1240, Autumn 4

It is Autumn. We could wait until next year, but that may be too late. And all we’d do is have the conversation about what we’re going to do at the end of next year.

We speak to Euan Dubh, our resident Gruagach, He seems to know something of the Spider, and also mentions a traitor. He rambles a lot though. The traitor seems to have been the Spider’s wife, who left him. A long time ago there were two gods – Gruagach and Cailleach. They parted on bad terms, and their worshippers ended up starting two different magical traditions.

One of these, the Cailleach, may be the ‘Diedne’. The Gruagach became Damhan-Allaidh.

We had to the far north, to visit Brude Deathless. We take skin cream with us, because he seemed to like it last time. As well as some good quality meade, and some meat for his dog. Now that we can all fly, it only takes a few hours, plus a bit of time to find the exact place where his cottage was.

We land a short distance away, and walk in. There is a run down cottage, and the sound of a dog barking. There is a massive dog, almost as tall as me. I throw it some sausages, and the barking ceases for a bit.

Brude comes out. He is huge, and hairy. He invites us in with a grunt. I give it the last of the sausages, and we walk past it, to the table outside the cottage. We offers us water, but we have to find our own cups amongst the detritus.

We tell him of our plans, and he thinks it’s a good idea. He doesn’t offer to help, since he has responsibilities that he needs to handle up here. However, he offers his dog Gorgo to help us. The dog seems happy to sit by me. He’s huge, but seems to shrink into some something more portable whilst we are not paying attention.

We tell him who the magi are, and he says Alois will be the big problem. Turn his ritual against him. He also suggests that we go and talk to Caitlin.

Alois is the magus that has been spotted as a dragon. He’s not so much a mage that can turn into a dragon, but a dragon that can turn into a mage. There are others at the covenant, and they are all sort of half creatures – griffons, manticores, basilisk and a unicorn.

I carry Gorgo back to the covenant, where we have to figure out how to keep the dog fed.

We got to Crun Clach to meet with Caitlin. We leave Gorgo back at the covenant, being looked after by Jack’s daughter Tiffany who seems to have a way with animals.

Speaking with Caitlin, her suggestions are that we possibly tweak the ritual in a subtle way so that they don’t notice until it is too late. Moving the stones, or swapping out a sacrifice could cause problems. Removing a stone could disrupt it in a bad way. Removing the sacrifice victim could remove the power source, so the ritual would fail, but possibly the back lash wouldn’t be as strong.

We could have the stones blessed, suggests Allistor. We could then hide the Dominion aura under a fake Faerie aura. Seeding the place with iron, or dropping iron or stones into the circle just as the ritual is being executed.

If I had a better Vim, and some spells to warp people’s magic, then that might help in forcing people into Twilight as the ritual is going wrong. It would be far safer if we weren’t there when the ritual is disrupted, but I think we need to be there to ensure it goes as wrong as it possibly can. It might even give us a chance to kill them. As much as I don’t approve of killing, merely hoping that they all meet with an accident seems risky. Letting them complete their rituals could result in many, many more people dying or becoming enslaved to the will of the Spider.