eye-obscuring and antler-topped headdress – and began dowsing for them. He uneasily thanked her for the quartz her efforts yielded and then moved as far away as he could to work on his shield.

The pagan returned to the boat alongside a napping Redbeard, Cirice and Richard slipped around the side of the outcrop from the cave mouth, and the combatants readied their shields (and Bryne his bow). Will shouted out for the basilisk to emerge, and when it did it levelled its gaze on them. Osanna managed to reflect it back, blinding it, to which it swatted them away.

Cirice started picking up several of the statues and throwing them at it, before it was finally dispatched by Bryne climbing to his feet and sending an arrow through its bleeding eye. Its death throes wounded him, Falko and Will, and Osanna and the pagan stepped forward to patch them up. They managed the first two okay, but Torvi broke Will’s rib.

The group then lit torches to explore the cave, and came across a tunnel within a tunnel of water. Cirice took her otter form and swam down, followed by Osanna and the pagan, who had casually stripped naked for the swim. The others were either too wounded or couldn’t swim.

The pagan led the way because she could see in the dark, and used her intuition to guess the right path when they came to forks. They came to a room covered in inscriptions and four statues before a gate, with a riddle. Cirice and the pagan pooled their knowledge to answer it and found both the broken greatsword of V and what seemed to be the fractured remains of Ceridwen’s cauldron.

The inscriptions depicted V, then a scrawny scholar, meeting with Ceridwen’s Granddaughter, and her husband Arawn, a necromancer. Together they created a potion which V imbibed, granting him great strength which he used to kill the basilisk.

Osanna began ferrying the broken artefacts back to the others while the pair explored the caves further, encountering the tombs of the Arthurian Knight, Percival (apparently a family friend of Ceridwen’s line) and Arawn. They also learned that there was something on an island on the far side of Ireland. During their exploration, they talked further, in which Cirice admitted that she was of Sagehollow, the people the pagan had been looking for.

They then found a second underwater tunnel, leading to the lake outside, and then encountered a room full of basilisk eggs, which the pagan advised they leave intact as defenders of the tombs. Cirice agreed, and after establishing the point of ingress from the underwater tunnel, caved in the entrance from the island side and returned to the other people waiting for them.

The group told the people of Longlake that the island was still dangerous, and the headsman promised that no more villagers would travel there. With that, the group returned to Sagehollow, with Cirice deciding to bring the pagan back to Sagehollow, to the consternation of the others.

She was allowed to stay until Essel arrived back at the covenant to hold a Sagehollow Council meeting about whether to include her permanently, and eventually it was decided that she had a lot to offer the covenant in exchange for little beyond providing a safe place to stay.

The only price she was asked to pay in exchange was a description of Nordic society and tutelage in reading Old Norse and Futhark. Tancred was taken to one side and ordered not to harm her, with his Oath of Fealty to the Order of Hermes outweighing his militant Christianity.

(Autumn) 1191 - Gresham Nunnery
Participants: Evelyn, Cass, Percival, Silk, Theopania

Evelyn decided to go to the nearby nunnery Gresham – which she’d had visions of being burned down during a Viking raid when it was an abbey, where “she” was killed by an axe to the chest trying to defend it. There, she hoped to borrow a book of runes, translated by later monks.

She gathered most of the grogs who weren’t injured or busy with other matters – essentially meaning most of those who’d gone to the Red Boar Lock-In – and headed off. En route, the group stopped at Farnesfield a village where the news reader Rupert Murdoch was passing through.

After some playful poking, he told them of the nunnery they were heading to, the grounds around which were apparently haunted due to being pagan barrow-tombs, and the nunnery itself being built atop the ruins of a monastery that had been destroyed in a Viking raid. He also gave them news of the village they were in; the lord’s manor had fallen into disrepair after he left on Crusade and his wife died shortly thereafter. The lord’s heir, Rowan, had yet to step forward to claim ownership. So the Village was under the 'care' of the Sheriff.

He also imparted rumors and news of the local area, including tale of witches in the forest (apparently working in league with Robin Hood), another witch escaping trial at Normanston, and yet another witch seen at Longlake. As well as rewards offered for the escaped witch Arianne and the run-away nuns.

After arriving at the nunnery the next morning, the nuns had the group wait near the crypt, in which Evelyn saw was interred the martyr “Effleywn”, a woman who had been killed trying to defend the then-monastery from the Vikings centuries ago.

Unfortunately, the nuns fell afoul of Evelyn’s envied beauty and judged her to be prideful, and insisted that before they consider lending her the book that she is shriven of her pride. She was taken off for a few days to perform menial labour to learn the meaning of hard work, while the grogs were given a tour of the nunnery.

The nuns told them of how one of their number, a nun by the name of Ari d’Emory, had escaped last year and was being searched for. The group pleaded ignorance and assured them that if they heard mention of her, they would send word. The nuns also told them of several men who had been hired to go and retrieve some treasures from the pagan barrows nearby and been cut apart. The survivors were at their hospital, and so they paid a visit.

After Cass poked the most lucid of them and threw questions at him, they learned that there were twenty of them, but they were attacked by the dead, where eight of their number were killed. After learning that the sound of the nunnery’s bells kept the undead at bay – and instead of going in the day (when the bells were rung), they went to the barrows at night – Silk berated the man for his idiocy until he refused to talk with the grogs further. The truth being they set out in the day but night came faster than usual, and lasted much longer...

Later on, one of the nuns approached the group and desperately told them of how she needed to get a message out of the nunnery. The abbess had made it clear that the nunnery should be 'above politics' She was Marian, and claimed to be the Lord of the village’s wife – she hadn’t died after all, but placed here after refusing to remarry one of the Sheriff's retainers. Rowan was her stepson, and she wished to find him, his older brothers had all met suspicious ends.

The escape plan was to slip some oysters into her bunkmate’s meal to ensure she wasn’t watching Marian’s every move, and at night she would be led out with the help of Percival, Cass, Silk and Theopania. Cass had wisely borrowed Ari d’Emory and her friend’s old habits, and gave one to Theopania to disguise herself as Marian while she escaped.

Evelyn, meanwhile, laboured ineffectually to draw water and prepare dinner for the nuns, and then attended confession with the resident Father Martin. Though initially rejecting the idea of her having sinned, she eventually supposed that she was guilty of the sin of Pride not for her looks, but for her work as a smith. Father Martin expressed his scepticism given her stature and physique, to which she naïvely displayed her magic. Father Martin was impressed by this display and promised to send a letter to the Bishop.

That evening, Cass donned the other nun’s habit and slipped into the kitchen to prepare food, and after an annoying amount of labor, she eventually managed to pocket a few oysters and slip them into her target’s stew.

That night, she, Marian and Silk (accompanied by “Aroh Byait”, who had admitted that his actual name was Percival Fletcher) made their escape. Silk lured away the nun at the door, giving Cass time to pick the lock on the door, before he looped back to rejoin them.

They led Marian outside the nunnery, where she met a contact of hers, Friar Tuck. They then sneaked back in via a forgotten outdoor entrance to the crypt, grabbing Theopania and returning to the guest quarters. Marion also asked if word could reach Robin Hood to watch over her Stepson, as he will need all the help he could get.

The following morning, Evelyn fetched more water and got into a fight with a chicken, in which she came out the worse for wear. The culmination of heavy labor, rough clothes, little food and near constant prayer caused Evelyn to pass out in front of the shrine of Saint Winifred. The saint blessed her with a vision, showing her the location of the Barrow with the runic axe and the Wight that guards it. Winifred also told Evelyn that one of the Seven swords of Wayland was inside the Barrowlands, one will be encountered in the possession of a Holy champion, an infernal knight, a Faerie, and at least one in the possession of her own kind (mage?) and that she was not alone in seeking them.

After revealing that she had received the vision from Saint Winifred, the Nuns judged her to have learned some humility. She was allowed to take possession of the Translated Runic Magic book she sought.

The group resolved to return to the Pagan barrows nearby in the future to see what lay within, and returned to Sagehollow.

(Autumn) 1191 – The Nottingham Goose Fayre
Participants: Robin, Alistair, Cuthbert, Gillian, Lohse, Old Giles, Oskar

The covenant cook, Mary, instructed several grogs to go to the Nottingham Goose Fayre to gather some geese for her pot over the winter. Happy to have a couple of days out with the covenant’s expense pot, they gladly agreed.

Upon arrival, Oskar immediately negotiated the purchase of said geese, earning a very good price, and then went on to sell a cartload of wool. After doing their actual job almost immediately upon arrival, the grogs went on to what they actually came for – to take part in the various games being held.

First was the Guess the Weight of the Goose contest, which was won by the experienced eye of Old Giles. As a prize, he received the goose in question, as well as an emerald brooch, which went into his coinpurse.

Next to that was the Hook a Goose game, which after Oskar accidentally fell in, was won by Alistair. He too was given a goose, as well as five “magic” beans. After pressing the game seller, Jack, he was told that if he were to plant them together, they would form a giant beanstalk, atop which resided a “great monster”. The reason it qualified as a prize was because if anyone managed to get the monster’s pet, a goose, it would lay golden eggs.

There was also a goose dress-up contest, in which Oskar dressed his up with a bespoke woollen fleece to resemble a sheep. However, this too was won by Alistair, making a chainmail vest out of a mitten, as well as a crown and a little sword to create a King Arthur costume. He was awarded the goose in question, as well as a fine black cloak.

Next came the much-anticipated singing contest, entered by an array of locals, as well as Lohse and Hamlet the pig, managed by Oskar. Somehow, Hamlet displayed an impressive repertoire of classics and got through to the finals, much to the chagrin of the other contestants. However, he was ultimately defeated by a stunning performance by Lohse, who took home a sparrowhawk. Hamlet, for his valiant efforts, was given a goose.

Then there was the Fisticuffs, which was of course entered by Old Giles. He was breezing through until disaster struck – a wide haymaker overextended his shoulder, causing his right arm to lock up. Not willing to back down without a fight, he swung his left, and that too locked up. Giles, however, refused to yield to the smug young whippersnapper facing him, knocking him out with a series of kicks.

After taking a breather, Giles entered the finals with his arms strapped behind his back, facing a man in his thirties, who in fact remembered watching Giles as a child, back in Giles’ glory days. Still not willing to throw in the towel without a fight, Giles entered the arena, and after a hard-fought bout, knocked him out with a roundhouse kick that belied his distinguished years. For his win, he was given a Mastiff puppy and a yet another goose.

Next was the melee competition, which was entered by both Alistair and Gilly. They fought one another, which Gilly won, albeit being utterly exhausted at the end. Seeing as the next bout was going to be held before she could recuperate, Oskar covered Hamlet in goose fat and sent him into the arena, buying her almost an hour to rest while the guards floundered around trying to capture him, much to the delight of the audience.

After Hamlet was firmly escorted out of the arena, Gilly faced a local lad named Luke in the final, and after an exhausting match, she emerged the victor, albeit more by luck than outright skill. Luke was gracious in defeat, and liking a strong woman and uncaring of her scars, he invited her to go home with him, claiming to be a noble.

She saw through him and pegged his family as being wealthy merchants but no nobles, and politely declined. She wanted to be courted a little more; likely wanting Will in attendance to hopefully make him jealous. For her win, Gilly was given a cavalry horse and the obligatory goose.

Lastly, there was the archery contest, viewed by Guy of Gisborne himself and competed in by Gilly and several men. Though Gilly performed admirably, it was soon apparent that first place was between two men named Mark and Hayden. Mark narrowly held a lead throughout in an impressive display, and warmly took the prize of a longbow. With a flourish, he ripped of the disguise he had donned to reveal that he was, in fact, Robin Hood!

He then leaped into the crowd before Guy’s men could reach him, and in the ensuing turmoil, escaped. With that excitement over, the day’s events drew to a close, and after resting for the night, the group returned home with their geese and prizes.

(Winter) 1191 – The White Stag
Participants: Arianwen, Torvi, Chimi, Islwyn, Osanna

Arianwen called a meeting, having heard gossip that many nobles were going to be taking part in a hunt for the White Stag of Sherwood Forest.

Given it was both the King of the Forest, and a source of vis for the covenant, their efforts had to be thwarted.

Thus, she gathered several of the more wilderness-inclined covenfolk and they bounced ideas off one another. Eventually, Chimi’s suggestion of talking to the Black Dog won out. Torvi remembered them as ancient pagan spirits, this one being named Rylon.

Trudging through the thick snow, Osanna led the group to a clearing in the forest near the ancient Roman temple, whereabouts Rylon was seen previously during Edric’s hunt for vis. Once there, Torvi began kulning his name, and at some point he appeared in the midst of the group, with Chimi hugging him.

Taking that as an indicator of how to greet him, Torvi joined in. Rylon was most interested in Osanna, “the wolf’s daughter”, and after she laid out the situation, he explained that his domain within the forest was separate to the White Stag’s; they were allies, but would not intrude on the other’s territory even to protect one another.

He eventually told them that he would be willing to lend his aid, in exchange for some members of Sagehollow travelling to Ireland to retrieve a mate for him; a Cú Chulainn, ancient hounds in Irish folklore. Arianwen agreed that they would, and so he said that he would help.

All dogs obey him, and so the plan was hatched; Arianwen would cast a spell on Chimi to make her smell of a stag, and after being smelled by the hunting dogs, would lead them into Rylon’s territory. There, he would have those dogs attack their masters (and join himself), killing some of the nobles and driving the rest away; and thus be afraid to attempt such a hunt again.

Torvi and Chimi intervened, respectfully asking him to not kill any – to just do enough harm to drive them away and no more. He reluctantly agreed, though he clearly subscribes to the Wilderist philosophy of Bjornaers.

The plan was enacted, and the group hid within the snow to bear witness – Chimi raced past and then hid herself, and when the dogs reached her last known position, they stopped and waited for the houndmasters. When they arrived, followed shortly by the nobility, the group recognised several; Robert Giscard, Guy of Gisborne, Ser Peveral and Ser Baldevere among them. The dogs turned and attacked them, with Rylon piling into the fray and unseating several.

Torvi saw one man get knocked flying off his horse and hit his head on a rock, and once the rest of the men fled (and the dogs were led away by Rylon), she dug her way out of the snow and tended to his wounds. He groggily came to and regarded her with great confusion – even dressed “normally”, she had a strange appearance, let alone being in the middle of Sherwood Forest in the winter.

Arianwen, having heard him speaking French to the other nobility when they arrived, knew that he was Prince John himself. She quickly returned to human form and dressed as a noblewoman with ludicrous speed and rushed to join him, though Torvi shushed her introductions to first ensure he hadn’t suffered a concussion or worse.

Arianwen claimed to be on her way to her homeland of Wales when she encountered him, and introduced the assembled group – pausing and needing to confer with Islwyn to remember the names of Torvi and Osanna, not exactly ingratiating herself to them – and described them as her servants. Islwyn was described as her bodyguard, and the absent Chimi as a “feral woman she’s trying to domesticate”.

Prince John was fully willing to accept all this, so perhaps he had hit his head harder than first thought. Given the “noblewoman” was on foot in knee-deep snow in the middle of a forest, her bodyguard had no sword and not present when she approached what resembled a battlefield, one servant was a low-born and better armed and armoured than her “bodyguard”, the other was clearly a pagan who understood no “civilised” languages like Latin or French, and her “feral friend” was apparently imaginary.

Prince John was then escorted by the group towards the Royal Hunting Lodge at Mamesfield, where he assumed the other noblemen had fled to. On the route, he chatted amiably with Arianwen and Torvi, though the latter struggled to follow most of his words to her as neither were particularly good at English.

Once there, they were met by Lord William Marshal, the (de facto) Earl of Pembroke and essentially the King’s enforcer. He had remained at the lodge as he wasn’t a keen hunter (and had enough clout to be able to afford to refuse Prince John’s invitation, unlike Peverel). He was glad to see Prince John was alive, and escorted him to see the other nobility, accompanied by the group.

They seemed terrified to see him, as they had all essentially abandoned the heir to the throne during an attack. He forgave Peverel as he could see that he completely believed that the Prince was right next to him as he fled (besides which, he could never be accused of being a combatant) – however, he knew that Giscard and Guy had fled purely out of self-preservation (as hinted by Arianwen and Osanna).

He idly mused at the notion of sending the pair of them to join Longchamp in his confinement in the Tower of London, but eventually decided to simply hold it over them.

The group were then invited to dine with the other nobility, and Islwyn – terrified of talking to people – was sent to try and find and retrieve her imaginary friend, Chimi. He gladly accepted, and wandered off, though he didn’t stand a chance of finding her in her home turf.

Chimi had scampered away to meet again with Rylon and The White Stag, who bowed to her and thanked them both for their help. Rylon told her that he knew where Sagehollow was, and that it was protected (by the aegis) – but that he would wander near it on occasion. Given he knew the covenant’s interest in the temple and things of power from it, he told her of a stone tree to the northeast, presumably containing vis.

Meanwhile, Arianwen mentioned Guy’s demand for proof of her noble pedigree, and Prince John, outraged, told her to send the application for Assart Rights to him and he would personally ratify it with his royal seal. They then promised to begin correspondence to continue their newfound friendship, and the group returned to Sagehollow.

(Spring) 1192 – Legendary Kingdoms
Participants: Cirice, Torvi, Alfred, Erik, Falko, Oskar (and Hamlet).

Cirice opted to investigate another lead regarding the children of Ceridwen, this time in Cornwall. She invited Torvi, and asked for volunteers – with Alfred, Erik, Falko and Oskar as volunteers.

They stopped off in the town of Leicester in time for the market, where Oskar fetched a very good price for the fleece he’d brought. After managing to convey what directions she was after, Torvi found her way to an apothecary’s, not gathering anything particularly useful but enjoying having an informed discussion of herbalism with someone.

The next stop was in the town of Bath, home to the only (known) hot spring in Britain. It is known that bathing in its water could alleviate the ailments of ageing, and Cirice learned that this was conferred by it being magical in nature, and further augmented by an enchanted stone hidden within.

The group, after spending two weeks on the road, gladly made use of the baths, with Torvi and Erik showing absolutely no shame at stripping off in front of others.

After passing the impressively well-built castle that constituted the covenant of White Crow (and choosing not to drop by), the group came to Tintagel Castle, rumoured to be the actual site of the legendary Camelot.

The castle was on an island and highly defensible, with a couple of rock stacks being spanned by wooden bridges that could be destroyed by the defenders, though it had apparently fallen and been in ruin regardless.

Crossing the bridges, the group entered the castle without issue, as the gate had been staved in by a trebuchet impact. Within, Torvi perceived a regio boundary, and led the others through it. Inside it, their surroundings were the same castle overall, though it was damaged in different places. There were clear signs of battle – discarded weapons and armour, arrow shafts and trebuchet impacts – though no bodies.

Slipping through a broken portcullis, they saw a set of footprints, leading to a church further into the castle. This church seemed to be both Celtic pagan and Christian, with its iconography split in half and meeting in the middle.

There was a book titled The Account of Duros, written in Latin – Duros was looking for the mythical land of Avalon, in order to bring about the second coming of King Arthur. He also mentioned Emet-Selch, an Ascian, who was looking for a pot that apparently held the power to resurrect the dead.

There was also a bloodstain, which Hamlet tracked out of the church, onto the portion of the island not encapsulated by the castle walls, and to a silvery oak tree. Beneath it lay the freshly-deceased body of a man clutching a sword, and with a long and thin stab wound in his chest. He had written strange pictograms around him in blood, and also held a piece of bloody parchment. Torvi copied the pictograms as best she could, whilst Cirice read the parchment.

He had written that his kin had betrayed him, but that they could not enter the regio because they worshipped a “dark god”. He had hidden his “lord’s return” in a place called Cantre’r Gwaelod, a legendary kingdom said to have sunk beneath the ocean, in what is now Cardigan Bay to the west of Wales, and to “follow the faeries; though they lie, they know the way.” The group then split up to poke around the castle. Torvi and Erik walked around the buildings beyond the castle walls, in which Torvi’s intuition drew her to what she discovered was a cartographer’s.

On the table inside was a larger and more detailed map of the land now sunken into Cardigan Bay, with the location of a city in the middle called Prifddinas, which she interpreted with her small understanding of Old English to mean “High City”. It was beside a lake covered in mists, labelled Avalon.

She then wondered about a point of entry for the attackers of Camelot, seeing as so many of the people seemed to have died in their homes rather than having gathered in one point, as would be expected if they were simply attacking the walls (thus giving the civilians time to congregate), and spent some time dowsing for a tunnel.

Meanwhile, Hamlet – predictably – smelled food, and led Oskar and Alfred to a shop and attached storehouse, in which they made lunch. They also took a leather-bound book they found, given none of them could read.

Cirice and Falko had gone to explore the keep, the gate of which was decorated with Celtic patterns and had an intricate locking mechanism, which Falko figured out how to open.

Inside was the throne room of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, before which lay twenty-four stone tables. 18 of them contained the bodies of knights of the round table, armoured and with their shields and swords with them. Missing knights, as identified by their heraldry that Cirice and Falko knew, were Gawain, Lancelot, Percival, Morfran, Mordred and King Arthur himself.

Behind the throne was a table, upon which laid a longsword broken into three pieces, of exceptionally fine make, with the inscription in Ancient Welsh of “in Albion I was made, in Albion I will lay” – clearly Caliburn, the sword Arthur pulled from the stone.

Beside it was his shield, Prydwen, and an ornate spear with a broken haft, Rhongomyniad. Missing was Excalibur, and its scabbard called Avalon, which was stolen by the witch Niamh.

Falko, curious, sat on Queen Guinevere’s throne, which launched him off it and a glowing writings appeared in ancient Welsh, which Cirice read as saying that only those of noble blood may sit on Arthur’s throne, and only the consort of the King may sit on Guinevere’s.

Beyond, the pair explored an antechamber, where many servant’s bodies lay (also seemingly frozen in time), and Falko looted a set of chainmail armour with a heart plate and the coat of arms of Ser Kei Ceinfarfog. Continuing, they found several chambers for the various knights, taking from them a selection of books – including the diary of Ser Morfran.

The last entry was soon after The Battle of Camlann, after they interred Arthur and returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. They found Emrys in prison, which they placed on top of “the tower”, to be left until Excalibur can be used to break him free.

Morfran returned treasures to Prifddinas for safekeeping until Arthur’s return, along with “the witch’s cauldron” – not Ceridwen’s, but similar, with both Celtic and Christian decoration. The surviving knights then split up until Arthur’s return, and Morfran went to “the Crystal City” – though he left clues for servants of the old religion (Celtic Paganism) to find him if needed.

They also encountered a symbol of House Diedne, and depictions of Arthur, Merlin and Ceridwen together, and of Percival’s father, the Fisher King. Cirice opened the door to an armoury, to reveal the shields and longswords of several knights, including Ser Kei, which Falko took.

Cirice detected them as being magical in nature – the sword would not tire him as he used it (Endurance of the Berserkers with Sun duration, one activation a week), though she wasn’t sure about the shield. She turned to him and said “if you lose these, I won’t put you six feet under; I’ll put you fifty feet up.”

The group then reconvened to compare what they’d found – Cirice read Prifddinas as a capital city of some kind. Falko, keen to test the shield, let Erik hit it with his axe whilst Cirice watched to see the effect. She recognised it as having a variant of Doublet of Impenetrable Silk, granting +2 Soak to the wearer and triggered by the shield first being struck.

The group travelled upstairs, where they encountered the Round Table itself, with the chairs being customised depending on the knight they seated, and their coat of arms behind them.

There was a clear throne on the opposite side of it, behind and beside which were clearly the seats for Merlin and Guinevere. To take in the grandeur of the room, the group each sat in chairs of their choosing;

Cirice – Morfran Torvi – Merlin Alfred – Ser Percival Erik – Ser Agravain Falko – Ser Kei Oskar – Ser Lancelot Hamlet opted to sit on King Arthur’s throne.

At the back of the hall was an anvil made of a mixture of granite, marble, and what Cirice suspected was steel. It was engraved in Ancient Welsh, reading “pick me up and throw me away”. Beyond it were two spiral staircases leading up.

The group followed the right one, which bypassed the floor above and led straight to the roof, upon which was a giant pillar of magically created quartz. Entombed within was Emrys (Merlin), whom everyone except Torvi saw as an old man. She saw him as in his early 30’s.

The group then went up the other spiral staircase, coming to a grand door with a puzzle-like locking mechanism. After solving it, they saw it opened into the chambers of King Arthur himself. Taking centre stage was a grand mirror, assembled of many shattered pieces.

Though the others merely saw their reflections, Torvi saw a winter landscape, and tentatively poked a finger into it, which emerged on the other side – and gave her warping. She retracted her finger and explained what she saw, and Cirice recognised it as a Transmission Mirror; a device which, when spoken to, would show the viewer a place anywhere on earth that they had been to. Though they could then be stepped through, they would accrue a vast amount of warping points.

Cirice spoke to the mirror (who wanted to be referred to as Ser Mirror), and asked for Sagehollow. Beyond, they saw Essel walk past and do a double-take. The two mages discussed what they had found, and after some experimentation, realised that though there was no delay effect caused by the mirror, that they had lost a few days of time – presumably from the regio of Camelot itself.

Essel then sent for Lady Tessora for her counsel regarding the Arthurian Legends and what to do with what they had found. She explained that King Arthur and his companions would have no issue with their equipment and knowledge being used, as long as it was made available to them upon their return and the people using it in the interim were of honourable, valiant and noble spirit.

She was unwilling to be so bold as to claim that any in the covenant were enough to meet the standards set by Arthur, and so Falko put the arms and armour of Ser Kei back. With that, they bade one another farewell and severed the connection; at which, for a fraction of a second, Cirice and Torvi saw an image of a young child crying in a cave.

Cirice asked Ser Mirror to go to the location of that last image, but after straining to bring it up again, it could not. However, they got a second glimpse of it – enough to note that it was a girl, perhaps five, with an auburn ponytail, and also in the cave was a freestanding ring of stone engraved in repeating Rego and Terram symbols.

Filing that particular oddity for later, the group resolved to explore the cave they saw on the waterline outside Camelot, which Cirice summoned stairs down to. After reaching the cave, Torvi felt a premonition of mortal peril within, but Cirice persisted.

The cave contained an altar-like structure at the far end, with passages to either side. Following one, they came to a small cave with another table holding two pots with inscriptions in ancient Welsh; one reading “the treasure is in this pot” and the other reading “the universe is infinite”. There was an ancient Welsh coin in the latter pot, which Falko took.

The second room had a single bowl filled with water, inscribed with “I am the mirror that is the liar”. The group took turns looking into it; Alfred’s and Falko’s reflections smiled back at them benevolently, Torvi looked cruel and angry, and Cirice looked much older. Looking under the bowl, it had another inscription reading “there is only one choice”.

With that, the door swung shut behind them and the ceiling started lowering to crush them, with Cirice’s magic having little effect to slow it. In desperation, Falko threw the bowl to the floor as being a “liar”, and the ceiling retracted.

Returning to the main cavern, embedded within the stone altar was a sword: Excalibur. Falko drew it out, and a knight appeared before him, drawing his sword. Erik attempted to fight him, but his attacks went through the knight; clearly this was a duel.

Falko was badly wounded, but managed to best the knight. After this, the cavern began trembling and chunks of stone fell from the ceiling. Cirice constructed a roof structure to shelter herself and Torvi, while Erik helped Falko limp to the altar and return the sword, though the ceiling continued to fall, so they then shuffled to one of the side caverns to return the coin into its original pot, stopping the trembling.

Torvi then ran over to tend to his wounds, during which an apparition of Merlin appeared, commending the group for passing his tests and telling them that they shall be rewarded. He disappeared, and left behind some items; two excellent quality longswords, shortswords, heater shields and tunics. The tunics would appear white until you neared, at which point they’d turn into the wearer’s favourite colour.

There also two superior quality cloaks; one black for an adult, and the other green for a child. Upon further examination, it turned out that they would blend in with their background if they were close to it, making excellent camouflage.

Cirice then found an old red book bearing the Order of Hermes’ emblem on the cover; a quality 11 tractatus on the four elemental arts, with the inside cover having “To Emrys, our ally – from Bonisagus”.

After lugging Falko upstairs and feeding him through the transmission mirror to Sagehollow – and the weapons and book directly into Cirice’s lab – the group travelled to the village of Stratton, and from there hired a ship called The Wave Cutter, a Hulk (also called a Holk) from a man named Brann to take them to Wales. He told them that his crew was due the following day, and advised they take rooms for the night in the pub, ran by his daughter Morigan.

Torvi (not fully following the Cornish accents and trying to keep a low profile due to her paganism) kept silent, as did Alfred for some reason, leaving the two “children” Cirice and Oskar to do the talking. Oskar explained that he was a merchant, bringing his sister along to learn the trade. He explained Alfred as his guard against bandits, and Torvi as an entertainer who did great impressions.

Morigan asked for Torvi to do one, and she hesitantly said she was in-character as a Viking. She was a little disappointed, but after seeing her maintain that “act” for the duration of the evening, decided it was impressive, if not particularly entertaining.

The Wave Cutter’s crew then arrived, rowdy and cheerful. It wasn’t difficult to see, strangely, that roughly half of the sailors were women wearing fake beards and moustaches. Some of them sat with the group to chat, and when one heard Torvi, said that she recognised her accent and spoke to her in Old Norse. Torvi was surprised but happy, and the two discussed their respective pasts.

Astrid told her of how she should visit the Isle of Man – the last bastion of Norse Paganism in Britain – where her brother Erik Giantsblood lived; a Trollson. Torvi promised that she would at some point.

The following morning, the group boarded the ship, whose name was inscribed in Futhark as Naglfar, the same as the Norse mythological ship made out of the fingernails and toenails of the dead. It was explained that they simply called it The Wave Cutter when in untrusted company – but seeing as Torvi was a Norse pagan, they knew the group wouldn’t exactly be offended by its real name.

After waiting for the crew to settle down from casting off, Cirice went to the prow to watch the waves, joined by a black cat, Alfred went to talk shop with the one-handed ship’s cook, and Torvi went to speak to the first mate, Mary. She was in her early twenties with red hair, and – along with the rest of the crew – had taken off her fake facial hair. She spoke of Lundy Island, which was one of the Naglfar’s regular trips; dropping supplies off for the templars that resided there.

Meanwhile, on the prow, the black cat spoke to Cirice; he was Captain Sabre, the captain of the ship. Cirice was weirded out, but probably a lot less so than most passengers would be. He revealed that he knew she bore the Gift, and displayed a knowledge of Hermetic society and lore. Being asked for his backstory, he admitted that his memory was blank, but hinted that he was once a mage’s familiar long ago.

He encountered Mary at some point and stole a ship with her, slowly assembling a crew of people who were looking for a career change or fleeing their past; for example, the Norse contingent were shipwrecked on an island and when he happened across them, offered them employment, and Mary was escaping an arranged marriage.

He then mentioned The North Sea, a shipbound spring covenant of magi that were mad even by the standards of most, which sailed the North – and occasionally Irish – seas, who were known to cause trouble. He also spoke of Eustace the Pirate King, who was based in the channel isles. He was highly feared, but entered into an agreement with King Richard to ferry crusaders to Normandy, in exchange for forgiveness for his past transgressions. He flies a flag bearing a devil on a black background.

He asked for Cirice’s aid in expediting their journey by summoning wind for the sails, which she obliged; though she refuted his label of “wind mage” as downplaying her abilities. After a few days, the ship reached land and bade each other warm farewells.

Torvi pointed the group north, where they came to the village of Cardington. Oskar led the discussions as the most people-friendly member, and came to an agreement with a fisherman named Gwyn to take them out into Cardigan Bay.

Torvi felt a strange disturbance, and her surroundings seemed oddly blurred. She said as much to Cirice whilst the fishermen were busy calling to one another, and Cirice cast a spell to allow her to see clearly through water. Torvi saw the ruins of a town several hundred feet below them, and many petrified trees.

Oskar chatted to Gwyn and the others, inquiring about “the liars”, which they told him was a trio of faerie sisters who performed trickery across Wales, who know ways to freely travel to many places. They were known to take small children away, so the towns and villages all had shrines to them where they performed a short ritual to keep them away; pouring milk on bread and sprinkling salt on it, leaving it as an offering.

Oskar eagerly asked him to show them the shrine, and he acquiesced. Torvi perceived a regio around the clearing that the shrine was in, which had some kind of connection to Yggdrasil, the world tree in Norse mythology. Oskar knew them as Faerie Roads, and Cirice as Trods.

Gwyn performed the ritual and the group left with him, collected their cart, and then doubled back to hear the faeries there, bickering over which of them could take the offering. Oskar, optimistic as ever, strode forwards to ask them to take him on “an adventure” to visit the underwater city.

They agreed, on the condition that he gave them the colour from his eyes, which he agreed to. He asked if his friends could come, and they said that he could on the condition that he gives them ten words per person – five which he chose, five which they did. He agreed, at which point Torvi stepped forward and said that she would like to pay for herself, which they were fine with. Alfred was perfectly happy for Oskar to pay the price for his own passage.

Cirice – in the form of a fox – and Hamlet didn’t count, as faeries respect the letter of the rules and they were not “people”. Erik was ordered to stay with the cart, and the rest of the group watched the faeries pull apart the rock that the shrine was built around and stepped through, followed by the group.

They emerged in the middle of a forest at night. Taking stock of their situation, Oskar’s eyes had turned completely white, giving the impression of blindness. Though when the others looked up they could see the sky as “normal”, Torvi could see the rippling surface of Cardigan Bay, along with swimming fishes and the occasional fishing boat passing overhead.

She had a good feeling about a particular direction, and the group headed that way, coming to a fortified town in the style of an idealised medieval settlement, which the group later learned was called Lleyta.

The guards challenged them at the gates, to which Cirice (as the only native of Wales) spoke, hidden under Torvi’s cloak and relying on the darkness to disguise the fact that she wasn’t the one speaking. Cirice managed to talk their way in, feigning ignorance of their surroundings. The guards had no idea of the existence of her village or Cad Gadu, showing that they were completely cut off from the rest of Wales.

They went to the pub, where Cirice quietly gave Torvi a couple of phrases to repeat in Welsh until she could say them properly, who then rattled them off to the barman to get them a room. The coins Oskar got as change for his drink was stamped with a head on either side; one of King Arthur and the other of Morfran.

After staying for the night, they ventured towards Lleytra castle, where Oskar attempted to walk past the gate guards by feigning blindness, but was firmly steered away. As the guards did so, the others slipped past and entered the courtyard, where a smith was crafting swords and bows out of shaped crystal.

There were more guards at the keep’s entrance, so Torvi sat down and Cirice taught her a few more phrases in Welsh; “I seek audience with Morfran.” “My greetings and respects.” “My name is Torvi.” “I would like directions to Prifddinas.”

She then approached the guards, with Cirice scampering in the shadow of her cloak.

“I seek audience with Morfran.”

''“You will not find Morfran here. This is the castle of Clan Hefin.”''

An awkward pause.

“… My name is Torvi.”

“… what the hell are you on about?”

Torvi, having no idea what they were saying, moved to walk past, but they barred her way. They noticed the fox under her cloak, but didn’t seem inclined to make an issue out of it, so Cirice padded past.

Torvi pointed at the fox and said “I seek audience.”

They gave each other a bemused look and let her past, with Alfred following behind, into a large dining hall with many people. On a throne at the far end sat a bored-looking young man. Torvi spoke awkwardly to him, using the same phrases she’d been taught.

“My name is Torvi.”

“… My name is Baxtorian Hefin.”

“My greetings and respects.”

He nodded.

“I would like directions to Prifddinas.”

''“You… go down the road. South. Though you won’t find it.”''

Torvi, not knowing what he said, mumbled to Cirice at her feet. Cirice started to tell her how to respond when Baxtorian picked up on it and told Cirice to speak plainly. The two spoke directly to one another, where Cirice learned that he was sitting in the seat of his mother, Lady Carys Hefin, who had gone missing.

Morfran had left long ago, though he had somehow gained the ability to age yet not die. He had made a pact for Cantre’r Gwaelod to not be flooded with a strange creature made of shadow and wood.

Prifddinas was originally a seed from the Crystal Caves that Merlin had gifted to them, which could be sung to in order to make it grow into a city. It had reverted to its seed form, and it needed the eight clan leaders of Cantre’r Gwaelod to sing it back into a city – though doing so would also awaken some manner of evil there.

These clan leaders were scattered, and so the people sat awaiting the return of King Arthur, as they have done for the past four hundred years. The eight clans, and their symbols, were as follows;


 * Clan Hefin – a red rabbit
 * Clan Iorwerth – a skull in the centre of a triscellion
 * Clan Amlodd – an owl
 * Clan Cadarn – a stag
 * Clan Crwys – an acorn
 * Clan Ithell – a crystal tree
 * Clan Meilyr – a swirl with roots growing out of it
 * Clan Trahaearn – a diamond with three smaller diamonds in the centre

There was a ninth which had split from Clan Iorwerth called Clan Cywir, whose symbol was an antlered bear, but was wiped out by Clan Iorwerth, who wanted to awaken the evil and had betrayed the other eight clans, who they were then currently at war with them. They were much more powerful, and have death on their side in the form of undead, and being able to drain the life from their enemies.

Baxtorian believed they had an ally from “the other side” (the real world) and figured they could do with the same in the form of Cirice and her companions. For those in Cantre’r Gwaelod, beyond is just a sea of twilight, from which none who have ventured into have returned. The last to have attempted it was Lord Amlodd’s great great grandfather, who tried to sail it and was never seen again.

Cirice told him that she sought Morfran in order to find Ceridwen’s Cauldron, to which she told her that if the clans were united then she could find him. She would probably need to usurp the leader of Clan Iorwerth and find a member sympathetic to their cause – or find a survivor from Clan Cywir to put in their place, as they shared the same blood.

Baxtorian had intercepted a message bound for Clan Iorwerth, talking of a “temple of light” being nearly unearthed, and that they would focus its power towards Vim for some undisclosed purpose.

After Cirice asked for Oskar to be brought to rejoin them, giving the description of “an apparently blind boy with a pig”, she decided that they had best return to Sherwood and from there begin to research the Temple of Light’s nature and location.

Before that, however, Cirice requisitioned some of their crystal tools for research purposes, to which Baxtorian provided a saw, hammer and chisel. Oskar’s eyes lit up when he heard that the crystals were of roughly equal value to metal in Gwaelod – something he would certainly be looking into…

He also bought two pieces of amber from the merchant, as it was plentiful and therefore cheap there. The group then ventured back into the forest, performing another ritual to summon the Liars.

Cirice asked what they would like in exchange for them telling her the secret of how to use the trods. They explained that different faeries owned other trods, so she would need to gain permission to use other faeries’ – but they would certainly tell her how to use them.

Cirice and the Liars pondered what they would like to exchange for such a secret, and Torvi suggested a secret in exchange. Cirice was reluctant to provide hers, but after being told that they would not be readily sharing it with others, she told them of how her ancestor belonged to a group that would cause her to be hunted down by her peers if they were to find out.

The Liars considered this a fair trade, and leaned down to whisper to her the secrets; Cirice therefore gained the ability to open faerie roads, providing someone who possesses Second Sight (such as Torvi) is there to guide her to it. With that done, the Liars opened the way back to the clearing they had entered Gwaelod from, and they bid their farewells.

Erik and the cart were no longer waiting for them, so the group followed the tracks down the road towards England when they encountered the cart, with the contests rifled through, Erik and the mules missing, and several arrows stuck in the side.

Looking more closely, the cooking supplies that Alfred hadn’t taken with him had been stolen. Torvi spotted a red cap hanging off a low-hanging branch, Hamlet could smell blood, and Alfred and Cirice saw the mule tracks leading East, and that of Erik and another pair heading South.

Four more sets followed them, and the group followed that to a hill fort ringed by woodland. Torvi had a premonition of great danger, and warned Cirice. The group entered the woods cautiously, and they saw spiderwebs everywhere – some incredibly large – and millions of spiders sitting in and hanging from them.

Everyone backed out swiftly, with Oskar in particular keeping great distance from the treeline. Cirice assumed her peregrine falcon form and flew over the top to the hill fort, where Erik stood chatting to a wounded man.

The wounded man introduced himself as Rufus the Redcap, and he’d had a bad feeling about travelling yesterday, but had somehow known he could trust Erik when they encountered one another on the road, and opted to travel together to Sagehollow.

They were ambushed by very skilled bandits – Erik had killed one or two, but they kept coming so he and Rufus fled to the hill fort, running afoul of giant spiders within. Rufus was wounded and the pair barely made it to the fort itself, and the bandits didn’t dare to follow them.

Since then, they had been stuck in the ring of woodland, waiting for help or until they ran out of food and had to make a mad dash for it.

Cirice experimentally cast Charge of the Angry Winds at the woods, blowing uncountable normal-sized spiders out of the forest – many landing on the waiting Torvi, Alfred and Oskar. The latter two fled on instinct, and Torvi backed away when she noticed the trees shifting under the moving weight of far larger creatures within.

With the giant spiders swarming over the exact area, Erik picked Rufus up and sprinted through a different section of woods, with a few giant spiders noticing and giving chase.

Erik threw Rufus at Torvi before readying his axe, as Cirice landed nearby and returned to her human form. Torvi pulled Rufus’ arm over her shoulders and limped away from the woods, as Erik met the charge of the foremost spider with his axe. Hamlet valiantly charged in and headbutted it, wounding it badly.

Alfred later joined the fray, and Cirice launched another spider back into the woods with her Charge of the Angry Winds, but another pounced on her and injected its venom. She then became a Dust Devil, dissipating into dust and reforming some distance away, whilst Alfred finished off the last spider.

Torvi set Rufus down and ran to Cirice, tending to her wounds. It took some time, but eventually she drew the foul, black venom out of the wound, then turning to stitch Rufus’ wound together. With that done, Alfred and Erik pulled the cart back to Cardington and reclaimed the mules from a rather upstanding farmer who had been sold them for an extraordinarily good price.

Then being able to load Rufus and Cirice onto the cart, the group headed back to Sagehollow to turn the wounded to Doctor Maynard and introduce Rufus to the present mages.

(Spring) 1192 – The Heir of Farnesfield
Participants: Rohen, Cass, Islwyn, Percival, Cuthbert.

Essel gathered a handful of grogs, explaining to them how she wanted them to go to the town of Grantham, to meet up with Rohen d'Aincourt, the heir of Farnesfield, recently returned from Normandy, partly due to Marion's request (nunnery adventure) and partly due to the magical nature of his ancestry.

The plan was for them to claim to be in the service of a clerk of the King named Ser Humphrey, who was overseeing the construction of a pleasure palace and hunting lodge for the King’s return from Crusade, named Fairhaven. He will support Rohen’s claim to Farnesfield in exchange for his friendship, and only reveal the covenant’s true existence and nature once Rohen was in too deep, and indebted to back out of it.

The group set off, passing through Wirchenfield and Rugford abbey. After making camp one night, Cass fell asleep on her watch out of boredom, and the following morning – having not been woken up for his own watch – Percival shook her awake and told her that she’d fallen asleep on watch.

She indignantly told him that she’d fulfilled her duties on watch, woken him up, and gone back to sleep; he must have fallen back asleep immediately afterwards. She was convincing enough to plant a seed of doubt in his mind, and he let the matter drop.

The next evening, the group reached the town of Newark and immediately went to the tavern, where Percival engaged in a drinking contest. Being bored of his drunken loutery, Cass wandered off to the bank of the Trent River and hunted toads. After multiple failed attempts, she eventually bought one from a fisherman and carried it back to the pub in her pocket, coming up with several excuses for the curious villagers who saw it on her walk.

Percival, meanwhile, did commendably in the drinking contest, but fell at the last hurdle and the contest ended in a draw. After throwing up, Percival spotted Cass arriving and beckoned her over for a drink. Cass accepted, and asked where Islwyn was. As Percival looked around for him, Cass attempted to slip the toad into his drink.

With unbelievable speed and awareness given his inebriation and Cass’ talent for such matters, he slapped his hand over his tankard as Cass dropped the toad, resulting in it squatting on his hand. As he processed just what the hell he was seeing, Cass snatched it back and stowed it away again for future shenanigans.

That night, as Percival was sleeping, she sneaked into his room and put the frog – which she had named Trevor – into his waterskin. The following morning on the road, he took a big swig of his waterskin, and found himself kissing the toad, who seemed pretty relaxed about the whole ordeal.

Percival went to grab it, but it hopped onto his shoulder. Another grab, and it hopped onto his forearm. He then attempted to flick it at Cass, who dodged it with impressive alacrity. She decided to leave the toad to do toad things rather than disturb it any more, but it hopped after her looking forlorn. She decided to take it with her, at least until she came to a convenient body of water to leave it in.

The group continued on their journey and finally came to the town of Grantham, where they again filed into the pub and Cass spotted a young woman scanning the crowd, as if looking for someone. Cass brought a drink over to her and started chatting, and quickly realised that she was looking for those that bore Marion's token (the party); a healer named Marianne, weirdly.

After proving that the group were sent by Marian, she took us to her home and introduced us to Rohen d'Aincourt and his bodyguard, Ser Robert. Cass and Cuthbert explained the situation, and Rohen told them how he had been pursued by soldiers keen on killing him before his presence became public knowledge – all his other guards had been killed fighting them, and Ser Robert had been wounded.

They made haste towards Newark, reaching the gates shortly before the soldiers reached them. They stopped off at the same inn from before, and Cass attempted to misdirect them in vain.

Whilst she and Islwyn gathered food and bandages from the market, a group of men tracked Rohen down and a fight broke out in the pub. After a frenetic brawl, the men withdrew carrying their friend, and Ser Robert was left badly wounded.

After leaving him at the Hospital of the Templars, they headed towards the village of Lexington, governed by its castellan, Anselin the Butler - an old friend of Rohen’s father. He was an ageing man who never married and retains a staff entirely of men, leading to many rumours about his proclivities.

On the way they crossed the river Trent on a ferry, in which Cass offered Trevor the Toad out to the water. He seemed conflicted, and spent a long moment staring at Cass, but eventually decided to follow his natural instincts and reluctantly hopped into the water.

Robert Giscard is waiting for him to die in order to claim his castle, whilst the Abbot Simon has been pressing him to donate it to the church. Its largest homestead belongs to Lexington’s headsman, a late-middle-aged farmer named Toki, renowned for his wisdom, especially regarding crops and fertiliser.

After stopping in with Anselin to show his face, exchange pleasantries and be invited to dinner, Rohen met with Toki to kill some time, who mentioned another old farmer in Farnesfield called Godwin, nicknamed “Old Odin”, who he gave the high praise of “knowing which end of a shovel to hold”.

Having dinner with Anselin, they discussed Rohen’s family being suspiciously taken out of the picture and his pursuit by soldiers. Shocked, Anselin asked who could be responsible for such a thing. Rohen replied that he would certainly not wish to challenge the honour of any man without evidence… to which Cass quipped “yeah, especially when it’s Robert Giscard”.

After the meal, Anselin and Rohen bade each other their best wishes, and the group opted to journey the rest of the way off-road, attempting to pass unnoticed through the woodland. This went well originally, up until they neared the road towards Sagehollow. Rohen, wholly unused to being stealthy, gave away their position and a group of seven nearby soldiers made their way into the trees.

Cass, well-hidden in the undergrowth and armed only with a dagger and wearing leathers, opted to stay hidden and opt to edge her way around the side, waiting for the leader at the back of the group to enter the treeline to take him hostage.

Percival managed to hold off several enemies at once, doing little damage but occupying them all and displaying his resilience whilst Islwyn pelted them full of arrows. Eventually, the soldiers lost one too many men and retreated, leaving the group free to continue on to Sagehollow.

Rohen objected to being blindfolded for the final approach, but begrudgingly accepted when Cass shrugged helplessly and said they were just following orders from “Ser Humphrey”.

Once there, Rohan was introduced to him, who explained the fabricated story of “Fairhaven”, the King’s secret hunting lodge in construction, and offered to support Rohen’s claim to Farnesfield in exchange for favours down the line.

Percival was left in the care of Doctor Maynard, whilst the others (including Essel disguised as Ser Humphrey via the succubus's trick) set off alongside “Ser Humphrey” to Farnesfield. There, Rohen went through the village chatting to the people – some of whom remembered him – including Old Odin the farmer, young Osbert (a woefully underqualified and overworked carpenter), Owen (the animal handler), and Rosaline (a servant)

The overall narrative from the villagers was that Giscard’s man running Farnesfield, Ser Walter, was raising taxes to an extortionate extent in order to line his (and presumably Giscard’s) pockets. He’d stripped the assets of the people, sold the pasture lands, and much of the livestock. The Steward is lecherous, and the village priest is creepy, impious and firmly in Ser Walter’s pocket.

Ser Walter himself came to confront this strange young man and his coterie, and the two engaged in a public debate for their respective rights to govern Farnesfield.

After some back-and-forth, Cuthbert arrived with a message from Robert Giscard, in response to a letter that Essel had sent on Rohan's behalf had sent, along with a fee of accession and a generous donation to the crusade fund (for Rohan to repay on his honor). Giscard was clearly greatly annoyed by his survival, but obviously couldn’t be seen to say as much. He begrudgingly allowed Rohen to claim Lordship over Farnesfield as he had every right to it, but under the proviso that he was able to meet all tax requirements expected of him, or he would be replaced by Ser Walter again.

With that, Ser Walter and his retinue left, and Rohen went to the dilapidated remains of his family’s manor, where he was visited by the slightly-senile and rude ghost of his father.

“Ser Humphrey” then informed him that he had taken the liberty of paying Farnesfield’s taxes to the Sheriff for the year, as well as his considerable fee of accession and donation/bribe to allow him a bit of breathing room to get the village back in shape; with the massive list of issues to resolve, it would occupy much of Rohen’s time and resources for a while.

With that, he was left to manage the village’s steady return to its former state, and the people of Sagehollow returned home.

(Spring) 1192 – Diplomatic Introductions
Participants: Essel, Islwyn, Millie, Old Giles, Richard, Silk.

Essel gathered a handful of grogs and set off towards Ungulus, planning to then head to Voluntas to finally meet Julia.

After arranging transport by boat from Nottingham to the village of Hope, Silk bought a cart for the rest of the journey; haggling for a discount price as he was merely “renting” it and claimed to be heading back the same way. He knew full well that the group wasn’t returning that way, and Essel made him promise to take it back on his own time.

After passing through Manchester, they began the long journey up to Kendal in increasingly stormy and miserable weather, with most of the group huddled under the tarpaulin in the back of the wagon as Silk and Giles sat up top peering through the mist.

Silk missed the sign and Giles couldn’t read, and assumed Silk had seen it. After some time, they realised they’d gone the wrong way and travelled back. On the road they were stopped by some locals, who lightly interrogated them on their business and investigated the contents of the cart, saying how they’d been raided several times recently and were taking no chances.

Stopping for the night in Kendal, they awoke the next morning to continue their journey and Giles noticed that one of the sacks of grain they’d been carrying had been partially emptied and refilled with sand. Deciding not to make an issue out of it, they sifted the sand out and continued without comment, trading the remainder of the grain for some very high-quality wool.

After following the Ribble River they came to Appleby to shelter from the now-raging storm, where they encountered at the pub a group of mercenaries. Essel arranged for a good price to gain their company on the road to Carlisle, due to alternating rides on the wagon and sharing food.

After stopping in Carlisle and bidding farewell to the mercenaries, the group travelled the storm-strewn path to Cockermouth, and from there wandered around until coming to Ungulus. They were greeted by a lone covenfolk who couldn’t remember his own name, who led them into a waiting room of sorts.

After waiting for a full day, another awkward covenfolk turned up with a redcap in tow, clearly highly surprised and disconcerted with the room already being occupied. She turned to the redcap and apologised, but the redcap waved her off and said it would make the wait more interesting.

She was a short young woman with wild blonde hair and a bright smile, with a massive feather in her hat and a messenger bag over one shoulder. She introduced herself as Millie, and asked Essel and Silk about what they were up to, gladly talking about her own covenant of Voluntas in return. She was delighted to hear they were heading that way next, as they could give one another company on the road.

The same covenfolk, Alice, turned up later to lead them to meet with some of the magi of Ungulus. There, Essel met with Flavius and Sinead of Ex-Misc, while Espera of Merinita mostly kept out of the room.

Flavius was happy to speak, and was broadly on the same wavelength as Essel. She explained that she was also keen to revitalise the waning Ungulus with new blood, which the other magi were opposed to – and that she was willing to resolve their issues for them in order to make it happen.

Sinead insisted that the dragon that had killed Parsirus, Ungulus’ Vertidius mage, be killed in turn. After initially railing against the idea of Essel going to speak to the dragon first in order to establish the exact nature of Parsirus’ death, she begrudgingly accepted once Essel explained that either she would be killed (in which case her status as Spring Tenens would lead a detailed investigation to be launched and the dragon likely killed in the process), or she would resolve the issue.

Espera got involved once the fae were mentioned, insisting that she wasn’t afraid of the curse that a faerie lord had placed upon her – somewhat undermined by the plethora of iron charms she wore and the fact that she’d not left the covenant since the curse, despite previously being rather perambulatory. She was intrigued by Essel's offer to suffer the wrath of the Fae on her behalf, in exchange for her removing her objection to new mages joining, although she doubted it could be done.

She refused to elaborate as to the nature of the curse, so once she had left, Flavius handed Essel a note to serve as a clue to help her find the faerie; not daring to do anything more than that for fear of incurring Espera’s wrath.

Essel thanked Ungulus sincerely for their time, insight and help, and promised to continue their correspondence, and that they would see one another the next year at the tribunal meeting. With that, the group departed Ungulus.

Millie led them through York, where they stopped in at a pub and Giles got chatting with some old soldiers. Silk took the opportunity to wax lyrical about the band of mercenaries the group had travelled to Carlisle with, exaggerating the perils of their journey by an order of magnitude in the process.

Silk scolded Essel for only bringing a gift for Julia rather than the rest of their would-be hosts at Voluntas, and so she did some shopping. Millie gave her some advice; Corvus wasn’t a fan of social convention and thus likely wouldn’t be insulted by not being given a gift by a guest. Desiderius was a necromancer and also keen to be sociable, and thus he might like a skull or some other grisly décor, more for the thought than anything. Phessallia wouldn’t likely be there and basically refuses to talk to Millie, so she said not to worry about her. Kirist might like something made of asbestos? Ethelwald, the Lord of Wilton, was expecting a child and perhaps something for the baby would be appreciated.

Silk suggested a wooden sword and Essel a cot, but Millie said Ethelwald wouldn’t be a fan of a sword (as he deliberately avoided being a knight) and he likely already had a finely made cot. Essel opted for a toy horse.

With that done, Millie led them to the village of Wilton where Voluntas resided, explaining that though the manor was where the mages’ living quarters and labs were, it didn’t have space for a meeting room or the like, and thus visitors were to wait in the town, where the covenfolk lived.

After giving the barman a warm greeting and telling them that she brought some guests, he showed them into the back room and sent word to the mages. In attendance were Kirist, Phessallia and Julia. Kirist however did not stay long, taking just enough time to assure Essel once again that he is ready to strike at the Ascians once they have been located.

After exchanging pleasantries (and giving them gifts), Essel discussed her plans for the Stonehenge Tribunal, urging Julia to attend and vote alongside Flavius of Ungulus and herself. The hope was that the three covenants pooling their sigils – alongside one or two others like Schola Pythagoranis or Cad Gadu, who had also agreed to attend – could break Blackthorn’s stranglehold and legally vote for a new tribunal location.

Julia argued against that, with the surprisingly insightful backing of Millie, and even Silk at points. They argued that trying to win via political bludgeoning wouldn’t work; Blackthorn have been consolidating their strength for decades, and brute force is playing to their strengths. Let alone the fact that doing so on their own turf would add insult to injury – something they would not be inclined to go unpunished.

Essel may enjoy a certain measure of diplomatic immunity due to her status as Spring Tenens, but the other magi could fairly easily meet an unfortunate “accident” on the road, or be the subject of a Wizard’s War due to some manufactured justification.

Instead, they suggested a boycott of the tribunal, followed by convincing other covenants to establish their own, which would hopefully force Blackthorn to come to them rather than the other way around, losing some of their intimidation factor.

If they then kept that pressure on for the next several years, they could erode Blackthorn’s power base and there would be little recourse available to Blackthorn without coming across as power-greedy to the other tribunals and destroying what goodwill they may have.

Essel eventually accepted this argument, and resolved to write to Ungulus to request Flavius decline to appear at the next year’s tribunal. They then resolved to attempt to convince Schola Pythagoranis to join their cause next, and the four covenants could then form a quorate.

Then they could vote to move the tribunal’s location elsewhere – Essel suggested Ungulus as a good choice, instead of Voluntas (Julia's choice) as a neutral location – to at least move it out of Blackthorn’s territory, and in the face of such concerted opposition, Blackthorn would have to make compromises, and thus begin the tipping of the scale towards balance in Stonehenge.

With that plan established, Julia asked Essel’s opinion of Millie, and she graciously replied that Millie’s company was stimulating, and that the journey to Voluntas was made easier by her help. Julia explained that as she was apprenticed at Voluntas, it made sense for her to settle down at another covenant – Sagehollow had no resident redcap, and as Essel clearly enjoyed having her, she surely would love to have her.

Boxed in, Essel could only accept, to the delight of Millie. The group then departed back to Sagehollow, stopping in briefly to talk with Lord and Lady Ethelwald and deliver their present.

(Summer) 1192 - The Giant and the Beanstalk
Participants: Tancred, Adelaide, Erik, Haeddi, Theopania

After being rewarded magic beans during the Nottingham Goose Fayre, it was decided that the covenant should plant them in the summer, as they would only sprout a beanstalk if they were planted within a year.

Haeddi was sure that all the beans needed to be planted together, inside a magic or faerie aura, and on the night of a full moon. It was decided that doing so within Sagehollow would risk attracting attention, so they planted it in the woods, being led by Chimi to an appropriate place.

With the beans planted, the stalk grew rapidly over the course of a day, before slowing to a stop as it reached the clouds. Knowing it would only last a week, five volunteers prepared for the climb by tying a rope between them; Tancred, Adelaide, Erik, Haeddi and Theopania.

The climb was rough, with Adelaide slipping early and hanging on the rope below the others for some of it. After that, she managed to keep up with the others until they crested the top, led by Theopania, to gaze out over a mass of white wisps.

The lighter wisps reached their knees – or waist, in Adelaide's case – while beneath their feet it was as solid as earth. After taking some time to relax after the climb, the group experimented with reshaping the lighter wisps of cloud as if it were snow. Adelaide was instructed to build what she called a “Cloudman” so they could better spot where the top of the beanstalk was.

Eventually, their focus turned to the castle some distance away; built in the Norman style complete with a moat, albeit sized for a giant. As they neared, they discovered the moat contained a strange shimmer that none dared investigate, especially when the drawbridge lowered itself as if in welcome.

The door too opened, and the group stepped into an entrance hall, with Erik and Tancred each vying to take point. Before anyone could go far, the floor beneath them vanished, and Theopania’s grasp for the door was prevented by magic.

Descending safely, the group found themselves in a square chamber sized for humans, with a single door in the centre of each wall. It became clear there was some puzzle involved, as Tancred and Haeddi translated a message on one wall as "Follow the correct path or the path will correct you."

One of the doors began to pulsate, its glow clearly indicating where to start. Sensibly deciding to mark each door they tried, the group travelled through the doors, with some leading them right back to the start, and others to near-identical squared chambers. Eventually through trial and error, they found more lines;

"Jack, a poor country boy, trades the family cow for a handful of magical beans, which grows into a massive towering beanstalk that reaches into the clouds."

"Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds himself in the castle of an unfriendly giant."

"The giant senses Jack's presence and calls out 'Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

Unperturbed, the group joked how the only English amongst them were not men. Returning to the task at hand, they could see no pattern to it, so Theopania suggested that Erik try the doors at random, calling the others through if they led to more rooms. Roughly every second or third room, they found more messages:

"Outwitting the giant, Jack is able to retrieve many goods once stolen from his family..."

"...Including a bag of gold, an enchanted goose that lays golden eggs and a magic harp that plays itself."

"Jack then escapes by chopping down the beanstalk."

Eventually they came to a room with two doors and a large seal on the right-hand wall. Written there was the final part of the tale, which read "The giant, who is pursuing him, falls to his death, and Jack's family prospers."

Investigating the seal, they found it to be comprised of seven concentric circles each inscribed with seven matching symbols. Haeddi explained that the symbols represented the hermetic arts of Animal, Auram, Corpus, Herbam, Imaginem, Mentem and Terram.

Additional markings showed that each circle could be turned, and that the symbols needed to be aligned in the correct combination at the top. Deciding to connect each circle to the story, the group began to discuss which magical art tied best to each line. While doing so, Haeddi noticed faded writing below saying "Symbols may not match one part of the story. There may be multiple."

This made the group decide against the idea of using each symbol only once resulting in their first guess: Animal, Corpus, Imaginem, Mentem, Terram, Herbam and Corpus.

They were shown to be on the right track, as all the symbols glowed blue except for Terram, which glowed red. They changed it to Animal, yielding the same result, before trying Imaginem, which opened the vault.

Beyond lay a torchlit cave, containing the magical treasures they sought. Within sat a massive golden goose, two or three times larger than normal, and beside it was five proportionately sized golden eggs. Also within the cave was a small harp of gold, which was playing a gentle rhythm automatically.

As the group cautiously moved, in a shadowed patch by the harp stirred and the harp stopped playing. The giant’s voice called out "Fee-fi-fo-fum!, I smell the blood of... Humans", as he emerged from the darkness. He was an ugly creature, roughly twenty feet tall and clad in roughly stitched bear pelts.

Erik and Tancred spoke briefly on how to fight the monster alone, before Adelaide stepped forward drawing her knife. Erik cheered her on as Tancred remarked how she was well trained.

Before the unarmed giant could ready itself, the trio charged. Tancred struck first, landing a near-crippling blow, before easily sidestepping its answering swing as it lashed out at him. Adelaide darted in after him, her long knife carving into its lower leg. Erik, in his berserk state, then launched himself upwards to decapitate the creature, before Haeddi and Theopania could even act. Erik’s rage was brief but decisive, as he calmed himself and began to show off.

As Erik approached the harp it began to play a heroic tune which only caused further posing. Meanwhile, Tancred and Adelaide attempted in vain to calm the goose, which panicked and forced Tancred to grab it. Working to distribute the goods, the harp came to Theopania, for whom it seemed uncertain what to play.

It wasn't long before someone caught sight of a trapdoor and the attached rope in the ceiling that seemingly hadn't been there moments before. Not wasting time, Theopania managed a wall run to grab for the rope, pulling opening the door with her weight and causing a sturdy giant-sized ladder to drop out onto the floor. The room above was brightly lit, the additional illumination allowing the group to spot a bag of coins in the once shadows of the cave.

Struggling under the weight of their loot, they emerged in the entrance hall once more. Laying down the heavy harp, Theopania searched the other rooms, finding gold cutlery in one and some hermetic books (Corpus, Imaginem & Mentem) in another, amidst several books telling the tale of Jack's encounter with a giant.

After gathering their combined loot, Theopania volunteered to look after it whilst Tancred and Erik climbed down to return to Sagehollow, to organise a collection party to retrieve it all before the beanstalk disappeared.

(Summer) 1192 – Gresham Barrows
Participants: Evelyn, Will scarlet, Lady Tessora, Gillian, Alistair, Will's chosen men (28 mercenary soldiers)

Following on from her vision granted by Saint Winifred at Gresham Nunnery, about the location of a runic axe once wielded by a Viking Chief who sacked the monastery that preceded the nunnery. Evelyn assembled a large team to brave the Barrow lands and retrieve it. After gaining some advice from Torvi the party made their way to Gresham Nunnery to see if the sisters had managed to find anything of use in their archives.

The journey to the Nunnery was uneventful, due to the large size of their entourage. At the Nunnery Evelyn was met once again by Abbess Hedwig, who again offered her services if Evelyn was having problems with excessive pride. After mentioning the vision Abbess Hedwig referred her to Sister Malory the librarian. Sister Malory has found an account written by one of the monks (Godfrey) who resided at the former Monastery, he had survived the sacking and returned later to retrieve a lost relic taken by the Viking Chief. He describes the standing stone Evelyn saw in her vision, he was able to decipher and translate the inscriptions on the other side of the stone. (Ogham – Latin) although he did not record the answers. A further account shows he did answer the riddles, and the forest around him turned into a god forsaken place of fear and darkness, home to beasts and spirits, creatures of fear itself. He resolved to explore further, believing it a test of faith to overcome mortal fear. He set out leaving the sign of Saint Winifred as he passed… (the account ends here)

Undeterred by the warning the party travelled the short distance to the standing stone, using the translations of the riddles from Godfrey's notes, and there own reasoning they answered the riddles correctly. On answering the last one; I have forests but no trees, lakes but no water, paths but no carts what am I? - A map The forest behind them changed into a dark, hostile and fearful place, reasoning the Regio boundary must be open, the party sent the horses away and ventured on foot into the forest.

The forest trail was narrow and hard to follow, the plants on the sides hostile and menacing, the foliage thick and dark made it unclear how long had passed. After some time, stone statues of monks could be seen, located around a ruined building that could only be the ruins of the former Monastery destroyed by the raiders. Exhausted from the journey the party camped amongst the ruins. At night the spirits of monks could be seen, faces contorted with fear and pain, reliving their last moments during the torching of their monastery. Perturbed by the horrifying visions the watches were on guard. The most perceptive of the party caught a glance of a large creature resembling a human sized goat walking on 2 feet.

Shortly afterwards the camp was attacked by an immense swarm of rats, waking and rallying the frightened host, Will and Lady Tessora organized a defense. Many minor wounds were suffered, the worst damage was the loss of much of the provisions, and the shredding of several tents and water skins. After crushing many rats by brute force and aided by Evelyn's fire magic the swarm was dispersed. At daybreak the ghosts of the monks returned to their statues and became still again. Lady Tessora had invoked God's aid to calm their suffering with some temporary success.

The journey continued along the path, a message was spotted inscribed on a tree “Confront your fear and be the light that banishes the shadow, there nothing to fear more than fear itself” along with an image of a decapitated woman. This showed that Godfrey had passed here on his journey. At the end of the trail was a large thorn encrusted hedge. But in front of that stood the 'Bockman' the goat creature glimpsed before, using its power to create fear it terrified Evelyn, and unsettled many of the company. As Evelyn tried to get away from the beast Lady Tessora (unaffected by its powers) drew her sword and slew the creature.

Stepping over the corpse of the beast the party gathered around the hedge, next to which was another inscription “there is nothing to fear but fear itself, obstacles must be overcome” Will and Gilly tried to climb the wall, Will failing at the task but Gilly reached the top. Evelyn used magic to float to the top and once the pair climbed down the other side, overcoming the obstacle it opened, allowing the rest through. Standing on the path before them was the ghost of Brother Godfrey.

After camping for the night, the next ‘morning’ (it’s as dark as dusk) Godfrey beckons them to follow and walks towards the fort. The ground around them was silent and lifeless, the party felt watched but saw nothing, on the low plains around them, discarded and rusted weapons and low bumps were seen, but no signs of bodies. At the entrance to the fort Godfrey stopped and said “I faced my fear and passed through the forest of doubt, my faith rewarded, my path blessed by Saint Winifred herself. I came here to speak to the Chief who had wronged us, to ask for the Relic’s return, to spread news of God’s mercy and that no crime cannot be forgiven”

As he led them in the settlement appears around them, they didn't seem to notice the party, just going about daily tasks as if they weren’t there. Godfrey led Evelyn and Lady Tessora to the hall Godfrey explains how he appealed to Olav for the return of the relic box, Olav listened to him and his preaching, he was most interested in the power of relics. He wanted the protection, and power of the Relic and Christ, but became enraged when he was told he would need to renounce his Old Gods. Believing the Monk was hiding the secrets from him he was killed, believing his bones held power because he had faith like the saint whose bone resides in the relic box, his remains were kept to be buried with the chief, to gain extra protection from this God in addition to his own gods to further protect his Clan from the cursed Barrows.

Realizing that Godfrey was talking Latin, that only Evelyn and lady Tessora understood. Will, Alistair, Gilly and half the chosen men went back to the forest to resupply and fill the water skins for the journey to the barrows beyond the camp.

Godfrey then took Evlyn and Lady Tessora to the main Hall, where a feast is taking place, the Chief rose and gave a speech “We came to this land to give new hope to our people, starving and surviving in the harsh northlands, we watched our children starve and our families freeze. We died in constant war over scant resources. Here in England, we found a land of bountiful harvest, mild weather and abundant wealth, so much wealth that they hoard it in stone houses, unguarded for a God that does not even desire wealth, instead of sharing with us, they reproach us because Our gods are not theirs any more. So, we war, and fight to survive anew, fight for the right to live as we have always done, the future in our hands”.

After this Godfrey spoke; “It was good to hear his words, his reason for the suffering he inflicted, I sympathize with the plight of his people, as a Christian I lament the death of all. But does his people’s suffering justify the wrath he inflicted upon us?” That is for God to judge.

Next Godfrey shows Olav and the shaman and Orm in dialogue, the shaman assures Olav that with his magick, the relics of the Christians, and the willing sacrifice of Olav and his champion, that he could turn Olav and his champion into spiritual guardians to protect his people from the cursed being of the Barrows, he could take his place amongst the kings of old, and cement his legitimacy in these lands. The shaman mentions a legend of a sword of power buried nearby, but only the god’s can reveal its location. This sword would give his successor the power to defend his lands.

after the feast the King announces that he is too old and weak to defend this land, his chance of a glorious death has faded, but he can still have an honorable one. He states that to ensure his heir has the strength he needs; the King will ask the God’s in person to guide them to the sword, he also tells his Shaman he wants to be buried in the cursed Barrow to the North, with his axe, the relics and his Magic he will tame the dark spirits that reside there, and guard his people beyond his death. Frayer stands and says “As your shield maiden I have guarded you in life, if a glorious battle against the dead awaits, I will fight by your side, to protect you and those we leave behind” At the realization of what this means, the hall falls silent. The shaman explains the sacrifices will happen at nightfall.

The King’s personal effects, including his axe, and a small box marked with the sign of the cross are placed in a chest to be buried with him, also on his funeral train is the skeleton of Eustace (with his monk’s outfit). his champion attends him, and prepares themselves to fulfil their oath (to guard his tomb and protect his legacy) At nightfall outside the great hall. The Shaman marks the forehead of the champion, and places a ligature (containing the request) around the king’s neck. He then performs the sacrifice of the pair, and falls into a trance (waking in the morning). When he awakens, he tells the new King,

“Wayland passed this way, and left a sword to be found. Guarded by a beast of untamable ferocity the seeker must overcome the Beast within as well as without. The seeker will sit atop the first Barrow constructed, fast for 3 days surrounded by food, pay the guide a sacrifice pleasing to the guide. Then the quest may begin.” (This is said by Godfrey, talking over the Shaman)

Perplexed and disappointed by the Shaman the new king argues with the shaman, who replies “Ritual sacrifice isn’t a perfect science.”

After the visions have finished the settlement fades from sight, Godfrey goes over to his place of death and looks somber. He says “try to get some sleep this night the dead will battle once more on the plain below, the last battle between the Saxon conquerors and the last pagan warriors, doomed to be repeated again and again, not just them, warriors from battles long since forgotten, they fight, then march through the barrows and vanish once more.”

At this point it is realized that a party of guards gone to get water and wood from the forest aren’t back yet, and are about to be caught up in the battle below.

The battle field is a mass combat with soldiers of all time periods fighting each other – Romans fighting Celts, Saxons fighting Vikings, Normans from the conquest, marauding Picts, as Will's team try to make it to the safety of the camp a battle between Roman horsemen and Chariots cuts them off from retreat back to the forest. On the edge of the battle they were engaged by Celtic warriors mostly, Gilly dispatching her adversary as did Alistair (a Saxon huscarl) and Will (Roman centurion) Nearing the fort the company were caught in the middle of a fight between Norman knights and Celtic Chariot warriors. Will and Alistair bravely held of the knights. Alistair fought honorably but was slain by one of the knights. Will ignored honor and slew the knights horse, toppling the rider who was killed by a chariot. 9 of the mercenary company also died on the battlefield.

The bodies of Alistair and the other chosen men, immediately bleached to skeletons, and their spirits rose to join the unceasing conflict around them. Back at the camp, while the party rest and wait for the procession of the dead to pass, Godfrey speaks to Lady Tessora, telling her “The dead will continue to rise and battle eternally, the only way to save them is to lay their mortal remains to rest in consecrated ground. In the regular world these bodies lie forgotten and abandoned, here their spirits are trapped yearning for release. God clearly favors you highly, I beseech thee thus; see a church built in these plains, have the land consecrated so that they rise no longer. This land can be restored to life, crops grown, livelihoods established and peace can take the place of war.”

Will's survivors made it to the fort, to hear Evelyn exclaim rest up we have a dangerous day ahead at the Barrows. This infuriated Gilly who had just lost Alistair and 9 other comrades, Will intervening to prevent Gilly (injured in the fighting) striking Evelyn.

At day break the next morning the battle ceased and the combatants marched past the camp and through the barrowlands out of sight. The now depleted party continued on to the barrows. As the party walk through the valley, spectral spirits of Celtic warriors/cheifs could be seen, armed for battle, but standing on top of their Barrows, they watched but make no further movement. Staring at the party as they passed by. At Olav's Barrow The Spectral form of Olav is standing atop his Barrow, the Wight stood In front of it, he speaks to the party “You’ll not loot my tomb, like the others!”

Upon offers to ‘borrow his loot’ - he replied Why would I trust another cross bearer? I have born witness to your savagery, my people killed or ‘tamed’ promises broken, all I have seen from you is an endless parade of death”

If you would loot my corpse, you must prove yourself worthy of it like proud Vikings! My champion stands before you, let yours step forward, give her the glorious death in battle she deserves, or die here where so many have before, and leave this place Never to Return. Earn my respect, even if you will never earn my forgiveness.

At this Lady Tessora drew her sword and prepared to give the chief's champion the release she sought. The battle was hard fought, however Tessora's blows did not seem to damage the Wight. Remembering the visions Godfrey had shown her, Evelyn realized a specific method was needed to kill the wight. Piecing together the clues she correctly determined the Wight needed to be pierced through the heart with a spear. Suitable equipped Lady Tessora was able to dispatch the Wight, and evade the pestilence of it's last breath.

With the death of his Champion Olav watched but allowed Evelyn to retrieve the axe, the relic and Godfrey's remains from the tomb. Godfrey the monk was able to guide the party out. he murmured a long prayer, after which a path was revealed leading N out of the barrows to a forest, as they leave the barrow more spirits can be seen atop the barrow and others nearby, of more Vikings, men women and children, suggesting many more a buried nearby. The path took the party away from them leading to a Castle gate that opened as they approached, as it was entered the party were back at the original standing stone, in sight of the Nunnery.

Back at the Nunnery the party returned the Relic and Godfrey's remains, commending his achievement and martyrdom, the nuns promised to petition for recognition of his faith. A mass was said for him and the fallen party members.

Back at the Covenent Haeddi was able to identify the rune on the axe as 'Heirloom' Evelyn had gained her first source of insight into Rune Magic, but it had come at a considerable cost.

(Autumn) 1192 – The Irminsul
Participants: Arianwen, Tancred, Torvi, Adelaide, Bryne, Chimi, Osanna.

Arianwen gathered a handful of the covenfolk who accompanied her to aid the King of the Forest, alongside Tancred who volunteered himself and his loyal squire Adelaide along out of boredom. Together, they set off towards the general direction that Rylon had given them.

After passing through Witchburn and Longlake, they camped for the night in the forest. On Tancred and Adelaide’s watch, the squire thought she might have seen a tall dessicated-looking woman walking amongst the trees a distance off, but didn’t get a clear or lasting look and shrugged it off.

The next watch was Arianwen and Bryne, who noticed carrion birds circling directly overhead, and absolutely no other wildlife. Slightly creeped out by this, Bryne loosed an arrow towards them, and the birds fled to the northwest before returning a reasonable amount of time later. He thought he saw movement to the northwest, but it could have just been the wind.

Then came Torvi, Chimi and Osanna’s watch, where Torvi received a premonition of mortal danger in a few day’s time. Unsettled, she watched the ravens overhead. Before going to sleep, Bryne passed on how there was a chance something lay to the northwest. Chimi immediately bounded off in that direction, followed by Torvi. Osanna remained at the camp to watch over the others.

Chimi quickly picked up on some strange bare footsteps, seemingly belonging to some kind of undead. Torvi was worried about Draugr, especially as if it was indeed one, it was seemingly wandering beyond its burial mound and was therefore malevolent. This fear was magnified due to her premonition, and then again when they followed the tracks to a clearing holding around thirty similar pairs of footprints, including one considerably larger pair.

Torvi hesitantly relayed this information to Chimi, and they returned to camp to continue their watch. In the morning, the group compared what they discovered on their watch, and Torvi brokenly explained the footsteps and her premonition, though only Chimi seemed to really understand what she meant by “dead in suns”, then adding by way of explanation that there was “suns in moons”.

Chimi, having ran out of patience, dragged Arianwen to the mass of footprints, who was perturbed by the quantity. Torvi asked if she should “make a seeking” for a barrow, still thinking of them as Draugr. She donned her garb and dowsed for them, finding none and instead leading them to a river for some unknown reason. Chimi dove in and triumphantly returned with a fish, giving it to Torvi, who thanked her and passed it on to Bryne for cooking later.

The group continued northwest, and came to a large and densely forested hill just outside the border of Sherwood. Arianwen, scouting ahead in her Gyrfalcon form, spotted a large standing stone on one side, and what seemed to be the stone tree in the centre of the hill.

After a difficult climb, they decided to investigate the standing stone first, which was inscribed with futhark runes. Torvi read them as:

“Family will war with family and make dead, Family will break family. There is harshness in Miðgard, and many sex, There is time of war. Wind-time, wolf-time, before Miðgard journeys None will show peace.”

The group didn’t really understand much of that, and Torvi interpreted it as speaking of Ragnarök, which she described as “the end times and new times”. She then reiterated her point about “dead in suns”, the exact meaning of still escaped Arianwen and Tancred, but they felt safe in assuming that it wasn’t good.

Chimi could feel that the stone was once enchanted with magic, but it had long since faded. Torvi took a closer look and stated “Gleipnir” - “holding-magick”. Arianwen found it more difficult to return to her human form, and Chimi felt that the area was inhibiting magic. Torvi described this as “trolldomur” - “Eygaldr” - “No magicks”, an effect summoned by servants of Loki and other bad creatures.

Once again, the language barrier proved difficult to completely surmount, but the rest of the group seemed to at least understand that the worst of the effect was no longer a factor, and that their magic was impaired whilst on the hill.

Torvi determined that the undead were likely Valgaldrar – wights often controlled by the Múspell Leikin Hel-Queen, daughter of Loki. Múspelli are some of the most dangerous foes one could face in the north, and so Torvi suggested they leave.

Arianwen decided they continue regardless, and the group went around a few more of the stones to take a look, some of which were recently broken apart. Bored, Chimi found a rock with a hole through it, proudly presenting it to the group. Torvi could see it glowing slightly with her second sight, and told Chimi that it was magic. Pleased with herself, Chimi pocketed it.

Torvi translated from the stones:

''“Ragnarök is arriving. When the sky is broked and the dark powers of Múspelli journey for warring, Frey will be wanting for his sword, Sumarbrandr – sword of sun times.”''

”Odin gived the Gjallerhorn to Heimdall, looker of the gods. When the Gjallerhorn is blowed, it will be waking of the gods, where ever.”

”The Jötunn – big woman – old in iron woods. Sitting in the sun’s rising facing, and borned the childs of Fenrir; In these was one with evil looking, who was soon to taked the sun.”

”A marking from a marking Is lighted and burned, and fire gets from fire; And man by his talking Is knowed to men, and the not knowing by their stillness.”

The group didn’t glean any more information from this, and so Arianwen flew to the stone tree. Based on its description, Tancred and Torvi both recognised it, as an Irminsul and a Lareap respectively, an important ritual pillar in Germanic Paganism. Beside it was a wooden platform.

Pooling their knowledge, the group determined that the Valgaldrar and Múspelli would be seeking to perform some manner of ritual to help bring about Ragnarök, which Arianwen believed would result in the destruction of the faerie realm and the amplification of the magic realm.

Of course, as a militant Christian and oath-sworn to the Order, Tancred was fully supportive of letting it happen – a massive weakening of paganism and a strengthening of hermetic magic clearly aligns with his desires.

Meanwhile, Torvi and Chimi were inherently opposed to it. Ragnarök would mean the deaths of almost all of the Norse Gods, the end of the fae (many of which are good), and the deaths of millions of people. Let alone the fact that the utter collapse of an entire realm would have further unforeseen and potentially catastrophic effects.

Tancred knelt in prayer to commune with Tiffanius, and came out of it explaining that though it was a matter of perspective, the strengthening of mages could be a far greater force for good in the world. Torvi countered by claiming that many evils are committed out of a desire for power, and it is seldom used in the manner in which it was originally intended. In so many words, the notion that power corrupts, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Better to maintain the current equilibrium than try to dominate.

Tancred pointed out to the uncertain Arianwen that hermetic society would be very angry, were they to discover that she had the chance to empower all of the magic realm and didn’t. Torvi countered that one should never base an action – especially one so important – on what others may think of it. It should be decided based on its own merits and one’s own convictions.

His next point was that the covenant would be making a great enemy in the Múspelli, which could have dire consequences, and that Ragnarök has never happened in thousands of years, so why paint a target on our backs? Torvi responded once again that making enemies shouldn’t be the deciding factor behind such a big decision. And the reason why Ragnarök hadn’t happened for thousands of years was precisely because people weren’t willing to let that fact be a deciding factor.

Chimi supported Torvi by insisting that the magic on the hill was bad, and therefore that a magnification of magic here would be very bad. And then, with an utterly sombre and serious tone, that she would stop giving them hugs.

Eventually, Arianwen decided to prevent the ritual by destroying the platform and taking the Irminsul back to Sagehollow. The group made their way through the forest to it, and saw a great quantity of loot; mostly swords, coins and trinkets. Osanna carried as much as she was able to, and Arianwen eagerly retrieved a clay fertility idol for later study.

After that, the sun set, and Arianwen and Torvi spotted movement in the trees around them. Chimi has already climbed the Irminsul, so the others fled to the top of the wooden platform. Three groups of undead, numbering more than adozen, emerged from the treeline and converged on the platform, choosing to ignore Chimi entirely.

They appeared to be former bandits, and were led by a viking. Behind them all was a tall woman, a Múspell, who walked around the far side of the Irminsul to conduct a ritual.

The viking called up for the group to send down their champion, which Torvi translated. Tancred climbed down to face him, and despatched him remarkably swiftly. His triumph was short-lived, however, as many of the remaining undead swarmed him.

The others began hacking at the platform with their axes, and the group stood upon it retaliated. Bryne and Osanna loosed arrow after arrow into them, Arianwen sent their axe hands into spasms, and Torvi, lacking ability to contribute conventionally, simply retrieved Osanna’s looted weapons and began dropping them onto the undead below, letting gravity apply the force.

Meanwhile, Chimi dropped from her tree and bounded straight at the Múspell, leaping up and wrapping her in a tight hug with all four limbs. The Múspell struggled for a time, panicking as she realised she wasn’t able to break free.

Tancred continued to slowly carve his way through the undead, with the protection of Tiffanius ensuring that none of the undead so much as scratched him. Torvi then saw a Valkyrie arrive from the sky, riding a wolf, heading towards the pair. The Múspell, abandoning efforts to conduct the ritual, transformed into a dragon and flew at her, Chimi still clinging on determinedly to a scale.

The Múspell killed both wolf and Valkyrie, and saw that most of the undead had by then been killed. She therefore sought to shake Chimi off and flee, though the padfoot refused to without at least taking a scale with her.

Both got what they wanted, as the Múspell flew through the trees to dislodge her, with Chimi being knocked off, scale in hand, tumbling through branches to soften her fall. The scale turned to a scrap of belt in her hand, much to her annoyance.

The other members of the group drove the few surviving undead back into the trees, before reconvening. Torvi, having watched Chimi clinging onto the flying dragon, greeted her return with a tight hug of her own. The group finally resting for the remainder of the night, and the following morning, they built an A-frame to drag the Irminsul back to Sagehollow.

(Spring) 1193 – Exploring Sagehollow II
Participants: Giles, Percival, Silk, Theopania.

During a snowball fight amongst the grogs of Sagehollow, Giles and Percival made a massive snow boulder and rolled it down a slope towards Silk, who stepped out of the way but subsequently fell through the ground.

He had fallen into an underground hallway – another unexplored segment of the Diedne covenant preceding Sagehollow. After ascertaining that Silk wasn’t too badly hurt, Giles quietly grabbed the nearest two covenfolk – Percival and Theopania – and pitched an idea.

He figured that if they went and told the mages, they’d get a pat on the head, they’d claim it for mage stuff, and that would be that. Whereas if they kept it quiet then they could have their own secret “grog clubhouse”, and only tell the mages if the grogs had done something to piss them off, basically treating it as a card up their sleeve in order to get out of the doghouse. If the mages were to find out about it on their own, they would just swear blind that they’d only discovered it a couple of days prior and were fully intending on telling them.

The others agreed, and so the trio climbed down to join Silk. They realised the scope of the covenant as they explored an entire complex – and received a renewed fear of Tancred, having seen his handiwork in the form of over a hundred bodies scattered around the covenant, many of them bound, and many of them women and children.

These rooms included;
 * An entrance hall
 * A temple
 * A scribe room
 * A procession chamber
 * A mess hall
 * A kitchen
 * Two pantries
 * A mages’ apartment
 * Two mage laboratories
 * Three lounges
 * An armoury
 * Five storage rooms
 * Five bedchambers
 * Six bunk rooms

Giles disparaged any fear around touching the doors with mage symbols on them, due to the "dangerous warding" being the exact type of thing mages would tell the covenfolk to keep them out of their rooms. Theopania agreed, opening the first of them, and when nothing happened to her, Percival was goaded into opening the rest.

The second of the laboratories had two visible doors leading from it, but it had some kind of magical field blocking passage into it. After some experimentation, the grogs saw that water and wood could pass through it, but not people or fire.

There was a set of steps leading down to another floor, but the grogs opted to explore it some other time, as it was getting late. Also of note was a spiral staircase leading up to a hatchway, which the grogs left via.

Discussing their plans for the clubhouse, they established fanciful titles for themselves, opting to operate it in a facsimile of a mages’ council. Giles would be the Grand Chancellor, as it was his brainchild. Percival would be The Master of Keys, as his job became opening the doors. Silk would be the Keeper of Secrets, and his job would be to ensure the existence of the so-called “No Mages Club” remained unknown to any but its members. Theopania would be the Mistress of Coin, responsible for managing the treasury that the club intended on building after charging others a membership fee upon joining.

They agreed that they should bring in members piecemeal to discourage whistle-blowers, based on how trustworthy they were seen as. The first few inductees would be Alfred, Cass and Osanna. Osanna was later brought down, who agreed to keep it a secret, but refused to have any involvement on paper, fearing reprisals if the mages were to discover it.

The plan was to move the contents of the lab equipment storage room elsewhere, and use that as the clubhouse, as it was large, near the entranceway, contained no bodies, and had the mage’s ward sigils to hopefully buy time in case a mage were to come across the complex and explore it.

Some beanbags would be smuggled down, along with lanterns, non-perishable foods and other such creature comforts. The hole that Silk had fallen through would need to be patched up quickly and quietly, and then covered in earth – a job for Giles and Percival, in all likelihood, possibly bribing the carpenter to help.

(Spring) 1193 – Headhunting in Nottingham
Participants: Cass, Falko, Richard, Seven. Evelyn gathered many of the grogs and asked for volunteers to go to Nottingham to bring in some tradesmen and apprentices. Eager for the opportunity to have a day or two out with the covenant’s generous expenses fund, Cass, Falko and Richard volunteered.

As the trio – and a labourer that they’d requisitioned to drive the cart, called Number Seven – neared the city, however, Cass noticed a handful of people emerge from the treeline behind them and follow them, dressed as merchants.

Cass whispered as much to Falko, who agreed that the best thing to do would be to keep an eye on them, and otherwise proceed as normal. Cass volunteered to hang back and slow them down whilst the others got the cart locked up to prevent the “merchants” knowing where they were staying.

As they set off to arrange room and board, Cass approached the guards.

“Heya. Just a head’s up, these guys about to come through the gate? They were lurking in the trees until we went past. Seems pretty dodgy, might wanna check them out.”

"We’ll look into it."

"Thanks. Mind if I stick around to ask some questions?"

"I advise you let us handle it."

"Okay," Cass responded, before heading off anyway. The guard put a hand on her shoulder and actually ordered her to let them handle it. Weirdly, the merchants simply handed the guard a piece of paper. The guard looked at it, shrugged and told them that they could continue as they were.

"What's the letter say?" Cass asked.

"I can't say."

"Oh, you can’t read."

The guard sighed. "I know what it says, I’m just not telling you."

"Oh. That’s rude." She said, before walking up to one of the merchants. She recognised him as drinking at the Red Boar more than once, though he always came in alone, seldom spoke, and merely sat people-watching. She asked who he was.

"None of your business."

"How do you know? You don’t know what my business is."

"And what is your business?"

"What do you think my business is?"

He looked her up and down. "… dancer."

Cass laughed. "Only when I’m drunk, I’m no professional."

"What is your business, then?"

"… Tanner. Can’t you tell by the smell of piss?"

"Hm" was all he said to that, before another of the merchants grew impatient and beckoned him to follow as the group set off. Cass fell in lockstep with them, and they entered a pub – where Falko and Richard were sat drinking. They pretended not to know one another as Cass plonked herself down on the bench beside the merchants, who ignored her.

Falko noticed that the barman had grown tense and was sweating, his eyes darting between the merchants and the door. He quietly told Richard to pretend to flirt with Cass and invite her up to his room, and then made his own way upstairs.

Richard made his way over to her and gave it his best line, “Hello there.”

Cass, maintaining the ruse that she didn’t know him, replied “Hi,” and when no further comment was forthcoming, asked “… can I help you?”

“Do you want to come upstairs with me?”

Cass, not understanding, leaned in and whispered “you know I’m not into men, right?”

Richard leaned in too. “Falko wants you upstairs.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. And really, what did you do?”

“Nothing.”

Cass, not one to pass up the opportunity to mess with people, told him to go upstairs and she’d join him shortly. She then leaned back, gave him an affronted look, and slapped him round the face, as if he’d said something entirely inappropriate.

Before Richard could leave, however, guards stomped into the bar – twenty of them. They took up positions at the door and around the bar, and a group led by a captain walked straight up to Cass’ table.

He thanked the “merchants” for fulfilling their assignment, who saluted him and stepped back. Cass asked him what he wanted, and he replied that he merely wished to ask a few questions, smugly telling her that her “associate” would be brought downstairs shortly.

Meanwhile, Falko heard the guards downstairs and looked out of the window, to see five more guards huddled in the alleyway below him. Falko figured that because they’d done nothing wrong, it was a setup. Because it was a setup, they weren’t going to get a fair trial. Because they weren’t going to get a fair trial, they were going to be executed. Therefore, he was going to go out swinging. He quietly pushed the window open.

Downstairs in the bar, the captain had just finished telling Cass about her associate when there came a colossal noise outside – Falko had flattened all the guards, seriously wounding them, before running off down the alley.

Making a split-second decision, seizing the opportunity of the guards all looking outside, Cass darted away from the guards near her and leapt over the bar, with Richard scrambling after her. They made it outside, where they caught Falko’s eye. They quickly agreed to scatter and make for the poor district to increase their odds of escaping.

Falko merely outlasted his pursuers. Richard rounded a corner, grabbed a nearby woman, and kissed her deeply until the guards ran past. Cass built up enough of a lead to stop and ask for several contradictory directions, throwing the guards off the scent if they tried to get a lead as to where they were headed.

Cass found herself in the noble district, and realised she looked completely out of place. With so many guards patrolling nearby, she quickly determined that trying to stealth out was unlikely, so she tattered her clothes and smeared herself with grime, and then walked up to nobles and begged for money, seeking to get thrown out.

Unfortunately, one of the guards recognised her and cried out. She scampered up the side of the nearest building, stopping to get her bearings. One guard was close on her heels, and as he crested the roof, she booped him on the nose and said “I could have pushed you!” and then ran off. He gave her a wider berth after that, but the guards remained impressively close behind.

She ended up heading towards Nottingham Castle itself, and leapt up onto the wall. As she landed on the battlements, she came across another group of guards who looked at her askance and began to draw weapons. She insistently told them to wait, and when they paused, ran off in the other direction.

One guard tried to tackle her, but she sidestepped and he fell off the wall, screaming. Cass then leapt back onto the roofs and eventually reached the poor district.

Meanwhile, Richard stumbled around Nottingham until he felt a knife at his neck – one of The Fox’s men had recognised him from his last visit, and wondered what he was doing. Richard explained that he found himself wanted by the guards and would be willing to discuss matters with the Fox further.

He was therefore taken to see him, and laid out what he knew – which wasn’t much. The Fox got descriptions of Cass, Rohen, and Number Seven, and sent men out to bring them over.

Seven, having been in the privy when the chaos at the pub ensued, had wisely decided to stay there until everything quietened down. After that, he overheard a quiet conversation between guards talking about a woman at the covenant who was being blackmailed to give Giscard information because a girl close to them was being held hostage.

After forcefully engaging the services of a couple of guards to help get his cart out of the lockup, he wandered around the city, looking for any sign of the others.

Falko, with his upbringing in Nottingham, simply returned to his old watering hole, tended by the ancient “Young Giles”, apparently Old Giles’ father. Not one to refuse a gamble, Falko sat in on a game of dice with five rough customers, putting his entire allocation of silver on the table. He did fairly well, but ended up over-committing and placing everything he had against one of the patrons – one of The Fox’s men – when he dropped a massive lump of gold on the table.

They drew the round, so they took it to an arm wrestle, which they drew as well, so they used their other hands, which the patron won. Falko attempted to wriggle his way out of the bet, but stopped when the guy put his knife on the table.

As this happened, a man walked in, pointed at Falko across the bar, and told him that The Fox was looking for him. In response, Falko flipped the table over (inadvertently driving the point of the man’s knife through his head), grabbed the gold and his share of the silver, and leapt out of the window.

All the other patrons erupted into violence, scrambling for the money and swinging at each other. Young Giles pulled an honest-to-god greatsword from above the bar.

Outside, The Fox’s man was waiting, and demanded that Falko come with him. Falko reluctantly agreed, but insisted on “meeting up” in a bit so he could conduct some private business first. The Fox’s man reluctantly agreed and walked off.

Conscious of how his prize was bound to attract attention, and he’d likely lose it if he got collared by the guards or The Fox, Falko opted to stash it somewhere no one would look – a cesspit.

As soon as he did that, Seven and Cass bumped into one another. Falko then stuck his arms back in the cesspit and retrieved seemingly a large lump of faeces, and asked Seven to hold it. Seven, naturally, refused, and he and Cass looked at him like he’d lost his mind. Seven ended up giving him a sack to put it in.

Falko tentatively admitted to killing one of The Fox’s men and seriously injuring five guards, and that the lump of shit was actually gold that he’d covered in a liberal outer layer. Cass advised that the Fox would likely just take it, so it would be better to give it over beforehand to show good faith and hopefully make up for killing one of his men.

They were then taken to The Fox, where Richard sat chatting amicably. After a tense conversation, The Fox told Falko that he didn’t care that much about his man’s death, and after having the lump of gold cleaned and inspected, told Falko that it was fool’s gold and tossed it back to him.

He also revealed that he had spies within Giscard’s guard, and Giscard had his own amongst The Fox’s. He also mentioned that he’d heard Giscard was looking for a place called Sagehollow, but that this informant he had planted had thus far refused to give up its location to anyone. After a few casual inquiries from Cass, she determined that The Fox had no idea about Sagehollow besides what he’d already told them.

After that, The Fox asked for their story, which Cass and Falko gave in its entirety (except for the details of exactly why they’d come to Nottingham looking for workers). The Fox was less than amused at the turn of events, but ultimately didn’t much care.

He was also not thrilled at being ignored by their bosses, but gave them a new offer – if the grogs went off to petition them to meet him to hear his business proposal, he would smuggle them out of town, and also send them a handful of workers (via The Red Boar) as a show of good faith. If, however, he was ignored a second time, then they wouldn’t just have Giscard’s men causing them trouble, but The Fox’s too.

With that, the group were smuggled out of the city, being given disguises to don – with Cass choosing a fake beard. They struck up a conversation with one of The Fox’s men escorting them, asking for The Fox’s name. When he told them that he didn’t know, they theorised that he kept it unknown because it was probably a really stupid name like “Humpbert”, and encouraged him to spread different rumours to see if the Fox got visibly upset at any of them, thus confirming that was the correct one.

The other option, they postulated, was that he was actually another famous person – perhaps even King Richard in disguise, keeping an eye on things, and him being “captured” was just a smokescreen. The guard commented that he’d heard that all the aristocracy were lizard-people, which Cass wholeheartedly agreed with.

After having their fun with him, they trundled off on a cart back to Sagehollow, to tell the council that they had a spy in their midst…

(Spring) 1193 – Banditry, Blackthorn and St. George's Channel
Full Participants: Arianwen, Essel.

Part 1: Banditry
Extra Participants: Robin Hood, Rohen, Millie, Attacan.

Essel received a strongly-worded letter from Rohen, accusing Robin of Loxley of robbing taxes from Farnesfield en route to Giscard, who was pointing all the blame squarely at him, and who in response was demanding Essel resolve matters or he would tell Giscard all about “Fairhaven” and their alliance with Robin.

Robin swore to Essel that he didn’t rob anyone over there, and so Essel set off to Farnesfield to investigate, joined by Arianwen and Millie, who were ready to set off to Blackthorn with her. Robin was just about to head off to hit another wagon, but in his stead sent one of his men, the escaped slave Attacan.

Adopting the disguise of Ser Humphrey and reiterating her need to retain secrecy about Sagehollow’s nature from Rohen, and “Ser Humphrey”’s existence from other nobles, Essel arrived at Farnesfield, seeing it in markedly better condition than when she’d last visited.

Rohen lived in a separate house from his estate, as it still awaited repair. After showing them in, he told them what little he knew; a small group of bowmen had held the wagon up, with the leader – claiming to be Robin Hood – displaying incredible accuracy to put down any thought of resistance from the guards. After Essel assured him that it must have been a copycat, and Robin certainly wasn’t responsible, he elected to join her as she investigated.

Rohen accompanied the group to the site of the ambush, from which Attacan managed to find his way through the forest to a broken cartwheel. Rohen was puzzled by “Ser Humphrey” taking a splinter of wood from the wheel, Attacan’s thoughtless comment of Arianwen turning into a bird, and Millie’s general oddness (such as being a literate and educated young woman, but not a noble or merchant).

Millie then heard a group moving through the woods, and so they scattered to hide; though Arianwen and Rohen were swiftly spotted, later joined by Millie emerging from a bush. They were Giscard’s men, led by a man called Harding – clearly those who had lost the cart in the first place – who were looking for it themselves.

Rohen attempted to call Ser Humphrey out to join him, but Essel steadfastly remained hidden, quietly outraged at him trying to break her cover, along with Attacan, who lurked in case the discussions turned sour and he was needed to attack from the shadows.

Harding insisted Rohen return to Farnesfield so that he could continue his own search unimpeded, which Rohen begrudgingly agreed to. They were trailed at a distance by Attacan and Essel, the latter of whom quietly caught Arianwen’s attention and gave her an explanation to feed the young Lord; that “he” had opted to return to “Fairhaven” to collect replacement funds in case they were required, which Millie had inquired about before they’d set off. Ser Humphrey had met with a wise woman in his employ, Susanne, to help in his stead; the role being played by Essel taking her natural form.

Rohen was even more puzzled by this sequence of events, but he accepted the story and spread word around Farnesfield that he would be personally escorting coin from his own coffers to replace the taxes that had been stolen. In actuality, he would be taking a cart laden with sacks of rocks and other junk, hoping to lure this bandit group out for a confrontation.

This worked, and the group came face-to-face with the bombastic, cheerful and charming bandit - the self-proclaimed Robin Hood, who looked unerringly like Robin of Loxley, except with features more reminiscent of the wanted posters than the man himself. Essel somehow realised there was something off about him, and cast Sight of the True Form, revealing him to be inhuman; either Faerie or Infernal.

He explained that he had given much of the coin away to the poor folk of the area, and seemed utterly unbothered by the fact that the wagon contained nothing of value (thus likely being Fae). Instead, he was keen to talk to Rohen and learn more of his attitude towards his people and King Richard.

He was highly displeased to learn of what he considered the imposter, Robin of Loxley, insisting he be referred to merely as Loxley. The pair then agreed that Rohen would provide Robin with information on corrupt or miserly nobles to rob, to avoid Robin stealing from “good” nobles like himself.

Susanne “left to check on Ser Humphrey”, and Arianwen later slipped away in bird form to meet her in Sagehollow. Robin Hood, Millie and Attacan then spent the night in Rohen’s house, where the bandit attempted to persuade Attacan to join him, and was happy to converse at length with Millie about his marvellous bycocket hat. Robin then told Rohen that he would like to converse more, and that he had set aside the money he had taken from the Farnesfield job. Rohen would merely need to hang a yellow handkerchief from a certain gatepost, and Robin would meet to hand it over and talk more.

Meanwhile, at Sagehollow, Essel and Arianwen met with Silk to discuss the situation. Arianwen and Silk both argued for simply killing Rohen – he knew a little of Sagehollow, had threatened to throw Essel under the proverbial cart for his own convenience, was growingly increasingly suspicious of “Fairhaven”, and it would resolve the issue of Farnesfield’s financial dependence.

Essel, however, was desperate to avoid any bloodshed, and was instead determined to source new money to repay Rohen for what was taken by Robin Hood. Unfortunately, operating with such a tight deadline (needing to give Rohen the money before Giscard grew impatient, and needing to make her appointment to visit Blackthorn), meant that she did not feel like she could hold a council meeting to request a withdrawal of funds, and the last time she had done so without conferring with the council, she was rebuked.

Therefore, she turned to the one person she knew she could get the money from (besides other nobles, which would just create more problems) – Robin of Loxley, who was due to be returning from another robbery nearby. She was confident that she could convince Loxley that it was the best course of action for the covenant, and then that she could persuade him to change his legend to change the nature of Faerie Robin’s story to be less problematic.

“Susanne” then returned to Sagehollow, telling a story of how Ser Humphrey had been robbed of the replacement funds by Loxley. However, she could lead them to the road that she knew he would be using, and recommended that the group ambush him to take the money back. En route, Millie snatched a brief, quiet exchange with Essel, asking why she didn’t just meet with Loxley and take the money from him peacefully, to which she responded that there wasn’t time.

The group were spotted as they lay in ambush by Loxley, who called out to Essel and Millie by name, before the former threw him and his men back with magic, then being stood over by Robin Hood and Millie with weapons readied before he could get to his feet. Bewildered, Loxley called Essel his boss, before Robin Hood knocked him unconscious to allow for a moment’s quiet to ask the sudden influx of questions inbound from him and Rohen.

Having little choice, Essel then revealed her status as a mage of the Order of Hermes, but retained that she was simply a servant of Ser Humphrey. Arianwen and Millie took her lead and also admitted to being mages, with Millie also explaining that she couldn’t actually do any magic.

Robin accepted all this without much fuss, which helped Rohen swallow that particular news – though he warned Essel that any further underhandedness would not be so easily forgiven. He departed back to Farnesfield and Arianwen left with Robin Hood, whilst Millie lingered with Essel to try and smooth things over with Loxley when he awoke.

Loxley, seeing the ambush as an unprovoked and unwarranted assault from people he considered allies, refused to accept Essel’s subsequent apology and promises of additional assistance against Giscard. Instead, he accused Essel of treachery and leaving with his men and cut ties with Sagehollow, pausing only to advise Millie that she’d be better off leaving Essel’s company too.

Part 2: Blackthorn
Extra Participants: Islwyn, Lohse, Millie.

After a council meeting was demanded to determine why Essel took a course of action that led to the departure of Robin of Loxley (see the Meeting Two of Spring 1193 in the Council Meeting Minutes), she left with all haste to meet with Blackthorn, still accompanied by Millie and joined by Islwyn and Lohse.

The group passed by the Mercer House in Coventry en route and dropped in to say hello, with Millie hugging a begrudging Little William, who then brightened at the opportunity to palm off some letters he’d been charged with delivering to Blackthorn; after which he swiftly returned to grumpiness with her barrage of questions and comments about it.

The group then boarded a gypsy river boat, with Lohse earning her keep by sharing songs with them, before debarking at Gloucester. Islwyn had picked up on a large storm ravaging the area, and this proved true, as the town was in disarray and many of the people were cleaning the streets of detritus and making repairs.

They group passed through and into Wales without issue, and were travelled into the mountains to a series of caves, one of which housed the hidden entrance to Blackthorn. Millie, having been there before, showed the group to the correct one, whereupon a guard stepped out of a wall of seemingly solid rock to guide them in.

Blackthorn is a series of tunnels underground, with almost all the covenfolk born there and naturally possessing night vision – though many carried light wands when needed, such as escorting visitors. The group were led through the maze-like network until they emerged in a cave, with twenty soldiers standing guard. They all wore the same armour, but a handful had red colouring; presumably indicating sergeants.

The guards parted to form a path to a table, upon which sat three mages. Iudicium was on one side, and the others introduced themselves to Arianwen and Essel; Goliard, a female Tremere mage who seemed to be taking point of matters, and Golias, who claimed to be an apprentice (and the only one who deigned to interact with Millie).

She gave him the letters, and Essel raised the matter of vis sources in the south, which Goliard seemed highly aware of, noting two that had been destroyed by mundanes recently.

Essel informed the Blackthorn mages of how several of the covenants were not going to be attending the Tribunal. Goliard wasn’t best pleased by this, and it became clear that it would have been her first Tribunal, and a chance to step out of her predecessor’s shadow.

Essel portrayed herself as an impartial party, and explained that Voluntas, Schola Pythagoranis and Cad Gadu felt that their voices were not being adequately heard, and thus that there was little point going to the trouble of attending; instead, they sought to deprive the Tribunal of a quorate in order to get Blackthorn to holding future Tribunals on more neutral territory – Ungulus.

Goliard claimed to be surprised at that feeling being so prevalent, and stated that Ungulus was soon to fall. Essel explained her plans to resolve the issues of Sinead with the Faerie Lord and Espera with the Dragon, to which Goliard expressed scepticism of Essel’s chances of success, and disapproval of the notion of attempting to restore Ungulus rather than waiting for its fall and gaining access to its artefacts and library – but she nonetheless offered the young mage aid in her mission.

She then warned Essel of Julia’s motives, claiming that she simply wanted to sow disorder in the Tribunal in order to study its effects, and emphasised the fact that lacking a quorate would preclude their inclusion in the Grand Tribunal, calling their competence into question in the eyes of Hermetic society and robbing them of a voice in the wider world.

Goliard was keen to explain that she was different from her predecessor, and would be keen to discuss any issues Julia may have with the running of Stonehenge, claiming that Julia has never given her the opportunity, and clearly won’t get to with the Tribunal being boycotted.

It was at this point that Millie spoke up, suggesting that Voluntas and Blackthorn have an informal meeting before the Tribunal takes place, to air their concerns and have the opportunity to form an understanding before the Tribunal is effectively prevented from taking place, with the meeting taking place on secure and neutral ground; Sagehollow.

Essel, eager to preserve the secrecy of its location from Blackthorn, wasn’t sold on this idea, and Arianwen suggested Stonehenge itself. Goliard offered that Blackthorn provide the security, but conscious of how that would look, Millie suggested it be an even split between the three attending covenants.

Goliard and Essel accepted this idea, and the latter promised to send a letter to Voluntas as soon as they arrived in the first Hibernian covenant, as time was of the essence. At this comment, Millie offered to run it back to Voluntas herself, as its delivery time would be measured in days rather than weeks or months.

With that sorted, the Blackthorn mages bid those of Sagehollow farewell, and directed them to the table of food that had been laid out, telling them to take what time they needed before heading out. Essel took the opportunity to compose the letter to Julia, and after resting a time, the group set off, with Millie heading back to England and the others on their way to the Welsh coast.

Part 3: St. George's Channel
Extra Participants: Islwyn, Vick Sloane.

Arriving in Gloucester, Arianwen led them to the port in bird form, where she was dismayed to see that due to the recent storm, none of the ships were seaworthy – except a small Cog, miraculously unscathed.

Approaching, they saw a crew working to bring provisions aboard and stow them, whilst a man sat with his feet up on the dock. Assuming he was the captain, Essel began to ask him about hiring the ship to take them to Ireland, but the man cut in to ask they come back in an hour.

Put out, they lingered until a woman amongst the crew took notice and strode over; she bluntly asked them what they wanted, and when they told her of their desire to buy passage to Ireland, she attempted to charge them the hefty sum of ten pounds.

Essel was shocked, and the ship’s Quartermaster, Coleán, arrived to smooth matters over. After some haggling, Essel realised she had little choice; Hibernia had no Mercere portal, and there were no other ships in port that they could charter. Thus she paid two pounds of silver, with the promise of another two at the end of the journey, for the ship to take them to Ireland and back a couple of months later.

The woman they had been talking to grilled them about their business in Ireland, which Essel claimed to be visiting family and buying a breeding pair of Irish wolfhounds at the behest of her lord, Robert Giscard.

The woman gave them some side-eye, but accepted the story and gruffly introduced herself as Vick Sloane, the Captain of the ship. She and Coleán insisted on the bird (Arianwen) being caged for transit, which Essel attempted to argue against until Vick Sloane shot her down, reminding her that it was her ship and her rules. Coleán compromised by allowing Arianwen a period free to stretch her wings, but that the ship would accept no liability for her if she flew away.

Suspicious of the passengers due to their strange behaviour and unlikely story, Vick Sloane had Elias keep an eye on them. A few hours after setting sail, a storm appeared out of nowhere on the horizon, heading straight for them, and was too huge to dodge. The crew and passengers tied themselves securely in preparation, with Vick Sloane and Coleán strapping themselves by the tiller.

Before it hit, Vick Sloane yelled at Essel if there was anything she wasn’t telling them, or anything that might cause the storm, which Essel earnestly denied. After struggling for a time to hold the rudder true into the waves, the tiller arm bucked out of their hands and the ship broached. The next wave crashed abeam and thew the inhabitants about, and they were all knocked out.

When they awoke, they were on a cove; Vick Sloane determined that they must have been unconscious for a day. The ship lay on its side, three metres from the waterline, and cargo and people had been thrown all over.

After running down her welfare checklist in order of priority (Coleán, Sven, her hat, Geoffroi, Elias, Hann, cargo, passengers) and determining that they were all accounted for and not in imminent danger, Vick Sloane took stock.

Coleán, having taken a solid blow, patched himself up, and Elias told Vick Sloane that he had no sense of direction, which she dismissed as him likely having taken a knock to the head. He then spotted the agitated Arianwen burst out of her cage with magic, and though Vick Sloane wasn’t dismissive of him, she remained conscious of his suspected head wound and simply advised he continue to keep a close eye. He, Islwyn and Essel ventured into the forest to explore a little and bring back firewood, while the rest of the crew busied themselves assessing the ship’s damage and the state of their provisions.

Arianwen scouted the area briefly, and concluded that they were on an island, a few miles across, and that there were some stone buildings towards the middle of it. Elias found and killed a boar, making Islwyn feel a little jealous, and the other crew found the ship relatively intact, but almost all of its food and other perishables sodden beyond use.

Whilst untying ropes from the mast in order to pull the ship to the water, Vick Sloane and Coleán noticed that the horizon was unnatural and “starry”, putting them further on edge about their predicament. Essel then returned, claiming that they were on an island, to which Vick Sloane snapped that every fool knows there’s no islands in Saint George’s channel, and they couldn’t have strayed far enough north or south to hit any.

Coleán, picking up on her growing anger and frustration, tried to quietly calm her, but she shrugged him off and stormed towards the group and demanded to know what their deal was, with a tirade about the inconsistencies in her story, the weirdness with the bird, and the “coincidence” of the sudden and inexplicable storm.

Essel reluctantly confessed that she was a mage, and Arianwen spoke up in bird form to say the same. Vick Sloane refused to speak to a bird and insisted that she take human form; though her clothes had been lost overboard in the storm, so Coleán loaned her his jacket.

Essel explained that they seemed to be in a regio and that the two groups needed one another – the mages to get them out of the regio, and the ship crew to get them to land afterwards. Therefore, they decided to venture inland to investigate the stone buildings in the hopes that it would help them figure out how to leave. The crew of the Thorn remained with the ship to make what repairs they were capable of, barring Vick and Coleán.

On the way, Coleán took Essel to one side. Knowing his captain’s temperament and wishing to avoid further clashes, he advised Essel find some way of making reparations to Vick Sloane and her crew; regardless of Essel’s intentions, she had cheated her of almost a dozen pounds of silver by being deceitful of the group’s nature, and then in her eyes brought the bad luck that stranded them on the island.

Arianwen scouted out the buildings, and saw that there were hundreds of them, and hundreds of eight-feet tall beings with bird masks, often walking through buildings and each other. Essel thought that they were likely harmless, so Vick volunteered her to take point.

They ignored the group as they walked amongst them, but when one walked into Essel, it bounced off and looked down at her. She tried speaking to it in English, Latin and French, but it just quirked its head and then spoke alien words so loudly that it caused the group to drop to their knees in pain with bleeding ears.

Essel used some magic to quieten it down, and it simply pointed towards the apparent centre of the town. The group didn’t want to risk any more “conversations” and Essel lifted a sewer grate for the group to traverse through.

They eventually arrived in the central building, where Essel, Vick and Coleán recognised a depiction of Atlantis. They eventually came to a grand central room with an awesome mural on the ceiling, and were greeted by someone speaking in a way that made sense to the group.

He was Hythlodaeus, and essentially the only self-aware person in the town. He told them that the town was Amaurot on the island of Hy-Brasil. He was extremely confused and amnesic, but Essel figured that it was an Atlantean colony that survived in the regio, and were bound to remain on the island due to a promise made to his friend, Venat.

He showed knowledge of the realms of the Infernal, Divine and Magic – which he called the Dark, the Taint and the Source respectively – though had no idea about the Faerie. He seemed to think that all humans were of the Source – as he was – and could use it to will things to be. He kept calling Vick Sloane, Coleán and Islwyn “diminished”, which Vick took particular issue with.

After a lot of back-and-forth that made varying degrees of sense and re-treading the same points, Hythlodaeus said was willing to help the group leave the island, which would involve them intentionally capsizing the ship at sunset. Vick was extremely sceptical of this, but was out of her depth and was at least secure in the knowledge that Essel and Arianwen would go down in the ship with her if it went wrong.

He led the group out of the town and through the forest, which parted to form a straight road to the ship, now righted and ready to set sail. With a click of his fingers, the sun began to set and the group clambered aboard. Vick Sloane, heedless of the crew’s questions as to what the hell was going on, began barking orders to tie themselves down as if preparing for another storm.

The ship tipped as the sun neared the horizon, and the ship was flooded with saltwater – Vick inhaling some and fighting not to start coughing and breathing in more whilst under – before it righted the other way, with nothing but open water around.

Taking stock, Sven called that the ship was in a very bad state, they were taking on water, and getting to Ireland would be a close call. Vick Sloane therefore ordered Arianwen to turn back into a naked woman and help bail, along with Islwyn and Essel; the latter using Aquam magic to force waves of water out of the ship.

With an impressive display of Captaining – likely fuelled by rage – Vick Sloane managed to get the ship into Dublin port just in time, which was raised onto a dry dock. Talking with the Dockmaster and explaining that the damage was sustained in the storm that his Gloucester, he exclaimed with great surprise that it was four weeks ago, and was astonished at the ship’s apparently legendary resilience and her apparent skill at the helm, offering to buy The Thorn.

Coleán put a pin in that particular offer, and asked what the cost and length of repairs was; thirty pounds of silver, and two months. Noticing Vick’s clenched jaw and fists, Essel took her aside and offered to pay it, explaining that she had associates in the city who would loan her the money. Vick told her to make it fifty.

Essel – contrary to Coleán’s advice on Hy-Brasil – accused Vick Sloane of reneging on the deal they had struck back in Gloucester. Vick angrily retorted that the deal was voided by the fact that it was only made through Essel’s deceit; a fair price for harbouring mages (due to their perceived bad luck at sea) would be more than triple what they had agreed on, and given the lies, trouble and loss of three months, paying twenty and calling it done was plenty fair.

Essel tried to stare her down for a few moments, but upon realising at least that she was aggrieved and in fact on the verge of drawing weapons, reluctantly agreed. She hedged that she would go to the Redcaps in Dublin and ask to borrow it, but there was no guarantee they could muster fifty pounds. Vick Sloane insisted on going with her to ensure that she at least asked them for that much.

There, they were greeted by the surly Cadmus, a Gifted Redcap with a reputation for excessive paperwork and generally being unpleasant. He invoiced Essel for fifty pounds to be paid to the Mercer House in Coventry within two years, and then another five pounds to hire the services of the Redcap Miles to guide her to Lámbaird.

(Summer) 1193 – Hibernian Hounds
Participants: Arianwen, Essel, Coleán, Elias, Islwyn, Vick Sloane.

Taking stock, Sven called that the ship was in a very bad state, they were taking on water, and getting to Ireland would be a close call. Vick Sloane therefore ordered Arianwen to turn back into a naked woman and help bail, along with Islwyn and Essel; the latter using Aquam magic to force waves of water out of the ship.

With an impressive display of Captaining – likely fuelled by rage – Vick Sloane managed to get the ship into Dublin port just in time, which was raised onto a dry dock. Talking with the Dockmaster and explaining that the damage was sustained in the storm that his Gloucester, he exclaimed with great surprise that it was four weeks ago, and was astonished at the ship’s apparently legendary resilience and her apparent skill at the helm, offering to buy The Thorn.

Coleán put a pin in that particular offer, and asked what the cost and length of repairs was; thirty pounds of silver, and two months. Noticing Vick’s clenched jaw and fists, Essel took her aside and offered to pay it, explaining that she had associates in the city who would loan her the money. Vick told her to make it fifty.

Essel – contrary to Coleán’s advice on Hy-Brasil – accused Vick Sloane of reneging on the deal they had struck back in Gloucester. Vick angrily retorted that the deal was voided by the fact that it was only made through Essel’s deceit; a fair price for harbouring mages (due to their perceived bad luck at sea) would be more than triple what they had agreed on, and given the lies, trouble and loss of three months, paying twenty and calling it done was plenty fair.

Essel tried to stare her down for a few moments, but upon realising at least that she was aggrieved and in fact on the verge of drawing weapons, reluctantly agreed. She hedged that she would go to the Redcaps in Dublin and ask to borrow it, but there was no guarantee they could muster fifty pounds. Vick Sloane insisted on going with her to ensure that she at least asked them for that much.

There, they were greeted by the surly Cadmus, a Gifted Redcap with a reputation for excessive paperwork and generally being unpleasant. He invoiced Essel for fifty pounds to be paid to the Mercer House in Coventry within two years, and then another five pounds to hire the services of the Redcap Miles to guide her to Lámbaird.

Vick was called back to talk with Cadmus in private, before the group set off. En route, she told Essel frankly that he’d offered employment with Essel’s people around the North Sea. In exchange, she’d give him answers as to whether the Ascians exist and if they had been seen by anyone outside of Sagehollow, as Cadmus and his presumed associates thought Essel may be jumping at shadows or even making it up.

She then snapped that it wasn’t so difficult to be straight with people, and Essel explained the vicious circle; mages are mistrusted and mistreated, so they lie about it. Mages lie, so they are mistrusted and mistreated.

They arrived at Lámbaird and met with the mages Dalton Ballaugh (an ignem Flambeau and the leader of the covenant) and Brian Chilldara (an antimagic Flambeau with absolutely no hair). After establishing that the group weren’t Normans, they discussed Cadmus being an arsehole, the Hibernian Tribunal being a mess, and Essel’s plans to get Blackthorn and Voluntas playing nice; which they dubiously wished her good luck on.

After that, they haggled to buy a mate for Rylon, agreeing on a sum of fifteen pounds (or the equivalent in vis) to be paid within three years, which the group would pick up on their return journey. The covenant then held a feast (read: party) for their guests, with the mages displaying extraordinary comradeship with their covenfolk.

The following morning, the Lámbaird mages bade the group farewell. Miles took the group through a faerie road, though Vick didn’t trust him going last and went herself. He told the group that if they saw a black dog they need to “confront it”, but that he couldn’t go into any further detail.

Vick saw the black dog and strode towards it, which Coleán and Elias noticed and followed, despite not seeing it. The three of them disappeared, and shortly thereafter Vick returned, on edge and angry.

She told the mages that she’d “paid the price” according to the dog, but that the other two hadn’t – leaving the path without seeing the dog was liable for them to end up anywhere or at any time (past, present or future) in the world. Angry at Miles not telling them, regardless of him being forced to say as little as possible by the rules of the road, Vick stormed over and punched him.

Miles was forgiving, given the emotions at play with Vick possibly losing two of her crew. The dog had told her that she may need to “follow their story” to find them again, and she reluctantly ground out an overview of how they’d banded together some years ago aboard a different ship, engaging in higher-risk ventures.

A few moments later, Coleán and Elias returned too, with the former also punching Miles. He explained indignantly that the more he told the group, the more likely the dog would be to take them forever.

The group arrived at their next destination; the covenant of Elk’s Run, with its cathach of a giant pair of elk’s antlers clearly visible from a distance. They were greeted by Oswald of Bonisagus and Lugardis of Guernicus, who spoke at great length with Essel.

The general consensus was that Cadmus was indeed an arsehole, and that they would agree to Wizard’s War him if there were enough other mages who would do the same – but questioned whether butting heads with him was really worth it over such a trifling amount of silver.

She responded that it wasn’t about the actual cost, it was the fact that her reputation (and that of her house) would be damaged in Hermetic society if they allowed themselves to be bullied.

Vick Sloane questioned why she doesn’t just pay the price and shut up about it, so the only people who’d know about it were her and Cadmus, thus not losing any reputation. She wasn’t willing to do this on the chance that it becomes known in Hermetic society regardless, so Oswald – following on from Vick’s point – suggested an alternative.

If Essel asked for a committee meeting about the extortionate Redcap charge, even if it resulted in Essel paying up, no one outside the committee would know the outcome. All they would know was that Essel took formal issue with the charge and both sides came out of it seemingly contented, and conclude that they must have reached some middle ground rather than Essel being walked over.

For this, Essel would need to go to Circulus Ruber, and talked to Hibernia’s Praeco, Milvia, who happened to be a close friend of Cadmus (and the only Bonisagus he wasn’t hostile towards). They then had a feast, in which Arianwen got drunk in bird form and made a fool of herself by faceplanting, which she blamed on Islwyn.

While Vick Sloane spoke to the guards of the cathach, Elias went looking for faeries on his newfound quest to become “magical”, and found one bathing in the nearby river. He told her of his desire, to which she responded by kissing him and dragging him underwater to have sex. After that, he felt a tingling sensation – signifying that he’d gained some warping, and a newfound proclivity towards lustfulness.

Essel travelled to the library – by many accounts second only to that of Durenmar – where Oswald showed her his most prized books; an early version of The Bible, a beautifully calligraphed copy of the Quran, and an original account of Caesar.

Essel showed interest in getting some books from them (mostly on Folk Ken, Leadership, Intellego and Mentem), offering copies of Edric’s Treatises on Magic Theory in exchange, which Oswald agreed to in theory.

After that, they set off towards Circulus Ruber, and on the road Elias spotted a wolf pack, led by a large white wolf in the distance. When he pointed it out, Vick Sloane drew her daggers, to which Arianwen patronisingly told her that they wouldn’t do anything as the wolf was a mage. Vick growled that mages seemed to die to blades like others, and Arianwen dismissively told her that it was nice knowing her. Vick kept her daggers drawn until the wolf turned away.

Arianwen revealed that his name was Emrys, and he was her parens. He was upset that she’d left his pack to join Sagehollow, and was eager to bring her back into the fold. Vick expressed scepticism of her reasoning; her claims of desiring independence in the face of her apparent subservience to Essel, her subsequent defence of respecting Essel implying a lack of respect to the man who taught her everything she knew, and her opting for Sagehollow as a preference despite not knowing it before she left. Arianwen simply responded that she felt the need to leave and didn’t expand further.

Arriving at Circulus Ruber, whose cathach was a magic cauldron, the group met with Milvia of Bonisagus, Visioturpis of Guernicus, and Conán Derg of Merinita. Milvia was friendly, Visioturpis grumpy, and Conán (the senior Quaesitor) being very glad he’d lost his hand and was thus relieved of his political responsibilities as praeco.

Visioturpis swiftly grew impatient with Essel’s explanation of her issue with Cadmus and told her to stop beating around the bush and give a summary. After Essel began a still rather scenic route to the point, Vick Sloane – similarly impatient after enduring so much political meandering recently – interrupted and gave a one-sentence outline.

He thanked her, and after extolling how much he hated politics, grilled Essel on exactly why five pounds was such a problem for her, and pointed out that the services of Miles had extended far beyond the “one day’s travel” that she had been taking issue with, given he was still accompanying the group, but that he agreed Cadmus was an arsehole regardless.

Milvia smoothed matters somewhat, and agreed to hold a committee, before asking what the non-mages made of it. Elias abstained from offering an opinion, while Vick Sloane simply shrugged, saying “you let an insult stand, an’ people will get to thinkin’ they can do anythin’ to you.” The following morning as the group ate breakfast, Essel gave a thoughtful speech, thanking each present member of the Thorn’s crew, Milvia, Miles, and even Cadmus for the varying lessons she learned from them:

After that, Visioturpis commended her for seeing the world as it should be rather than how it is, and offered her his support should she need someone with a more cynical eye. The group then departed Circulus Ruber, heading back towards the start of the trod to take them back to Dublin.

On the way they saw a group of wolves on the far bank of a lake – Emrys and his pack – before they had to pass through a run-down village, at which was docked a knarr. Coleán advised Essel that it was unlikely (though not impossible) that they’d try to rob the group, given they didn’t seem especially wealthy except for the bird and Islwyn’s longbow, and were likely there to restock and rest rather than looking to raid.

They met a red-bearded man called Oisin, who spoke amicably with Coleán and tried his luck at cosying up to Vick, but swiftly backed off with no offence taken when she glared at him and put her hands on her daggers.

He mentioned the druids in Connacht were planning on conducting some kind of ritual with a cauldron as he showed them to a ferry crossing the lake, before bidding them goodbye. The ferryman was terrified of the man and grabbed the opportunity to stay on the other bank, and after some haggling with Essel, Coleán and Elias, charged a pittance for taking them with him.

After going into the trod, Fear was waiting on the path for them. Miles said he shouldn’t be there, and he simply told the group that “the price has already been paid” and to begone from his realm. Everything went white and they found themselves in the middle of a forest – in the real world, as far as they could determine.

They concluded that Emrys had convinced Fear to waylay them, and soon realised that they were somewhere in Connacht. They theorised that he was trying to get the group killed, with Arianwen being the only one likely to escape (via her heartbeast) and thus maybe returning to the fold after losing her “friends”.

With some awkward scouting from Arianwen, they discovered a town a few miles away (which they’d later discover was called Ballymote). Deciding that getting their bearings was preferable to wandering around the wilds in the hopes of stumbling back to Hermetic lands, they travelled there, with Miles stowing his magical cloak, boots and water-heating stone to reduce their odds of discovery.

Coleán talked his way inside, where they were stripped of weapons and the guard told him that he’d have to meet with the druids, as they wish to be appraised of any strangers arriving in town. After an hour or so, they were called to meet.

They were asked to introduce themselves and explain their business, which Essel responded with the truth, skirting the specifics that would identify her as a mage. They had them drink something, which wouldn’t touch Essel and outed her as having the Gift. Arianwen, acting as a normal bird, wasn’t made to drink.

Essel hastily explained the genuine reason why they’d ended up in Connacht, and told them that though they were within their rights to kill her, she said that letting her go in peace would cost them nothing and prevent reprisal from the Order of Hermes.

They were reasonable people, but (rightly) pointed out that they were not the aggressors, and that the Hibernian mages – most recently Ballack of Praesis – have repeatedly broken the treaty they’d made with one another. They warned Essel about Donn, a druid who was seeking to convince others to be more hostile to the Order in the face of their aggression, including summoning their gods, called the Tuatha de Danann.

Essel told them that she’d raise this point within her Tribunal to hopefully get the aggressive mages to stop breaking the treaty and prevent Donn from gaining more traction.

The druids then asked the crew of the Thorn their opinion of Essel. Vick Sloane said that they had simply been hired to take them to Ireland; they had no loyalty to her, and that didn’t trust her or any mages – but that the one thing she trusts mages to do is look after their own skin, and coming to Connacht certainly isn’t something they’d do deliberately. Coleán added that even if they did, they would’ve at least brought people who were more loyal to them.

They accepted this, and had the group swear geasa never to harm druids of Connacht. They told the group to wait at the pub with a guard each to keep an eye on them, while they decided whether to kill them, ransom them or let them go.

The mages and Islwyn remained in their designated chamber, while the crew of the Thorn went downstairs for a drink. Coleán spent his time ingratiating himself with the other patrons, joined by Elias, while Vick Sloane brooded at a table by herself.

A man eventually approached with a couple of drinks and sat down, persevering through her bluntness and eventually getting some engagement when he bragged about travelling to the south coast of England to kill pirates. He said that fighting them was good fun, to which she venomously asked him if he was looking for another. He did a spectacularly bad job at reading her, assuming she was speaking euphemistically and heartily confirming that he was.

Vick whipped a knife out from under her cloak that she’d slipped past the notice of the guards and impaled his hand to the table. As he screamed, she leaned in and snarled if he still wanted to fight, and when he cried out that he didn’t, she yanked the knife free and resumed drinking. The rest of the patrons, having caught at least part of the exchange, found this more funny than anything and didn’t make issue of it.

The next day, the druids announced that the group would be let go, and they were escorted to a trod to bring them back to Dublin. In the trod, they were met by a faerie version of who Essel thought to be Pralix, who needed to be defeated in a debate not by knowledge of the subject, but by cleverness.

Essel stepped forward, choosing the intrigues of the Order of Hermes as a subject, which she won. Miles retrieved his magic items and set off towards Circulus Ruber to convey what they had learned regarding Donn and the cauldron – but not before Elias hugged him for his help, pocketing his “warming stone”.

Arianwen, Essel and Islwyn picked up the hound for Rylon from Lambaird, where Essel formed a bond with another dog, who she brought back, intending to bind it as a familiar. The crew of the Thorn remained in Dublin to assess the repairs, load up on provisions, and keep an eye out for Cadmus and his people.

The group returned to England, where the Thorn dropped the people of Sagehollow at Gloucester. Elias failed to get the stone to work and threw it into the sea, before the Thorn looped around the south coast to sail into dock at Nottingham.

Essel made arrangements at the Mercer House for her payments to Cadmus, including selling the herbam vis she had cultivated at Sagehollow for £20 a year.

A little over a week later, The Thorn arrived at Nottingham, and from there the crew got directions to The Red Boar. On the way, they passed a knight and some men-at-arms escorting prisoners to Nottingham, who told them of Robin Hood and the £40 bounty for any useful information pertaining to him, with another £40 if it resulted in his capture.

When they arrived, Al Murray offered them a ridiculously strong drink, which Vick declined and Coleán scoffed at. He downed it without any issue whatsoever, utterly flabbergasting the landlord, who gave the same to Elias. He drank it, and promptly fell on his face.

Silk later arrived to meet with Vick Sloane. After she outlined the deal she’d come to with Cadmus and the arrangement that had been made – being based in Sagehollow, transporting goods and people from the Order of Hermes around the North Sea, and sharing the profits with the covenant for providing their contacts, insurance and resources. She was yet to get a true sense of the mercantile landscape there, but thought £40-£80 a year was likely.

She was amenable to doing less “profitable” work for the covenant, such as being muscle on outings (in a similar capacity to the travels around Ireland) and ferrying mages, providing that any misfortune the ship or crew suffer in the process is paid for by the covenant. She also stressed that it would be a mutually beneficial business arrangement, and therefore she would not be placed in subservience.

Silk agreed, and gave her a description of the covenant and its mages and companions, before leading them through the hidden paths to Sagehollow.

(Summer) 1193 – Questioned Knighthoods
Participants: Tancred, Tessora, Adelaide, Eadric.

Robin of Loxley returned to Sagehollow, being greeted by some of the grogs on watch. They tentatively asked whether he had come to take issue with the mages, and after his assurance that he simply wished to talk, they showed him through. Arianne, Essel and Millie were all still out, but a small council meeting was called, containing Cirice, Evelyn, Tessora, Robin of Loxley and Haeddi.

Cirice quite bluntly told Robin that he had overreacted and should have known to simply roll with Essel’s actions until he had the opportunity to hear the whole story, but that Essel certainly should have conducted herself better rather than opening their encounter with incapacitating magic.

Robin of Loxley accepted this and apologised for his part in matters, and said that he was willing to accept Essel’s offer of not needing to endanger himself in the future and being given greater support in fighting Giscard. His only additional criteria were a written apology from Essel (and approved by Lady Tessora) and a free punch to the face of Robin Hood, as payment for being knocked out by him.

This was agreed, and so Robin of Loxley’s bandits returned to the fold – albeit keeping their distance from Robin Hood’s bandits. With that sorted, Tancred and Tessora travelled to Sunday Mass together, accompanied by Adelaide and a new member of Sagehollow, Eadric. After a pleasant journey (in which Eadric was immediately besotted with Lady Tessora), they reached the Church near Mansfield.

After the Mass concluded, the bored Adelaide made up a story about cherubs flying in the roof to the gullible Eadric, who excitedly relayed this to the retired Templar who held the sermon, who basically patted him on the head and told him to reflect upon it during his evening prayer.

Leaving the church to prepare Tancred and Tessora’s horses, Adelaide and Eadric encountered five knights waiting outside. They demanded to speak to Tancred and Tessora, who arrived shortly thereafter.

The leader of the group was a man in his mid-twenties who identified himself as Baron Louisoix d’Valerian, who owns land near Boristrum and seemingly has a large stick fitted to his saddle, wedged firm and far up his arse. He had been sent by Prince John to clamp down on people claiming the rank of knight without paying the taxes of five pounds of silver a year.

He therefore demanded Tancred identify his liege-lord, which Tancred eventually replied that he had none, and was searching for one. Louisoix demanded he divulge where his residence was, and not wanting to give the location of Sagehollow, he explained that he was currently residing in The Red Boar Inn, and that the reason he had not found one previously was that he was recently returned from the Reconquista. Louisoix decreed that Tancred had three months to find one, or face execution.

He then turned to Tessora, who he took particular issue with and regarded with the utmost disdain. Without bothering with any niceties, he accused Tessora of not being a noble and certainly not a knight, which she denied, baffled.

He ordered she surrender her sword and armour, which she point-blank refused, even after his insistence and clarification that he was speaking with the authority of Prince John. She told him that her title of knight was backed by God, and that her sword was given to her by him in order to carry out His will; the authority of Prince John does not exceed that of the Lord.

Outraged, he told her that Prince John would hear of her disobedience, and that she would face the consequences. Every time God was mentioned, Eadric, not following the exchange in French, exclaimed praise for Him. After a few instances, Louisoix threatened to cut him down if he continued.

Tessora admonished him for threatening to murder a harmless boy, for praising God, in front of a Church, in front of its congregation. He scoffed at her, but made no further comment on Eadric. He then went into the church and yelled at the Brother-Priest inside, before leaving with his retinue.

Tessora spoke with the priest, who explained that he would offer they join the Templars; but Tessora, politically speaking, would simply rock the boat too much, and Tancred politely declined on the grounds that he had already sworn an oath of fealty (to the Order of Hermes). The priest therefore wished the pair the best of luck in their opposition to Prince John.

Troubled, the group then returned back to Sagehollow and called a small meeting with Cirice, Cuthbert and Silk to discuss what to do next. Tancred was puzzling over how he could name a liege-lord whilst still holding true to his oath to the Order, and Tessora suggested he name Lord Ethelwald of Wilton, as he is still tied to the Order and would presumably be willing to name him in exchange for some favour from Sagehollow to Voluntas. Tancred agreed, and will request his aid.

Tessora’s issue was rather more difficult. Her nobility could easily be proven by a letter from her father, but as to her knighthood, there was no hard evidence to present one way or the other, and with the power of Prince John, Robert Giscard and Baron Louisoix, that would likely only go against her.

She endeavoured to write to several notable figures nearby who she had interacted with, to serve as character witnesses as to her honourable and knightly conduct, and hopefully provide enough weight of personal testimony that her naysayers could not render any formal punishment for fear of political backlash.

Tancred suggested his default in such uncertain situations – a trial by combat – but Tessora refused to entertain the idea of turning the dispute physical. Whilst awaiting responses to her letters, she will instead travel to Summerbridge in the hopes of finding any further witnesses to the events of Summer 1191.

(Summer) 1193 – An Archery Contest
Participants: Robin Hood, Alfred, Attacan, Cass

Silk gathered several grogs and told them of how Robert Giscard was holding a fayre in Nottingham, hastily set up, ostensibly to generate funds for King Richard’s ransom. He requested several volunteers to hoover up any local gossip, with a specific view to gather information that might prove pertinent to liberating Erin, the sister of Arianne.

He gave Cass a ring, instructing her to take it to a tailor’s shop owned by a man called Giles an ask for a coat. This coat would have a letter sewn into the lining, to be delivered to Sagehollow from The Fox.

As they travelled, they heard rumours that not only were several significant nobles attending, but royalty was too – though this was dismissed by the group, as there were always rumours of royal attendees to such events and it was seldom the case, especially for those held at such short notice.

There, they heard of a new sport being showcased – “Jousting” – and that an archery contest would be held. Robin and Attacan signed themselves up, and Cass quietly had Robin add Alfred to the list, despite him having no proficiency in archery whatsoever.

Cass gave the ring to Robin with the instructions, seeking to distance herself from the transaction as her face was known to The Fox and not wanting to risk picking up a tail.

After picking up the coat, Attacan cut out the letter and the group went to a pub. The letter was blank, but Cass didn’t even hesitate to light a candle and hold the letter over the fire, revealing it had been written in “invisible ink”.

Passing it to Robin Hood to read, it said that the archery contest was an attempt to spring a trap on Robin Hood. He confidently exclaimed that it would fail, as it is not a trap if they spring it willingly.

The group then decided to investigate the archery grounds, establish escape routes, and find a rendezvous point. They came to “Mary’s Café”, a pub-like establishment that also served baked goods. Cass chatted up Mary herself, and discovered that as it was two streets from Nottingham Castle, the guards often frequented it and used it as a meeting place. Cass bought a room that happened to be directly above where they met, and Mary told her of a floorboard that covered a spyhole.

With that done, the group attended the archery contest, with the prize of the contestant’s weight in gold. Giscard, Guy of Gisbourn, and William Marshal were in attendance, along with Marion, the niece of King Richard. Alfred was swiftly eliminated, and the contestants swiftly boiled down to Robin Hood (under the name Oliver Twain), Attacan and a German called Leopold. Giscard then called out Robin Hood and announced the guards to arrest him, but he indignantly exclaimed that the contest was not finished.

William Marshal, clearly not a fan of Giscard, agreed that the contest be allowed to continue. Attacan was asked to step down, which he accepted with the promise of compensation. Leopold and Robin displayed incredible feats of archery, splitting the other’s arrow consecutively, before Robin was declared the winner.

The guards began to rush towards him, and Alfred riled up the crowd in support of Robin, who rioted. In the chaos, Cass clambered up onto the stands that the nobility were seated on to steal the prize money, but found the sack full of rocks.

In a feat of athleticism, Robin leapt up onto the railing demarcating the grounds and darted onto the stands, doffing his cap to Giscard and blowing a kiss to Marion. Gisbourn began to pursue him, but Attacan made use of the milling crowd and landed an impressive shot into Giscard’s shoulder, to which Gisbourn raced back to tend to him.

The group scattered, with Robin and Cass finding their way to Mary’s Café. However, Attacan forgot where they were meant to meet up, and Alfred had no idea how to get there. Robin and Cass made their way upstairs and, when the guards met up, eavesdropped.

The guard captain, Michael, outlined patrol patterns, guard rotations, and what guards will be keeping Erin “busy”. Giscard had enough of Robin Hood and resolved to capture him, also wanting the “scholars in the woods” located by any means necessary, and would be pressuring Arianne for more information. Michael planned to randomly bring in locals in for questioning to do this, and mentioned that Giscard had a new “guest”, who was doing strange things but was not to be molested by the guards.

After several hours, Alfred and Attacan bumped into each other and pooled their knowledge to find their way to the café, arriving after the guards had left. As the group began to make their way out of Nottingham, Alison called over to them, telling them that the Fox wished another meeting to discuss taking more action against Giscard in the future.

With that done, the group returned to Sagehollow, with Cass slipping the letter under Cirice’s door – not particularly wanting to pass it onto her directly and risk a conversation with the “creepy” mage.

(Summer) 1193 – The Isle of Man
Participants: Torvi, Chimi, Haeddi, Percival, Silk

Torvi began preparing to set out for the Isle of Man, to which she invited Chimi (after describing what the sea and ships are). Silk volunteered, seeking to help get the strange pair from A to B, as did Haeddi, who was keen to visit such a storied culture and possibly gain more insight into the Rune Magic she had been studying. Percival was brought in for protection, as only Silk had any martial capability, and that being far from his best talents.

Silk led them to Chester, where he announced that he had some business to attend to in town and advised they find a tavern to wait for him. Torvi, discomforted by the town’s clamour, found the quietest establishment she could and spoke briefly with the barman.

He was a little guarded of such strange folk, but was keen to overcharge them for their drinks, which Torvi ignored. He inquired as to their business, to which Torvi told him that they were seeking passage to the Isle of Man, and asked where she could find a ship. He said there was a ship he’d heard the others gossip about that had a pagan vibe to it, and suggested they might be willing to take her, which he said was called “The Storm Rider”.

After sitting with their drinks for an hour or so, a drunkard staggered over and asked if an empty seat at the table was taken. Torvi saw through Silk’s disguise and invited he sit down – his business had been concluded, and she told him about The Storm Rider.

They travelled the docks and were pointed to the ship, which cut a familiar silhouette – The Naglfar. The crew were initially wary of a group approaching them, but when Torvi dropped the hood from the cloak that Silk had lent her, they broke out in grins and welcomed her like family.

She was taken aboard to speak with Captain Sabre, First Mate Mary, and Astrid, newly promoted to boatswain, where Torvi introduced the others. Captain Sabre startled at Chimi, shouting “dog!” and ran away, eagerly chased by Chimi around the deck, who eventually caught him, calling “kitty cat!” as she tickled and petted him, despite his protests.

Torvi told Astrid of the letter she had written, which Astrid hadn’t had time to had read to her and reply to, and her desire to travel to the Isle of Man to get more information on the Múspell who had been performing the ritual at The Irminsul in Autumn.

They were rightly concerned at such news, and said that they were coincidentally planning to depart for the Isle in a few hours - the King of the Isle had died, and a thing was being held to decide his successor. Captain Sabre waived any fee of passage as Torvi was a friend and it was no inconvenience, but asked what aid the group could offer on board.

Torvi suggested the clumsy Percival sort cargo below decks where he couldn’t fall overboard, and Silk be a lookout of sorts. Chimi spent her time investigating various parts of the ship, and getting into a tug-of-war contest with some of the crew who needed her to stop messing with a rope.

Haeddi spoke at length with Captain Sabre, explaining that he was likely a familiar at some point, and highly curious that he had apparently outlived his mage. Sabre remained profoundly indifferent at this, simply saying that he had little to no recollection before being at sea, implying that he cared about what he is now rather than what he might have been long ago. She tried to establish just how old he was, but her questions yielded only that he is several decades old at minimum, and could quite easily be far older.

Torvi, meanwhile, caught up with Astrid and Mary, and learned of the main factions on the Isle, including Trollsynir, Vitkir and Seiðkonur. There were three main candidates for the throne; Osric, Sigurd and Brea.


 * Osric claims to be a descendant of the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok, and is a mighty warrior who is asserted to have won a swimming race with a great sea serpent – clearly modelling himself on Thor.
 * Sigurd is more of a man of the people; a man who seeks to resolve issues peacefully and encouraging growth. He models himself on Frey.
 * Brea, called “Lie-Smith” by Sigurd’s allies; a rune mage. Many talk of how he speaks like Loki, always looking to cause trouble, and he wears such accusations with pride.

Upon arrival, Torvi asked who best to speak to, and was directed to Thormund Odinson, an old Vitki who was up at the castle. She donned her ceremonial garb and made her way there. As she walked, she updated the grogs on what she had learned. Many who they passed clearly regarded the grogs with suspicion and Torvi with respect.

At the gatehouse, she was asked her business and asked to swear upon the Gods that she would do no harm. The grogs were uneasy with swearing upon what they saw as false gods, and so Torvi successfully argued for them to swear it on their own. Chimi swore no oath as she had no god, but was allowed to pass with the understanding that any harm she brought would fall on Torvi.

After talking with two Trollsynir, Ymir and Freya, they came to the great hall. Inside at the back of the hall was a large table arrayed for a feast, with many other side tables dotted around. In the middle of the table sat an older man with one eye, and at the ends a red-haired mountain of a man with two small hammers at his ornate belt, and a delicate-featured blond man with no weapons or armour. Lounging behind it was a man with acidic scarring that had rendered him blind.

Given Astrid and Mary’s descriptions of their personalities, Torvi bowed her head and addressed each of them in turn, greeting Thormund Odinson, Osric, Sigurd and Brea, and introduced herself and her companions. Despite his Christianity, Percival showed no issues sitting down to drink with some Trollsynir, and Chimi was handed a boar’s leg after unwittingly trying to take someone else’s.

Torvi explained her business there, and outlined her encounter with the Múspell. Thormund was surprised that an Irminsul still existed, believing the one destroyed by Charlemagne to be the last, and Brea asked where it had been secured. Torvi refused to divulge its exact location, saying that her associates value their location’s secrecy, to which Brea zeroed in on and, upon learning that she was with the Order of Hermes, expressed great interest in.

Torvi said that though their ways were strange to her, that they often see the Norse practitioners as enemies, and that she certainly doesn’t trust the order as a whole, the covenant she has affiliated with have proven themselves to be far more accepting than others, have been willing to heed her advice, and a few amongst them she considers to be friends.

Brea then said that he advocated for the people of the Isle of Man to summon the Gods to wage war with Christianity, kill their God, and return the Old Ways to their former glory. Torvi disagreed with such a notion.

She believed that the gods would aid them if they wanted to, and that summoning them would be presumptuous. That war would only cause great death – and likely that of the remaining pagans in particular – and that the better way would be peace and understanding. Furthermore, any great power should only be unleashed with the utmost caution, for its effects will be unpredictable, uncontrollable and massive; perhaps even causing Ragnarök.

After some back-and-forth, Torvi ended the discussion by simply saying that she was clearly not going to persuade him, and that regardless of his words, she would not condone initiating a war between gods. She did not presume to decide such matters, and had simply come to seek aid in defending against their great enemy, the Múspelli.

Thormund told her of how a Múspell had been recently said to be roaming England, assuming the name of “Angrboða”. He said that their magic works via rituals, and therefore that one must never fight them on ground of their choosing, as it grants them time to employ it. He suggested using the Irminsul as bait to lure Angrboða out.

Osric asked for more details about the Múspell encounter, and Torvi explained that the ritual she was doing was disrupted by Chimi tackling her and clinging on, even as she turned into a dragon to escape, tearing a scale free which became a scrap of belt. Osric was extremely impressed, and bestowed upon Chimi the epithet “Vogflá” – Scale-Taker.

Brea then grilled Haeddi on her interest in rune magic and her association with the Order of Hermes. He was extremely patronising of her failed apprenticeship, questioning how she could worship a God who dangled such a gift in front of her and then snatched it away. He treated her answers with great contempt, backing her into a corner via what was essentially the Epicurean Paradox. This culminated in her saying that God wasn’t perfect, which he heralded as proof of the hypocrisy of Christianity before leaving.

The mood turned more light-hearted with his departure. Haeddi was seduced by a well-groomed warrior, and Percival was dragged off by a Trollsdóttir. Thormund, meanwhile, approached Torvi and quietly pointed out an ancient vitki, saying he and Sigurd would likely wish to speak to her the next day.

The following morning, breakfast was served. After Brea continued professing his talents and how much the Isle needed his leadership, Torvi challenged him on the contradictions he’d made and the unsubstantiated nature of his claims of defending the Isle against Múspelli. He responded by carving runes into the table, causing a sudden and dense mist to fill the room.

Torvi unconvinced by this – there was no evidence that this stopped Múspelli, and powerful rune magic was far from unique to him, and being king had precious little to do with it as far as Torvi was concerned – but stayed quiet so that he would leave the room. The grogs left shortly thereafter; Percival to go shopping, Haeddi to talk with the Christian sympathisers, Silk to do Silk things, and Chimi to explore.

Thormund then raised to Torvi that, as an outsider, she was an unknown quantity in the political landscape, and given he too was extremely sceptical of Brea, asked she continue to oppose him. To this end, he introduced Hjalmar, the ancient Vitki, and advised she gather some more information about Brea from the people of the Isle before Hjalmar would bring her to be formally introduced to Sigurd. As he spoke, Torvi felt a slight breeze run through her hair, but thought nothing of it.

Meanwhile, whilst wandering outside, Chimi felt a powerful and twisted magic, akin to what she had felt around the Irminsul. Curious, she followed it to its source and found a clearing, in which was a similar platform and Angrboða. Lahabrea then appeared, handing her a dagger, a red dreadlock and a stone.

He exposited about how valuable their alliance was, and how they would do great things together. He told her that one of those he had encountered before were present – a man who was at Boristrum Castle.

Chimi bravely ventured closer until she saw a large number of undead gathered around and faltered, opting instead to shrink back into the undergrowth. The Múspell made slow, deliberate ritual movements with her body, before the hair disappeared.

Chimi turned and began to race back as quickly as she could, looking to find Torvi.

Torvi ventured outside after her conversation with Thormund, and soon heard the voice of Angrboða in her mind, thanking her for the hair. Controlling her actions, she had Torvi walk to Sigurd’s chambers and forced her only to speak what the Múspell herself desired. Though unable to resist Angrboða’s commands, Torvi attempted to speak as woodenly as possible to tip Sigurd that something was off, but unfortunately he didn’t know her well enough to pick up on anything being amiss.

Angrboða had Torvi hug him farewell at the conclusion of their conversation, and as he did, had her pull her knife out and stab him through the heart. She then regained full control of herself and cried out for the guards, trying in vain to stem the bleeding.

They burst into the room, and upon seeing him dead and her covered in his blood, bound her hands and dragged her into the great hall. Percival and Haeddi, seeing this, came over and were taken in themselves.

Torvi was accused of committing murder whilst under guest rights, and the guard, Ulf, was asked for his testimony. He stated that Torvi had come to him for a private talk, and after some time heard her cry out to him. He burst into the room and found her covered in Sigurd’s blood, holding his body with a knife in his back.

Thormund ordered to explain herself. She was shaken and panicked, and babbled the truth to them – that she had been controlled by a Múspell, and it had taken her hair to do so. Thormund examined her hair and found a length to be missing, and Brea scornfully declared that it proved nothing. Torvi remained largely silent, still in shock and not in a frame of mind to muster any coherent defence beyond saying that it was her hand, but not her mind.

Haeddi attempted to defend her, but Brea shot down her arguments for lack of evidence, declaring that Torvi likely went to Sigurd to persuade him of something relating to his claim to the throne, and when he refused she killed him.

Before Thormund replied, however, Chimi arrived at full sprint, having at one point climbed over the gate as its opening was taking too long. She fiercely shushed anyone who tried to speak to her, dodged the guards and bounded to Torvi’s side, announcing what she had seen.

Brea was outraged and tried to refute her claims, but Thormund ordered him into silence and called all the warriors to arms and bid Chimi lead them to where she had seen the Múspell. Haeddi spotted Silk in the crowd, disguised as the drunkard as he was at Chester, who winked at her and slipped away.

They came to the clearing and saw what Chimi had described, and formed a shieldwall. Angrboða crushed a small rock, and Thormund cursed and sent half the warriors back to the village, explaining that she’d likely performed some spell upon it.

He realised there was no sign of Brea, but focused on the problem at hand, saying that the Múspell would have a heart with her, and if it was destroyed then it would end the spell. He then gave Percival the keys to Torvi’s chains and instructed him to free her. She refused, not wanting to be controlled and made to hurt anyone else.

The Ascian Lahabrea was there on the platform, enraged, and they realised that he was in fact Brea. Haeddi caught his eye and flipped him off, while the undead swarmed at the shieldwall. Lahabrea arced a plume of black fire into Haeddi, causing her to collapse as the flames engulfed her. Torvi raced to Percival and had him unlock her, before she ran to Haeddi’s side and tried to douse the flames. Percival stood over her, shield raised to defend against further attacks.

Meanwhile, Chimi bravely scampered through all the undead to Angrboða at the back, who snarled at the woman who’d thwarted her at the Irminsul. Chimi tackled her in another hug, which she again was unable to free herself of.

Osric, leading the right flank, pushed forward through the undead, whilst Njal struggled on the left and Thormund held the centre with Sigurd’s housecarls. Lahabrea sent another bolt of fire, this time into Percival, seeking to destroy the people of Sagehollow first and foremost. Though smouldering and charred, Percival stood firm between the Ascian and his companions.

Chimi managed to pry the heart out of Angrboða’s hand and tore it apart with her teeth. A blast of wind emanated from it and she howled in anger, but Chimi pounced on her, clawing.

Torvi’s efforts to heal Haeddi were fruitless, and with a final wheezing breath, she died. Torvi didn’t have time to mourn, and instead ran turned to Percival to douse his burns before trying to tend to them. Instead, however, he shrugged her off and ran at Lahabrea up on the platform, who threw more and more blasts of fire at him as he came. To the amassed cheers of the Vikings who saw his charge, he doggedly refused to go down.

Silk was quietly climbing up the far side of the platform, and Percival was determined to keep Lahabrea’s attention occupied to buy the rogue time to reach him. Osric fought his way through the undead and joined Chimi in attacking Angrboða with his two hammers, laughing uproariously.

Percival finally succumbed to his wounds, collapsing with nothing but a smoking ruin above his shoulders. With this done, and much of the undead army slain, Lahabrea unleashed a wave of roiling black fire across those fighting beneath him, covering most of the combatants on both sides.

Chimi, despite being scorched by the flames, dealt the final blow to Angrboða, and with her death the remaining undead collapsed. As she fell, Silk reached the platform and rushed Lahabrea before he could unleash another wave of fire, kicking him off the platform. Lahabrea disappeared into a puff of shadow before hitting the ground.

The fallen were given honourable funerals in accordance with their respective customs, and the Christian sympathisers that Haeddi had been talking to previously conducted the closest thing to a Christian funeral as they could manage.

The man who had romanced Haeddi gave Silk an amber necklace that he had bought for her that morning and never had the chance to give her, to be given instead to her next of kin. Chimi was given a potion by one of the Seiðkonur to help with her burns, and extended every possible honour for her great deeds in killing Angrboða. She and Torvi were given replacement dresses, given Chimi’s was badly burned and Torvi’s was covered in blood.

Torvi was visited by Thormund, who told her that these Ascians had proven themselves great enemies of the Isle, and told her that they would be on the lookout for Lahabrea and the others, who Torvi named. He then quietly told her that they will likely come to consider themselves an ally of the Order of Hermes owing to their mutual enemy, but asked that she refrain from saying as much to them for the time being. He promised to send her a letter after the King of the Isle was decided upon, via The Naglfar.

After taking the rest of the day to gather themselves, the group returned in sombre fashion back to Chester and then to Sagehollow. Silk honestly but sensitively told Essel that Haeddi had died, and called a council meeting, also attended by Torvi and Chimi.

(Autumn) 1193 – Church and Land
Essel called Tessora to meet with her regarding her desire to have a church built near Gresham, in order to lay the souls to rest that fell by the barrows there (including Alistair and nine other of Will Scarlet’s Chosen Men.

Essel explained that she would need the backing of a local lord, and that Rohen d'Aincourt would likely be willing to provide it – both to make up for his misstep by attempting to out “Sir Humphrey” to Giscard’s men despite her specific instructions not to, and because he himself needed to speak to the nuns of Gresham to purchase back his lands.

She impressed upon Tessora the need for discretion when dealing with Rohen, and explained the elaborate web of lies she had spun around him; that he knew “Susanne” and Essel were the same person and a mage, but not that “Sir Humphrey” was also Essel and that Sagehollow was a hunting lodge called “Fairhaven”.

She set off to Farnesfield, accompanied by Alfred, Cuthbert and Theopania, and met with Sir Robert. Bemused at Cuthbert introducing the giant woman in armour as “Sir Lady Tessora”, he nevertheless brought her in to see Rohen, whose first question was whether she’d come to kill him.

She confusedly asked why she would possibly wish him dead, to which he explained his recent correspondence with Sir Humphrey was somewhat vitriolic. He scoffed at Tessora’s proposal to have a church built, but agreed to help, seeking to bury the proverbial hatchet with Sir Humphrey and serve as a show of good faith to Essel.

He granted Tessora and her retinue room and board overnight, before they headed to Gresham together. There, they met with Rupert Murdoch, the news reader that was first encountered two years ago, who told a somewhat exaggerated account of “Saint Tessora” at Summerbridge, which omitted the contributions of her companions and opted to have her sword be given to her from the heavens by an angel, rather than the somewhat less awe-inspiring Chimi bounding over with it in her mouth.

Rohen assumed it was a tale of a relative of Tessora’s, and was rather shocked when she quietly told him that it was her, though pointing out the inaccuracies and refusing to claim any degree of sainthood.

Being granted an audience the following morning, they learned that the Abbess Hedwig’s health was declining. She had refused any medical attention, saying that if the Lord was calling for her, she would not fight it. Instead, she was making arrangements to nominate a successor to her role, deciding that it should be someone young to provide long-lasting leadership.

Rohen and Tessora had several conversations with various members of the nunnery.

The Abbess was happy to socially and financially support Tessora in the construction of the church, but cautioned her that they weren’t entirely sure the land was owned by them. Sister Mallory combed through the library to find the relevant deeds.

She agreed to sell the d'Aincourt lands back to Rohen, in exchange for him petitioning various local nobles to donate to the nunnery, to replace the lost revenue.

She asked Tessora to listen to the proposals of the two candidates to take up the role of Abbess, explaining that she was much admired within the nunnery and, in combination with being an external party, would provide valued insight.

Sister Amelie was a radical, who thought the nuns should be more active, going out to preach and do acts of charity rather than remaining cloistered in the nunnery in quiet prayer. She was also a fierce proponent of Sister Mathilda; a faerie who had been hurt in a Satyr ritual and cared for by the nuns, and claimed to have seen the light of the Lord and sought to become a nun. After the Abbess granted her entry, she has thus far displayed an equal devotion to the Lord as any, she is also keen to begin missionary work amongst the Fae.

Sister Josephine was a traditionalist who believed faeries to be soulless, and that the nun’s place within Christianity was to producing religious texts and to retain purity of soul by remaining isolated, doing good through prayer. That exposing themselves to sin would lead them to temptation, not to mention that many Lords – who the nunnery relies on for funding – would withdraw their support were they to venture out into such dangers.

Tessora was initially reluctant to support one side over the other, as both had salient points, and suggested a competent centrist who hadn’t applied for the role – many great leaders do not seek it, after all. But upon pressing from the Abbess to choose between those two, she eventually suggested Amelie.

Her logic being that if one side became Abbess, the other would likely leave. The traditionalists wouldn’t struggle to find another nunnery, whereas the radicals – especially Amelie and Mathilda – may never find another. Seeing as both sides had merits, it would be better to elect the side that would leave all of the devout remaining as nuns, whether at Gresham or elsewhere.

Rohen spoke to his stepmother Marion d'Aincourt, who advised that Robin of Loxley was a good friend of the family and that he should endeavour to form a relationship with him. She told him that though she had been forced into the nunnery by Giscard, she preferred to remain for her own safety, at least until King Richard’s return.

Sister Mallory returned, saying that the land the church would be built on is owned by Anselin the Butler, which Rohen was pleased by as his father was a close friend. Cuthbert noted that he had - finally – decided to take a wife, a woman in her late twenties called Lady Amicia, whose father was a wealthy lord who owned many lands including Winterton.

That evening, Tessora and Rohen engaged in a protracted debate about God’s benevolence, His Plan and the power of faith. Rohen found in Tessora an unshakable opponent, who refused to engage in his points on his own terms; instead reframing them beyond the temporal and offering counterpoints that were inarguable within the context of the spiritual.

When Rohen accused God of evil, Tessora simply argued that permitting such deeds were his way of testing people in order to grant them into heaven, and therefore came from a place of love.

When Rohen said that non-believers went to hell, Tessora said that she believed they go to purgatory until they come to accept the light of God. When he argued that was a punishment, Tessora said that she did not see it as such. It is simply another life in another place.

When Rohen accused the Church of evil, Tessora said that people are fallible, whether or not they worshipped God.

When Rohen said that non-Christians are seen as evil, Tessora– thinking of Cirice, Torvi and Chimi – said that she personally knows several “heathens” who are unequivocally good.

When Rohen claimed that she and the nuns were slaves to God, Tessora explained that slavery was non-consenting; there was a distinct difference between being slaves and "willing servants'' of God.

When Rohen claimed that action was far better than prayer, Tessora replied that prayer was action. When he demanded evidence of prayer doing anything, Tessora told him that proof denied faith.

When Rohen claimed that the nuns would rather pray than be of practical use by treating those in need, Tessora pointed out how the nuns of Gresham had tended to the mercenaries who had survived the barrows and now-Sister Mathilda, despite their “sinful” ways.

When Rohen claimed to care for his people above all other considerations, Tessora drilled down into his morality. She asked whether he would still have taken Farnesfield off of Ser Walter if it had prospered under his rule, even if he were otherwise an evil man. He said that he would not allow evil to benefit from his people, to which Tessora clarified that punishing the evil seemed more important to him than the good thriving. He agreed with that assessment, but seemed to be less certain.

When Rohen accused Tessora of never having suffered a day in her life, she mildly told him of her wounds suffered at the hands of Zodiacus, only surviving due to a literal miracle.

Rohen was unconvinced by her explanation of religion, blaming God for his recent and catastrophic misfortune over the preceding few years, but relented in his arguments and seemed to respect Tessora for her conviction and patience, if not her beliefs.

After that, they set off to Laxington to visit Anselin the Butler. There, Tessora once more encountered some scepticism, but those there clearly decided that politeness cost nothing and addressed her properly. Anselin was welcoming, and commented that tale of Tessora’s deeds at Summerbridge had spread, which Tessora graciously commented that she was sure several elements had been exaggerated. Rohen explained the situation with Gresham Barrows and the proposed church build, which Anselin was open to.

He then called Rohen for a “private meeting” in a remote tower of his castle, where Anselin asked Rohen if he trusted Tessora. He considered before saying that, oddly, he did, and that she was the most earnest person he’d met.

Anselin then asked if Rohen had heard the rumours about his proclivities – which Rohen confirmed bluntly – and confided that it was untrue. Instead, he had been given a death prophecy by a seer known for his accurate predictions, stating that he would “die by a woman’s hand and sire no heirs, unless the bearer of two acorns bathed in moonlight, belonging to a scion of the land of winter be found and wed”, and thus he has taken no wife.

However, Lady Amicia’s father is Lord of Winterton and she wears a necklace of a pair of silver acorns, so Anselin believes this to be the wife who would avoid the prophecy. Wedding preparations were well underway, and Amicia was en route.

The following day, word came to Anselin that the various wagons were attacked on the road, and Anselin did not have the men to dispatch to each of them. He told Rohen that he’d feared that either Giscard or the Abbott would try to sabotage the marriage as it would prevent them from getting their hands on Lexington.

Anselin himself rode to Shireton to escort Lady Amicia to Laxington, his captain of the guard rode to secure the dowry, and he asked Rohen and Tessora to secure her personal effects – including the necklace of silver acorns – and safeguard her companion, Ser Robert de Caux.

They met with the verderer Sergeant Einar and two of his underlings, and travelled to the ambush site. They learned from those there that they had been attacked by a dozen men, who didn’t seem to care about killing them or robbing the wagon blind, instead making straight for Amicia’s jewellery box. Tessora tended to the wounded under the gaze of Rohen, before the group tracked them to a barn.

Theopania took a look and reckoned she could climb an adjacent tree, slip into the loft space, and steal the box back, though she’d need a distraction. Tessora volunteered to step out and talk with the brigands, trusting that if she came alone, they would feel more curious than threatened. Einar thought them more likely to shoot first and ask questions later, so he sneaked to a nearby privy and set fire to it as Theopania left.

She returned some time later with the box, and told them that one of the bandits had a tonsure and carried a monk’s habit of the Cistercian Abbey, and a pendant with a cross on one side and a sword on the other, bearing some strange markings. Tessora didn’t recognise it, and Rohen assumed that the Abbott was responsible and that the pendant implied some nefarious sect.

Tessora theorised that it was likely that she herself – being educated in France – simply didn’t know of the pendant’s nature, and that it was equally plausible that Giscard was responsible, and had one of the men cut his hair and carry the monk’s robes to deflect suspicion from himself by implicating the Abbott instead.

On the way back, Einar told Rohen how he’d welcome a new posting elsewhere, to which Rohen offered him a new role with him. He also spoke with Robert de Caux, who he discerned was romantically involved with Lady Amicia, but the two had come to an understanding with the much older Anselin that once he died, they would be welcome to be together at last. His marriage to her was largely a matter of political convenience for both parties.

Returning to Laxington after the other groups, Anselin thanked them and, when told about the implication of the Cistercian Abbey, said that a Brother Jessop had been spending more and more time with the Abbott, establishing himself as the more aggressive of the two in their petitions to have Anselin sign Laxington away to them, while the Abbott himself had calmed down about it.

He agreed to support Rohen and Tessora’s petition to the bishop, and made him the Lord of Ealden (the lands that the Church was to be built on). The wedding was pushed forward to the following day to prevent further sabotage attempts, after which a feast was held to celebrate. Alfred and Cuthbert both picked up a couple of young girls, and Tessora and Rohen were taken to a consummation ceremony, which they both found rather awkward and strange.

The following day, they made their farewells and left for the minster village of Sudwelle to present their petition to Bishop Giscard. After Rohen took care of requesting a new priest for Farnesfield, the Bishop asked Tessora after Evelyn, showing knowledge of her magical capabilities and expressing interest in commissioning her to make some magic items for the Church – which would conveniently help distance herself from the “witches” his brother was hunting.

He then had a private conversation with Rohen, whose faith and opinions he asked for. After that, they had a feast, where Alfred was voluntold to cook as the Bishop’s had taken ill. Unfortunately, the Bishop was particular in the dishes, and Alfred had to follow unfamiliar recipes read to him by a scholar who was no cook.

It was expected of Rohen and Tessora to drink with each course, where Theopania would assist by slipping Cuthbert a measure of the wine to spare the nobles who were both unused to drinking. The conversations varied, but generally stuck to matters of faith and theology with Tessora, and leadership and law with Rohen.

They and Cuthbert were all rather drunk by the time the meals were over, and Rohen in particular had to flee twice to vomit – both from the drinking and Alfred’s missteps in following the recipes. The following day, they formally raised their petition to the Bishop, who approved it under the conditions that the church was to be built exclusively by members of the guilds to an approved design, and that some of the former residents of Summerbridge, along with some refugees and ex-prostitutes were housed there.

With that done, they returned to Farnesfield, where the perimeter fence had been built to a high quality and a low height – merely being inches tall due to a mixup with Rohen’s provided plans. The carpenter agreed to rebuild it, and the others continued back to Sagehollow.

(Winter) 1193 – Liberating Erin
Participants: Essel, Evelyn, Alfred, Cass, Erik, Islwyn, Old Giles, Oskar, Silk, Vick Sloane.

After a council meeting was convened by Robin Hood to begin preparations to free Arianne’s sister Erin from her captivity in Nottingham Castle, the two teams set off – “Team A” aboard The Thorn, led by Essel and consisting of Erik, Islwyn, Silk and Vick Sloane herself, and “Team B” on Oskar’s wagon, led by Evelyn and consisting of Alfred, Cass, Old Giles and Oskar himself.

Meanwhile, Robin Hood and his Merry Men would cause a distraction on the other side of town, hopefully drawing attention their way and also making him the likely scapegoat (thus avoiding any accusation of meddling with the mundanes).

Team B set off on a circuitous route to avoid suspicion of any spies, on the way encountering many peasants who had been made homeless by the high taxes and growing pestilence, now suffering from frostbite in the harsh winter. Oskar gave out several of the woollen hats, gloves and scarves he’d been carrying on his cart, much to their gratitude.

They arrived at Nottingham, with the guards obsequiously offering to escort Evelyn and Cass wherever they needed, which the latter politely declined. Oskar had absolutely no issue selling the winterwear, though Cass recognised one of the guards – she’d last seen him falling off the wall of Nottingham Castle after she dodged his attempt to tackle her. She quietly told Giles that she’d been clocked and she’d find her own way to the Fox, before fleeing from them and bumping into Alison.

A short time later, some of the Fox’s men subtly took over Oskar’s cart to allow the group to meet with the Fox, aligning with Team A being taken to see him after arriving via ship.

Silk made introductions, calling Essel “Susanne” – which the Fox didn’t entertain, having been told Essel’s description by Alison. During their conversation, the group learned that Giscard was “spooked”; he hadn’t left the castle in some time, no messengers had come or gone in four days, there was some significant construction work going on within, and Prince John was with him – though very few outside the castle knew it. Vick Sloane suggested it may be because Richard could be on his way back.

They told him the broad strokes of the plan they’d come up with, and showed him the letter that Millie had suggested they write to state that its bearer was on official and discrete business of Giscard’s, and were not to be impeded in any way, bearing Giscard’s personal seal as replicated by Essel’s magic. The Fox begrudging said it should work against anyone not familiar with Giscards’, Gisbourne’s or their scribe’s handwriting, but that the captains of the guard can all read and would see through it.

He warned them that those wearing the insignia of captains were lieutenants, and that the “lieutenants” were the actual captains. He also mentioned that Giscard has a “panic room” inside his chambers, behind a bookshelf – in a marvel of engineering, the book that could be pulled out to trigger the opening mechanism could be reconfigured.

This he knew due to being a fallen noble of some kind, who had been a guest of Giscard’s in days gone by – one day he is determined to kill Giscard as vengeance for whatever betrayal he suffered. He also said that the people were beginning to starve while Giscard hoarded food supplies, and suggested that if the group were to cause further mischief, they’d be better spoiling the water than the grain.

He could not offer much aid beyond information, but said that he’d try to pull some favours to cause a distraction if needed. Old Giles recalled a story he’d heard as a lad, of how an old well in the castle led out into the River Trent, which had been used to get a message out when it was besieged.

The plan was thus;
 * Team A (now consisting of Essel, Cass, and Silk) would go for the keep where Erin was held. Essel would locate the tunnel, and then cast Rise of the Feathery Body on herself to get to the top of the keep and then Prying Eyes to find Erin. She’d then use Step Sideways to get into the room, spontaneous cast Descent of the Feathery Body on Erin, and then teleport back out again. Cass and Silk, meanwhile, would climb the walls, set up grappling hooks, and deal with the guards on that stretch of wall to prevent them seeing Essel and raising the alarm.


 * Team B (Evelyn, Old Giles, Oskar, and Vick Sloane) would swim through the tunnel (Evelyn casting a spell to let her breathe underwater). Vick and Giles to help with the swim and deal with any guards with their more subtle weaponry, and Oskar to serve as translator to Evelyn. They would await Essel’s attempt – if she was unsuccessful, they would attempt to deal with Erin. If she was successful, they would see whatever mischief they could cause.


 * Team C (Alfred, Erik and the Fox’s men) would cause a distraction at the gatehouse, wearing blackface to sneak up to it, seizing it by surprise and destroying the bridge to lure many of the guards to that side of the castle.


 * Islwyn would be on overwatch, and The Thorn would be waiting as a getaway vehicle.

The plan began. Silk and Cass climbed the walls and, when the coast was clear, beckoned Essel to float up to begin her search. They then climbed onto the battlements, rigging up the grappling hooks for a hasty escape and scanning the area. The guards patrolled in groups of five (!) and so they could do nothing to dispatch them. Cass and Silk struggled hugely to cling to the wall in the freezing cold, and at one point slipped down to the ground to breathe life back into their fingers.

Evelyn cast a spell to waterproof the bag containing Vick’s knives and an assortment of servant’s outfits, and another on the group to protect them against the cold. With that, they began the long swim. Oskar struggled greatly, and made it only due to the determined efforts of Old Giles and the grace of God, whilst Vick dragged Evelyn along where needed.

Emerging at the bottom of a well that had been covered in stone, Evelyn used Terram magic to open it up and the group clambered out, with Evelyn making herself float up. They emerged in a disused storage room, and Vick sternly ordered Giles and Oskar to face the wall whilst she and Evelyn stripped. Evelyn used magic to dry them off, before they donned the garb of serving girls. Evelyn then dried Oskar and Giles and they did the same, dressing as a page and groom respectively. With that done, they hunkered down and waited, giving Team A time to hopefully accomplish the primary objective.

Meanwhile, Essel had found Erin’s room, but to her dismay she saw that she was joined by a woman dressed in a noble’s red dress – matching the vague description of Guy of Gisbourne’s “advisor” given by Arianwen during the Lidby Leet in Spring 1191. There was also, curiously a large metal statue of Achilles looking down across the room.

Essel teleported in, and when the noblewoman started and looked at her, used Trap of Amber to freeze her in place. She glared at her and told her quite simply that she was here for Erin, and that if she wanted to live then she should keep her mouth shut until she had left, terrifying her. She then told Erin that she was a friend of Arianne’s and had come to rescue her, but the statue then came to life. It stabbed a spear at Essel, who fast-casted her Step Sideways to teleport to Erin.

Grabbing her hand, she teleported them quickly to the roof, where the guards had luckily heard the terrific noise of Achilles’ spear slamming into the floor of the room below them and raced downstairs. Essel then cast Descent of the Feathery Body on the pair of them and stepped off the roof, floating down to the ground.

Meanwhile, Team B opted to spoil the well. After Oskar retrieved some dead rats, Vick was sceptical that it would suffice, and used one to lure a cat over, killing it and disembowelling it. She then put them all in a bucket, and Evelyn made the contents invisible. Oskar went to the well to “draw water”, dumping the contents inside, before the group gathered random laundry and made their way to the keep.

That was when the booming impact sounded from the tower, followed by the giant statue of Achilles bursting out and giving chase to Essel. The keep’s inhabitants were ushered into the church, Team B, Giscard, Prince John and the woman in red included, who had fled from the tower. Oskar eavesdropped on their conversation, hearing Giscard request permission to torch the surrounding villages and take in anyone suspected of harbouring witches or Robin Hood, which Prince John agreed to.

The woman in red said that she was “protected by her master” against Essel’s attempted intimidation, divulging that he was willing to aid in finding them. She said that he was a proud man and wouldn’t be ordered even by the Prince, but would be willing to come to an arrangement – it was obvious that he was scrying via the woman and conveying these thoughts to her. She also said that the statue would hunt down Essel until one or the other is destroyed, and was a creation of her master.

John and Giscard began picking the servants sheltering in the church out for interrogation, suspecting further saboteurs, and picked Evelyn and Vick Sloane first. Giscard took five knights and the woman in red with him to interrogate Vick Sloane personally, whilst John went into the next room with his retinue and Evelyn.

The woman in the red could somehow not only determine when Vick was lying, but when she was answering with truths that would lead them to false conclusions. Under threat of mutilation and torture if she wasn’t completely honest, they learned that Vick was working with the mages, and that they were in Sherwood, but the interrogation was disrupted when everyone except Vick were frozen in place – Evelyn had thrown John and his retinue into a wall, knocking them out, and then stuck all their gear to itself.

Vick Sloane took the opportunity to wriggle from her bonds, drew a guard’s dagger, and went to slit Giscard’s throat. A wave of pain enveloped her head, causing her to stagger, and Giscard and the woman took the opportunity to flee, though the guards remained frozen for whatever reason. Enraged, Vick Sloane chased Giscard down, who tripped in his panic. She mounted him, batted his sword aside, and stabbed him to death. Oskar and Giles caught up with Evelyn, and when they saw the unconscious Prince John, Oskar retrieved a club from one of the guards and caved his skull in.

They then retreated to Vick’s interrogation room, where Evelyn peeled open the wall and created a slide down to the ground whilst Vick Sloane slit the throats of Giscard’s knights. They vanished into the night, eventually reaching the Thorn and awaiting the others. The Fox’s men, joined by Islwyn, Alfred and Erik, caused their huge distraction by taking the gatehouse, with the grogs and several others holding the bridge long enough for it to burn down.

Essel and Erin fled into Nottingham proper, with the Achilles statue relentlessly pursuing and occasionally throwing his spear at Essel, coming remarkably close a couple of times. Eventually in the town, after trying several other means of clouding herself from its perception, she realised that entering Giscard’s panic room had triggered an enchantment on herself, which Achilles was following.

She therefore dispelled that effect and the pair slipped away, with the statue running directly into a wall and collapsing. They later travelled to the Thorn.

Cass found herself held in one of the towers with several serving girls and guards. After playing the part of a distressed servant, she couldn’t help but banter away with some of the guards. Suspicious at her change in emotion, one of the guards quietly went off to summon a captain, btu was intercepted and neutralised by Silk, who then somehow disposed of the body and dressed as the guard, before pulling Cass out to the wall.

She bumped into the scar-faced guard who’d thrown himself off the wall trying to capture her the last time, and quickly asked his name. Caught off guard, he said it was Ed, before Cass darted past him and she and Silk ran to the grappling hooks and scampered down.

The archers on the walls started loosing arrows into the darkness, and as they reached the end of comfortable bowshot, one particularly lucky shot took Cass through the throat. Choking on her blood, Cass clawed at Silk’s chest in panic, who hoisted her over his shoulder and ran to the Thorn. By the time he reached it, she was dead.

Spring 1190
Members in Attendance:  Arianwen of Bjornaer Edric of Bonisagus Essel of Bonisagus Haeddi Lady Evelyn of Verditius Rian of Ex-Miscellanea

Lenton Prison Essel informed the council that the Quaesitor Fredegisa knew of Sagehollow breaking the incarcerated mundanes in Lenton Prison, but opted not to deliver an official reprimand. Edric raised the question of how she could know, but the council decided that there was no way to determine, and even if they could, precious little they could do to challenge a Quaesitor and come out the better.

Magic Items for the Templars Seeing as the covenant had no way to refuse Fredegisa’s “request” to sell bespoke magic items to the Templars, and it would likely even prove beneficial to do so, Evelyn was told to begin work, despite her protests at wanting to work on her own projects.

She begrudgingly accepted, but promised all of the silver made from the sale to go to the covenant coffers. She would, however, require someone to act as Venditor for her, and wishes to meet these Templars.

Income Sources Edric raised the issue of finances, as Sagehollow had no legitimate income source, and with Fredegisa possibly keeping an eye on Sagehollow’s affairs, they would do well to look into finding another source of income besides banditry.

Edric’s suggestion of usury was argued against by Essel and Evelyn, but reluctantly agreed to consider the possibility of providing no interest, but charging resources or services in lieu.

Little John Little John was given a letter summoning him back to Byzantium on some important business, and departed the covenant. He said that he may be gone for several years, but that if the magi of Sagehollow need his aid from Constantinople, he would provide it.

Vis Sources Evelyn told the council that the covenant required vis sources, both for the Aegis and the creation of magic items. As the mage with the best ability with Intellego, Edric was sent to look into finding more, beginning with an old Romanic temple in the forest that Robin of Loxley knew of.

Regulus After the existence of the Tytalus mage within Sherwood was revealed, it was suggested that he should be contacted to seek a working relationship, or if he is dead, recover whatever vis, books or artifacts that he had. Rian opted to lead this endeavour, beginning by travelling to Cad Gadu to look into Mara.

Newstead Abbey Edric suggested Newstead Abbey be looked into by whomever collects the books procured by Bob the Bookseller.

Covenant Duties It was agreed that each mage should write books to begin to create a covenant library; Evelyn is exempt from this, as her duties for the foreseeable future lay in the creation of the magic items for the Templars. This will likely “pay” for her covenant duties for the next few years. The former apprentice Haeddi will be creating wax figurines to aid the mages in the fulfilment of their duties to the covenant.
 * Arianwen: Parma Magica
 * Edric: Magic Theory
 * Essel: Rego
 * Rian: Creo

Covenant Roles It was agreed that temporary titles should be discussed, to be finalised at a later date once the covenant’s immediate issues are resolved. These will take the form of the roles of Consul and Praetor; temporarily taken up by Essel and Evelyn respectively.

Summer 1190
Members in Attendance:  Arianwen of Bjornaer Edric of Bonisagus Essel of Bonisagus Haeddi Lady Evelyn of Verditius Rian of Ex-Miscellanea

Cirice of Cad Gadu Cirice of Ex Miscellanea has shown interest in joining Sagehollow once she has learned the Parma Magica at Cad Gadu, and will be visiting at some point to see for certain. It has been decided that Sagehollow would welcome her joining the covenant.

Immanola’s Prophesy Whilst Essel and Rian spoke to Immanola, they witnessed her issue another prophesy, which has been chronicled elsewhere (see the Chronicle of Sagehollow, Summer 1190 ). It was decided that though it certainly bore continued consideration, there was too little information at the covenant’s disposal to discern any meaning behind it. It is noted that Immanola had another apocalyptic prophesy some thirty years ago, and nothing came of it.

Winter 1192
Turb Captain After Will Scarlet's departure from Sagehollow, a new turb captain needed to be elected. As the only member of the covenant with both appreciable leadership and combat skills, Lady Tessora was the only major candidate. She accepted the role, promising to organise the training of several of the covenant labourers into an auxhiliary militia force to supplement Robin of Loxley's bandits and the grog combatants, should the need arise to defend Sagehollow.

The Ascians It was determined that the Ascians continue to pose a threat and that the covenant should remain vigilant, but no new information has come to light, nor have any sightings been made.

Rohen After being questioned just what Essel had been up to regarding Farnesfield and its young Lord, Rohen d'Aincourt, she explained that she believes him to have magic blood, and also that his dislike of Robert Giscard could make him a valuable asset; one that she began making moves to secure by lending him twenty pounds of silver. She was allowed to continue this project of hers, but told to inform the council of any significant withdrawals from the covenant coffers in the future.

The Stonehenge Tribunal Essel informed the council of her intention to boycott the upcoming Tribunal, joined by Voluntas, Cad Gadu and Ungulus. This would likely rob Blackthorn of the ability to maintain a quorate, which in turn would allow Stonehenge to begin the establishment of a fairer tribunal held on neutral ground. She promised the mages of Sagehollow that she would make all attempts to direct any ire from Blackthorn towards her individually, thus minimising risk to them. It was also agreed that before any Tribunal votes that are held which Sagehollow does attend, Essel will explain to the mages how she wishes to use their sigils and gain their permission.

The Muspelli and the Irminsul It was explained that the Irminsul that was recovered by Arianwen in Autumn was in order to prevent its use in a ritual conducted by a Múspell to bring about Ragnarök. After it was explained what Ragnarök would likely mean, Essel informed the Council that she was dutybound to report its existence and location to Duranmar at the end of her term as Spring Tenens, in 1197. This would likely stir controversy, as many mages will feel that such a ritual should be permitted to occur, as it would seemingly weaken the faerie realm and commensurately strengthen the magic realm. The mages of Sagehollow decided that they required more information on the Múspelli in order to ascertain how to defend themselves against any future attacks that may be held to try and retrieve the Irminsul, or simply to avenge their thwarted ritual. Therefore, Torvi Ylvakrí will travel to the Isle of Man to seek answers from the Norse Pagans residing there.

Meeting One
Members in Attendance: Arianwen of Bjornaer, Arbiter Cirice of Ex-Miscellanea, Praetor Essel of Bonisagus, Consul Lady Evelyn of Verditius, Custode Haeddi, Librarius and Scriberer Millicent the Inquirer of Mercere, Diocetes Silk, Grog Tribune Lady Tessora of Artois, Grog Tribune and Turb Captain

Others in Attendance:  Arianne, Folk Witch Ailuros, Loremaster Maahes, Loremaster

The Spy After the covenfolk Cass, Falko, “Number Seven” and Richard gave their account of the events transpiring during their visit to Nottingham, an emergency Council Meeting was called to hunt the spy within the covenant.

After establishing that the spy was female, operating under duress from Sheriff Robert Giscard due to a loved one being held hostage, and literate, the Council established a shortlist of primary suspects, and began bringing them in to interrogate individually.

Not willing to eliminate anyone on account of status, the first was a member of the council itself – Millicent the Inquirer, formerly apprenticed at Voluntas. After a protracted investigation helmed by the Spring Tenens Essel, it was agreed that she was unlikely to be coerced due to her status as a Redcap and her lack of (unaccounted-for) family in the area.

Millicent then aided Essel in interviewing the others, beginning with the folk witch Arianne, who was brought into Sagehollow during the Autumn of 1190. She was swift to confess, and told them how Robert Giscard was holding her sister captive.

She further explained that Robert Giscard had used her as bait – primarily to capture people of Sagehollow if they tried to break her out of prison, but if that were to fail, then for her to go along with them and report back to him.

Every few seasons, she would leave the aegis at night, turn into a raven, and deliver her report to Giscard in person on his balcony. She refused to divulge Sagehollow’s location, or any details on where to find people on their way back to the covenant – only those on the road leaving it. She also gave descriptions of several mages, but made a few alterations; Arianwen is “Arianwyn”, a man, Cirice is physically an adult, and Rian is still alive and well.

The mages expressed a desire to help liberate Arianne’s sister, but she knew only that she was being held within Nottingham Castle. It was agreed that she continue reporting to Giscard in her usual manner, but that those reports be vetted by the Council while they figure out a definitive solution to the issue.

Lahabrea Arianne also told the council that, almost a year prior to her capture by Giscard, a folk witch claiming to be a servant of “Gulveig” visited her. She wielded far greater magic than Arianne’s own, claiming that it is the progenitor of her own and thus that she has authority over the witches in the area.

She asked Arianne of the Ascian Lahabrea, who she saw as an ally, but Arianne knew nothing of him. She also asked her where to find Torvi Ylvakrí, as their friendship was known to her, but she refused to answer.

Due to the concerns that need immediate attention, this particular matter was shelved for further discussion at a later date, with the attendance of Torvi Ylvakrí, as it concerns her in both a personal and professional manner.

Millicent Millicent the Inquirer wishes to make it a matter of record that the Covenant Librarian Haeddi has promised to craft her a Figurine that will allow her to transform into a bird by Autumn.

Robin Hood Essel received a letter from her associate, Lord Rohen d’Aincourt of Farnesfield, accusing Robin of Loxley of robbing a wagon of taxes on his land, on its way to Robert Giscard. He demanded Essel (operating under the name “Ser Humphrey” in her dealings with him) resolve the situation, and so she will briefly postpone her planned journey to Blackthorn in order to investigate immediately. She will be joined by her peers Arianwen and Millicent, as well as one of Robin of Loxley’s men.

Meeting Two
Members in Attendance: Arianwen of Bjornaer, Arbiter Cirice of Ex-Miscellanea, Praetor Essel of Bonisagus, Consul Lady Evelyn of Verditius, Custode Haeddi, Librarius and Scriberer Millicent the Inquirer of Mercere, Diocetes Silk, Grog Tribune Lady Tessora of Artois, Grog Tribune and Turb Captain

Others in Attendance: Ailuros, Loremaster Arianne, Folk Witch Maahes, Loremaster Torvi Ylvakrí, Folk Witch

Others in Attendance: Arianne, Folk Witch

Robin Hood The bandit henceforth referred to as Robin Hood was identified by Essel as likely a fae being, and has been brought into the covenant to serve as additional protection and an ally against Robert Giscard. Though he will offer the covenant no income, as the money from his banditry is returned to the nearby peasantry, he will surely earn a great deal of goodwill from the people if his connection to us is revealed.

Rohen d'Aincourt The council has decided that Rohen’s knowledge of Essel’s existence, and the fact that she, Arianwen and Millie are mages of the Order of Hermes, is not terribly damaging in comparison to Giscard already knowing much of the same.

Tribune Silk stressed the importance of Rohen being clearly shown the nature of their arrangement – that of Essel being the dominant figure, rather than himself. Essel has assured the council that she will write to him, ensuring that he knows her to be the dominant party without him turning on her.

Robin of Loxley Due to the events succeeding the last council meeting - see the first few pages of the passage entitled “Robin, Blackthorn and Hibernia”, in the book An Account of Sagehollow, 1190-1194 – Robin of Loxley has cut ties with Sagehollow and struck out on his own in a bout of anger.

Essel explained her actions, to the fervent questioning of Tribune Silk and Millicent the Inquirer, as being a result of her not believing there to have been time to withdraw finances to pay Rohen in another manner, and not seeing a manner in which to inform Robin of Loxley into her plans to stage a robbery of his coin.

Perceiving her actions as a betrayal, Loxley spurned her offer of recompense. The Council has concluded that despite his knowledge of Sagehollow’s location and inhabitants, he poses little threat; he knows the power of mages, and thus would be unwilling to make an enemy of himself and face their retribution, compounded by the fact that the only enemy of Sagehollow he is capable of contacting is Robert Giscard, who is also his own sworn enemy.

The fact that his loss also includes roughly a hundred pounds of silver is a concern – it has been pointed out that the covenant will be facing bankruptcy in 1195 if additional income is not generated, or Loxley is not reconciled with.

Arianne Folk Witch Torvi Ylvakrí requested more clarification on the matter of Folk Witch Arianne and her sister discussed at the last meeting. This was elucidated to her, to which she asked for the covenant’s plans. It was agreed that they would wait for the planned meeting with The Fox, and if an alliance was struck, he would be consulted regarding what aid he could grant towards her liberation.

The Fox It was decided that, given Arianwen, Essel and Millie are abroad during the time period required, and Edric and Evelyn are utterly ill-suited to serve a political and diplomatic role, Silk will pose as one of the covenant’s leaders to meet The Fox. He will be joined by Cirice for insight into how best to represent Sagehollow’s interests and how to present its capabilities, and if The Fox knows of Sagehollow’s magical nature, she can step forward and reveal herself as one of its true leaders. She has been granted the right to negotiate at her own discretion.

Gullveig Unable to comprehend the meeting minutes composed by Head Librarian Haeddi, Torvi also asked of the section of the meeting relating to herself. She was told in more simple terms that the so-called “servant of Gullveig” was looking for her by name in 1189.

Torvi was confused and seemed scared that this person even knows of her, and described Gullveig as Jötunn – apparently a being of evil who is somewhat tied to the Múspelli. This servant of Gullveig, the Múspelli and the Ascians look to be forming a significant threat to Sagehollow, especially if she is successful in bringing local Folk Witches under her authority, and the covenant will have to remain vigilant.

When questioned, Torvi also said that she does not see how the servant of Gullveig’s magic would connect to Arianne’s or her own, as they are quite different in nature – seemingly in a similar regard to House Ex Miscellanea.

Summer 1193
Members in Attendance: Arianwen of Bjornaer, Arbiter Robin Hood, Praetor Essel of Bonisagus, Consul Lady Evelyn of Verditius, Custode Millicent the Inquirer of Mercere, Diocetes Silk, Grog Tribune Lady Tessora of Artois, Grog Tribune and Turb Captain

Others in Attendance: Chimi Vogflá, Wild Woman Richard, Scriberer Torvi Ylvakrí, Folk Witch

The Isle of Man Tribune Silk called a council meeting to discuss the events transpiring during the visit to the Isle of Man, led by himself and the folk witch Torvi Ylvakrí, and accompanied by the wild woman Chimi, the warrior Percival Fletcher, and Head Librarian Haeddi.

Torvi, still clearly shaken up by the ordeal, described the events, later clarified by Silk. The ascian Lahabrea was operating on the Isle in disguise, and in concert with the “Servant of Gullveig” that was first encountered last Autumn (see also the Council Meeting Minutes, Spring 1193, Meeting Two) – going by the name “Angrbotha” – took control of Torvi and forced her to kill a claimant to the throne of the Isle. She was spared the repercussions of this by Chimi, who had uncovered their presence, and the people of the Isle gathered arms to fight them.

In the ensuing battle, Haeddi was struck down by Lahabrea wielding black fire, and as Torvi attempted to save her life and Percival imposed himself between them and Lahabrea, he too was killed. Chimi was able to destroy Angrbotha, but Lahabrea disappeared in a burst of shadow when Tribune Silk kicked him off a raised platform.

Torvi Ylvakrí has asserted that Múspelli seldom work together, and so that particular threat can be considered over. However, Lahabrea is still at large, and both the power he has exhibited and the seeming grudge he bears for the people of Sagehollow – not to mention the Order of Hermes at large – is cause for significant concern.

This will be raised by Consul Essel at her forthcoming meeting with Julia of Voluntas and the magi of Blackthorn.

The council also discussed whether the ascians were what Immanola mentioned in her Grand Prophecy, though that remains entirely conjecture.

The council is resolved to gather more information about the Ascians in order to learn how best to both defend against and fight them in the future.

Praetor Cirice The Covenant Praetor, Cirice, has departed for an unknown length of time to the Isle of Wight in order to pursue her research. She has nominated Robin Hood to serve as Praetor in her absence.

Autumn 1193
Members in Attendance: Arianwen of Bjornaer, Arbiter Essel of Bonisagus, Consul Master Silk, Grog Tribune Lady Tessora of Artois, Grog Tribune and Turb Captain

Others in Attendance: Richard, Scribe

Magic Items Bishop Giscard has requested a meeting with Lady Evelyn of Verditius in order to commission the making of magic items for the Church. She will be informed of this via a copy of the meeting minutes, should she choose to accept this – the Bishop has mentioned that this would aid in distancing her known magical nature from that of the “witches” that his brother, Robert Giscard, is currently hunting.

Rohen of Farnesfield Essel requested to hear Tribunes Silk and Tessora’s opinion of Rohen, given the building tensions between himself and Essel (and her alias, Ser Humphrey). After a protracted back-and-forth, she – with Silk’s agreement – advocated for either refraining from meddling in his affairs and treating him as an allied third party much like Gresham Abbey or The Fox, or bring him fully into the covenant’s trust, as lies are a poor foundation for a relationship.

Essel opted for the latter, and Silk commented that it should be done with utmost sensitivity, given Rohen’s current mistrust and his anger in the past at other deceits being revealed. He suggested sending another mage; one he has a warmer relationship with, who would bear a letter from Essel and then be able to answer any questions or provide any further explanation he may want. Thus, Millicent the Inquirer shall be asked to visit him next month.

Winter 1193
Members in Attendance: Arianwen of Bjornaer, Arbiter Essel of Bonisagus, Consul Lady Evelyn of Verditius, Custode Millicent the Inquirer of Mercere, Diocetes Robin Hood, Praetor Master Silk, Grog Tribune Lady Tessora of Artois, Grog Tribune and Turb Captain

Others in Attendance: Master Richard, Scribe Ser Tancred Viscart, Covenant Champion Captain Vick Sloane, Ship Captain

Aegis Edric of Bonisagus has informed the council that he has been summoned by Occultes of Bonisagus for aid in an important research project, and has therefore returned to Durenmar. The responsibility of Aegis, therefore, has fallen to Lady Evelyn of Verditius.

Praetor It was deemed that Robin Hood’s leadership of his men and frequent travels roaming Sherwood Forest may impede his ability to be present at the covenant to deal with threats, and so the role has been given to Ser Tancred, until Cirice of Ex Miscellanea returns to the covenant to pick up the mantle.

Librarius Due to Miss Haeddi’s death during the Autumn of 1193, a new Librarius is needed. This will be given to the scribe Richard on an interim basis, until the folk witch Torvi Ylvakrí has been taught Latin to a sufficient level to serve on a permanent basis.

Employee of the Season Due to efforts to recognise and reward covenfolk for exceptional efforts towards the betterment of the covenant, a new initiative has been established wherein a quarterly vote will be held by Council Members. The winner will be given lighter duties for the subsequent season.

The winner for Autumn 1193 was Chimi Vogflá, for her outstanding bravery and heroism in destroying the Múspell known as Angrboða, likely saving hundreds of lives and ending a significant threat to the Order of Hermes.

Out-of-Character note: winning Employee of the Season grants the character a confidence point.

Erin It was decided that it was time to launch a rescue mission of Erin, the folk witch Arianne’s sister, from her captivity at the hands of Robert Giscard. After a protracted planning period, it was decided that three teams would venture forth – Robin Hood leading his men to serve as a distraction and to receive blame for the whole affair, Essel and several grogs to make the first attempt, and Lady Evelyn with several others to serve as a contingency option.

The plan - and the result of its enaction thereafter - will be chronicled in the Sagehollow Saga, Winter 1193, entitled “Liberating Erin”.