1232, Spring
Coming to the end of 1231, we finish off a few final things in our Ars Magica campaign before moving onto our yearly set of rumours and the following year. Also, nobody dies from ageing during the ageing rolls at the end of Winter.
Jack – Autumn, 1231
We have had issues with a bailiff coming around asking for ‘donations’ to the royal treasury. I have a quick word with him, and persuade him to pick up taxes from elsewhere. His collections are redistributed, some to my wife and children for some nice clothes, and the rest to increase the cooperation of local contacts
Pisciculus ex Criamon – Winter, 1231
It is the end of Winter 1231. I have been copying and reading books for the last half of the year. As the end of the year approaches, I’ve also been planning the next stage of my path towards enlightenment on the Avenue of Gruel, Water and Starlight and the Station of Differentiation of Seeming, I need a magical cave for this, and the local Cave of Illumination would seem to be a good choice. We cleared it of the giant hedgehog some years ago, and have been collecting vis from there ever since.
Rumours at the end of 1231
- Another earthquake rocks the covenant on the winter solstice. This one is not too severe with merely a few clay pots being broken in the kitchen. The kitchen staff however report that those pots had been securely stored away and they do not know how they could possibly have ended up broken on the floor. Strangely your vis stock has also been reduced, 1 pawn of corporem vis has gone missing.
- A formal complaint has arrived at Loch Leglean. Apparently the delegation from Stonehenge that recently attended the Loch Leglean tribunal has failed to return home. The message from Stonehenge – signed by the Praeco of the tribunal – alleges that their delegates have fallen afoul of a treacherous assault, and gives the Loch Leglean tribunal one year to find the culprits before Stonehenge “takes matters into its own hands”.
- Stories are circulating among the peasantry of visits from herbalists with mighty healing abilities. These stories are notable as numerous witnesses attest to almost miraculous recoveries from ailments and injuries. The stories do not agree as to the specific nature of the herbalists – some stories tell of a single man, others a single woman and others of a small group. What is apparent is that the peasantry are favourably inclined to these herbalists, but that the church is preaching against them.
- Several ships and boats have gone missing over the past few months along the western coast of Scotland. Several sailors have reported sightings of a large shape in the water ‘bigger than any whale’ near their ships. Bodies have been recovered from one shipwreck bearing terrible wounds: broken bones; missing limbs; and large sections of missing skin and flesh.
- In the north the tides of battle have turned against the King’s forces. Stories speak of swirling mists concealing huge shadowy figures, garrisoned outposts being found empty and abandoned, and friends suddenly turning against friends with murderous intent. The only thing still keeping the King’s forces together is the terrifying presence of Lord Goulis and his personal bodyguards – now being referred to as “the Devil’s watch”.
- An unusual number of children are reported as having gone missing over the past year. This mostly appears to have happened in larger towns, and was only noticed after a significant reduction in theft and robberies attributed to street urchins. Local authorities seem broadly content with this and some are whispering that Lord Goulis has been ‘gathering them up’ to ‘serve’ in the north.
- Reports are reaching the covenant of strange occurrences in local villages over the last few days. Items have gone missing or been displaced, there have been a number of fires, a pair of muggings, three missing cats, two missing dogs and peculiar high pitched ‘singing’ has been heard at night.
Jack – Spring 1232
We send a message to the Library in Dunbarton to see if they have any more information about missing children. I’m thinking that the rats are still causing problems. Whilst waiting for a response, I head out with Aodhan and Greysen to ask around at the local villages.
Pisciculus ex Criamon – Spring, 1232
I had a look around the covenant to try and see what might have been taking our vis. Talking to the kitchen staff, they have no idea what happened. Fortunately, Maedbh is aiding in the investigation. Since we moved in, Maedbh has been leaving out milk and other goodies for the resident faeries. Recently, not all the milk has been taken.
Has something been harming the friendly fey? Unfortunately there seems to be a thing against actually talking to the fey, since that makes them go away. So we can’t do anything sensible like ask them.
Jack – Spring, 1232
Greysen does the initial talking. The locals are quite happy to talk to us, considering as a useful bunch, even if we are strange. Some bread has gone missing, so has a cat, and there was a small fire. Nothing too unusually, but all happening at once is odd. The really odd thing though has been the singing. At night there were high pitched voices heard coming from outside the village.
It is actually one of Greysen’s songs. But he hasn’t played it in public yet, only in private in the covenant. It hasn’t been heard for the last few days. I try to have a look around in the woods outside the village, but without a precise location of where the sound was coming from, I don’t find anything.
Aodhan stays behind to help them clean up the village, whilst Greysen and myself head on to the next village. The story there was very similar. In this place, something got in through an open window and made a lot of noise and broke things, but nobody saw what it was. Tools were stolen – they were all wooden ones, nothing metal was stolen.
We stay overnight at the village. The next morning, Aodhan catches up with us.
We continue heading onwards, enquiring at further villages, staying overnight again. As we approach another village (my wife’s home village, and where the giant serpent was killed in the loch), we note that one of the houses is on fire. The villagers tell us that there were loud noises and crashing sounds, and a fire started.
One of the villagers was caught in the fire and has a burned and bruised arm from a collapsing house. Something also scared the sheep. It looks like a lot of wood was moved up against the house and set fire to – so it looks like it was deliberate.
I head over to the field where the sheep are located, and there are some odd looking foot prints. It looks like almost military boots, quite different from what the locals wear. Some of the prints are normal running, but some look like jumping. They head north along the edge of the loch, until we lose them on rocky ground.
We continue north, and get to Whistlefield. The villagers here have heard rumours about strange things happening, but nothing has happened here. Yet.
We are invited to stay for the night, and fed, then setup a watch. It is a dark night with no moon, though Greysen has magical vision so can still see. The rest of us have difficulty seeing anything.
Greysen indicates that something is moving out in the dark, then I hear singing. It starts kicking a chicken coop. We start creeping towards it, which is easier to do given the racket that it is making. As we get closer, we see what appears to be a small child with big boots and wearing what looks a bit like a red cap. The face is that of an old person, and looks wrong. It has small hands with long arms and long fingernails.
It jumps and lands with both boots on the chicken. As it bends down to grab it, Greysen hits it round the back of the head with the pommel of his sword. There is a crunching sound, and it goes down. Dead.
We did want to capture it alive (well, I didn’t to be honest), but that plan failed.
Aodhan takes a look, and it could be a red cap, but it could also be an oversized brownie.
The following day we get back to the covenant with the corpse of the creature. It is taken to Maedbh, who doesn’t recognise the exact type. It does look a bit like a friendly brownie crossed with a red cap. Maybe it ate some of the vis that we got from the Redcap, which caused it to mutate into some strange crossbreed? That’s a problem for Maedbh to sort out.
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