Prospectus Logs #35: The Times, They are A'Changing +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Of realms which underlie our own. An attack by fire, followed by | | meetings with wisdom and change. Finally, arguments and the beginnings | | of new politics in the tribunal. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Dramatis Personae: Berengarius Magus of Criamon (Eric Rowe) Catorse Magus of Quaesitor (Kevin Wong) Frangere Magus of Tremere (Eric Fulton) Fraxima Magus of Flambeau (Donald Kubasak) Isabella Magus of Jerbiton (Dan Webster) Lorum Magus of Merinita (Bill Filios) Risus Magus of Criamon (Dave Woo) Viator Magus of Jerbiton (Dave Pickering) Aubrin Evil Magus of Merinita Drake Elder Magus of Bjornaer Hufar Arabic Grog Michelle French Grog Torp Faerie Grog Christobal Isabella's Tiny Child Ferdinand Isabella's Giant Husband Maria Stained Glass Worker Accoerickimagius Ex. Misc. Magus of Stonehenge Fatuus of Tytalus Magus of Hamus Acerbus Omar of Tremere Magus of Sader Walking Tree Risus' Tree The Changer Dream Being The Fire Lord Dream Being Midge Flying Wyrm Orrison Visigothic Mayor The Wise One Dream Being Story Guide: Shannon Appel - * - Other Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal March 13, 1219 A new maga has arrived at our covenant. Her name is Isabella of Jerbiton. She brings with her a husband, Ferdinand, and a child, Christobal. They will stay for the mandatory week before a decision is made on Isabella's petition to join Prospectus Locus. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Do you like chickens?" | | "Chicken is good." | | -Berengarius & Isabella, on Iberian cuisine | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - Other Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal March 15, 1219 Risus reports that his tree has returned. This is the same tree that was chopped down and made into a fence in late 1217. The fence remains as well. - * - The Council Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal March 20, 1219 In attendence: Aubrin, Berengarius, Catorse, Drake, Fabricarious, Forticulus, Frangere, Fraxima, Larissa, Lorum, Risus, Viator, and Xanti; also myself, Lucindia the Seneschal. Absent: Albus, residing in Castille, teaching a noble man's son. Points of Information: * RISUS reported that his tree had returned. He has been put in charge of an expedition to investigate it. [Addendum March 20 1219: Risus has returned from his investigation. He reports that Drake examined the tree and claimed it had never been cut down. No further information was forthcoming.] Points of Debate: * AUBRIN presented the maga Isabella of Jerbiton to the council. Numerous questions were asked: more than of any other petitioning magus in recent memory. Finally, she was tenatively accepted as an associate member of Prospecutus Locus. She will become a full member by acclamation after spending a season studying Arabic things. [Addendum March 22, 1219: Catorse reports having seen Isabella once before, years ago, in the faerie realms. This seems to have no particular relevence.] +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "In that order?" | | "If you like, yes." | | -Viator & Isabella, on how to make friends & influence magi | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - From The Book of Exile As Dictated by Michelle du Provencal March the Twenty-Fourth, Fifth Year of Exile (1219 AD) "There be more devilish plots in this corrupt world than any one Cathari could ever suspect." Bernardo said that. He was a most valued prefecti, now long gone from this world that we are cursed to live in. Last night or this morning, perhaps some place entirely out of time, we had the most peculiar experience, one that I do not entirely understand. It seemed to point me to the fact that they are other worlds beyond our own, even more devil-tainted, but surely such has never been writ in the chronicles of we Cathari It began upon waking, this morning that was not. I found my grog's quarters to be almost entirely deserted. Hufar alone was there, and not a single one of my brave Cathari fellows could be found. I sent Hufar out to sound the gong of alarm. It gathered all the fellows of the covenant, and we soon found that our numbers were terribly short. There were only eleven of us. Besides myself and my warrior, the stained glass worked Maria was present. There were also eight lords: Viator, Lorum, Fraxima, Berengarius, Frangere, Risus, Catorse, and the newcomer, Isabella. There was much worrying about those who were suddenly gone. I took it with stoicism, for this world curses us with new tribulations whenever we find the least bit of happiness. It shall never be better. The lords were preparing to call a council to discuss this issue when suddenly Torp appeared, bringing our numbers to twelve. He had been sleeping outside the covenant, as usual. He brought strange news. Torp warned us that strange beings of fire were attacking the covenant. We raced to the walls and the gates to see this new disaster. They were tiny creatures, perhaps the size of my head, no more, but they were burning straight through our walls. A minor battle followed. I leapt to physically attack the creatures, as did the lords Frangere and Fraxima. The demons threw flames at us and we hurt them but little. Fortunately, the other lords were able to dump water on the flaming demons, and soon they were all extinguished. We were able to search the covenant a little more thoroughly at this time, and we found things to be very strange. Some things were as we remembered them, but others were as they might have been a hundred years ago. The main tower actually had seven levels, as it might have once, long ago. The lords of Criamon suggested that we were in some world of dreams, a broken mirror of our own, but that just confused most of us. Very soon, our investigations were interrupted by the appearance of the devil itself. At first it was just a winged creature we saw far in the distance, but as it approached we all saw that it was a winged wyrm: the very physical manifestation of the evil demiurge, or so our sacred books say. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Something winge'd this way comes." | | -Fraxima, on awareness | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ My fellows were all ready to fight to the death when the creature landed near us. It turned toward us, and we prepared for the fires of Hell, for the torment of damnation. Instead, it spoke. It said its name was Midge. The greatest weakness of the lords of Prospectus Locus has always been their willingness to deal with the creatures of the evil one. So they did here. Midge said he spoke for a being named The Changer, who lived on the Island of the Magic Fount. She claimed to have summoned us here, and asked to meet with us. The lords quickly realized the the Island of the Magic Fount was the home of their follow lords, who live in the castle Hamus Acerbus. They agreed to meet with this Changer, and soon we were on our way to the delta of the Ebro. Time seemed to move strangely in this realm that we found ourselves in. Travel took almost no time at all. It was as if we skipped over any mundane tasks. So it seemed like mere minutes passed before we arrived at the eastern coast of Iberia. We boarded a boat, and the next thing we knew we were halfway to Hamus Acerbus. But, our trip suddenly slowed then, for we were approached by another group of fliers. As they drew near us, the lords recognized them as the demonspawn known as harpies. Quickly they used their powers to make us all seem to be women. There were four harpies in all. They said they came from another being named The Wise One and suggested that we should instead turn to visit his court, in the south of Iberia, upon the rock of Gibralter. We politely declined, and the harpies went on their way. The rest of the trip to the island of Hamus Acerbus was over in an eyeblink. Upon arrival, my lords were apparently suprised, for the magic castle they expected was not there. Instead there was a Visigothic village, and at the center there was the magical fount that we had all heard so much of. A Visigoth named Orrison showed us to the fount, and, as we watched, it erupted. Silvery liquid flowed up from the Earth, and amidst it emerged a tall silver-haired woman of striking beauty. It was the Changer. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "She's hot... I'm not really a bearded lady." | | -Risus, on first impressions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ She greeted us kindly and began to spin a strange tale, so weird that I could see my lords saw the spark of truth in it. She spoke of a battle being waged between three beings: the Changer, a Fire Lord, and the Wise One of which we had already heard. She said that they were each seeking friends in our world to help their cause. The lords questioned her carefully and learned that the Fire Lord had come to some agreement with the castle of Interritus, no doubt explaining their volcanic eruption a few years ago. The Wise One was associated with the castle of Sader, though the Changer said he had first sought out our own lord, Drake, causing his insanity of years past. That left only the Changer with no friends in our world, and she wished an alliance with us. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Drake was a little crazy to start with; most of us are very stable." | | -Berengarius, on black kettles | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ But, what the Changer asked for was not that simple. She demanded that we do a task for her in order to seal our alliance. She wanted us to bring her an item called the Amber Binding, a circular piece of amber that could be used to cap the Magical Fount. She said it was currently in Rome, and that she could not touch it there because of the divine power of that place. She also explained that this was why she had not been able to contact us until recently: something about a supposed divine presence which besets the lord Albus. Truly a demon, no doubt. Speaking of demons, the lords seemed willing to deal with this one, though they were just ever so slightly uncertain. Finally, they decided to split into two groups. The majority of us would go to Rome. However, Berengarius and Isabella would go to see the Wise One at Gibraltar, with Torp along as a guard. There was no talk of speaking with the Fire Lord, for it was obvious that we had already become his enemy, as the recent fire-related attacks on our home showed. The trip to Rome was, again, short. We had to speak words of scripture to gain entry to the city, but that was simple. We found the church housing the stained glass without incident. It was fortunate that Maria was with us, for she was able to tell us of all the peculiarities of stained glass. Using her advice, Frangere was able to convince the church's priest that the stained glass for dangerous. So, we gained permission to remove it in order to "fix" it. We did. The lords used their powers to duplicate the glass. We covered this duplicate with a tarp, then left it, so that there would be cry that the glass was missing. We then took the true Amber Binding and left the city. A short time later, the twelve us regathered upon the Changer's island. Berengarius and Isabella seemed pleased with their visit with the Wise One, though they had been forced to attend their audience in blindfold, lest they go mad as Drake once did. Berengarius said he liked the Wise One. A great argument followed: whether we should follow the demon Changer, the demon Wise One, or just leave. Some of the lords worried about increasing strife. Others worried about hurting Hamus Acerbus by capping their magical fount in this world of dream. Amazingly, the lords came to the decision that any true cathari would. They decided to leave all temptations behind. Getting back on a boat, we headed back to Prospectus Locus. We took the Amber Binding with us. Arriving there, we fell asleep. And then, we woke. It was the morning of the twenty-fourth. We all remembered our strange adventure, so we knew it had been more than a dream. And then there was the Amber Binding, which was in the main council room, just were we had left it. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil March 24, 1219 I must say, the strange story that many of my younger magi brought back today was most disturbing, for it bespeaks a new source of strife in our poor Tribunal, as if there were not enough already. We all agreed that we do not want new strife, and so we have decided to begin some new politicking, as of today. Dearest Fraxima and I will fly up to Interritus, and she will nose around to see if she can find the spoor of this Fire Lord, and in the meantime Viator will fly out to Hamus Acerbus to try and begin the forging of a a new Peace Accord. He will also warn them about this Amber Binding. The one that the youngsters brought back has begun to fade away, like a dream in early morning's light, but we may only suspect that it has a twin in Rome of our own world. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil March 28, 1219 Mixed success and failure this day, but as best as could be hoped. When we were up at Interritus, Fraxima was able to learn little of their manipulations, no doubt because she is associated with us, and we are an old enemy of Interritus. However, Viator was more successful at Hamus Acerbus, and Fatuus has gladly joined us in a Peace Accord, with him at the head, of course, no great surprise there. We shall have to see what benefit this can bring as at the next tribunal, just two years away now. - * - Other Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal March 30, 1219 Twelve pawns of Vim vis were delivered to the covenant today, as payment from Accoerickimagius Ex Misc., a magus of Stonehenge who claims to not have knocked down our Aegis, but offers payment nonetheless. Berengarius and Risus have left by boat for Sader, where they plan to confront the magi there with our knowledge of these elder beings they associate with. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil April 6, 1219 Berengarius and Risus have returned, and I can only hope that they actually did deliver the stern warning to Sader that they claim to, the warning that we know of their Wise One, and that we hope dearly that it does not cause new strife in the tribunal. We shall see, for it is hard to determine what Criamon actually do or do not mean, but in any case we now have our cards on the table, and must simply watch and see how this matter devleops.