1231, Summer
In our previous session of Ars Magica, we had discovered the King of the in the sewers under the town of Dumbarton. The rats were killing and corrupting townsfolk, and didn’t show much sign of being willing to restrain themselves. So we had reached the decision to terminate the King’s rule. With extreme prejudice.
Jack, Spring 1231
We head back into the sewers with Allistor, who walls up the Rat’s lair with a Creo Terram spell. Clay magically sprouts from the walls, floor and ceiling, sealing up the tunnel quite effectively.
We then head back up to the surface, finding the sewer grates up in the market. Allistor summons forth a gush of water, filling up the room below. One bedraggled rat seems to escape, and I ran after it and stomp on it.
At sundown, the wall and water vanishes. We head in and take a look around. The place is filled with rat corpses, including a couple of rather large rat corpses. There are also a couple of drowned ratty people. The magi task me with getting the rat corpses out of the sewer. Apparently they want to gather them for research purposes. Or something. Which means sticking them on a cart and taking them back to the covenant.
Pisciculus ex Criamon, Spring 1231
Next season we are due to head up to Loch Leglean and attend the Tribunal there. Seven years ago, Maedbh had been tasked with investigating some of the strange fey goings on in Scotland. Now it was time for her to report on things so we all got together to decide what she was going to tell the tribunal.
The main topics we were happy to share were:
- Auras have been varying, possibly caused by major magical rituals and associated earthquakes.
- We should mention the flying sheep, since we have claimed them as a vis source.
- We should also mention the gigantic animals, for the same reason.
- Lord David Goulis, and his infernal hounds was going to get a mention.
- Finally, the ‘golf’ playing giants would be mentioned.
We decide to keep quite about the rats, and anything else that might cause people to want to investigate our covenant. Whilst others have had quite an eventful time this season, I spent most of it reading our book on Mentem.
Pisciculus ex Criamon, Summer 1232
Most of the magi of the covenant head north to Loch Leglean. There is myself, Allistor, Maedbh and Greysen. Two of the grogs, Knox and Blane come with us as well.
During the first night whilst we camp in the wilderness, Maedbh has a bad dream. She dreams of conflict, fratricide, fire and screaming. She saw me with a burned face. She thinks it is a vision of the future, whilst I think it is probably just the mushroom stew we had last night.
We carry on, and though it starts off nice, dark clouds start to roll in. It becomes humid and very oppressive. Maedbh starts to get paranoid about her dream and asks me to change my appearance. In order to make her happy I use my magic to take on the appearance of Jack’s wife Rhona.
Knox suddenly hears something moving just over a rise. We stop and listen, realising that the noise is coming from a large flock of gulls. Heading up over the rise, we notice the gulls are clustering around what looks like a body on the beach. There is a loud bang, as Allistor scares off the birds, revealing a large whale rotting on the sand. We stop to see if it has any vis, but it doesn’t.
As we continue further, a mist appears on the surface of the water, It quickly develops into a thick fog, and rolls in over the land. It cuts our visibly down to a few tens of yards. Shortly, up ahead, we see a small group of buildings. There is a house and a barn. We stop off there to find a place to stay for the night during this strange weather.
The man is willing to allow us to stay in his barn, and invites us in for a meal after we offer to share some of our food. He doesn’t seem to react that much to those of us with the Gift, which is unusual. Possibly more unusual than the strange weather that we have been having. We wait until after sunset so that our shapes return to normal, and then go in to share a meal with him, his wife and his two children. He is Seamus, and his wife Mary. His children are Saunine and Fion.
Maedbh leaves a gift of an arcane connection in the form of a shawl for the wife, as thanks for the hospitality. We go to sleep in the barn, and the night passes without incident. We wake in the morning to find that it is a nice sunny day. We continue on, and eventually reach Loch Leglean.
As we approach the covenant, we spot some magi using flight to reach the covenant. Walking is far less conspicuous, and gave us some good exercise.
