Season: Fall, 1218

[From THE ROLLS OF DRAGON'S RISE]:

Full Members:

Angus of Bonisagus			Lab Worker		(Don)
Dubius of Criamon			Faerie Envoy		(Woo)
Marlon of Tremere			Hunter			(Philip)
Tolas of Tremere			Leader

Members:

Ahmed Muhammed Infidelis of Flambeau	Associate Member	(Scott)
Arturo De Bernardi of Mercere		Associate Member	(John)
Lysander of Jerbiton			Associate Member	(Chris)
Malcolm of Jerbiton			Associate Member	(Matt)
Musculus of Quaesitor			Associate Member	(Chris)
Pumilio of Erimor			Associate Member	(Dave)

Mundane Leaders:

Manual					Ship Captain		(Billy)

Mundanes:

Andre, Silver Grog			Covenant Guardian	(Matt)
Guiseppe, Mercury Grog			Guardian of Angus
Luchino, Mercury Grog			Guardian of Pumilio
Martin, Mercury Grog			Guardian of Arturo
Nickoli					Story Teller		(Eric)
Paulo					Covenant Guardian	(Shannon)
Pellami					Fisherman		(Scott)
Regina					Child of Arturo
Samson, Silver Grog			Guardian of Lysander
Turelli, Golden Grog			Guardian of Marlon

				* * *

[Dramatis Personae]:

Alan of Ex. Misc.			Magus
Antonio					Peasant
Gaetano of Bonisagus			Seeker
Nepomuchio				Gaetano's Grog
Ricardo					Village Elder
Rosina					Peasant
Tino					Merman
William	of Ex. Misc.			Magus

				* * *
							
[From THE RISE JOURNALS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]:

For us, Sardinia is an unexplored land, full of mysteries and puzzles
that none of us have considered.  To a large extent, the entire island
is still an enigma to us, and thus, I was not too surprised when we
were faced with our first problem, in the Fall of 1218.

By Fall, we had been harvesting wood for perhaps a month.  The Vicious
Ballerina had at the same time just begun establishing itself as a
trading ship.  It was when the twain came together, when I tried to
move the first load of wood off of Sardinia that the problem first
surfaced.  I do not know if there was truly a connection between the
two events, or if it was just coincidence.

Manual came to me several days before the start of Fall and told of
disturbing events occuring off our coast.  He said that no ships were
leaving the island of Sardinia because a supernatural boat, full of
skeletons, was stopping them all.  Even worse, all ships that had
tried to attack the ghostly ship had taken terrible losses.  So, our
first load of wood was sitting in a house in Cagliari, waiting for the
Tyrhhenian Sea to be safe once more.

At the Council Meeting of Fall, 1218, we began by admitting new
members.  Arturo De Bernardi, a Redcap, and Ahmed Muhammed Infidelis,
a Flambeau, were both welcomed to my Covenant as Associate Members.
After that issue was dealt with, as well as what my thralls would do,
and who would get the good labs, I brought up the matter of the ghost
ship.  After a bit, it was decided that Marlon, Angus, Pumilio,
Lysander and Arturo would deal with the problem, along with their
grogs, Manual, and Paulo.

I was prepared to end the Council afterwards, since I wanted the
threat to my money supplies dealt with as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, there was still one more distraction.  A story teller
by the name of Nickoli had recently come to my Covenant, hoping to
hear many new tales.  He insisted upon telling a story to prove his
place among us.  So, he told of two Ex Miscellanea, named Alan and
William, who had lived in England, and how they had squabbled over the
correct place for grogs to walk.  Nickoli said that they had fought
for years, and eventually began to prepare for Wizard's War.  William
worked on his Parma Magica, while Alan enchanted a very powerful spell
upon himself, so that if he died, a devastating spell of death and
destruction would be released.  And, eventually the Wizard's War was
declared.  Alan tried many times to kill William, and failed each
time.  Finally, in desperation, he leaped at William, killing himself
as he threw his body at his adversery.  And thus, Alan's final deadly
spell went off.  And still, William was unhurt.

And so, Nickoli's story was finished.  I smiled, and pointed out how
it showed that we should all be friends.  The whole time, I thought
what an idiot Alan had been, and how sickeningly nice Nickoli's story
was.  However, since the story so well exemplified what my Covenant is
supposed to stand for, I could do little but tell Nickoli that he was
welcome at my Covenant.

Finally, I was able to set the expedition off.  I named Marlon the
leader before they left.  With any luck, he should be able to keep
them moving, and to destroy the creatures that are stopping my ship
from trading.

				* * *

[From Paulo's Personal Report to Tolas of Tremere]:

After we had made our final preparations, gathering our various
supplies, we set off for Cagliari.  I, of course, stayed near to
Marlon, for he was the one that brought me to Dragon's Rise after
saving me from that beast out in the wilderness.  The trip to Cagliari
was an uneventful one, and I shall not bore you with the details of
it.

In Cagliari, Lysander began to speak with his associates.  He does
seem to know what he is doing when he is in his own environment.  Very
soon, he was back with information.  He told us that the skeleton ship
was an ancient one, belonging to the people he called Mycenaeans.  It
approached all ships setting forth from Sardinia, sails billowing
strongly, even when the seas were calm.  Two ships had been sent to
fight it, he said, and the results had been disastrous.  Thus, the
ships of Cagliari were all hiding in the docks, hoping that the
problem would go away.  So, we all boarded The Vicious Ballerina, sure
that this would bring us towards the quickest confrontation with the
skeletons.  In a short time, Manual had the ship ready to sail.

Half a day later, we found the ship which had been terrorizing the
coast of Sardinia.  Out of the East, we began to see a mist forming
upon the sea.  Suddenly, from out of that fog, an ancient ship
emerged.  Clearly, our prey was upon us.  Angus confirmed that when he
shouted that he had seen a skeleton at the helm.

The next several moments were quite chaotic.  As the Mycenaean ship
plunged towards us, Angus tried to yell at it's inhabitants to stop,
using magic to amplify his voice.  At the same time, Pumilio tried to
use enchantments of the air to slow the approaching vessel.  Pumilio's
spells were not effective, however, and as the ship continued to bear
down upon us, we started to hear replies to Angus' threats.
Unfortunately, they were in an ancient language, and not even Marlon
could decipher them.

And then, the skeletons aboard the other ship began to fire upon us.
As the arrows rained down, I stood in front of Marlon, protecting him
from the barrage.  At the same time, I shouted to the crew men and
warriors, determined to strengthen their morale, despite the air born
death winging it's way towards us.

As the two ships drew inexorably closer, Angus struck out several
times with spells of destruction.  Fully, three skeletons were reduced
to dust by him within moments.  Still, the rain of death continued.
Every one of Manual's crew men was hit, and two of them were killed.
It was surely a miracle which kept any of us warriors from being hurt.

By then, the skeleton ship was upon us, and I had braced myself for
the impact.  But, I am a poor judge of such nautical matters.  The
skeleton ship was not ramming us.  Rather, they were pulling themself
aside the Vicious Ballerina.  There was quite an impact as our two
ships came together, but definitely not the ship rending collision
that I had expected.

I picked myself up, still standing between Marlon and the ship of the
dead.  I began to shout for the other warriors to prepare to fight the
unnatural beasts that lay upon that other ship.  But, it was not
neccessary.  Pumilio had been working his enchantments, and suddenly a
great ring of stone appeared above the skeleton ship.  It plunged down
through the air, striking the skeleton ship straight through the
middle.  And, it continued through the entirity of the ship, down into
the deep blue sea below.  Within seconds, the skeleton ship was
sinking.

However, our troubles were not over.  Some foul arcane magics of the
skeleton ship had affected Guiseppe, Angus' grog.  Shouting of
skeletons, he attacked Martin, almost killing him.  As Martin fell,
Guiseppe moved next against Samson.  Fortunately, I was able to draw
upon my experience in leading warriors to calm him before Samson too
fell.

Returning my attention to the sinking skeleton ship, I saw that Manual
had caught the back of it with the Vicious Ballerina's anchor.  As the
sinking ship drew the anchor line taunt, our ship shook and tilted for
a moment.  Then, Marlon began to speak of extracting magical essence
from the fallen boat.  I insisted upon protecting him in this matter,
so Pumilio gave us both the ability to breath water.  After we had
climbed down to the half of the skeleton ship that Manual had hooked,
Marlon began to intone magical words over the boat.  Seconds later, he
broke off a board from the ship, and we began to climb the anchor line
once more.  The whole time, I kept a careful look out for the
skeletons, though it seemed that they had all been dropped far below,
to the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

When Marlon and I returned to the Ballerina, we learned that Angus had
captured the Captain of the Skeleton Ship before the boat had sank.
Through some enchantment, the skeleton captain was invisible, but
still Angus was able to hold him, off the rear of the ship.  Manual
began to sail back towards shore as the magi tried to figure out what
to do with the Captain.  By the time we reached Cagliari, nothing had
been accomplished.  Angus had not been able to destroy the creature or
to talk with it, and Marlon's schemes to make it visible had also
failed.  That was when Lysander retrieved Fabricatio's Wizard's Boost
and when we got Dubius to help us.

Fortunately, Dubius was able to speak with the Captain.  He learned
that the Captain had been raiding ships because he was looking for
some ancient magic urns.  Dubius said that ages ago, these mariners
had been trying to steal those urns from an Atlantean Ship.  And, they
were still trying, it seemed.  Such is the way of the Walking Dead,
forever trying to complete that last matter, left unfinished.

After Dubius tried to offer the Captain several magically created
urns, he finally gave up.  So, Manual set off for Catarine, for that
was where Dubius said the Mycenaeans had been waiting for the
Atlantean ship, an eon before.

I should note that this was the point where we picked up the Mundanes
we brought back to the Covenant with us.  Arturo's grog, Martin had
been greatly wounded, and several of Manual's crew men had been
killed.  So, we began to search through Cagliari for people to help
fill their jobs, at least temporarily.  We found a warrior named Andre
to protect Arturo, and a fisherman named Pellami to help run the ship.
They both seem fine fellows, and Pellami has something magical about
him.  I would suggest hiring them, rather than wiping their minds, and
returning them to the outer world.

Anyways, as I had been saying, we had begun sailing South.  The entire
time, we had been holding the skeleton captain, for Angus had been
unable to destroy him.  On our way South, he suddenly vanished,
utterly gone.  Marlon did a spell, encanting over the board he had
retrieved from the skeleton ship.  He told us that the ship of the
dead was now in the middle of the Mediteranean, far from where we had
sunk it.  Clearly, Pumilio's damage to the ship had not been lasting,
and the captain had now returned to his ship.

Shortly thereafter, we were docked near the village of Catarine, on
the Southern tip of Sardinia.  When we went ashore, to talk with the
people, we could find no information on the Atlantean ship we were
seeking.  However, we soon learned that this place was too having
problems with the dead.

The magi learned from a fellow in the village named Antonio that a
beast was terrorizing the village.  It had begun doing so when a
wizard had recently looted their cemetary, stealing an amulet and a
sword from a body there.  Angus, fortunately, was able to recognise
the magus from the villager's description.  He named him Gaetano of
Bonisagus, a Seeker who was staying at the Covenant of Carmania on
Sicily.

Having few other leads, the magi decided to investigate this new
matter, since it too dealt with the dead returned.  We looked at the
defiled grave briefly, and saw that it was indeed empty of body.
Then, we waited through the evening, hoping to kill the beast when it
attacked the village at night.  But, that night the village was free
from the terror.

The next morning, we set off for Carmania, hoping that the Seeker
might have more information.  This, I should note, is when the
readings that you had Manual do concerning Faerie Lore first paid off.
From what I have heard, he has before become lost in the Faerie Realms
that the Vicious Ballerina sometimes touches.  However, thanks to that
training, Manual was able to deftly flit between the Faerie Realms and
our own, to avoid the skeleton ship which we knew guarded the island
of Sardinia.

At Carmania, it was Arturo who approached the Covenant.  Shortly, he
had brought both Gaetano and his grog, Nepomuchio, to talk with us.
Fortunately, Gaetano knew many things of the history of the
Mediterannean, and so when we spoke of the Atlantean ship, he
professed knowledge of it.  He said that Ricardo, an elder in the
village we had just left, had been alledged to know many old stories.
Gaetano thought thought that he could discern the location of the
sunken ship from these tales.  Gaetano said that he would be willing
to help up find the ship, so that we could retrieve the urns and use
them to help the skeletons find their final rest if he would be given
a share of the rewards that we might find.  Marlon agreed.

As we headed back to the Ballerina, the magi talked about the dead
beast back in Catarine.  Gaetano said that there was no relation
between it and the ship we were looking for, and that it had just been
a coincidence.  He also refused to return the sword and amulet which
he had taken, but the magi seemed unconcerned.

I must say, Tolas, that I wonder about the many coincidences that
plagued that, my first expedition for your Covenant.  Why did the
problems only occur after you set up upon the island?  Is it not
strange that the one tale of the dead led us to a second one, which
led us back to the first?  It all seems so odd, and I can not help but
wonder if there was not something deeper influencing our actions that
day.

In any case, we were sailing back to Catarine, along with the seeker
Gaetano.  As we sailed, he spoke of a Mercurian ritual that he had
found, which could be used to raise sunken ships.  He said that he
would use it to recover the Atlantean ship, once Ricardo had provided
the poems and stories which would lead us to it.

While Pumilio collected the information from Ricardo, based upon
questions that Gaetano had provided, the rest of the magi talked once
more about killing the creature which was terrorizing the village.
For another night, the magi staked out the village, and once more the
creature did not attack.  Only Gaetano, Marlon, their grogs and I
stayed upon the Ballerina, realizing the futility of that waiting.

After Pumilio returned with the appropriate information, we set off
for Malta, for that is where Gaetano said the old stories pointed to.
But, we soon learned that Ricardo had provided us with bad
information.  There was no sunken ship near Malta.  Somehow, Ricardo
must have learned that we were now working with Gaetano, the man who
had unleashed the undead horror upon his village.  So, we were forced
to return once more to that village, this time to gain the correct
information from Ricardo.

Arturo and Pumilio went ashore, determined to beat the correct
information out of Ricardo this time.  And, from what we could ee from
the boat, things did indeed become quite violent.  Apparently, Pumilio
threatened to eat children, and Arturo beat up several women, all to
extract the information from Ricardo.  Then, they had to fend off the
villagers with walls of stone.  Finally, however, they got the
information that Gaetano needed, and were able to return without
further hurting that village which Gaetano had already wounded so
badly.

This time, we set off for Crete, and it was soon clear that the second
set of stories which Ricardo had provided was more correct than the
first.  For, after we had landed, and climbed a cliff, we could
clearly see an ancient ship, sunk far off the coast.  Angus, Gaetano
and Lysander began to cast the ritual that Gaetano had brought, to
raise this ancient Atlantean ship.

It was quite amazing.  Pieces of ship began to come together, melding
once more into that ancient Atlantean vessel.  And, at the same time,
the ship began to rise, shedding water from it's decks as it bobbed to
the surface.  

But then, tentacles became to rise from the water, as we took the ship
from it's watery womb.  Marlon and I quickly ducked back, as Turelli
shouted that the creature rising from the depths was a Kraken.

				* * *

[From THE WIT AND WISDOM OF DUBIUS OF CRIAMON]:

On Divinity:
	"I thought I was a god."

On Krakens:
	"Oh!  Nice!"
	"I bet I'm ugly enough to turn him to stone."

On Spontaneous Magic:
	"Anything!  I can spont anything!"

				* * *

[From Paulo's Personal Report to Tolas of Tremere]:

The battle with the Kraken was a great one.  Several of the magi and
warriors were hurt.  Dubius was nearly killed.  He would probably have
been eaten by the Kraken if he had not been covered with oil when he
slipped into what Marlon called a Twilight.  Only Samson was able to
hurt the beast in the least, when he bravely put out one of it's eyes.
Finally, though, the beast left.  In the later parts of the battle, we
realized that the Kraken was trying to protect some slimy globes that
had been raised with the ship.  Finally, it was able to retrieve those
things.  It swam away at once.  Arturo later suggested that the globes
might have been the creature's eggs, and that it might simply have
been protecting it's young.

After the beast had left, we were able to descend to the boat that we
had raised.  And, we found that we were once more surrounded by the
dead.  Upon the ancient Atlantean ship, there stood the crew which had
sunk with it centuries before.  Yet, they seemed as alive as you or I.
Dubius began to speak with them, using his spell of tongues.  Soon, we
had learned that this ship had indeed been sailing towards Sardinia,
carrying the Urns that the skeletons near our Covenant were looking
for.  However, the crew men had gotten angry at the Sorcerer whom they
had been carrying the Urns for.  So, they had thrown the Urns off the
ship.  In vengeance, the sorcerer had sunk their ship.

By this time, Dubius had convinced the crew of this Atlantean ship
that he was a god, and so they offered to take us back to where they
had sunk the Urns, millenia before.  However, the retrieval would not
be as easy as we had hoped.

When we arrived at the location where the Urns had been abandoned, we
found ourself atop an ancient ruined city.  And, it seemed that the
city was inhabited by what our folk tales call mermen.  Far below, in
the deep sea, we could see a battle going on between two groups of
mermen.  As we watched, one floated to the surface.  He seemed badly
hurt.  After Manual retrieved him from the water, I was able to stop
his bleeding.  Shortly, Dubius was talking with him.

We learned that his name was Tino, and that he, and the other city
people, were fighting a great war against the hill people.  Somewhere
in the middle of this War were the Urns that we were looking for.
After we had returned Tino to his native element, we saw one final
complication.  A great whale was heading towards us.  He looked to be
dying.  So, we talked with him as well.

It appears that the whale had been wounded by hunters, and was coming
to this place, which he called to Asteggo, to die.  The magi all
seemed quite pleased, for they said that the whale contained magical
essence.  They planned to collect it when the creature died, but for
the time, they let the whale return to it's slow descent to the bottom
of the Sea.

And we, meanwhile, decided to start looking for the Urns, somewhere
below us.  Pumilio cast spells upon us so that we could breath water,
and we all started heading down into the water, except Angus and
Gaetano, who remained in the ship.  Shortly after we had begun to
search the submerged city, however, we were suddenly attacked by a
group of city mermen.  Pumilio, Marlon and Arturo fled while the rest
of us were captured.

The mermen held us for a while, but finally we were able to get word
to Tino.  And thus, we saw our good deed returned.  We were let go,
and allowed to search the city for the lost Urns.  Unfortunately, our
hunt was not successful.  So, we returned to the Ballerina, where our
compatriots were planning ways to rescue us, and went to sleep,
exhausted by our long search through the cold waters.

When we awoke, Pellami first showed the arcane talents which I
mentioned earlier.  As we had breakfast, he was speaking of having
visions that showed him where to fish.  I suggested that maybe Pellami
should meditate on the Urns we were looking for.  He did, and soon
said that he had seen the Urns in a cave.  Clearly, they were not in
the city, where we had been looking.

While Pellami was meditating, a new battle was being fought below us.
The whale we had earlier talked to had finally died, and both tribes
of mermen wanted it.  We were pleased to see the city people win.  The
magi at once set off to talk with the city people.  Soon, they had
returned with the whale's heart, a gift from the city people.  They
said that it contained the magical essence of the beast.

Afterwards, it was decided that Angus would be one to search for the
Urns.  For, it was in enemy territory, and only he possessed the
neccesary enchantments of invisibilty.  It took perhaps an hour, and
then he returned with the Urns.  He said that he had retrieved them
from right under the noses of the hill men, by making them as clear as
glass, and then slowly floating them out.

With our quest all but completed, Angus began to negotiate with
Gaetano.  It was finally agreed that Gaetano would be given the
ancient Atlantean ship, and in exchange, he would provide us with the
ritual he had used to raise it.  He did note, however, that the people
returning with ship had been a surprise, utterly unexpected.

This time, when we came upon the island of Sardinia, Manual did not
shift us through the faerie realms to avoid the skeletons.  Thus, the
ship of the dead soon approached us again.  This time, however, the
magi did not attack them, and so the skeletons were peaceful.  The
three Urns were given to them and the skeleton ship disappeared into
the mists.

Hopefully, they are now gone forever.  They were able to fulfill their
last quest, and, from what I have heard of the walking dead, this is
usually enough to send them on to their last rest.  I hope that is
true.

Still, there is the matter of the dead beast down in the South.  I
hope it causes us no problems.  I still wonder what caused all these
dead to rise at this time.  Perhaps, it was due to All Saint's Day, a
time when the worlds of the living and the dead come near.  Perhaps
there is another reason still.  In any case, I do hope that the dead
are truly gone again.  Such unnatural creatures should not be upon our
world.