Nerius Log #1: The Founding

The Players:
Acer, filius of Andru, follower of Jerbiton and Nerius 	Magus	(Ian)
Anchises Tarquinius					Magus	(John)
Atratus							Magus	(Dave)
Dedecus							Magus	(Chris)
Dirnano, filius of Ferrita, follower of Bonisagus	Magus
Somnium Lupus						Magus	(Shannon)
Stagnum Os						Magus	(Scott)
?Ed?							Redcap	(Ed)
Brother Alan						Head Chirurgan
Father Pierre						Abbot
Don the Betrayer					Evil Magus

**
[]From the Secret Diary of Somnium Lupus
[]Unearthed in Germany, 1987
[]Notes from Peter Hanson, Archaelogist:
[]The many reference in this document to "magic" reflect dark
[]ages superstition.  None of them may be taken as factual, although
[]the documentor (Sleeping Dog) seems to have believed heavily in them.
[]It is assumed that the letters "LP" engraved in the cover are the
[]remnants of the original word Lupus. -Hanson, 1987

...and now, mother, I come to the time of my stay in the covenant of
Saint Nerius.  It was embarked upon by the order because they felt
that they could bring about better relations between them and the
Church.  I still wonder why, Mother.  It seems that we could take it
all without their help.  But, I decided to join in on this venture
because it was so near such beautiful lands, some of them actually
unspoiled by the defilements of the fay.  In my own way, I wished the
covenant to work, because I knew that the Dominion could drive back
the powers of Fay from the land.  My, though, our start was a poor
one.

We were all gathered together by Andru, the Primus of House Jerbiton,
and we set off for the Covenant of Saint Nerius.  Just outside of
Paris, we chanced upon an encounter which would hold many repercusions
in the covenant's future.  The primus of the Criamon approached us,
speaking of how the order would die.  Upon his departure he left us
with two riddles.  The first was the rhyme

	Only in silence the word,
	only in dark the light,
	only in dying life:
	bright the hawk's flight
	on the empty sky.

and the second was a leather bag that was empty.  And thus, mother,
the Primus left us, puzzled on the outskirts of Paris.

[]I do not believe that the Paris mentioned here could actually be
[]the real Paris, but must rather be a historical Paris which is
[]far from the present site. -Hanson, 1987

Finally, after near a month of travel, we came to the monastery in
which our covenant was to be, and found that we were not as welcome as
we had thought we would be.  Not all the brothers welcomed us, and the
shack provided for our covenant would not have been big enough for my
own lab, let alone for all of us combined.  I was prepared to return
to you, mother, but decided that I would at least give the venture a
chance, for I knew that the Dominion backed by the power of magic
could hold back the Fay and protect the land.

** 
** From a Letter written by Atratus to the Covenant of ?where?  
** Counter-signed by almost 30 witnesses to the events
**
** Read aloud by a Drunked Redcap in The Peasant's Hoe, a tavern 
** in Nort Sur Erdre, a large town to the North of the Covenant of Saint 
** Nerius

...and thus we found, shortly after our arrival, that in order to give
the Covenant of Saint Nerius, created in conjuction with the Church, a
magical aura, a ritual would need to be performed.  For this ritual,
it was discovered, we would need an artifact of Saint Nerius.  As
well, we would need to destroy a demonic artifact that had been
associated with the Saint during his life.  Acer set out to recover
the artifact, while the rest of us began to try to discover the
demonic ring, which led to the problem that I am now speaking to you
of.

You see, it was rapidly discovered that no one knew where this demonic
artifact was, with the exception of the last abbot, who was dead.
Thus, we set out to raise his spirit, for he had not been buried with
the correct Christian rituals.

We can only theorize that perhaps Don went mad from the Dominion of
the area, for he decided to venture into the Church, at night, with
many of the other magi in tow, and sought out and asked Brother Mark
where the Crypt was, perhaps with the hope that Brother Mark would
gleefully point out the Crypt to us, and then join us, perhaps helping
us sacrifice a virgin while summoning up the spirit of a past priest.
Alas, this was not the response that he got.  Father Pierre was
prepared to have the covenant disbanded at once, and only Anchises
Tarquinius with his quick thinking managed to save the Covenant.

The next morning, I challenged Don to Certamen.  Not only did he lose,
but he botched his magic horribly, near killing himself.  The result
is that Don may not come with-in seven leagues of our covenant for the
next ten years.

We hope that we shall have your aid in keeping him away, so that we
attempt to make this Covenant work.

Atratus
Covenant of Saint Nerius

**
** From a Letter written by Atratus to the Covenant of ?where?

Don appears to have been blinded by the Certamen, and frozen almost to
the point of death. We can only assume that the strength of my attack,
coupled with his own weaknesses, caused damage which he was much too
weak to resist.  He is badly hurt and seems to be mentally deranged.
He tried to attack me in the middle of the first church service today,
inside the church, in full view of peasants and monks alike.  We are
going to send him to you in a few days, when he has recovered
somewhat, with an escort of grogs, so that you may detain him and
perhaps determine his mental state in preparation for the next
tribunal, where a hearing should be held to determine his continuing
status within the Order.

**
** From a Quick Memo written by Somnium to the Covenant of ?where?

Not to be pushy, but we kind of wanted those grogs that we sent with
Don back.

**
** From a Letter written by Atratus to the Covenant of ?where?

The party escorting Don seems to have disappeared.  Due to the nature
of the circumstances under which the party disappeared, and the
demonstrated instability of Don when he was last seen, we must assume
he has gone rogue unless he surrenders himself to officers of the
Order.  With that assumption, and the terms of the Certamen in which I
defeated him, the members of our covenant will have no choice but to
destroy him should he be found within seven leagues of the covenant.

We request that formal proceedings be started to determine Don's
status within the Order, so that he may legally be cast out, and then
found and destroyed as a danger to the Order.  We will cooperate fully
with the Quaesitor's in any way possible, and we are prepared to make
formal statements to the Quaesitor who witnesses the signing of our
covenant.

**
[]From the Secret Diary of Somnium Lupus

And thus, mother, with Don gone from our ranks we set out again to
give our Covenant it's aura.  Truly, I doubt that Don was more guilty
than any of us, at that time, but we both know that you must take the
weak so that the strong may survive.

Discovering the location of the ring involved one of the silliest
plans I had ever helped construct.  But somehow, through luck or
perhaps fate, it came together.

In order to create a distraction, I roused up the horses of the
Covenant into a frenzy, by becoming a wolf, meanwhile Dedecus, who had
been sharing vigil with Brother Alan became vigorously sick.  Somehow,
the resulting chaos allowed Dirnano to slip into the Church Crypt, and
have a little chat with the past Abbot (Father Saldori).  Getting him
back out was just as adventuresome.  We ended up blasting a hole in
the stone of the church, getting Dirnano out, and then (poorly)
repairing the hole.  To this day, you can still see where the walls of
the Church of Saint Nerius do not quite match.

With Dirnano free, I unhappily found that to recover the demon ring,
we had to venture to the parts of the forest of the North where you
had been infected by the Fay.  But again, I reminded myself, the cause
was good.