Swords Against Wizardry Season: Summer, 1219 [From THE ROLLS OF DRAGON'S RISE]: Full Members: Angus of Bonisagus Lab Worker (Don) Dubius of Criamon Faerie Envoy (Woo) Flamma of Flambeau Head Protector (Eric) Marlon of Tremere Head Hunter (Phil) Meles of Criamon Protector Nicholi of Jerbiton Chancellor (John) Tolas of Tremere Leader Members: Ahmed of Flambeau Associate Member (Scott) Lysander of Jerbiton Hunter (ChrisV) Malcolm of Jerbiton Lab Worker (Matt) Musculus of Quaesitor Protector (ChrisF) Pumilio of Erimor Hunter (Dave) Mundane Leaders: Manual Ship Captain (Billy) Mundanes: Bolo, Golden Grog Covenant Guardian (Dave) Iago, Mercury Grog Guardian of Tolas Luchino, Mercury Grog Guardian of Pumilio Reginald, Mercury Grog Guardian of Malcolm Turati, Mercury Grog Guardian of Ahmed Villagers: Milato Farmer Boy Paracho Metal Worker Rosella Kitchen Girl Tomasso Elder * * * [Dramatis Personae]: Arthur Crusader Father Mark Priest Father Peter Golem * * * [A Timeline of the Magian Crusaders]: Summer, 1208 Papal manipulations begun. Friends of the Order of Hermes, such as Cardinal Alfonso, sent to places far from Rome. -Vardian Log #35 Summer, 1209 Papal Bull against the Order of Hermes is issued. -Vardian Log #36 Fall, 1209 The Magian Crusaders first seen. Portaclera, a small Covenant in Germany, is destroyed. -Vardian Log #37 Winter, 1211 The Magian Crusaders move on to Spain, where they destroy the new Domus Magnus of Flambeau, in Barcelona. Important Flambeau flee rather than fighting. -Vardian Log #45 Winter, 1218 Nigel of Ex Miscellanea, noted to be a twin of Father Peter, who led the Magian Crusaders, killed at Dragon's Rise. -Rise Log #3 * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: When the first new Spring dawned on my Covenant, just before that problem with those damned wolves, I ate the first of the apples that that strange woman brought last winter. I expected at once to be bombarded with visions that would help me to lead my Covenant into an even brighter future. Instead, nothing happened for quite some time. Now, just a week before the start of Summer, images have come to me during the night. And, it was clear to me that these were true visions, not simply dreams. I shall describe here what I saw, before it slips away. I saw Dragon's Rise, and I was towering above it, looking over my domain. The entire island of Sardinia was laid out before me, like a huge map. Beyond, I could see Italy, Africa, Spain and France, and, in the farthest distances, even England and the Levant. It would have been a serene scene if it were not for the huge web, strung across all I could see. Strands were tied to all places. One even touched upon the first tower of my own Covenant. The center of the web was somewhere beyond my sight. Perhaps, it lay in Africa, or the East, past the Levant. I can not say. And then, I awoke, with that vision imprinted on my mind. And, I have written it here. * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: I first knew that a new problem had come to our Covenant the night after the Council Meeting of Summer, 1219. It was some time in the wee hours of the mornings when I was abruptly awoken by shouts outside my window. Peasants from my village were within my compound, screaming of troubles. For a time, I tried to silence them, but I was finally forced to go and deal with the problem. I was not pleased. The source of the problem was Rosella, who helps to prepare the meals for us. I recognised her at once, for I had consoled her in Spring, when her father had been killed by a werewolf. Apparently, she had attacked Bolo's dog with a kitchen knife, and killed it. The only reason that she could give was that the dog had been eating scraps out of the gutter, and that had disgusted her. I decided that Rosella had gone mad, due to her loss, and had her confined until the morning. Several hours later, after the sun had finally rose, I talked to Bolo, to ask him what he thought should be done to the girl. He simply asked that she be sent away. And, that was what I had done. I made a great speech in the village about how important friendship was. I told how Rosella would be banished from our great Covenant, due to her breaking of that friendship. At the same time, I showed the villagers that I was not vengeful. I told the villagers that Rosella would be cared for in the village that I was sending her to. And, it was all done as I said. I hoped that the problem had been a simple, self contained one. However, it was not to be. The next night, I was once more abruptly awakened. I was a bit disorientated for a while, and then I finally realized what had woken me. A spell, even worse, a Mentem spell, had bounced off my magical charm while I had slept. That was what had woken me. At once, I started running up and down the tower, waking all the magi for an emergency Council Meeting. When we were all gathered, we talked for a while, wondering if Rosella's insanity might have been brought on by the same Mentem spell that failed to affect me, and if others might too have been ill effected by this attack. After a bit, Malcolm, who had been strangely quiet, spoke. He said that he had been working out in the cave through the night. Suddenly, he had had a strange waking dream. In that dream, he saw Lysander, and Lysander had been carrying a cask of what seemed to be fine wine. In Malcolm's vision, Lysander had hidden that cask carefully. So, we all turned to Lysander suspiciously. He had been gone from our Covenant for several weeks, watching over his business and his boats, and so we wondered if Malcolm's vision might be true. Lysander quickly admitted to the cask, saying that he had found it in an abandoned boat. I made him go and retrieve it, thinking that it might be at the heart of our new problem. While Lysander was gone, striding to Cagliari seven leagues at a time, the rest of us spoke. Dreamily, Malcolm spoke of his vision for a bit more, mentioning that he was sure that the cask was magical. Then, Ahmed began to speak. He worried that Lysander might be plotting against us, and we all discussed that possibility for a while. When Lysander finally returned, we all gazed suspiciously at him. With him, Lysander brought a cask, a gold coin and a scroll. The cask was the supposedly magical one, which Malcolm had seen in his dream. The scroll was quite an odd item. Nicholi, a master of languages, was not able to read it, though he said he recognised the writing as having aspects of languages from Africa, Egypt and the East. It was not clear where the coin came from, for none of us recognised the symbols upon it. After we discussed this find for a while, sure the whole time that it was causing the troubles at my covenant, I finally decided to pay Lysander a pawn of vis for his acquisations. Later, he might be paid more. I was quite worried about the damage that this magical wine might do to my covenant while it was studied, so I decided that we would avail ourselves of the Tomb's resources. Angus and Lysander left at once, to take the wine to Vardian's Tomb, where it could be examined. Still, the problems continued. The next day, it became clear that the Mentem spells had affected even more of our villagers. Milato, a village boy, began erecting a Church. Pumilio shall continue to destroy it until that odd obsession is taken out of Milato's mind. Then, that night the attack came again. Once more, I was awoken by a Mentem spell bouncing from my Charm. When I called a council, I found that a new obsession had taken several of the magi. It was clear that they had succumbed to the Mentem spell that I had avoided. Malcolm, Marlon and Dubius all insisted that they had learned of a ritual in their dreams, which would fix the whole problem. It required the wine and the scroll which Lysander had found. I was a bit reluctant about the whole thing, but went ahead and contacted Lysander who, with Angus, was half way to Cagliari by that time. When he stepped back to our Council room, he too said that he knew of the ritual, and insisted that it be done. So, I made him do it. Marlon and Dubius also wished to engage in the ritual. I didn't want them to, but their minds seemed made up. At my insistance, the three, along with Ahmed, who went to protect them, walked quite a bit south of the Covenant before they engaged in their strange ritual. Apparently, they dripped blood upon the scroll and drank wine. I was more suspicious than ever. Not surprisingly, the next day, our villagers acted even odder. Paracho, a metal worker, was trying to beat swords into plows, while Tomasso, the village elder, was letting no one else draw water from our well. Fortunately, Bolo was able to keep on top of things during the day, while I slept, trying to recover from the last serveral sleepless nights. That night, we were prepared for the attack. Some of the fools thought that the problem might have been dealt with thanks to the previous night's ritual, but I knew better. I had cast a spell upon myself that would tell me the source of the attack. And, we all waited in the Council Room for the attack to come. Like clockwork, the attack hit me, bouncing off of my Charm as usual. Amazingly, it came from Demoror's lab, which had been empty for the last year while he was away at Literatus. Ahmed and I rushed up there, and I started scenting for magic. Soon, I had found the source of our problem. The foot of Nigel, which I had left in Demoror's lab some time ago was now magical, despite not having been magical when I placed it there. Clearly, it was behind the attacks. Ahmed and I destroyed it, reducing it to dust and then destroying that. Then, we searched every lab to be sure that there were no other surprises. There were none. Now, we just need to call Angus and Lysander back. They should have just reached Cagliari this evening. I am not sure of what connection the odd wine had in the whole deal, although I am sure we will be able to find out with some study. What is clear is that the foot was behind the attacks, and not the cask of wine, as I had earlier thought. * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: I think I finally understand how everything fell together. When I called Lysander back, after we had destroyed Nigel's foot, he brought a worrying tale. He said that in Cagliari, there was a Spanish warship docked. This ship, named the Santa Cruz, belonged to the group of Holy Crusaders who had destroyed Portaclera and the Covenant of Barcelona. I thought they were gone, for the Order had not heard of them in several years, but it now seems that they had simply been marshalling their forces. Now, they, with Father Mark and Father Peter were upon our shores. According to Lysander, there were approximately sixty people upon the ship. At once, I assume my correct position as the leader of Dragon's Rise. I decided that I would lead the expedition against the crusaders rather than our Head Hunter, Marlon, for I wanted to be sure that the job was done correctly. With me, I took the Hunters Ahmed and Pumilio as well as Malcolm, who assured me that he could be useful in a battle, and Lysander, who I knew could do recon work. I was quite happy that I could leave Flamma home, in her position as Head Protector. If she had gone, I would not have been able to teach the Crusaders the lesson that they deserved. As I left, Flamma was organizing the other protectors. She, Meles and Musculus were all prepared to make a stand if my expedition were to fail. Fortunately, I was able to slip out without making Flamma any silly promises about not killing people, she was so occupied. Lysander was quickly able to locate the Crusaders for us, and so we prepared our attack. Fortunately, I was there, and so we were able to come up with a logical plan. First, I sent Lysander off to speak with Angus, who was still in Cagliari. I told him to watch for any churchmen who escaped our attack and to slay them. Lysander did not return until after the battle was done. Pumilio cast Image Phantoms upon all of us, making us appear as dark as the night, and I provided everyone with eyes of the cat. Then, we silenced the grogs, so that their weapons and armor would not clank as they walked. Finally, we were ready. As we carefully approached the crusader's night camp, we saw the first two guards. So, I pointed to Pumilio and Malcolm, for I knew they could take out the crusaders quietly. And, they did. One's lungs filled with water while the other's mind was destroyed. However, we also discovered our first problem. Both magi reported some magical backlash from their spells. They had felt some pain when the spells had been cast. Fortunately, we were able to deal with this problem as our attack continued. We were now close enough to see the camp, and were able to make out six large tents. It was quite easy to figure out which belonged to the two priests, and that was our first target. From afar, I destroyed the tent, and Malcolm and Pumilio began to throw spells. Father Mark went down quickly, but Father Peter, the one who looked like Nigel, did not succumb to our spells. As planned, Pumilio then erected a great circle of stone around the camp, just as the crusaders realized that they were under attack. Then, the massacre began. Malcolm and Ahmed killed several others crusaders who had been left on guard while Pumilio dropped two large stones upon those in the stone circle. As the stone blocks fell, Father Peter levitated out of the circle. Malcolm and Ahmed cut him down, but not before he had destroyed Ahmed's leg with a mighty magical spell. By then, our attack was nearly done. All of those who had been guarding outside the circle were dead, killed by either Ahmed, Malcolm or our grogs, while nearly fourty warriors had died with the circle of stone, crushed by Pumilio's two great blocks. As we walked up a nearby hill, we were able to see that four crusaders within the circle had survived by madly scrambling upon one block of stone before the second had fallen. I had Ahmed kill three of them. The last of the surviving crusaders we took to question. Before I had Pumilio destroy his walls, I made sure that no one had escaped our trap. An Intellego spell made it quite clear that our attack had been entirely successful. The survivor, a Crusader named Arthur, was able to provide little information. He simply said that one of the Fathers had seen a vision of our Covenant, and thus had led our troops towards it. I was quite happy to find that the rest of the Church had not been involved. The Crusaders had been acting with a Papal Order, but had not been interacting directly with the Papacy. It is my belief that Father Peter found my Covenant through some connection with the foot of Nigel. Surely, thanks to our shrouded glen, he could not have discovered it with more mundane methods. After we had put Arthur to sleep (later, we shall play with his memories, and make him one of our grogs), we began to investigate the ruins of our battle. Where the spell casting priest named Peter had fallen, we found only a pile of dirt and a shoulder bone. Clearly, he was a golem, just as Nigel had been. I was very careful to make sure that every bit of Peter was destroyed, due to the problems that Nigel's remains caused us. Afterwards, we collected many suits of chain mail and a good number of short swords. Some of those we have put in our stores, and the rest we shall sell. Malcolm and Pumilio dealt with one last matter. Disguised at the two Priests, they went to Cagliari. There, they told a story of God transporting the rest of the Crusaders to Corsica, where they said the evil magi truly were. Then, they had Manual take away the Crusader's ship, the Santa Cruz. He will take it to Pisa and barter it for a new boat, for the Covenant. I should make one final note on this whole business. On the night of the battle, Lysander, Dubius and Marlon, the three who participated in that strange ritual all suddenly fell comatose. None woke until the morning. This seems to make it quite clear that the wine was all part of a plan. If we had all participated, as the Mentem spells seemed to be trying to make us, we would have been in quite bad shape during the battle. I think I saw how the other Covenants were tricked into their own destruction. * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: On today, the last day of Summer, I have had another strange vision, and it worries me. This one began as the other, with me standing above my Covenant, and a web surrounding me. But, this time three strands connected the web to my Covenant, not one, just as three magi had engaged in that odd ritual. This time, I was able to follow the web, and I eventually came to the sea. In the sea, there was a coffin, and within that coffin, there was a plate, with an arm placed upon it, as if it were prepared for a great meal. And then, I awoke, my vision ended.