1237, Spring 3

Our Sodalis return from their adventures this month, and bring news that the maga behind a lot of the recent activity is Deirdre ex Tytalus. She informed us that there were two groups beyond the earthquakes – one group were trying to preserve the boundary between the mundane and the Faerie, and the others, the Merinita, were trying to break down the boundaries. The Merinita were possibly being manipulated by the Spider.

Deirdre herself was responsible for the destruction of Horsingas covenant, and so directly for the murder of the magi there. She also killed magi from Stonehenge. And now she is asking to join our covenant.

We seem to be in agreement about not letting Deirdre into our covenant – for a number of different reasons. For me, she has murdered members of our Order. Strangely, I think despite this she can probably be trusted, though Maedbh doesn’t agree. That doesn’t mean I want her here. The question is about whether we tell the Quaesitor Whitburh Frithowebba and Caitlin Suil Uaine ex Merinita.

Assuming that Caitlin isn’t part of the Merinita group trying to destroy everything, we send a message to Caitlin to request a meeting with her to discuss some topics that can’t be said over letters.

A couple of weeks later, myself and Maedbh head to Crun Clach, and we meet with Caitlin. We have a pleasant dinner that evening, and then the following morning we discuss the serious stuff.

She doesn’t seem to be that keen on the magi of Dun Naomhaig when we mention them. Maedbh explains that the two magi have been performing human sacrifices in order to weaken the bindings on the Spider. She has been aware of a faction within her House for a while, but wasn’t aware of exactly what they were up to.  That there is also a powerful Arch Mage involved, Alois, will be problematic. 

She doesn’t think it would be a good idea to bring it up at the Tribunal. Maybe there should be some quiet investigation into the rituals that are being used, and Caitlin wants to leave it to us to decide exactly how to proceed. Apparently we’ve done well at this sort of thing before. Caitlin is not surprised to hear that there was a Tytalus involved as well.

We discuss what happened to the Spider, Damhan-Allaidh, and the battle of the Great Light – an event which resulted in the deaths of many magi (both inside and outside the Order), as well as their allies a couple of hundred years ago. Damhadh was slain, but before his body could be destroyed it was stolen away by his remaining allies.

Over the years following the battle, several covenants were destroyed, possibly by those loyal to Damhah-Allaidh. Caitlin though has sworn an oath not to say more, but says that Brude Deathless might be able to give further details. Unfortunately, she is also sworn to not say where he can be found.

Brude Deathless is a Gruagach who is said to be very old. The hint is, I guess, in the name. 

She also mentions that something happened to drive the Spider North from the coast of Brittany Europe during the 7th century. He fled to Scotland, where the final battles against him were fought. There might be something of interest on the mainland that we need to find out about.

Heading back to our covenant, we talk to Euan, one of our sodalis who has taken to spending time by himself. He is also a Gruagach, and might know where Brude can be found. Surprisingly, he gives us a quite specific location in the north west of Scotland.

Euan warns though that Brude really doesn’t like visitors, something Euan found out personally when he went to talk to Brude himself about fifteen years ago.

It appears that we have a plan.