Vardian Log #25: A Taste of Champagne -- "It will be Fair weather." --Matthew 16:2 -- Season: Summer, 1205 Dramatis Personae: Abrogo Grog Antho of Mercere Redcap Father Anton Priest Aron of Quaesitor Magus Arridere of Jerbiton Magus (Dave) Beris of Tremere Magus Bolo Warrior (Dave) Demoror of Quaesitor Magus (Billy) Domita of Ex. Misc. Maga (Doug) Enzo of Tremere Magus Felipe of Tremere Magus Flamma of Flambeau Maga (Eric) Henry of Tremere Magus Inimicus of Tremere Magus Karantia of Tremere Maga Lucius Magus Mediocris Grog Mendem of Ex. Misc. Magus (Donald) Panvion of Verditius Magus Recanto Grog Rupes of Bjornaer Magus (Shannon) Salian of Merinita Magus Samo Grog Silva of Merinita Maga Tiro of Jerbiton Magus (Chris) Tolas of Tremere Magus Tractare of Tremere Elder Magus Turelli Ex-Grog Voluptas Cook (Eric) Zarpitza Griffon Griffon ** ** From Rupes' Book ** Spring, 1205 After recovering Marlon, and doing some studying during the rest of the season, I finally decided that it was my time to go to Literatus. With a strong Tremere once more at the Covenant, I believe that my affairs are in order, and I am prepared to leave this place for a year. Perhaps I shall even find a copy of my prophecy within the great libraries of the Covenant that I am going to. ** ** From the Journal of Certus ** Summer, 1205 Word from Rome says that Turelli, the grog who Arridere maimed over two years ago, has finally regained his senses. He has been in the care of Francis of Assisi for the last year, and has now decided to join Francis in his religious work. I do not agree with the silly goals that Francis holds, but I am glad that our grog has recovered. I hope that the whole incident has taught the younger magi a lesson. I know that it has shown our grogs that I am willing to protect and help them, and that bond is an important one. ** ** From the Chronicles of Salvadore, Autocrat of Vardian's Tomb It is my duty to hereby report, as autocrat of Vardian's Tomb, that one of our members, namely Demoror of Quaesitor, has been challenged to a Wizard's War on today, May the eighteenth of 1205. Twenty eight days from now, the War will commence, and last for twenty eight days after that. The magus issuing this challenge is one Panvion of Verditius, a magus of Verdi who has in the past had conflict with members of the tomb when they invaded his wine cellar. ** ** From the Chronicles of Salvadore, Autocrat of Vardian's Tomb The Council meeting of Summer, 1205 was opened by a frenzy of Certamens. The battles began when Enzo of Tremere burst into the Council Room, demanding admittance to the Tomb. Almost with the same breath that he asked to join, he challenged Tolas to Certamen, no doubt wishing to clarify the hierarchy of Tremere within the Tomb. At the same time, a random Certamen broke out between Flamma and Domita, for no discernable reason. No sooner had these two Certamens finished then Enzo, who had defeated Tolas, turned around and challenged Tractare to a duel. After Tractare defeated the young Tremere, order was finally returned to the Council Chamber. After the Certamens were completed, discussion was made of the fair that will be occuring in Champagne several weeks from now. The magi Demoror, Demoita, Mendem and Tiro all plan to go. When the Council meeting was completed, those magi went to begin their preparations for the trip to France. ** ** From A History of the Order : Vol IX - The Early Thirteenth Century ** by Triminus Veritas of House Jerbiton In 1200, the gathered magi of the Provencal Tribunal came up with one of the most refreshing ideas to affect the order in quite some time. They proposed that there be a great gathering of magi in the Summer of 1205, hoping that it would bring better unity to the entire Order. Yet, this gathering was not to be a stodgy Grand Tribunal, to which only the most zealous would go. Rather, they suggested a fair, where magi of all thirteen tribunals would come together and trade goods and knowledge. In such a way, they hoped to attract even the most studious of Bonisagus and enigmatic of Criamon. After careful discussion, the decision was made to hold the fair in the city of Troyes, within the county of Champagne. For a great period of time, fairs of all manner have been held in Champagne. It is a central point between the great trade routes of the North and the South. Over different fortnights, different goods are sold, and thus it was little problem for the Jerbiton of Provencal to secure the town of Troyes for sales of "exotic goods" for two weeks during the Summer of 1205. After the preparations were made, announcements began to go out to the magi of the Order. The response was good. For various reasons, the Fair of 1205 did not fulfill it's full potential. Wizard's wars, gambling and certamen all caused their fair share of problems. The worst problems, however, were caused by a misguided churchman named Father Anton. Fortunately, a courageous Quaesitor by the name of Aron was able to discover and befuddle his machinations, and all did not end in disaster. Even better is the fact that the Fair of 1205 seems to have served as an example for the Order as a whole. In 1207, Harco convinced the Roman Tribunal to hold a fair of it's own, deep below the streets of Rome itself. Ultimately, the success of the Fair of 1205 shall be marked by the continued successes of these amicable meetings of magi throughout all of Europe. ** ** From the Chronicles of Salvadore, Autocrat of Vardian's Tomb Two new Tremere, named Beris and Henry, have been accepted into our Covenant. They were led to the Council Room by Demoror of Quaesitor, who had met them just a few hours out of the Covenant. They had apparently been lost in the caverns, looking for the Tomb. After they were accepted as members, Demoror quickly left, to catch up with the rest of the magi heading towards the Fair of Champagne. ** ** From the Lab Notes of Panvion of Verditius Since the last great Verditius contest, the Covenant of Vardian's Tomb has been a constant thorn in our side, but none of it's members have been more troublesome than their Quaesitor, Demoror. He has besieged our Covenant with faeries, insulted our members, and even gone so far as to destroy some of the finest wines in my wine cellars. Finally, I have taught Demoror, and hopefully the whole Covenant, a lesson. I have challenged Demoror of Quaesitor to a Wizard's War, and hopefully thrown the very fear of God into him. Of course, I do not plan to pursue the Wizard's War; I simply wish to teach Demoror a lesson in vengeance and humility. With any luck, he will think twice before causing troubles for our Covenant again after having lived in fear of death for nearly a month. Meanwhile, I will be at the fair of Troyes, far away from that fool, so that no accidents will occur during our period of conflict. While he huddles deep within his Caverns, hoping that I do not appear to kill him, I shall be drinking Champagne, and enjoying Summer in France. ** ** From the Notes of Silva Ambages, a clutter of books, notepads and ** papers When Georgie settled in Rome last year, to work on his silly sword, I decided to make my home in the forest just to the Southeast. It is a very pleasant place, and it truly needed a Merinita, for Salian, who had once looked over the realm, had been forced to leave several years before by some Quaesitors who just didn't understand the true value of humor. My first year in that forest has been nice, but increasingly disturbing. It has become colder and colder in the forest, and now a strange mountain has grown up in the middle of it. I have tried to understand the whole problem, but to no avail. At first, I thought it might be some other magus playing a practical joke on me, but now, I suspect that it is something greater. So, when I heard of the Fair of Champagne, I decided to head there, hoping to gain some information on this mysterious winter from the magi at that gathering. Of course, I also knew that with so many magi coming together, the chances for humor would be truly outstanding. Just before I got to the walls of Troyes, I noticed a bunch of people that I recognised from Georgie's description as the magi of Vardian's Tomb. I was about to go up to them, to tell them that Georgie was absolutely, totally crazy when this Tremere came up to them. I recognised him as Felipe, a troublemaker who goes around trying to get items from people with Certamen. He leaped at a magus of the Tomb named Mendem who was carrying lots of books, and demanded a Certamen for all of his items. They argued for a long time, until finally a Quaesitor came up and told them that Felipe couldn't certamen for silly reasons around the fair because it was against the rules there. Felipe got real mad and stomped off, promising to be waiting for Mendem back at his Covenant. I thought that whole incident was so funny that by the time that I recovered myself, the magi of the Tomb had gone inside. I decided I'd catch them the next morning. When I entered the walls of Troyes, it began obvious that the whole fair was being run by spoil sports. They had silly rules that were designed just to keep magi from having fun. No certamening was allowed in the fair, except in the designated area, and every Certamen had to be authorized by at least one Quaesitor. I was also told not to cast spells in front of Mundanes, and not to mistreat any Mundanes while I was at the fair. I decided that the fair must be being run by either Bonisagus or Quaesitors. I can't think of anyone else who would try so hard to destroy fun. I will have to admit, however, that I found the Certamening area funny. They'd set aside an inn right near the south side of the town for Certamens. Lots of Flambeau, Tremere and Tytalus were hanging out there, challenging anyone who entered the door to Certamens. I spent several hours that evening fooling magi into walking into the Certamen Inn. A good night. The next morning, I found the magi of Vardian's Tomb on their way to the part of Troyes where books were being sold. I quickly ran up to them and told them what an idiot Georgie is. I mentioned to them that he had had his religious experience after falling and hitting his head, and that he was clearly delirious. Afterwards, I told them of the problems that I was having in the Faerie Forest, and one of them, named Domita, promised that she'd help me out with it sometime after the fair. After I'd spoken with the Vardian people, I was getting ready to go and have fun somewhere else when I saw the funniest thing happen. The Vardian people had started haggling over some real big Vim books right after I left. As they talked, suddenly, the books grew wings and flew away. Everyone was quite astounded, and absolutely unable to do anything, as most magi usually are. Tiro of Vardian's Tomb, and a maga named Karantia, who was also from Italy, started arguing over the quill that the books had been written with, because they knew that they needed an arcane connection to find them. Finally, they ripped the quill in half, and all started madly charging around, hoping to find the books. I was so humored by the whole scene that I had to follow after them, just to see what happened. The magi tracked the books out of the town, and suddenly started being assaulted by spells. When I saw the culprit, I was quiet amused. It was Salian of Merinita, who had lived in the Faerie Forest before I. He had apparently spotted his old friends and decided to make a bit of fun with them. The magi of the Tomb showed that they had no sense of humor though, and a fellow named Bolo knocked poor Salian out. I shall have to remember that. Finally, the magi of Vardian's Tomb found the books at the very top of a tall tree. At the same time, Karantia and Inimicus of Postestas appeared, and they started arguing over the books again. Finally, they seemed to come to some decision, and, after talking the books out of the tree, the Postestas magi ran off with them, never bothering to pay the magus in Troyes to whom the books belonged to. Deciding that the fun was over, I went back to where the Vardian people had left Salian and liberated him. We talked for quite some time, and before I knew it, the whole fair was over. At the least, it was a very fun time, and, with any luck, the magi of Vardian's Tomb should be down to my forest to help me with my cold problem soon. ** ** From the Diary of Aron of Quaesitor Over the early days of the fair, there have been many problems. First, there was the fracas in the Jerbiton inn, and then the many items that were stolen on the first day of the fair. At first, I simply thought that these incidents were trivial problems that could be expected in a fair of this size. However, as the numbers of problems continued to increase, I decided that something devious might just be going on. I was proven correct in this when the griffon appeared. The griffon was a huge beast, without doubt the largest that I have ever seen. It landed straight in the center of the town, and began breathing flames upon those nearby. Several magi tried to fight it, while a few others ran in fear, screaming that the beast was the Zarpitza Griffon, an enourmous beast who would cause the death of any that slew it. Finally, Flambeau and Tytalus at the fair managed to kill the beast, at the expense of only a few of their lives. I was by this time sure that some nefarious agency must have summoned this beast, trying to destroy the fair, and the unity that others hoped it would create. Even worse, I thought that I would have to sully my hands with the affair, since Arliandus had put me in charge of making sure that things went smoothly at that gathering. Fortunately, I was saved that. Just as I was making plans, Demoror walked into my room. He came to discuss some petty matter of the disposal of the body of a slain Tytalus, and as he droned on, I considered if he would be adequate to deal with this problem. He was trained by a respected master at Quaesitor, but I have never heard of him attaining greatness of his own. However, he does seem to have gained power, for until the day before the Griffon incident, he had been engaged in a Wizard's War with a Verditius much his Senior. Somehow, Demoror managed to win that Wizard's War by luring Panvion of Verditius out into the woods and slaying him there. Thus, I came to my decision. I told Demoror that I was sure that the problems at the Fair were being caused deliberately by some agent, and asked that he find the culprits for me. Pleased that I would not have to deal with the matter, I set back to relax again. Several other disasters occured while Demoror examined the mystery. The Cock 'n Bull, an inn full of magi gambling for vis and magic items burned down, and there were minor disturbances throughout the city. However, Demoror managed to report back relatively quickly that the problems were being caused by a Priest named Father Anton. With judicious use of Mentem spells, Demoror was able to get the Father, and his companions, to leave the town, and now, the fair should hopefully by a calmer place. Now, I can take credit for restoring tranquility to the fair, and my work has been kept to a minimum. I hear that Father Anton is heading towards Rome now; I hope that he doesn't cause any problems there. ** ** From the Chronicles of Salvadore, Autocrat of Vardian's Tomb The magi who went to the Fair at Champagne have returned. They reported some minor difficulties there, but good trading over all. Ferramentum has been given some strange silvery dust that he seems quite pleased with, and we have gained several new books for our library. Overall, I would rate the experience a success for the Covenant, and probably a success for the Order as well.