1233, Spring

At the beginning of the year, I speak to the head of our covenant about her providing me with a longevity potion. I’ve been spending the last few seasons learning up my Creo and Corpus arts, before remembering that one of the benefits we were offered on coming to this covenant was that Alexandria would provide us a potion ‘for free’. I’ve probably still got a couple of years before I really need it, but if unrest really kicks off in Scotland, I don’t want to be worrying about getting complicated rituals done.

Despite not needing to now, I continue to spend time on reading the Corpus book.

We have a discussion about what to do about the latest news. Of the bear, we decide that it’s probably a self-rescuing bear. If it is a Bjornaer magi who has somehow lost himself in his Heart Beast shape, then anyone who tries to hunt him is probably going to be in for a rude surprise. It’s also going to break the Code of Hermes if we use magic to try and find him or cast any form of divination magic on him.

So if he’s the missing Bjornear, we don’t need to, and can’t, do anything. If the bear is not the Bjornear, then it probably doesn’t matter.

Instead, we decide to head south to check on the “angels” near Ayr. Myself, Maedbh ex Merinita and Greysen ex Mercere head off, along with our grogs Malcolm and Callen. First though, we take a boat trip to the Isle of Arran, to see what the giant animals that appeared there have been up to.

We set off by boat, and things start off fine. By the time we get out from shore, the winds have got up and are blowing in the wrong direction. We decide to push on. Apart from being bumpy, the spray of cool water is quite refreshing. Even though I come from Crete, I’ve never noticed the cold in this place. Even in the middle of winter, I find the wind and rain of this land simply refreshing. The others complain about it though, and Maedbh ends up casting a spell to keep the water off us.

We arrive shortly after night fall, and head up towards the village where we were welcomed the last time. The villagers put us up in a barn for the night, and provide some warm broth and drinks.

Speaking to the villagers, they tell us that they try to avoid the large animals. The animals are also quite happy to keep away from them, apart from the cow which insists on being milked. The effort to do this is considerable, given the cow’s gigantic size, but they’ve learned that keeping the cow happy is the right thing to do. It also provides them with an awful lot of milk and cheese.

We arrange for a couple of large wheels of cheese to be delivered to us.

The following day, it is calm and sunny. We make good time on the way back to the mainland and arrive at Ayr around midday. Things have been quiet recently here, so we get a private room where I can shelter and keep out of everyone’s way.

Downstairs, Greysen plays music and Malcom does some carousing with the locals, whilst Maedbh heads off to the market with Callen as a bodyguard.

It seems that the “Angels” were people here for a couple of weeks, and they were happy to heal people. All they asked for in return was for them to tell the foreigners about themselves, and to tell the truth. Those that lied had bad things happen to them, so people either told the truth or stopped visiting them.

I was most disappointed to find out that “Angels” was simply a term used to describe nice people. I had been expecting shining people with too many wings and eyes. It was just more of the local healer types that we’ve heard about before. Though these appeared to be foreign.

So everything seems good. Except… there have been people going missing in the area. This has mostly involved beggars and street children. The usual unwanted and unnoticed whose disappearance is something nobody cares about.

There have been people going missing in the area, notably beggars and street children. This happened around the time that someone was healing people in Dumbarton. Coincidence or something more sinister going on?