1237, Spring 2

After getting back to the inn, it is decided that we want to break into Meg’s abode. In order to distract her, Greyson is putting on a big show at the inn. I send a runner to invite Meg along. This leaves things to Maedbh and Donald to do the break in, which I find quite amusing. This is the only reason I’m going along with the plan, because entertaining Meg for the evening wasn’t something high on my list of things I wanted to be doing.

Meg turns up after sunset, and I wave her over and buy her some drinks. She seems happy to see me, and Grayson starts playing some music. We chat about nothing in particular, and she seems to continue to be happy. Things seem to be going well, until I realise that she is holding my hand and gently stroking the back of it. Things are maybe going a bit too well. Grayson seems to be playing somewhat romantic music, which really isn’t helping things. I think he’s doing it deliberately.

Then things change to some dance music, and Meg pulls me up to the dance floor. 

Eventually Maedbh turns up, and sometime later the the party is wrapped up. I walk Meg back to her cottage, and then hastily head back immediately afterwards. Though I got the definite impression that I could have stayed overnight if I’d wanted to.

We meet up briefly with Maedbh that night, and get a debrief on what happened. Maedbh said that she found some strange writing, and evidence of some nice nice boxes and the ability to make flaming devices. This was evidence that Meg had been the one behind the burning villages that we were investigating a few years back. Meg had also left a note to Maedbh, asking her to talk to her in the morning. Even though Maedbh had only given her a fake name (and had been using an illusion to hide her identity), Meg knew who she was.

In the morning, Maedbh is planning to go and talk to Meg. She comments that there may be a confrontation. I guess something to do with the fact that Meg might be a wizard but not a member of the Order. It could be dangerous, but I guess looking after the magi is part of my job description.

We all head back up to the cottage. The cat is sitting in the open doorway, and gives a yowl as it sees Donald and runs inside. We are all invited in – accept for Donald. Apparently there seems to be some history between Donald and the cat from the previous night.

I still have a headache from last night, and Meg provides some drink which she says will help. I’m not sure I trust her entirely, but take it anyway. We are invited to all have a sit down, and Maedbh begins the questioning.

Who are you working for? Asks Maedbh.

Meg says she is Dierdre ex Tytalus, and she is working for herself. 

As to what happened with her companions – they were politically inconvenient. They were senior members of a faction that wanted to take more direct action against Loch Leglean and Horsingas. They had nothing to do with Horsingas blowing up though.

With the destruction of Horsingas however, relationships between Stonehenge and Loch Leglean should improve. Grayson wants to know what happened, and wants a non-vague answer.

As you are aware Dierdre says… there has been an outbreak of earthquakes. There seem to be two factions involved. One of those factions is a group of somewhat overly enthusiastic Merinita, and Dierdre had originally thought Maedbh was one of them. Doesn’t think that any more.

They have been interfering with the actions of another group that has been active for a very long time. She doesn’t know exactly who they are though. They have been taking part in rituals around standing stones for quite some time.

The youngsters seem to be deliberately interfering with this. They have constructed a ritual to do this. This wasn’t initially noticed by the old group, but they are probably aware of it now.

The Merinita involved are probably the incestuous twins, but they probably aren’t in charge. 

The Arch Wizard Alois ex Merinita is probably behind it all.

Her part is modest. She became aware of this some time ago, and has been mostly been working to ensure that the Order wasn’t weakened by these amateur political machinations.

She indicates her cup – which is the one we rescued from the mound by the burning village. Apparently she’d set the fires, created some rumours, and planned for someone to dig up the cup for her so that she didn’t have to risk the dangers of the mound herself.

She thinks that there is a waking power that is influencing the young magi. They are under a delusion that they can reinvent the Faerie of old. They are trying to break down the barriers between the two worlds. This would be a really stupid thing to do.

She says that there are Five Great Gifts:

Wisdom, for without wisdom chaos will reign.

Knowledge, for without knowledge, wisdom is blind

Purity/truth for without purity/truth wisdom is but a word.

Justice, for without Justice wisdom only serves the strong

Power, for without Power wisdom is never headed.

They came from ancient stories. Each refers to an item (Maebdh’s sword is Justice), and they were used in a war against the Spider. 

The youngsters are starting to wake it. 

Deirdre would like to become a sodalis in our covenant. She just wants a lab, access to the library etc. She suspects that we may be at the heart of these events, and she likes to get her hands dirty.

This is something beyond my pay grade as to whether we trust her. If she does join us, then I’m really glad that I didn’t sleep with her. My wife would kill me if she found out.

Then Dierdre admits to destroying Horsingas. Well, sort of. It was the other two factions who did it, she just helped focus the energy there. However, she is responsible for their deaths.

None of us can really make the decision as to whether to invite Dierdre to our covenant – we need to head home and consult everyone else.