1249 Wi

<-- Chronicle

Session 1:

The is recap is for June 6th 2018 This took place during winter of 1249 During The last week of Fall Scion called for a Wizards meeting to inform the Magi of what happened in Sladaas during their Vis hunt. There was a very long discussion between Silvanius, Scion, and Lucca in regards to Magic Theory and what constituted for real and fake inside a Regio. Ultimately, the council was pleased that the Vis we promised to the Redcaps had been delivered in full (all 75 pawns). The council was about to adjourn when a letter arrived. It was from Mario of Luctatio who was disappointed that Scion/the Garden of Monsters hadn’t stopped by to say goodbye. However, he was pleased with the gift of the memories/information he obtained from the Grogs that went with the group into the Forest. “Your adventures in the forest gave me far more information than I had known about it. I now know how far to tread and what to expect in the forest so I can claim even more Vis sources for Luctatio. You are always welcome to visit our Manor House, but do not enter the Toltev forest without our permission lest you disturb our claimed Vis sources.” The council came to an end after the reading of the letter. Later, Nicholas (our idiot thief) came to Scion and told him that he was wondering if Scion would be willing to help him with a job. When Scion asked what the job was, Nicholas told him that ArchBishop Marcus Orris was going to be arriving in Punta Rossa soon and that Nicholas was going to steal a Holy drinking horn relic from the Archbishop. When Scion asked why Nicholas wanted to do this Nicholas said that Queen Mab had demanded him do it. Scion told Nicholas to wait for two hours and if he hadn’t returned by that time that he wasn’t going to help him. Scion then went to Lucca and asked him about memory wiping spells/ being culpable/accidentally wiping all of your memories. Lucca told him that he had used memory wiping spells before and that it was ok to use them so long as you were careful. So Scion asked Lucca if he could summon a storm that evening to rain down upon Punta Rossa. Lucca agreed to it. Scion then returned to Nicholas and told him to write down something about this upcoming mission that he would never tell to anyone else. Nicholas wrote about that he was to wrap a blue scarf around the drinking horn. As soon as Nicholas did that, Scion spontaneously cast a memory wiping spell and tried to erase any memory Nicholas had towards talking to Scion about the plan. However, the spell didn’t penetrate, but Scion didn’t know that because when he asked Nicholas a question to test if the spell worked Nicholas lied (rolled really well on guile) and convinced Scion that he didn’t understand what Scion was talking about. Scion then went to Grace (Simeon’s daughter) and asked if she wanted to help with this plan. Pretty much convincing her that it would piss off her mother, Leticia, so Grace agreed and they convinced Voop (the poisoner/Doctor) to give them a powerful sleeping agent. With the sleeping agent Grace was to go to the Queen’s Tree and convince the guards/militia that patrol Punta Rossa at night to come inside out of the rain for a drink or two and slip the sleeping agent into their wine. Using her enchanting music virtue Grace was able to get about 2/3 of the guards to come in out of the rain and drink the drugged wine. Meanwhile, even though Lucca had created a storm there was a massive natural storm blowing into Punta Rossa from the sea. When the natural storm hit the dock master rushed into the Queen’s Tree and screamed for any of the dock workers to get to the docks and help, because a ship was trying to out run the storm and make it to harbor. The workers rushed down to the docks and helped moor the ship inside the Harbor. A man on the boat yelled for a gangplank and when it was attached 26 armed men wearing the livery of the Duke of Naples disembarked from the ship carrying a palanquin. When they got to the town square 6 of the men broke away and moved up the hill towards the Count’s manor house. The other twenty with the Palanquin moved towards the church. The six men reached the Count’s house and asked to see the Count/Countess. With the Count away they were shown to the Countess. Leticia asked who they were and one of the men took off his cloak and revealed himself to be the Chancellor, Lysandros. Leticia immediately sent for food, drink and warm clothes, and asked Lysandros why he was here. Lysandros said that a massive storm had driven his ship into Punta Rossa. He then asked if a servant could be sent to the covenant for the Wizards to meet with him. A servant did so and Lysandros was able to speak with Lucca, Scion, and Marion at the Count’s Manor House. Lysandros told the group that he and the Archbishop were traveling to Rome for an appointment to have the Archbishop sworn in as a cardinal and that once he was a cardinal, Marcus Orris was going to have enough power/influence to call for Rome to bring down a Crusade against Belgen. Lysandros asked the Wizards to please speak to Marcus Orris to try to help him understand that Wizards weren’t the same as the Fey. Lysandros “I believe that magic is a tool and can be used for good or bad. It all depends on the person using it. I’m afraid that when the Crusade starts, unless Marcus Orris has spoken favorably about the Magi, that the Crusaders won’t show any distinction between the Fey and Magi. If the Crusaders fight the Magi then Belgen will win! I have spent the past 10 years speaking with Orris about how Magi aren’t inherently evil, but I don’t think he will believe it unless the Magi make the first step. Please speak to Marcus Orris! Show him that you are not like the inhuman monsters that the Fey are!”

The Wizards said they would try to speak to Orris the next day, but the Code forbade them from interfering in mundane matters, I.E. they couldn’t march alongside the Crusaders to take down Belgen. Although, Scion said that while he couldn’t speak for the other Magi he would do whatever he could to help stop Belgen. With the meeting ended the Magi went back to the covenant and Lysandros stayed as a guest at Simeon’s Manor House. Meanwhile back in town Nicholas had kept watch on the palanquin as it made its way towards the church and when it arrived Nicholas saw that a pair of guards carried the Archbishop out of the palanquin and into the church. He decided to wait until the dead of night to try and sneak in and steal from Orris. While he waited he saw that the 20 guards broke into 5 squads of 4 and about every two hours would switch with the 4 men guarding the church/Orris. At about 2am Nicholas saw the guards were about to change and he felt it was time he made his move. Around 2am up in the Manor House Leticia woke up and heard a sound coming from the children’s quarters. As she got near, she saw that one of the windows near the children’s rooms was open and the sound she heard was the storm was knocking the shutter back and forth. She went in to check on her kids and found both of the beds were empty. She started screaming for the servants and guards. Everyone in the house rushed towards her and after a very quick round of questions found that no one had seen Grace or Nicolo (Simeon’s son). Lysandros offered his help to find the children and Leticia and Lysandros started searching the grounds near the Manor House.

Meanwhile, back in town Nicholas got ahold of some wine, splashed it on himself and started stumbling towards the church. As he got close he saw a child slowly walking down the street moving away from the town square towards the forest. He also started to hear a buzzing voice in his head saying “walk little children, walk this way, come to me so we can all play” Nicholas really didn’t know what to make of this so pretending to be drunk he stumbled toward the two guards at the church door and when the guards saw him he told them that he saw a child wandering around out in the rain/storm. One of the guards left the door and went towards the child. As the guard knelt down to talk the child just kept on walking around him. When the guard grabbed the child to stop him the child started thrashing, kicking and tried to bite him. The guard called out for his partner to help him and the guard at the door went inside to speak with the other guards. Nicholas used his stealth and was able to sneak into the church on the heels of the door guard and he then hid in the shadows. The guard at the door went over to another pair of guards protecting the door to the preist’s bedroom in the church. Nicholas rolled really high on stealth to get closer to that door and climbed up into the rafters of the church to get right next to the door. The guards next to the bedroom opened the door and after a minute of soft conversation Nicholas heard a strong voice say “carry me to the door of the church” The three guards went into the bedroom and carried Marcus Orris to the outer door of the church. Nicholas dropped down out of the rafters and crept into the bedroom. He did a quick but efficient search of the bedroom but couldn’t find the drinking horn. Thinking it was on the Archbishop’s person he snuck back into the shadows to wait until he could steal it from the Archbishop. Meanwhile up at the Manor House Lysandros and Leticia couldn’t find Nicolo or any tracks. They noticed that there were a number of lights and torches lit down in the town. So they sent a runner to find out what was going on. The runner came back saying the people of the town were searching because their children were missing. Lysandros and Leticia decided to go down into town to see if anyone had seen Nicolo. They sent a runner to the covenant to inform the Magi what was happening and asking for help. Marion and Scion both quickly made it into town. By this time everyone had made it to the town square, Leticia saw Grace stumbling out of the Queen’s Tree (at 13 years old, she was also under the enchantment that the was affecting the children, but she was trying to fight it so her walking was much slower). Leticia ran over to Grace and started shaking her to try to snap her out of it. Both Grace and the child the guard found on the street were thrashing about and screaming about wanting to go and play with the voice. When the Archbishop heard this he called out in a strong clear voice that everyone needed to form a circle and hold hands. He then call out for everyone to do a call and repeat. He began beseeching God to protect and save the innocent children and to drive this evil from the land. All the people in the town square did as he said repeating it over and over again and they felt a presence of hope envelope them. With a thunderous crack, a bolt of lightning struck outside of town and an inhuman scream came from the direction of the lightning strike. Everyone in town rushed over and saw a large tree that had one of it’s branches blown off by the lightning. They also saw that it’s trunk and branches were covered in shapes that looked like wooden faces. The faces were where the screams were coming from. The tree was pulling its roots out of the ground and trying to move back into the forest. The Archbishop’s troops and Marion rushed forward and after a few rounds they cut the tree into pieces. The bishop was being carried by his guards and he started coughing hard. Lysandros moved close to him and pulled from his doublet the drinking horn. Nicholas who was always near without being conspicuous heard a voice in his head scream “Get the Horn Now!!” With an amazing stealth roll (17) and an even better legerdemain roll (26) he got close enough that the guards didn’t notice him and he grabbed the horn out of Lysandros hands. Lysandros had a full second to be able to see Nicholas. During that second Nicholas wrapped the horn in the blue scarf Mab had given him and the horn disappeared. He then took a bottle from his pocket and turned into a Wolf. As a wolf he bolted as fast as he could towards the forest. Leticia saw Lysandros take a bow off his back and in one smooth move fired an arrow at the running wolf. Nicholas felt something slam into his back and his legs stopped working and he fell to the ground incapacitated. Leticia saw on Lysandros face a look of pure, unadulterated, rage and heard him scream out “I WANT THE WOLF ALIVE, NOW!!” And everyone in the group without a Parma felt the full weight of his authority and ran to get the wolf. And so ended the session.

Session 2:

This recap is for June 14, 2018 It took place during winter of 1249 (This one’s a doozy!!)

At the end of the previous session Nicholas had stolen from Lysandros the drinking horn that was helping keep Marcus Orris alive. Nicholas then drank a potion, turned into a wolf, and tried to run away, only to be shot with an arrow by Lysandros, incapacitating him. Lysandros commanded that the wolf be brought to him alive and the people of Punta Rossa leapt into action. As the people of Punta Rossa were getting the wolf Lysandros commanded the Papal guards to get the Bishop back to the church, get him out of his wet clothes, and get him warm. Marion, who had been hacking apart the tree with many faces came over and asked Lysandros what was going on. Lysandros told her about the horn being stolen, and the man turning into a wolf. Marion asked if she could use magic to help and Lysandros agreed. Marion used an InAn spell on the wolf and found that the arrow had pierced the wolf’s spine and had effectively paralyzed the lower legs and that the damage had incapacitated the wolf. She wanted to cast a Perdo Vim spell to break the enchantment the potion had given, but the divine aura was too strong so she asked to take the wolf up to the covenant. Lysandros disagreed stating that if the people of the town saw the wolf being taken to the covenant that the people might think the Wizards had something to do with it. A compromise was made that the wolf would be carried by Lysandros’ men up to the Count’s Manor House ( the house sits outside the covenant/Aegis but is far enough away from town that it has a magic aura of 2) and Marion could try the spell again. At the Manor House Marion was successfully able to cast the spell and the wolf transformation was broken and it was revealed to be Nicholas. Sighing, Marion told Lysandros that she knew who he was and that he was connected to a different Faerie than Belgen. She said she wanted to take Nicholas up to the covenant, get him some medical aid, and question him. Lysandros wasn’t happy about it but he knew he couldn’t stop Marion if she pushed the issue. However he said that the Church would think VERY badly of them if anything happened to Nicholas before the mundanes had a chance to question him. Marion promised that they would get the chance to question him/any information they got would be given to the proper authorities. Marion also had Voop sent down to the church to try to help keep the Bishop alive. Nicholas was taken up to covenant and put in the infirmary and a pair of Grogs were set to guard/watch him. Marion then called a Wizards meeting (in the middle of the night) and told the Wizards what had happened down in town (I.e Nicholas had stolen The drinking horn from the Bishop, Lysandros saw who did it, knows that Nicholas was a member of the covenant, and he wants Nicholas turned over to him/the information the Wizards pull from Nicholas) Marion asked if anyone had known/helped Nicholas and Scion said he had helped lessen the number of guards patrolling that night, but that he didn’t know the exact thing that Nicholas was going to steal. The Wizards decided that before they could made any decisions they would try talking to Nicholas/use mentem magic to plumb his mind. They sent Abramo to get Nicholas. He returned shortly and said that Nicholas was missing. When pressed Abramo said he found the guards sleeping and the bed Nicholas was in empty. The guards were brought in and they said they were standing guard and the last thing they remember was Abramo waking them up. One of them thought he heard some singing before he fell asleep. The Wizards dismissed the Grogs. They asked Silvanius if he could locate Nicholas with an arcane connection. Silvanius tried scrying him but couldn’t find him anywhere. Using a Faerie lore roll the group thought that maybe since he was connected to Mab that she had taken him the Faerie realm and that perhaps the Faerie realm disrupted arcane connections just like the magic realm did, or he was in a place that had enough resistance that Silvanius couldn’t penetrate it. The Magi were about to start talking about what to do next when there was a knock on the door, and Grace entered the room. She said that she had something she had to tell the Magi. She told the Magi that Mab had come to her and told her that if she helped Mab then Mab would help her.

Grace “ Mab told me that she had lost her Knight tonight and that I had lost my brother and all the children of Punta Rossa. She told me that if I did two things for her then she would do two things for me. She gave me a blue scarf of hers and told me to wrap it around Nicholas before he had been questioned or killed. The other part of the deal was that I was to agree to become the Lady of the Winter Court. In return she would tell me how the adults could save my brother and the other children of Punta Rossa and she would also tell me the secret to destroying Belgen. (Sniff, Sniff,) I had to do it to save my brother and stop Belgen from hurting anyone ever again. I had to!” The Magi held back their anger and asked how to save the children and what the secret was to destroy Belgen. Grace told them whoever was going to save the children needed to go to the back of the covenant, past the Aegis, at sunrise and the way to the children would be revealed. Then when she was asked about the secret to destroy Belgen she began to sing.

Grace “Belgen, Belgen, bringing woe again Find the king so he can yell again Where the grave iron likes to lurk You will find it in the dirt Walking past the one eyed gates Find it where the dead do wait. Belgen, Belgen, bringing woe again Last is found where she now dwells again. Find the king so he can yell again. Belgen Belgen bringing woe again”

The Magi let Grace go home and then sat down to talk about what to do next. Alessandro was saying every prayer he knew and was asking for anyone to help him in his Lab to help create a flying island. Lucca spent half the conversation with his head in his hands. Marion hoped that if she ever found Nicholas that after she wring his neck she would give him over to Paolo for experimentation. The ultimately the council decided to tell Lysandros that an agent of Mab had made a deal with her to get Nicholas away in return for a way to get the children of Punta Rossa back. They decided not to mention that Grace was the agent or that she had agreed to become the Lady of the Winter court. The went down to the Count’s Manor House and told Lysandros the news. When he heard the news he slowly stood up, took the chair he was sitting in, raised it above his head, and screaming in incoherent rage began smashing it against the table again and again until he broke the chair into splinters. After his fit was over he asked the Magi to explain it again in exact details. After he heard it a second time, he asked the Magi how much they knew about Faeries. The Magi responded back that they knew a few things. Lysandros looked at each one of them and through angry gritted teeth he told them about Faeries. Lysandros “When I found out that I was facing a Faerie Queen I tried to find as much information as I could. I’ve spent the last 15 years learning as much Faerie lore as possible! I used my contacts in Byzantium to get copies of rare documents! And every one of them lead to the same conclusion! YOU CAN’T TRUST FAERIES!! They are tricksters, liars, cheats, and scoundrels! Any move, any deal, they make has a double meaning that will always benefit them. I can’t believe I’m having to say this to Magi! They are not our friends or allies. They are puppet masters and we dance to their strings! You say that Mab will show you the way to save the children from Belgen? What’s if it’s a trap that uses you to get the children away from Belgen, but then puts them right into Mab’s clutches while you face Belgen’s wrath?! You mentioned a way to stop the Crusade by get Belgen’s king back? (The Magi didn’t give the full riddle/rhyme on how to do it, but mentioned that the Faerie king might be able to stop her) How do we know he isnt just going to be a more powerful version of a Faerie monarch and keep subjugating our people!? (After taking a deep and calming breath) Ok, we need to try to make the best of this. You have a chance to get the children back. That will go a long way towards making Magi look like the good guys in the Archbishop’s eyes and consequently the Church. However, I won’t trust any Faerie so I’m not going to risk my men to do Mab’s bidding. You’ll have to rescue them on your own. Also, I don’t want the Church going to war with the Magi so I will keep quiet about Nicholas’s Connections to your covenant, but in return you will give me an account of any and all connections your covenant has towards the Faeries. I hope you will see them for the threat they are and sever all ties with them. When we go to war with Belgen I can’t risk having agents of the Faeries behind our armies whether they work for Belgen or any other Faerie to undermine our success. I will not allow another incident like Nicholas to happen to me or my men again due to a lack of information and if you won’t provide the list of your connections to the Faeries I may no longer be able to trust your covenant. I really don’t want that to happen.” Beepo asked Lysandros if those people with Faerie blood like him would also be judged like true Faeries. To which Lysandros said that personally it would be up to the person’s actions/deeds that would bear judgment, but he couldn’t speak on behalf of what the Church might say. Marion agreed that a list of any connections the covenant had with the Faeries would be given to Lysandros (whether it’s a complete/truthful list is up to her and our council of Magi) and it would be given after they saved the children. The meeting with Lysandros adjourned and the Magi got ready to get the children back. About thirty minutes before sunrise a rider on a sweat covered, half dead horse, rode up to the covenant and bore a letter from the woman who was running Terracina in Count Simeon’s stead ( the “Mungo” of Terracina). The letter said that the children of Faro and Terracina had gone missing and that one of the trees with many faces had told the people of Terracina “that for too long had the corruption of rebellion festered in these towns. Our glorious queen could not allow another generation of her subjects to be influenced by this corruption. So although it pained her to do it, she has taken the children to become her wards so they may be raised without the taint of rebellion. Should you turn away from rebellion, pay your taxes, and show yourselves to be loyal subjects of the true ruler of these lands then in her glorious mercy she may return the children.” The group (Lucca, Beepo, Marion, Cosette, and 5 Grogs) moved out to save the children. They went to the back of the covenant and saw Mab standing in a clearing beyond the Aegis. She looked at the group and said” A deal was made, a deal was met, and so a deal shall be kept.” She then raised her hands and the clouds began to swirl in the sky and a bolt of lightning shot down and spilt a tree in half. Cosette used her second sight and saw that where the tree had split there appeared something shimmering. Letting Marion know is was ok, the group went through the split tree. As they passed through, they felt a tingling and saw that they had passed into a forest path. Beepo cast eyes of the eagle so he could see farther ahead. Taking the path Beepo soon saw a clearing and he could make out some Satyrs moving around in the clearing. They got closer to the clearing and the Grogs formed a shield wall and the Magi ready themselves to sling some spells. As they entered the clearing the saw 10 satyrs and two of those many faced trees. Lucca multicast two lightning bolts and split the 2 many faced trees apart in one round. The satrys didn’t last much longer between the Magi and the Grogs, they were slaughtered in a few rounds without any injuries on our side. The group went deeper into the clearing and found the 12 children of Punta Rossa and Nicolo (Grace’s brother). They then heard a voice whispering on the wind “come back quickly!” So they grabbed the kids and ran back down the forest path they came from and with a flash of light they found themselves back behind the covenant in Punta Rossa. Meanwhile back in Punta Rossa around sunrise, with the help of Voop, the Archbishop was able to make it past his aging crisis (barely), but will not be able to be moved for at least a season without the chance of a relapse/death.

(Now I realize that the past few sessions have been jam packed. Please don’t think that every session is going to be this overwhelming. These past few sessions were setting the stage for what is to come, I.E. giving you the information/setting things up so from here on out you can have an idea of which path you want to take) Also Ellis, I know you agreed to having Grace get Nicholas away and become the Lady of the Winter Court, but as you weren’t here for this session and if you didn’t want Grace telling anyone what she’d done. I’m ok with retconning the story so that Nicholas was gone, and Mab told the Grogs who guard the front gate to the covenant, that an agent of hers in our covenant made a deal that returning her Knight to her would result in in her telling them how to save the children and how to destroy Belgen. So that way no one knows that Grace was the one who made the deal. (Currently only the Magi know what Grace has done, Lysandros, Simeon, and Leticia were never told it was Grace) I’m more than willing to go with either choice. Although you agreed to the deal with Mab In the future I’ll only include characters that are at the session into the story so we don’t have this possible problem in the future.

Session 3:

Recap for 07/3/2018 This took place during winter of 1249 The group was Ellis, Nick, and Tyler.

The Archbishop had been stabilized by Voop and had to rest for the remainder of the winter season. He was staying in Punta Rossa's Church. Simeon decided to go down to the church to speak to the Archbishop and try to make him understand that Magi weren’t the enemy of the Church and that if a Crusade was called upon Belgen that they hoped the Church wouldn’t attack the Magi as well. Using a folk ken roll Simeon was able to find out that the Archbishop enjoyed listening to music, specifically singing. However singing had been banned in Naples, as songs and stories gave the Fey power. The only singing allowed was religious songs. So Simeon had our resident singer Jacques (played by Ellis) join him in going down to speak to the Archbishop. After Simeon explained to the guards that he wanted to speak to the Archbishop they let him enter the church. Inside the priest’s quarters they found Lysandros sitting at a simple table looking over paperwork and in the bed propped up on many pillows and a very heavy blanket rested the Archbishop. Simeon asked the Archbishop if he was up for talking and the Archbishop agreed but as a mark of faith he asked, pointing at Simeon’s cane, that Simeon would relinquish his staff of power. (House Jerbition has spent many years pushing out false propaganda to the nobility and clergy that a Wizard could not cast magic without a wand or staff of power. They also pushed the idea that a true Wizard always wore a robe of dark blue with silver stars and moons stitched upon it.) Simeon being of House Jerbition knew this and agreed as a gesture of goodwill. Simeon told the Archbishop that he tried to be a good Christian man and was no friend of the Fey and wanted Belgen gone just as much as the Archbishop did. When the Archbishop asked if all Magi felt this way and if they would join the Church in stopping the Blight that was the Fey, Simeon said that the Order Of Magi he belongs to have rules that won’t allow Magi to interfere with non Magi people (although he admitted that while he doesn’t believe that it is a good rule he does try to follow it). The archbishop then asked since Simeon was not willing to march with the Church against Belgen, then would he become the liaison, the mouthpiece, for the Church to try to persuade the Order of Magi to join the Church. Simeon gave the same reason of non interference to this request. When the Archbishop heard this he said “this is the mark of your pride. That you believe that your power is so great that you are not willing to give up that power and only use it for the glory of God and to protect the Church.” Simeon countered that although he believed that the Archbishop was a good man, he was a man who was close to death and to promise to obey the Church after the Archbishop passed away, when a man with less than honorable intentions could use the Magi for selfish reasons. The Archbishop retorted that the Church is not one person and that the selfishness of one man would be stopped by the rest of the good people within the Church. He argued that he had fought against selfish supernatural men in the past who had let their power corrupt them, and he knew that a single Magus could with a wave of his hand destroy an entire town. And because of the pride of not letting the Church guide the Magi and the corruptible power they possessed he could not truly trust the Magi. However he believed that Magi were men and women, children of God, who could be redeemed. The Fey were not. They were twisted, corrupt things, who’s only purpose on this earth is to turn good Christian people away from God. He hoped that the Magi would understand this and Ultimately support the Church. Simeon then asked the Archbishop besides the two things he couldn’t do to help the church, what could he do personally for the Archbishop as an act of Goodwill. The Archbishop said that he knew he was not long for the world and would soon embrace God in heaven, but he had to make it to Rome before that so he could deliver his message to bring about the Crusade. He asked if Simeon had any way of helping get the Archbishop to Rome as quickly as possible, he would be very grateful. Simeon said that he did not have that power himself but he would speak with his fellow Magi and with their help perhaps this could be done. Simeon asked how long did he have to try to set this up and the Archbishop said to let him know before the next sunrise. Simeon then asked the Archbishop if he would like to listen to Jacques sing a hymn. The Archbishop agreed and Jacques rolled an 18 and sang a very beautiful song and the Archbishop fell asleep to it. As Simeon was leaving the church Lysandros told him that the quicker they could get the Bishop to Rome the better, but it would not be good if his magical entrance into Rome was done with flash and pomp. There could be elements in Rome who would believe that in his weakened state that the Fey or the Magi had corrupted him and the Crusade might not go through. Simeon returned to the covenant and called for a Wizards meeting. Alessandro, Silvanius and Lucca were able to attend. Simeon told them about what had happened down in the Church and asked them how to best transport the Bishop to Rome. Lucca thought he could just put the Bishop asleep, use leap of the homecoming with touch range to warp some of our men to Rome, have them get a carriage, then Lucca would Warp the Sleeping Bishop into Rome and have the Carriage take him to the Vatican.

Silvanius thought this request was a trap the Bishop was laying to try and get us to show the full power of our magic and then having seen our full power would believe the Magi to truly be a threat to the Church and call down the Crusade against the Fey and the Magi. Silvanius pushed for the covenant to get the Bishop a good carriage and a strong horse, and to use magic to subtly make the carriage ride smooth and the horse be able to not feel its fatigue and get the Bishop to Rome that way. Simeon thought that perhaps if Lucca got on board the Ship that the Bishop was already using and if Lucca then used his magic to calm the storm and make good winds and sail the ship into Rome. Lucca agreed that he would be willing to try that, but he believed the storm to be created by Belgen and he might not be able to break the storm. We as a group decided that we would present these possibilities to the Bishop and see which one he wanted. We ended the game having made that decision, and we will pick back up next week to find out what happens next.

Recap for 7/18/2018 This took place in the winter of 1249 (last time for this season I swear!)

When we last left our group they were on Lysandros’s ship trying to sail to Rome to get the Archbishop safely there so he could call down a Crusade against Belgen. A massive storm appeared of to the NW of the ship and Lucca flew out towards it to try to use magic to lessen the severity of the gale force winds. He tried casting magic but his spell didn’t seem to have any effect on the storm. He flew back to the ship and based on an awareness roll the group (Marion, Simeon, Lucca, and our pious Grog Pelagrinious) guessed that the storm would hit the ship in about 30 mins. They found Lysandros and told him that they couldn’t stop the storm, but they could either use magic to teleport the Archbishop to Rome, cast a spell on the Archbishop to allow him to fly himself to Rome, or cast magic on the Templar guards to allow them to fly and carry the Archbishop to Rome. Lysandros told them that while he wasn’t opposed to magic being cast on the Archbishop, the Archbishop was leery of having magic cast on him and the Templars, because of what happened with Beepo’s magical hide and seek in the church, they staunchly refused to allowed any magic to be cast upon the Archbishop. Lysandros told them if they were going to have to get the Templars out of the way if they had any chance of using magic on the Archbishop. He asked Simeon if he had any way to help get them out of the way. Simeon said he could try to make them fall asleep using magic. Lysandros and Simeon went down into the ship’s quarters to try and gain access to the Archbishop and a few minutes later the group saw one of the Templars come rushing up out of the hold and was scanning the horizon. A second after that the group heard Lysandros’s voice calling the rest of them down. They saw that the one Templar who remained was sleeping on the floor just outside the Archbishop’s quarters. They told the Archbishop that a massive storm was about to hit the ship and they couldn’t stop it. They asked him if he would be alright with them casting magic on him to teleport him directly to Rome. Although hesitant (Simeon roled pretty well on charm) Marcus Orris did agree to the plan. Orris” although I dislike magic I believe that the Lord has put all of you on this path along with me and I must put my faith in Him, that He will see me through this.” The Magi quickly realized that they probably couldn’t get through Orris’s Divine resistance without using Wizards Communion, but they would need an extra magus to pull it off so they warped back to the covenant and had Paolo use an arcane connection from Pelgrinius on the ship to warp back. The Magi used Wizard’s Communion to boost “Touch of the Homecoming” and with the use of some Vis and confidence points they were just barely able to warp Orris to Rome. Right after they finished the spell, they heard a loud crack coming up on deck. They rushed up on deck and saw that the mast on the ship had snapped and the storm was pitching the ship back and forth violently. Lysandros turned to the Magi and told them that the ship was breaking apart and they needed to get to the Archbishop to make sure he was safe. The Magi wanted to use “touch of the Homecoming” on him but before they could they heard over the roar of the storm, the Templar screaming in rage “Where is he!!” Lysandros unslung his bow off his back, ran to the stairs that led down, readied his shot and fired an arrow down the stairs. The group heard a wet thock and a series of thumps, which led them to believe that Lysandros had just attacked one of the Templars. With the ship being hammered by the storm and the possibility of the Templars attacking, Lysandros implored the group to warp away and care for the Archbishop. Lysandros” This ship is falling apart and I don’t know how long I can keep the Templars at bay! The Archbishop matters more than me! He’s the only one who can convince the Church to call down the Crusade. Please go and protect him!!” The group reluctantly agreed and used leap and touch of the Homecoming to warp themselves to Rome. When Lucca, who was the last of the group on board, came over to Lysandros to use Touch of the Homecoming Lysandros turned to him, looked him square in the eyes and in a commanding voice said “Warp to the Archbishop, and protect him. NOW!” And Lucca felt a compulsion take hold of him and he warped away to Rome. The group warped to the graveyard outside of Rome near Vardin’s Tomb. They carried the Archbishop into town, bought a wagon and got him safely to his townhouse in Rome. The Archbishop thanked they Magi for helping him, and although he didn’t fully trust all the Magi and magic in the world, he told them that he did believe Magi were children of God and were deserving of His mercy and Grace. And that he would try his best to impart that message to the Curia when he called for the Crusade. He thanked them again and then asked them to leave so he could rest. Lucca then used a piece of Lysandros’s ship to warp back to see if they could save him. (It had been about 30 minutes since they warped into Rome) When Lucca warped back he found himself on top of a reef and he saw that there were broken pieces of the ship shoved against the reef. He flew up and down the coast using Intelligo magic with hearing range looking for any survivors, but didn’t find any. He warped back to the group and they decided to go to Naples and get an arcane connection of Lysandros and warp directly to him. Simeon rolled really well on charm and convinced the Seneschal at Naples to help them. They went into Lysandros’s room and found a piece of clothing that belonged to Lysandros and used it for Leap of the Homecoming. They cast the spell but nothing happened. (The group believes that because Queen Mab created the storm that hit the ship and the Wizards can’t warp to Lysandros that Mab has taken him into the Faerie Realm). While the group was searching for an arcane connection to Lysandros the found the Duke of Naples still magically sleeping, and that he had not aged a single day since Belgen took power back in 1235. With an vey high Etiquette roll (in the 20’s) Simeon was able to deduce that with the Duke incapacitated the right of rule fell to his so and that since Queen Belgen, had married the Duke’s infant son, she ruled as the boy’s regent until he came of age. However she has ruled for over 20 years so the baby should be of age, and yet Belgen still rules in his stead.

The group returned home and told the covenant what had happened. Then because of what Beepo did in the church that nearly killed the Archbishop Simeon called him out on Certamen. They agreed that if Simeon won Beepo had to ask him for permission to turn invisible and after Simeon agreed 5 times then Beepo no longer had to ask for permission. If Beepo won then he could cast an invisibility spell on Simeon at 5 different times of Beepo’s choosing. They dueled and Simeon won. So now Beepo has to ask Simeon permission before he can turn invisible and if Simeon says no then Beepo can’t turn invisible. Also at this time Mungo came to the council and delivered a letter from a man waiting outside the covenant. The letter read that Praxis has been denied support and aid from House Tremere. It was signed by Poena, Prima of House Tremere. The council went out to the wall and saw a well built (but still size 0) man wearing a robe that was so dark black that it bordered on Blueish black and a man and a woman in good lightweight armor standing behind him. The man and the woman in the armor looked very similar except that the man had amber colored eyes. The group asked who this man was and he said that he was Praxis and that he wished to join the covenant. When we asked him why Poena had effectively excommunicated from Tremere he said that his job for Tremere was to be a spy, but he was incapable of telling a lie. We tested this by asking him for his most embarrassing event in his life. He said that when he was a teenager he had put on women’s underwear, had masturbated on a pillow that he had painted a woman’s face on and he was caught by the woman that took care of him. The group decided that since he was from House Tremere and wanted to join the covenant we as a council had to vote with all our members in unison and seeing as some of us weren’t available to vote that Praxis would have to wait in Punta Rossa until the full council convened.

Nothing happened during the spring of 1250 and at the beginning of Summer 1250 Mungo came before the council and showed the Magi that some of the mercenaries that protected the trade caravans had attacked some bandits and found that the bandits were carrying silver coins that had the image of Belgen minted on them. This is the hook that will lead to the next Wizards session.