Requests and Offerings
Taking the Long Way to Toulouse
Changing Allegiance
Trail of the Templar
Zephyrus Returns
A Dark Fortress
Fahim
The Dragon's Tears
24th - 29th September 1221
In early Autumn the covenant was again visited by Ash. She delivered a letter to Sertorius and brought a visitor for the magi. Julius of House Jerbiton had been encountered by some inhabitants of the covenant at the gates of Carcassonne during last year's summer.
Julius introduced himself as a member of the covenant of Bellaquin and told the magi about its destruction by the crusaders and the intentions to reform it. He proposed an alliance between the two covenants to increase the chances for both to covenants to be successful at the next Tribunal, despite the expected opposition from Mistridge and its allies. The council of Infractus Summus Redivivus agreed to this, hoping to increase their chance for formal recognition at the Tribunal.
Julius also asked for information about an old Mithraeum in the area. The magi knew nothing about this but suggested the ghost in the silver mine might know more about it. Finally Julius was able to get some answers from the Roman ghost that haunts Sir Bertrand. As a former member of the Roman army he was a member of the Cult of Mithras and claimed to know the location of the temple. In long conversations Julius was able to convince the ghost that he is worthy to be a member of the cult but unfortunately they were unable find any other cultists so that it was unable to perform a proper initiation ceremony. Since the ghost was unwilling to lead Julius to the temple without this ceremony, the magi decided to wait for Father Clement to return from Parmiers to use his knowledge of the area to locate the temple.
Julius left, promising to return for the Storytelling festival at the Winter Solstice.
1st - 17th October 1221
Titus and Zeebebah set out to Toulouse to meet the magi of Domus Liber. They were joined by Dominic who hoped to find more clues about the church burning and the Knight Templar who had hired the brigands in particular. With them they took Chretien and 8 soldiers for their protection.
They decided to take the route via Pamiers to pick up Father Clement from the Benedictine Abbey and to investigate the events that had happened there during summer.
After a few days of uneventful travelling they arrived at Parmiers and were welcomed at the abbey. They were unable to find out much more about the dead magus but with Clement's help Titus, Zeebebah, and Dominic managed to force a private conversation with the librarian. After lots of bluffing and some threatening he agreed to show them the book that his assistant had recovered from the corps. It turned out to be a Tractatus on Parma Magica.After more bluffing and threatening they gained access to the full collection of heretical texts at the abbey. They found a summa on Magical Lore and a book that, according to Dominic, feels unholy. There were about a dozen other books with heretical contents that are of no particular interest to any of the characters. After some more 'convincing' the librarian allowed them to take all the books with them. The librarian was instructed not to burn any heretical books and to inform Dominic at Bugarach about their existence.
A cart was bought from a local peasant and they decided to bring the books back to the Covenant before continuing to Toulouse. Back at the Priory Dominic began to carefully examine the infernal book. He found that it described several demons in some detail. The books considered to be interesting by the magi were added to the covenant library while the other heretical texts were handed over to the scribe for recycling.
The next day the party set out for Toulouse again, this time travelling via Carcassonne and Castelnaudary. While spending the night in an Castelnaudary inn they heard that some strange events during the siege of the city gave the defenders an opportunity to destroy heavy siege equipment and ultimately led to the breaking of the siege.
Arriving at the gate of Toulouse they were informed that they would not be allowed to take their weapons into the city and were forced to leave half of their soldiers outside of the city to guard their equipment.
Following the instructions they had received from Ash Titus and Zeebebah, accompanied by Chretien and four soldiers made their way to the covenant of Domus Liber while Dominic and Father Clement went to the cathedral. At the cathedral they were informed by a priest that the bishop had decided to leave the city. They received directions to a Dominican priory in Toulouse. There they were welcomed and Dominic learned that the closest Templar stronghold is about a days ride west of Toulouse.
At Domus Liber the magi were welcomed and assigned to rooms while the soldiers were asked to take rooms at a nearby inn. Magnus Gregorius greeted them and showed them the library where they payed for several books that Domus Liber will copy for them and deliver within two seasons.
During dinner they met a bad humoured Tremere magus from Coeris. Exchanging pointy remarks with Titus he was seemingly upset and left.
Magnus invited Titus and Zeebebah to stay a dew more days to meet the other magi of the covenant.
18th - 23rd October 1221
Titus and Zeebebahstayed at Domus Liber, waiting to meet the other members of the covenant. After a few days they were called to a council meeting. After a round of introductions the magi of Domus Liber offered to enter into an alliance with Infractus Summus Redivivus. They pointed out that Mistridge has opposed the founding of a covenant at the Pech de Bugarach before and is likely to do so again but that they may be coerced into a less hostile position if the new covenant is a useful ally. Titus indicated his support for the alliance and promised to recommend it to the counsel of Infractus Summus Redivivus.
Later during the meeting Titus and Zeebebah found time for conversations with individual magi of Domus Liber. Zeebebah was especially interested in Nestor Aluredes, a former apprentice of Magnus Gregorius, inquiring about his experiences with Magnus during the apprenticeship. Titus had an interesting discussion about penetration and its applications in relation to the art of Vim with Nicolates Scribanus. They also spoke to Arsius Sorex noting that he might be interested in discussing some Terram related topics with Zola.
18th - 23rd October 1221
Dominic decided to investigate the Templar stronghold near Toulouse, hoping to find out more about the Templar knight that was involved in the church burning at Bugarach.
Taking Father Clement and two archers with him he travelled to the castle north west of Toulouse, finding it occupied by several knights and sergeants with their servants. Sir Baldewyn, the knight in charge of this commandery was unavailable so Dominic asked one of the other knights, Sir Arnaud, about people posing as Templars in the area. Arnaud showed some concern about this and promised they would be on the lookout for impostors. He also agreed to inform Dominic should they learn anything.
An old veteran overheard this conversation ad took Dominic to a quiet corner of the court yard to tell him about Gui. This former Templar knight came to Toulouse after Jerusalem fell in 1187. There were several allegations that he had led raids against his neighbours but there was no proof. After several years he was finally forced to flee and withdrew to the Pyrenees where he was said to have established a stronghold. A few years later Gui was reported to be dead. The description Dominic gave of the Templar matches Gui but he should be much older now if he is still alive.
The party returned to Toulouse the next day with Dominic making plans to investigate the mountain fortress.
13th October 1221
Much to everyone's surprise the two faeries Bugh and Arach returned to warn the occupants about the imminent attack of the West Wind and to ask Zola's help in defeating him.
All servants were evacuated from the mountain top, leaving only Zola, Sertorius, Sir Bertrand with his soldiers, and Rafi behind to defend the covenant. Soon after the hasty preparations were finished the faerie aura reappeared and a storm was gathering. The West Wind manifested itself just inside the covenant walls and was immediately attacked by the soldiers and Sertorius. Zola again managed to trap Zephyrus with giant hands of earth. The West Wind attacked furiously sending Sertorius flying onto the roof of one of the houses and striking another one with lightening but was eventually defeated when Zola dumped lare amounts of earth on him.
From the rubble Sertorius' sword was recovered and a pile of ash was collected, hoping that it would again contain Auram Vis.
24th October - 5th November 1221
Dominic and Zeebebah set out to investigate the rumours of a hidden fortress in the Pyrenees, taking four archers with them.
After a five day march they came across a small hamlet, hidden in a remote valley. As they approached they noticed a group of ten armed men on horses surrounding a house. Concealed by Zeebebah's magic Dominic approached the house and it soon became apparent that the armed men had set the house on fire, trapping people inside.
In a new magic disguise Dominic approached the group and was soon intercepted by five of the men. They said that they were punishing some peasants on behalf of Sir Bruyant and forced Dominic to leave.
Noticing that the screaming inside the house had stopped Dominic and Zeebebah decided to hide in the forest and wait for the soldiers to depart.
After the hut was burned to the ground the soldiers left and Dominic and Zeebebah approached the remaining buildings. At the far end of the village they found Esclarmond, an old woman apparently skilled in healing. She told them that a man called Sir Bruyant had laid claim to this area, forcing high taxes from the peasants. According to Esclarmond he is living in a castle on the Black Mountain that was used by rogue Templars in the past. The castle was build or rebuild by Sir Gui after his retreat from the Templar stronghold near Toulouse.
Dominic and Zeebebah continued through the forest to the Black Mountain, staying off the road as much as possible. When starting to climb the mountain they were forced back onto the road and soon got a first view of the fortress. Build on two peaks joint by a bridge the castle was looming high above them and Dominic was overcome with a feeling that certain doom awaited them there.
They returned to the mountain village, staying with Esclarmond for the night before they gathered their soldiers to travel back to Toulouse.
At Toulouse Dominic and Zebeebah met up with Titus and Father Clement. The whole party returned to Bugarach and the covenant. With them they took Margot, their new steward and a cook with his children.
10th - 14th November 1221
The covenant was visited by Fahim ibn Hadi of House Criamon from the covenant Carvea Orbis. His visit to the covenant was in response to the warning letter Titus had send to the mountain covenants Carvea Orbis and Lupus Specus.
Fahim was intrigued by the Titus' dreams and eager to find out more. He interviewed everyone who had shared one of Titus' dreams. Fahim offered his help in interpreting this and future dreams. He was able to point out that the stone pillars they had encountered in the dream were very similar to a stone formation in the Pyrenees and related them to one of the parchments the magi had found in the remains of Fontis Niger.
Fahim also took an interest in Arwa and eventually Zebeebah agreed to promise her as an apprentice to Fahim. They agreed that Arwa should stay with her mother for a few more years, studying Latin, Magic Theory, and other useful things during that time. Later she will join Fahim at Carvea Orbis to be trained as an apprentice.
Fahim also showed some interest in the broken fountain. He left with the promise to support the founding of Infractus Summus Redivivus at the next Tribunal meeting.
Following the clues on one of the parchments and their interpretation by Fahim Sertorius, Titus, and Zeebebah set out to find another Vis source.
They followed the clues into the Pyrenees to a series of caves hidden behind a waterfall. Here they found themselves mocked by illusions but eventually found their way to a cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites. They were just in time to catch five droplets of water in a goblet where they turned into crystals, containing one pawn of Vim Vis each.