Vardian Log #17: Closing the Mirror

--
"That isn't the way you part your hair."
        --Meles' Last Words

"For now we see through a glass, darkly."
	--First Corinthians 13:12
---

Season: Summer, 1202

The Players:

Acutus of Ex. Misc.				Magus		(DougO)
Calculus					Pebble
Certus of Tytalus				Elder Magus
Chavin of Tytalus				Elder Magus
Flamma of Flambeau				Maga		(Eric)
Guiseppe					Grog
Inimicus of Tremere				Magus
Karantia of Tremere				Maga
Luritas of Criamon				Magus
Maratta of Criamon				Maga
Meles of Criamon				Magus		(Dave)
Mendem of Ex. Misc.				Magus		(Donald)
Niva						Grog
Rupes of Bjornaer				Magus		(Shannon)
Saevus						Evil Wizard
Tractare of Tremere				Elder Magus
Tristus						Magus

**
** From the Chronicles of Salvadore, Autocrat of Vardian's Tomb
** Summer, 1202

Luigi reports that Terano, one of the grogs under his command, has
recently disappeared.  According to Luigi, Terano had been boasting of his
new found immortality before his disappearance.

**
** From the Chronicles of Salvadore, Autocrat of Vardian's Tomb
** Summer, 1202

At the Council meeting of Summer, 1202, an announcement was made by the
maga Karantia.  She stated that she had left House Flambeau, and entered
House Tremere by defeating five Tremere champions.  Additionally, she
stated that she had been admitted to the Covenant of Postestas, but would
be maintaining her membership here as well.  Finally, Karantia said that
she planned to close up the mirror in Vardian's Stand, which Apertus had
opened at the time of our war with him several years ago.  She asked for
volunteers in this task, and, after a query from Rupes assured all that
vis could be gained while completing the task.

After Karantia had finished speaking, the Council was rudely interupted by
a banging at the door.  An ancient Criamon was admitted into the room.  He
announced himself as Luritas of the Cave of Twisting Shadows, Magus of the
Ten Twilights.  After sitting down at our council table, Luritas stated
that he was searching for the answer to a riddle, and wished to see Meles
of Criamon.  He also stated that he might need to be here for an extended
period of time.  It was finally decided that he would be allowed to stay
at our Covenant for several seasons in return for payment of vis.  There
was no other business, and the Council was brought to an end.

**
** From Rupes' Book

After enchanting my friend Calculus, I was a bit short on vis, and thus I
was quite pleased when Karantia announced that she was seeking volunteers
in a task, and that vis might be gained during it.  When I learned a bit
of the historical background, it became easier to understand the task
before me.

It seems that Karantia had belonged to a Covenant named Vardian's Stand,
located elsewhere in the Caverns, before I joined the Tomb.  Several years
ago, a War was declared on the members of the Stand by Hadrian and Chavin.
At that time, protections were removed from a great magic item controlled
by the Stand, called the Mirror.  Later, Karantia joined the Tomb, after
revealing that Apertus, the other member of the Stand, was a foul
diabolist who had been forcing her to aid him.  Now, she wished to restore
the protections to The Mirror, before it became a threat to our Covenant.
It was for this task that she had asked for aid.

It took nearly a week for Karantia to gather all she needed, and prepare
to go, but I am patient, and thus the time meant little.  Finally, she
came to my sanctum with Inimicus, another member of Postestas who is often
around our Covenant.  She announced that the preperations had been made by
Inimicus and herself, and all was ready.  We quickly made the rounds,
collecting the other magi who had agreed to accompany her.  Acutus, Flamma
and Mendem, a magus newly arrived at the tomb, were all among the
volunteers.  As an afterthought, we grabbed two grogs, Guiseppe and Niva,
and began heading towards the Stand.

Karantia and Inimicus carried with them a number of runed sticks,
seemingly non-Hermetic in nature.  Memdem queried them about this, and
they revealed that they would be used for warding, in the ritual that
would be needed to close up the Mirror.

So, all was pleasant.  We were unified in a goal, and each of us
comfortable with the magi around us.  For a time, we forgot the bickering
that so often faced at back at the Covenant.  For a time, we were simply
brothers in the arts of magic.

And then, we heard someone moving rapidly towards us through the
corridors, and suddenly, Meles was among us.  Meles the unwanted.  Meles
the idiot.  Meles the fool.  And, as I would learn later, Meles the
betrayer.  He said he wished to join us in this task, and there was
nothing I could do to turn him away.  Thus, we continued on to the ruins
of Vardian's Stand, a grimmer, less jovial group.

In the Stand, we saw an awesome sight.  It was as if nature had gone wild.
Vines overran the area.  In places, the rock had been ripped apart by the
force of their growth.  Bits of stone and scraps of wood were scattered
about.  The floor was shrouded by a cover of mist, which Karantia
explained was due to the fact that the Mirror was not restrained.
Curious, I asked Calculus to have the rocks describe the destruction.  He
said that a great falling of rocks had come about nearly three years ago,
which, I would later learn, was scant days after the magi of the Tomb had
last been here.

Walking through the Covenant, we came to the Council room, and the Mirror
that Karantia wished to control.  It was not at all what I expected.  What
she called the Mirror seemed at first to be an undistinguishable patch of
ground, near the center of the old Council room of Vardian's Stand.
However, after careful inspection, I could see that this patch of ground
did indeed seem to be a heavily tarnished mirror.  

Karantia and Inimicus prepared their ritual to close the Mirror by
arranging the runed sticks that they had brought in a circle about this
magical artifact.  As we watched, Karantia began to dance, and speak the
magical words of the ritual.  After nothing came to pass after a long
period of time, we finally set down to sleep.  Karantia was sure that she
had made some small error, and planned to try the ritual once more in the
morning.  After an uneventful night, she did, and a column of mist grew up
between the sticks, taking in the mist which had once covered the entire
ground of this Covenant.

Then, Karantia said that she wished to see if the Mirror still worked
after the ritual, explaining that it was a portal to another place.  I was
more than happy to go along when she pointed out that the land through
this mirror was rich in vis, and would provide me with what I desired.

Karantia explained that she could activate the magic of the mirror as we
stepped into the column of mist, and thus we would be transferred.
Following her instructions, I stepped through the mist, but as I did, I
saw a sight that worried me greatly.  Chavin was advancing into the Stand,
with an angry look on his face, and there is truly little more fearsome
than an angry Tytalus.  But then, I was transferred.

Slowly, the mists faded away, and I found myself in a beautiful natural
cavern.  The stone was pure and whole, seemingly untouched by man.  For
a moment, I was lost in the beauty.

And then, the rest of the magi appeared, and suddenly the air was filled
with yelling and bickering, and all of the other things that civilization
brings.  Chavin had followed us through, and the moment he appeared, he
began accusing Meles of the most horrendous things.  He said that Meles
had stolen magic, and books, and worse.  He said that the Criamon who had
appeared to speak with Meles had turned up dead, with his body drained of
vis.  All of this, and more, Chavin accused Meles of, and he might well
have been correct, for Meles had always been the one member of the Tomb
who I thought an untrustworthy fool.

Finally, Chavin demanded that Meles give him The Little Box of Tranquil
Dwelling, a magic item that Meles held.  I am still unclear of the logic
that came between the accusations and the demand, but one of my rules is
never argue with an angry Tytalus.  Flamma, meanwhile, had come to the
conclusion that if Meles were to give the box away, then Chavin could not
get it.  For some reason, she thought that I wanted the item, perhaps due
to my recent enchantment of Calculus.  In any case, while Chavin and Meles
argued, she Certamened me, demanding that if Meles ever gave the box to
me, I must give it to her.  She won, as she tends to, for Flambeau waste
their time on silly skill in Certamen, rather than on real power.

When I regained conciousness, I learned that Chavin and Meles had fought a
Certamen as well.  Meles had claimed that he no longer had the box, and
did not know where it was.  As condition of his Certamen, Chavin had
demanded that he be able to probe Meles' mind to find the truth of this.
When I awoke, Chavin was looking quite disappointed with the results of
his findings.

At the time, I was quite confused as to why Chavin would want this magic
item so much, for while interesting, it was not too terribly powerful.
Now, I believe that the box may have stored some of Meles' diabolic power,
and that Chavin wished to partake of this.  Without question, Chavin is
not to be trusted.

In any case, Chavin soon left, with help from Karantia, and the rest of us
began to ask her of this strange place.  She simply said that we were in
the same place as we had been, and when Calculus queried the stones of
this place, he reported that we were underground, near the Tiber.  Yet,
this place was definitely different, for where the ruins of the Stand
should have been, there was instead only unadulterated caverns.  Karantia
said she wished to see more of this place, for she admitted it had
changed, and thus we began to set upward.  Where usually we would come to
the ruins of Old Rome, scores of feet below the modern-day surface,
suddenly we came to daylight.  Where Rome should have been, there were
only fields of grass.

Other magi, who had travelled through the mirror before to rescue Certus
and Chavin, have since told me that before, the realm through the mirror
was a very different place.  They spoke of a Rome in flames, the whole
place as demonic as it's evil ruler, Apertus.  I now believe that the
reality of the realm through the mirror adapts itself to the beliefs and
morals of any who comes to the realm and has an iron will.  Where once
Apertus had fulfilled that role, now the place seemed to be ruled by my
whims, for surely that place of natural beauty was one of the deepest
desires that I held.

As we stood on that grassy hill where Rome had never been, Flamma grew
bored and began burning the grass about her.  It seems a typical Flambeau
reaction to burn things, when there is nothing better to do.  When
Karantia showed her maturity, and began to douse the fires that Flamma had
begun, Flamma became upset.  A Test of Flames, the Flambeau equivalent of
Certamen, followed.  Hours later, after we had eaten and were preparing to
bed down, the two magi were still standing in their circle of flame, each
unflinching.  I never did see who won, for I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Karantia said that she wished to find a friend of hers
name Tristus while she was on this side of the mirror.  At first, there
seemed little profit in this, but then Karantia assured us that Tristus
would be able to show us where great vis was in this place, so Calculus
began to query the local stones about where people might be in this land.
Soon, it was revealed to us that there a settlement to the North.

After walking for a full week, we came to a small village made utterly out
of stone.  After some spells, we quickly learned that there was vis in the
village, and began to hunt for it.  We found that the vis was concentrated
in what seemed to be the labs of two of the villagers.  There were
alchemists or such, not true magicians.  With little problem, we
intimidated the simple folk, and retrieved a total of ten pawns of Herbam
vis from them.  While we were determining whether we had indeed acquired
all of the vis in the village, another man entered the village.  He
introduced himself as Tristus, and seemed to be an old friend of
Karantia's.

Tristus seemed a very curious fellow, but I took an immediate liking to
him when he became concerned about Meles.  At first, he would not even let
Meles into his hut, because he did not like Meles' two pets, an iguana and
a cat.  Finally, when Meles did leave his pets behind, so that he could
speak with the rest of us, Tristus simply warned him that he was following
in the footsteps of Apertus, a diabolist who had come into conflict with
the Covenant some time ago.

After Tristus had finished deriding Meles, he spoke with rest of us for a
time on the Schism War.  He seemed concerned that such a thing might
happen again, and that the Ex Misc. Magi and I might be in danger.  It
seems quite a foolish worry, for the Order is much too stable for such a
thing to occur now.  Finally, after chatting with us for a while, Tristus
revealed to us where we could find vis, as Karantia had promised he would.
He told us of a cave to the North, in the Alps, which we were near after
our week of travelling.

As we prepared to leave, Flamma announced that she wished no further part
in this foolish expedition.  Using his magical powers, Tristus pushed her
back to the other side of the mirror.  The rest of were quite sorrowful of
the fact that there would be one less magus to divide the vis among.  In
addition, Karantia and Inimicus stayed behind, to speak with Tristus, while
the rest of us journeyed onwards.

One of the villagers whom we had earlier extracted vis from was soon
chosen by Tristus to lead us, and we began marching Northwards once again.
After a time, we came to what he called the edge of Tristus' realm.  Below
us was a valley of mists, somewhat similiar to the mist which had covered
the ground of the ruins of the Stand.  Gradually, we entered it, sure that
the vis that we had been told of was somewhere beyond.

After walking a bit in the Valley of Mists, and then resting for the
night, we learned an interesting fact.  The sun did nor rise or set in
this place;  rather, it was a place of perpetual twilight.  Thus,
strangely, our spells which usually would have expired as the sun
traversed it's path across the sky instead stayed as if they had been
freshly cast.  Yet, this was not the strangest feature of the mists, for
not only were they unearthly cold, but we also constantly saw shapes in
them, though when we looked more carefully, there was nothing there.

After several hours of sleep, we all awoke in what would have been
morning, and continued on our journey.  Soon, we all saw someone
approaching through the mists, and it rapidly became obvious that this was
not simply another apparition, as those that had fooled us before.  We saw
that the person was an old Criamon, garbed only in a loincloth and a
single great tatoo, which covered his entire body.

This man, who's name we never learned, spoke in typical Criamon riddles.
First, he warned that Winter was coming [but does Winter not always follow
Summer?], and then asked us why we were not as warmly attired as he.
Finally, the Criamon gave that fool Meles a new riddle, which I record
here only because of a later promise.  It was:

    "Will wisdom stangnant into folly turn,
         and let long night break into brightest day,
     or in brief Twilight, will fool's wisdom learn,
         and by their action sweep the night away?"

Finally, after discussions of a magic weasel in these lands, the Criamon
gave us one last warning, of a magus named Saevus.  The Criamon said that
Saevus believed that he controlled these lands, from his stronghold on the
other side of the Mountain.

After the Criamon had left, the fool Meles, no doubt driven on by the
Criamon's riddle, challenged me to Certamen.  The place was highly
magical, and he wished to experience a Twilight here.  I am happy to say
that the fool was succesful, for as soon as he engaged me in Certamen, he
fell to the ground, writhing in the grip of a powerful Twilight.

We waited impatiently for a time, and finally the mind of Meles returned
to us, or at least that fraction that has always been in this world did.
It seemed that his experience had only warped him more, as Criamon
Twilights always do, for Meles turned around, and, showing no self
restraint, certamened Mendem at once, for he wished to repeat the
experience that he had just undergone.  And, he was in luck, for once more
he dropped into Twilight.  However, this Twilight was Meles' final one,
for he began to sink into the earth, unable to save himself.  Suddenly,
the old Criamon was among us agin, but he could do no more to save the
fool than we.  And thus was the fool, Meles, lost to us.  Unfortunately,
his vis was as well.  The old Criamon thought that there was more to this
than just a simple Twilight, however.  He said that Meles had been taken
by demons, down to hell, and I am quite ready to believe him, for Meles
was the type to destroy his soul, in return for a small bit more knowledge
in this shadow.

Having failed to save Meles, the Criamon turned to us, and offered to give
us knowledge in return for spreading the riddle that he had given to Meles
earlier.  We agreed, and the Criamon began to answer our questions.
Quickly, he told us that there was much vis in the caves near Saevus'
stronghold, which he had described to us earlier.  Although I was
satisfied with this answer alone, the others queried him further, about
the nature of the world in which we found ourselves.  The Criamon said
that this place was a reflection of the world, through a tarnished, broken
Mirror of the World.  When I mentioned that we had come through a mirror,
he said that that was but a piece of the total.  Overall, the entire
theory was an interesting one, and one that I plan to again investigate
some day.  Perhaps this mirror is a way to travel from one shadow to
another, or to the true realm of conciousness?  Finally, the Criamon left
us, and we journeyed onwards again.

Soon, we crossed an icy river, and then began to climb up out of the
valley.  As we ascended from the valley, suddenly, I felt as if I was
drowning.  It seemed as if I were below water, for I could not breath.
So, I changed to my other shape, and as a rock was safe.  However, there
was still a basic problem.  After hearing that I could not breath, Mendem
suggested that it was due to the river that we had crossed some time ago.
So, Acutus and Guiseppe pushed me back down to the river, but there was no
change.  Rather, I felt as if I was deeper underwater than I had been
before.  Suddenly, Niva fell prey to the same magic that had affected me,
and there, by the river, the other magi watched her drown without being
able to do a thing.

Acutus and Guiseppe began to push me back up the hill, and finally,
enlightenment came.  I found that I could breath once more when I was
pushed up further than we had walked before.  Turning back, I was sure
that I could see the faint image of a lake, where the valley that we had
just left was.  My guess was that somehow the real world was leaking into
this one, perhaps in the cracks in the mirror that the Criamon had
described.  Later, this theory would be given more credence when Acutus
insisted that he could see trees that the rest of us could not.

Finally, at the edge of the mist, we came to a stronghold, and behind that
stronghold was a gorge into the mountain.  There was little doubt that
this was the dwelling of Saevus, that the Criamon described, and that the
gorge was the place of vis.

The four of us, myself, Acutus, Mendem and Guiseppe, entered the gorge,
and found a hole at the end, with mist flowing up from it.  Gradually, we
all went down, after some problems.  At the bottom of the hole was an icy
slope, that began gradually gentle before ending in a wall of ice.  In the
wall of ice was a large crevice.  Suddenly, an old magus walked straight
through the wall of ice.  He introduced himself as Saevus.

Acutus and Mendem both fled while Saevus' attention was directed at me.
Continually, he mumbled about drinking my gift, as he waved an ugly old
goblet in my face.  Quite worried now, I ordered Guiseppe to attack
Saevus, figuring that this would give me enough time to draw my own
weapon.  Indeed, it did, although Saevus was able to kill Guiseppe in the
interim.  However, his sacrifice was not in vain, for with my morning
star, I was able to cause Saevus to flee back into his caverns.

As I fled the caverns, reality itself began to warp around me.  For a
time, it seemed that the exit only led me further into the cave, and that
the rocks around me were alive.  However, my will eventually proved the
stronger, as I knew it would, and I was able to quell the disruptions and
exit the cave.

After walking from the cave, I came upon the cowards Acutus and Mendem.
They had met Karantia, who had come here, being prepared to leave.  At
first, I was suspicious that this was another trick of Saevus', but
finally I decided that I must trust this coincidence, and allowed Karantia
to do the ritual to transfer us home.  We found ourselves in the Alps.
The Alps of the true world.  Our search for vis had been somewhat of a
failure, because Saevus had been more vigilant than Karantia or Tristus
had suspected.  At the least, we had the Herbam which we had extorted from
the villagers.

Our point of arrival in the real world was near a crumbling tower which
was a part of the Covenant known as the Caves of Twilight.  We made a
quick stop there, and I fulfilled my promise by passing the riddle I had
earlier learned to a maga there named Maratta.  Finally, we began our trek
home, and returned to the comfort of Vardian's Tomb some four weeks after
we had left.  Not entirely a wasted season, although I will admit that
I've had better.

**
** From the Journals of Certus

In retrospect, it is good that that fool Meles disappeared during
Karantia's recent journey.  Upon hearing of his death, I went through his
lab, looking for valuable items, and found a disgusting anatomical study.
Terano, a grog who had been missing for nearly a season, was in little
bits all over the lab, and there was also a young, pregnant girl hidden
away there.  Most definitely, some Criamon carry the quest for knowledge
too far.