Adventure Summaries

Summaries of the adventures undertaken by the Covenant of Sagehollow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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