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It has been a year since I joined this Covenant. I am constantly amazed at the lack of organization and cohesion this group shows. Luckily, there have been no manifestations of the infernal of the type I was warned about when I petitioned for admission. I truly do not know what I would do if faced with that. Apparently the others lost an original member to the demon before it was destroyed.
The Covenant itself is being built upon the ruins of a strange monastery. The forest surrounding it is thronged with the little people -- of all manners and shapes, and there is a true troll bridge to the east of us.
The members of this covenant are strange and diverse. There is the Tytalis, Talionis, that lives in the basement, in his labyrinthine caves below the covenant. The Flambeau, Lothar, has a reputation for spectacular botches, and though I have personally never seen him botch a spell, Master Thibideaux (of House Jerbiton) is still recovering from the infamous botch Lothar made during their first season at this location. They jokingly refer to it as "the Great Vis Hunt." Also of the original members are TamLin of the Merinita, who, although obviously flighty and mad, appeared for quite a long time to be the leader of this ragtag group; Tristan of House Bonisagus, a sweet young man who is still quite innocent of malice or of even the concept of malice; Alexei, also of Bonisagus; who, as mentioned earlier, lost his gift and later disappeared, apparently into the bowels of Hell itself. Also of this group, though, as I understand it she joined later, is Achren, the Welsh Tremere. She is very pale of skin and seldom comes out into the light of day. So seldom, in fact, that I have only seen her on the days we raised the Aegis of the Hearth. Rafael of the Tytalis joined the Covenant apparently in time to attempt to banish Hell to itself. He blew up the tree which was serving as the gateway in the process, and I have to admit, the demonic presence has not been seen since. Joining the covenant with me were another Flambeau, Falstaff, who also serves as companion, being competent with offensive magic and the crossbow; Bronwyn, the Bjornaer, who we have recently discovered can turn into a cat when necessary or desired; a Verditius mage by the name of Dythum, and me.
My name, by the way, is Ysabel. I am a member of House Mercere, a fully recognized redcap, and a mage by my Art as well as by my House. Soon I shall have to fulfill my duties and produce some magical item for the Order. I am a full member now of Circulum Aurum, or the Dragon Moon Covenant, as its members fondly call it. The great stone dragon in the courtyard has not moved again since it settled next to Achren's lodgings, with its tail directly facing the front gates, and as long as it seems content to lie there, we are content to work around it. Rafael believes it doesn't like him, but the Merinita constantly tells us that it likes us. He will then, however, add "or it wishes to eat us. Same thing, really." Wonderful. It hasn't disturbed us, and we try not to disturb it.
A year ago, when I came to the covenant seeking a place to call home, another redcap by the name of Ash arrived. She brought with her certain papers naming a lost covenant in the South of the island, by the name of Calabais. This year past we have not had the opportunity to look into the rumours contained in these papers, but are now in the process of doing so.
When spring broke, and the Aegis was set for another year, a group of us packed up and broke away from the Covenant to investigate these rumors. As we were preparing to leave, saner heads were overruled in favor of attempting to cross the bridge rather than skirt around it. The troll was convinced at the mention of the word Calabais, to allow our group to cross into whatever realm the bridge led to. He said that it led to "a Calabais." It was obvious from the first that this was no ordinary bridge, for what was on the opposite side was nothing like any of the British Isles that I have seen. And the bridge disappeared when we were all across.
We walk and ride now in a land far stranger than any I have traveled. Tristan and Rafael discuss whether or not it is Hell itself. The arguments against are prevailing, I believe. There is, for example, no smell of brimstone, nor of sulfur. All is grey, and it extends as far as the eye can see. At night there are two moons in the sky. The road extends towards what appears to be mountains or hills, and strange animals have been found.
Magic seems to be dampened here. Falstaff is disappointed that he cannot make anything explode to his satisfaction. The rest of us, however, are relieved.
On the second day of our journey, the Bjornaer was struck in the back by a snake-like creature. It was, however, covered with a soft tan fur, and had six legs protruding from its long body. She was apparently in cat-form when bitten, and when she changed back, the wounds in her body enlarged proportionally. We have been striving since to keep the poison from spreading. I have very little experience with such matters. Falstaff devised a magical way in which to draw the poison from her, and it seems to have worked. She can now move quite easily and is resting more comfortably. She is able also, to treat herself. What a true catastrophe it would have been should our only healer other than me have been indisposed for the journey. Also bitten was the Verditius, Dythum, who has taken the opportunity to compel Tristan to "document" everything, from his leg, swollen with the poison, to the snake itself.
We remained camped the next day. Falstaff and I rode ahead to scout for wood for a good fire, and to see the lay of the land. The grey continued, though further up the trail it widened, and became cobbled. High pillars surround us on both sides, and there were twisted, dead trees along the roadway. I allowed Falstaff to try to gather wood for the fire from the trees by casting spell after spell at it. While he was wearing himself out, I hacked quite a few branches down with my axe. Falstaff finally collapsed, I got him thrown over his pony, and took him back to camp. Unfortunately, he woke up about a league out, and was able to ride in under his own volition.
While Falstaff and I were exploring, the others discovered a spider-like creature with nine legs instead of eight. Both Bronwyn and Rafe attempted a small spell on it, and both had interesting reactions. Whereas Bronwyn said, "this is weird. What do you make of it?" Rafe cast a spell at it, closed the box immediately and said, "It's fine. I suggest we destroy it immediately." I try to ignore his premonitions of doom and destruction, but it is sometimes difficult.
This morning we found hoofprints around our camp and decided that it was time to move on. We arrived at the trees and made camp again. Bronwyn is still weak, and the Dythum pushes himself too hard on his bitten leg. It is almost as though he wishes to see what will happen if he pushes it into gangrene. "Tristan. Document this." Tristan is too kind to say, "No." Or he remains tied to his days as an apprentice.
We later followed a strange black animal. This one had twelve legs. I begin to see a pattern here. The animal itself was panther-like, moved extremely quickly, and had patches of skin extending between its legs, so that it could glide like a flying squirrel. There was cunning in its eyes and it had two horns behind the ears. In the process of tormenting the poor thing, Dythum managed to sprout wings over all of his body and fly a bit, though clumsily. Sigh. Does this group have no sense whatsoever? I simply hope that this thing doesn't decide to come hunting us rather than its normal prey, whatever that might be.
We have begun to quarrel amongst ourselves. With the injured members of our group, no one moves quickly enough for Falstaff. He continually insists upon riding ahead of us. After our experiences with the "neighbors," we are leery to allow this. He has a tendency to attack first and ask questions later. It could possibly get him, or us, killed. But reasoning with a Flambeau is sometimes like reasoning with a brick wall.
He did stay with the group for a time today. And I almost wish we had let him continue ahead. He was bored, and amused himself with mental tricks as he rode. To Tristan's dismay, the tricks he chose were that of reversing the order of the words of any hymn he could remember. It was an eery sound and I must admit I spurred my horse ahead a bit to avoid hearing it. Tristan was not so patient. He requested that Falstaff cease, if only to keep the grogs calm. When he was not satisfied with the answer, he challenged Falstaff to certamen. Falstaff, of course, chose perdo as the form. Tristan, thinking only of his favorite technique so as to counter such a difficult form, terram. Unfortunately, the combination proved to be Falstaff's best, and Tristan's worst. Needless to say, Tris' lost quickly.
There is a pyramidal structure ahead of us. It seems to be occupied, as reported by Dythum and by Bronwyn, by strange furry birdlike creatures. It would appear to be in the mode of a temple or a covenant. Tristan is of the opinion that this place would be the equivalent of our covenant on this strange plane of existence. That would indicate the possibility of meeting ourselves, albeit in a strange form. I do not wholly like this idea.
However, I do not agree with Rafael that we are doomed and on the road to Hell, either. There are many more things in God's world than any mortal, even be he mage, can dream of. We have made camp here and are in the process of deciding who to send as an emissary to the "people" of this place.
I was interrupted in that entry by a call. Falstaff had ridden off on his own yet again, and yet again gotten himself into trouble. A group of the strange humanoid creatures surrounded him and separated him from both his horse and the rest of us. We separated and went after both. There were two battles -- one at Falstaff's location and one at the horse.
I cannot report Falstaff's accurately, as I was not present. Suffice it to say that he was released, at the sad cost of the lives of his captors, despite Bronwyn's best efforts at healing.
The horse escaped on its own, and came charging around one of the tall pillars that litter this area, rearing and screaming in fear. I suspect that it was planned as dinner for the odd creatures. Tristan was directly under it's hooves as it came down. Without thinking, Rafael was between them, sword out. The horse fell on the sword and on Rafael and screamed yet again. I calmed the horse as best I could and sent Tristan running for Bronwyn as I couldn't deal with injured, frightened horse and injured mage at the same time. Lily, the little dear, spent the time trying to apologize to the horse of all things, for Rafe's actions. "I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you . . ." Rafe was lucky. He survived with only a broken rib. The horse was lucky, too. It will heal as well. I am glad. We can ill afford the loss of any member of our party in this desolate place.
We reconvened and made camp at the place where Falstaff had been held. Tristan is even more convinced than ever that this place is the equivalent of our Covenant. Which would mean that we just destroyed their Companions, or at the least, their grogs. Dangerous, to say the least. Lily did not appear to show me her embroidery as she is wont to do in the evenings. Dupion went to fetch her, leaving the grogs to guard the camp. She came back with him, but I remained concerned. Such a small girl to be on such a journey.
We had begun our walk towards the pyramids again when we were "halloo"'d from the sparse trees to our side. It was TamLin, leading another horse. He said that our "neighbors," the little people, had sent him to show us the way home, if we wanted it. We are determined to fulfill our promise to look into the covenant of Calabais, however, and declined his offer. Lily looked disappointed, though she was happy to stay as long as TamLin stayed as well. This gave her the opportunity to leave when she wished. I ascertain from bits of conversation, that she asked the neighbors to "send help" last eventide while she was gone, and that TamLin is the aid they sent. The extra provisions are most surely welcome. We had intended to stop at towns along our route, before it was changed so quickly.
We continued along, with TamLin trying to keep an eye on Falstaff -- I don't think that he trusts Falstaff to maintain self-control. Not much further along the road and we were "hallo"'d again. This time by a man, who had a creature behind him the likes of which I've never seen. But then again, what in this place has been anything like anything I've seen before? Tristan began sputtering "Alexei. . . Is it really you?" and I, too had to look twice. Somehow he was little like the man I had imagined from the stories.
Given that this was indeed Alexei, our meeting only served to underscore Rafe's belief that we were indeed in Hell. I still question this hypothesis. But I do find it odd that both Alexei and TamLin should arrive so close together. What force is it that leads us on?
With Alexei was a strange humanoid creature. Over what appeared to be a human skeleton was-is, for he is with us still, stretched a musculature developed of bands of sinew, wrapped around rather than along, the bones. There is no skin, and the bones peek out at every joint. When Tristan stepped forward to embrace his sodalis, the creature jumped between them and waved a spear-like weapon at him. Alexei pulled it away and said. "Friend. This is my friend." The creature protects Alexei, and has done so for over a year, but I wonder whether it guards him from external dangers, or from escape. It is a question Alexei now asks himself, though it was unimportant when he was alone.
With Alexei's permission, Rafe attempted both to cleanse him of any enchantments he might have attached to him, and to banish any taint of the demonic he might be carrying from his brush with the imp that carried him here. With Rafe saying we were already in Hell, I wonder that he even thought the latter might work. Banishing hell to hell again, no? Or, could we be certain that he would go anywhere, were this truly hell. It would be like sending someone home from their own front hall. Where would they go?
There was not the only one creature with Alexei -- he was accompanied by a group of about a dozen of them. All with the same strange protective behavior. When we march, they surround him, and to speak to the Bonisagus we must speak over the heads of them. Their silence unnerves me. Apparently they were originally making for the pyramid. But with our arrival they changed direction. Whereas they had been making a sign with their hands in the shape of a triangle or pyramid, they now make the sign of a circle, and lead us in another direction. Tristan is not going to risk losing sight of his friend, and I think he is probably correct in this. We camp on the road, and I cannot help but wonder what our destination has become. Circle. It could be of anything.
I have spoken with Alexei, and he tells of caves in which he found remains of humankind. Both scraps of parchment with Latin letters, though they are scrambled and in no comprehensible language, and bones. He also found a talisman, which he wears about his neck, and a sphere, which seems to match one given to Bronwyn on her exploratory journey about the pyramid. Shall we be able to discover their purpose? It is only one of the many questions this journey has given us.
We marched for hours among the strange, almost dead trees and the great pillars of stone, the strange creatures surrounding Alexei like some phantastical honor guard. They seem to ignore us unless we would touch him or make any move that might be construed as a threat.
Finally the road opened out and we faced the ruins of a city. It was the color of the great pillars, and very large. They led us through it, still making the sign of a circle, and we stopped -- barely in time -- at the edge of a great cliff. Looking down, we saw what appeared to be a carpet of dust. Someone - I can't remember who - had the presence of mind to toss a rock off and into that carpet. The rock disappeared beneath the surface.
Looking at our surroundings more closely, we saw what appeared to be docks along the cliff face. And out to "sea" was a large galley, listing steeply to one side. She appeared to be made from wood. Dythum, now in almost complete control of his wings, flew a rope out to the ship and secured her. When that was done, Tristan, with a typical show of more enthusiasm than common sense, launched himself at the rope and began to cross it to the ship, hand over hand. The ship, pulled upon in such a manner, began to move toward the shore, loosening the rope, which dipped dangerously near the surface of the dust. Tristan began to disappear beneath it. He made a valiant effort at climbing, but was soon out of sight.
As the ship began to move, Rafael launched himself at the rope, broken rib and all. Falstaff and I launched ourselves at Rafe to keep him from doing something stupid. In the process, we all lost our balance, and Rafe went flying off the cliff into the dust. I am not proud of this moment. If I had done nothing, or had been a moment more quicker or more coordinated, perhaps this would have been less exciting. As it was, it looked as though we were to lose two more members of our group. Tristan saw Rafe go in about the same time he appeared to see that the ship was moving. I know not what ran through either of their minds. We tried frantically to rescue them. Falstaff destroyed the earth around where Rafe had fallen, which cleared a line of sight just long enough for me to try to cast a spontaneous spell based on the self-flight spell I learned as an apprentice. It seemed to work. I could have sworn that Rafe was moving upwards when the dust closed in around him again. We began pulling on the ropes, in the hopes of raising them both. Alexei pointed his "friends"' spears at the ship, in the hopes of keeping it from crushing any of them. Bronwyn tossed Alexei a rope and launched herself into the deep.
Somehow the line was broken and both ends fell. We began to pull for the lives of all our friends. Falstaff had the rope attached to Bronwyn, and he rode his horse away straining and pulling her up the cliff wall. The cook, I, and a group of grogs pulled and strained on the end of the rope we believed possibly held Rafael.
At the ship, Dythum pulled up his side of the rope, only to find nothing at the end of it. We managed to get Rafael and Bronwyn back up to shore, though Bronwyn was injured in the shoulder, and Rafe unconscious. A hush fell over us as we realized that Tristan was missing. Somewhere in the excitement, however, Alexei had said to his strange guards, "get my friend." As we sat, tending our brave wounded, a form emerged up what appeared to be a ramp into the dust. It was the creature, who apparently needed not breathe. It was holding something by the ankle. Tristan! Also unconcious, and breathing passages blocked with the awful dust. Falstaff was able to clear them. Again with a perdo terram spell. I don't think I've ever been more thankful for having a Flambeau around. Tristan began again to breathe, and awoke thinking that he had been in another certamen. (He has had extremely bad luck with certamen recently, having chosen all the wrong forms and techniques to challenge with).
We camped, and several small groups of us broke off to search for water. Which we found in the form of a small fountain and a large spring. The aerial approach seems to work better in this endeavor. We filled several large barrels and loaded them on board.
We had with us, luckily, a grog who was knowledgeable in the ways of ships, and he was able to make us "seaworthy." The creatures escorting Alexei again made the sign of the circle and pointed off into the sea. We put out in the direction they pointed.
We sailed into the unknown on a ship that threatened to fall apart if only it was blown by a small squall. I continue to believe that we have all been foolish, but it doesn't stop me from continuing with the group and taking these notes. We landed upon what appears to be an island in the middle of this sea of dust.
It is the same grey as everything else in this forsaken place. And upon it is a dock, and another abandoned city. The city has in it a central square, and in that square stands a tall platform. Atop the platform, around the edges, are five spheres, joined by lines etched in the platform, causing the lines to form a pentacle. It seems to be some sort of magick amplification mechanism. Which, in this place would be extremely useful.
While Talionis chuckled under his breath, Alexei tried out his medallion at the platform. There was, apparently (I did not climb up to see) an indentation that fit it perfectly. When the talisman was inserted, the platform began to hum. The six atop the platform decided to try an experiment: they placed Alexei in the center of the pentacle, and focused a creo vim spell, with vis, upon him, to recharge his gift, if they could. It seems to have worked. He glows now, but can again do magic, though it seems to pain him some.
His escort is still with him, and they show no signs of leaving, although they were very adamant that we leave the talisman in the dais, and the dais humming.
We took some time to rest, and then continued on. There is a large castle atop a hill behind the town, and, thinking it might be the original covenant house for what was obviously a magickal settlement of some sort, we continued up.
The manor atop the hill is as dilapidated as the rest of this town. It does appear to once have been a magical haven. The great hall is battered, empty and dark. Both Bonisagus (Tristan and Alexei) found themselves what appears to have been a library, where they devoted themselves to attempting to preserve a piece of parchment they found withering in it.
Bronwyn and I began looking for the bell mentioned in the letter Ashe brought to us so long ago. If this was, indeed Calabais, there should at least be a sign of it somewhere. What we found amazed us. At the top of the tower is what was probably once the council chamber of the covenant. A large marble table sits in the center of the room, apparently cut from one slab of the stone. It is about 15 feet in diameter, and surrounded by eight chairs in varying states of decay and upturn. Above the table is a hole in the ceiling. It looks as though it once held a glass dome. There are still some shards of yellow glass held in the metal framework. The frame looks much too sturdy to have held only glass, and Bronwyn and I suspect that there was once something heavier suspended there. A bell, perhaps?
The strange thing about the entire scene was that though the glass had obviously been shattered, there was none upon the table, nor on the floor around it. It appeared to have shattered up and out. But there were no shards atop the roof, either. That could be attributed to flying creatures of a similar constitution to our magpies, grasping the glittering things and taking them home.
We reported this to the others, but only Alexei was interested in investigating it. Then the three of us headed downstairs to a trapdoor Bronwyn had found earlier. We picked up Tristan on the way. It took two of Alexei's "friends" to move it, but when they did, a deep hole leading into a cavern was revealed. We lowered the lantern in, and Bronwyn and I followed. The room was large, and appeared to have been burnt by a large explosion of some sort. Perhaps this place had Flambeaus of the same ilk as ours?
The place was desolate. Yet we were attacked by something skeletal, and in black robes similar to Talionis'. I stayed out of the fray, as I am really nothing in a fight. But Bronwyn, the form of a cat, leapt upon the thing as it leapt upon Tristan.
If the campaign ever continues, there will be more to come ... but in the meantime,
