Prospectus Logs #27: Demons, Demons Everywhere, and Not a Chance to Think +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Of diabolic activities in the city of Valencia, and the effect it has | | on Prospectus Locus. Also: stone lions rediscovered, the problems of | | infernal vis, and a surfeit of carrots. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Dramatis Personae: Albus of Tytalus Magus (Shannon Appel) Berengarius the Bloodthirsty Magus of Criamon (Eric Rowe) Catorse of Quaesitor Magus (Kevin Wong) Fraxima the Faerie Flambeau Maga (Donald Kubasak) Larissa of Mercere Maga (Kevin Wong) Risus of Criamon Magus (Dave Woo) Viator the Villainous Magus of Jerbiton (Dave Pickering) Aubrin the Evil Elder Magus Lucindia Seneschal (Chris Van Horn) Andre Grog Julio Grog Michelle Grog Pancho Grog Roger-Tien Grog Torp Grog Xavier Grog Amur Statuary Merchant Francisco Diabolist Story Guide: Eric Rowe - * - Albus' Dialogues December 10, 1217 Late Afternoon A minor tragedy today. One of the townsfolk cut down Risus' Criamon tree for firewood. Risus was remarkably undistraught. He purchased the wood from the fellow and brought it back to his lab. He is preparing to have a fence built around the stump. Just now he asked me to write "Risus' Stump" in German. He plans to have that warning put in as many languages as possible, for the fence. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil December 15, 1217 A minor mystery today, though not one I am able to make any sense of. Somehow a carrot merchant managed to get in our covenant via some odd means. Julio swears that he did not remember the man at all, but Torp says the man spoke with Julio and was admitted, and when Berengarius probed into the matter he discovered that neither grog was lying. Berengarius also confirmed that the man didn't recall doing anything odd or magical, so I was forced to leave the somewhat distressing matter without conclusion. Two good things did come out of all this, first that Lucindia made a bulk deal on carrots, and second that the merchant told me of two stone lions for sale in Valencia. They are being sold by Amur, a statuary and relic merchant who is an old associate, and so I have dispatched Larissa to inquire into this at once, for it seems likely that the lions are the two that we are even now missing. - * - Albus' Dialogues December 16, 1217 Late Evening Strange happenings in Bercula today. Someone tried to burn down our church. We have been working on construction for perhaps six months now. It finally raised someone's ire, it seems. Risus was the first on the scene. With aid from the grogs he put the fire out. Still, there was damage. Lucindia estimates our completion date has been pushed back to next August. No great loss. Afterward four of us had an impromptu party: myself, Risus, Lorum, and Fraxima. We drank ale for hours out at Risus' Stump. Lorum and Fraxima were both happy about the church burning. Neither claimed responsibility though. Risus said he wanted the church to be built. But he didn't seem too disconcerted either. I won the drinking contest. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "You're cute when you're drunk. Or, you're cute when I'm drunk." | | -Fraxima to Albus, on perceptions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - The Council Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal December 21, 1217 In attendence: Albus, Aubrin, Berengarius, Catorse, Drake, Fabricarious, Forticulus, Frangere, Fraxima, Lorum, Risus, Viator, and Xanti; also myself, Lucindia the Seneschal. Absent: Larissa, in Valencia on covenant business. Quorum was achieved and Aubrin called the one regularly scheduled meeting of Prospectus Locus to order. As is traditional the main topic of discussion was vis. Points of Information: * AUBRIN opened the meeting with a description of this year's rather meager vis collections, totalling only 1 Perdo and 1 Muto more than our annual vis collections. * AUBRIN explained that 7 pawns of forms had already been traded to produce the Vim Vis necessary for our Aegis of the Hearth, as per the December 21, 1214 council decision. * AUBRIN asked Catorse to investigate the recent burning of our church for clues as to the culprit. * ALBUS stated he is at war with his angel. Points of Debate: * LORUM requested to trade 2 Herbam for 2 Terram. Passed. * AUBRIN suggested 11 pawns of vis go to pay off our debt. Passed. * After FRAXIMA brought up the issue of faeries attempting to rebel against Lord Thom, BERENGARIUS suggested that we kill all the rebels. The issue was passed, and Berengarius was placed in charge of the expedition. * AUBRIN stated that our Valencia contacts had recently met a number of persecuted pagans in that town who wish to relocate. They are pig worshipers. There were no objections to allowing these peoples to move to Bercula. * ALBUS suggested that we cease construction of our church due to the recent problems. This issue failed. * AUBRIN brought up the issue of FRAXIMA being interested in using the covenant's boat for piracy. This issue was supported by ALBUS, a full member. Aubrin has agreed to write a letter to Hamus Acerbus to be sure we will not be infringing on their territory. This issue was tabled until Spring. * ALBUS brought up worries about the holy _caduceus_ present at the nearby monastery. There has been little movement since we introduced spies into the monastery as per the April 18, 1216 council meeting. It was determined it would be best to deal with this in the political arena. VIATOR has been volunteered to lead an expedition to Rome in an attempt to get the artifact relocated to that city. At year's end our vis stores now include: 2 Creo, 6 Intellego, 3 Muto, 1 Perdo, 21 Rego, and 4 Terram. In addition our debt has been reduced to 92 pawns. This debt is currently owed to Barcelona, Estancia-es-Karida, Hamus Acerbus, Doissetep, Mistridge, and Windgraven, as is fully noted in the second addendum to the Spring, 1212 Council Records. - * - Albus' Dialogues December 21, 1217 Mid-Afternoon Aubrin seemed rather peeved at council today. He was mad that Risus, Fraxima, Lorum, and I didn't investigate the church burning. He scolded us relentlessly. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil December 21, 1217 Alas, no luck from Catorse's investigations of the church fire, other than a confirmation that it was deliberately set. All other clues were destroyed by the intervening five days that have passed. I try to place responsibility into the hands of the younger magi, and it is always disheartening when that fails. - * - Albus' Dialogues December 23, 1217 Early Evening It seems we will soon have a complete set of stone lions. Larissa returned today with word that the two in Valencia seem authentic. Aubrin will fly down in four day's time to retrieve them. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil December 27, 1217 Well, it appears that we have been met with a rare bit of good luck. For the cost of only five pounds of silver I have retrieved what appear to be the missing two stone lions from Prospectus Locus. Spell casting confirms that they are magical and hewn from the same stone as the three lions we already possess. According to Amur they were discovered down in the delta by a fisherman. I've also taken the opportunity to round up the pagans interested in moving up to Prospectus Locus, and the group of us will be heading north tomorrow, arriving home just before the end of the year. I've decided to accompany them so that I can keep the lions underwater as we approach the covenant. - * - Albus' Dialogues December 28, 1217 Late Evening The strange happenings of two weeks ago came into focus today. I was alerted when screams of "Fire" once more erupted from Bercula. The fire was again in the church. It had already been put out by the time I arrived. Lucindia now estimates it will be the start of 1219 before the church is done. This fire was a setback; in addition Aubrin plans to spend some of our excess money on stone lions in Valencia. In any case, we had an obvious culprit for this fire. A tradesman who makes pottery was visiting our covenant. Francisco by name. He had earlier been nosing around the church, even talking to our guard there. The guard was mysteriously asleep when the fire was set. I had Francisco confined at once. Berengarius mindprobed him and discovered he was a diabolist. The man later admitted to this. I killed Francisco's horse at once, in case it was a demon. I confiscated his diabolic cookware as well. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Monastery up the road; we give them our diabolists." | | -Albus, on the utility of the church | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Catorse, Risus, Lorum, and I talked for a long time about what to do with the diabolist. You always want to have a Quaesitor around when you discuss this type of thing. We finally decided to hold him until Aubrin returns. More importantly, I'm fairly certain our carrot merchant was a diabolist as well. Francisco didn't quite admit it, but his face betrayed him. So I confiscated all our carrots as well and gave them to the Quaesitor. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil December 31, 1217 This year started off so calm, with some five months of pleasant lassitude, but now it seems that we are once more a locus of activities and doings. My return trip was fairly uneventful, and our new pagans were settled with little problem, but then I tried to bring our two new lions into the covenant, and they bounced right off our Aegis of the Hearth, just like Albus used to. Leaving the stone lions outside, I called a council meeting at once, to try and see if anyone might have any ideas as to what might be going on. I had a number of ideas, that the new lions might not be from our set, that they might be reacting to our recent change in aura, or that the strange interaction might have something to do with their ritualistic nature, but no one could offer anything additional. Drake has been kind enough to offer to investigate the new lions. I quickly realized that he has no memory of his past leonine investigations, but at least he has lab notes to fall back on. After this, Albus brough up an additional issue, saying that he and his fellows had captured a diabolist while I was gone. I talked with the diabolist, and he totally broke down, succumbing to my charisma. He told me that a coven of diabolists had formed in Valencia as a reaction to the military occupation of a few years ago, and that both he and our recent carrot merchant were members of that organization. He also gave me the names of all their members, including a tin smith who seems to be the leader, and the person who has been sending these diabolists our way. Poor Francisco is dreadfully worried about a pair of demons now being on their way to kill him, because of his revelations to us. In reaction to this, I have decided to bifurcate our forces. Viator and I will fly down to Valencia to notify the Ibn 'Iyad family of the infernal infiltration of the city, and in the meantime Albus, Risus, Catorse, Fraxima, and Lorum will escort Francisco to the monastery. The fear is that they will be attacked by these demons of retribution on their way, but my fellows all seem prepared for that eventuality. Happy new year to us. - * - Albus' Dialogues January 1, 1218 Late, Late Evening It is done. Today Risus and I led an expedition to escort the diabolist Francisco to the monastery. We were not surprised at all when two demons confronted us halfway to the monastery. They were fiercer than I expected. They stood eight-foot tall, had the horns of bulls and the tails of rats, and wielded whips made of human skin. Risus was familiar with these demons from his studies of the occult. He told us they were very fierce, especially when harmed. They could kill instantly with their whip. We were notably cautious after that revelation. Risus created a ward against demons. They walked through it without problem. Then they proceeded to eat the diabolist while we watched. We hoped they would leave when they were done. Caution had won the better part of valor by that time. It was not to be. Their feast done, the demons attacked us. We fought them fiercely. Fraxima and Catorse joined the lines of warriors. I cast spells along with Risus and Lorum. It was to no avail; our spells rebounded from their demonic might. Weapons were also little good. It was only by superior numbers that we eventually defeated the beasts. Pressing his advantage hard Roger-Tien was able to kill one beast. The other turned to run but Xavier and Michelle struck out against it. This demon did not die, though it wounds were deep. Filled with anger the demon turned back and growled at Xavier. It was a magical attack and I thought for a moment that my brave companion was lost. He quailed before the sound and all the color went out of his face. After that he could fight the demon no longer. Catorse, Fraxima, and Michelle closed on the wounded demon. It fought for a few seconds more before turning to flee again. But, it was too late. Catorse and Fraxima struck together with their weapons. The second demon fell. Xavier lives though he is still short of breath from the terrifying demonic attack. Afterward we argued about the demons' vis. There was a large amount of it: 24 pawns of Animal in all. I wanted to destroy the tainted vis, but Fraxima argued hard to keep it. Finally we decided to take it back to the covenant where we will let council decide. I talked with Isaac this evening. Even he agrees that infernal vis is a bad thing. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Step away from that goo." | | -Catorse, on infernal vis | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - The Council Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal January 2, 1218 In attendence: Albus, Aubrin, Berengarius, Catorse, Drake, Fabricarious, Forticulus, Frangere, Fraxima, Larissa, Lorum, Risus, Viator, and Xanti; also myself, Lucindia the Seneschal. Points of Information: * AUBRIN announced that the coven of diabolists in Valencia had been wiped out, but that their leader, a tin smith, had escaped. * CATORSE stated it does not violate the code to use vis that has infernal orign. Points of Debate: * ALBUS suggested we destroy the vis recently won from two demons. This failed. * ALBUS suggested we immediately use the 24 pawns of Animal vis to pay off covenant debt, and that we warn people that the vis has Infernal origin, and could thus be dangerous. This passed. * ALBUS suggested that we trade the vis at a discount of up to 75% if specifically requested. This passed. * BERENGARIUS suggested that we first offer the vis to covenants that we do not expect to ask for a discount. This passed. If all goes well, this payment of vis will reduce the covenant's obligation to 68 pawns. Hopefully the issue of the diabolists in Valencia is now resolved.