A new game, a new covenant

[SJE]

Updates for the Covenant-

Milton Chantry

Season: Spring
Aura: lab 3, General: 0
Aging Modifier: 2
Saga: Spring Covenant
Founder: PC's
Founded: 1216

Description
This covenant is built on Milton Chantry Manor. It is near, but not quite within the town of Gravesend - a major route between London and the coast. It has a hospital and hospice on the grounds which is open to the deserving poor and those who can afford it. The Covenant itself is in a large manor house built as the home for clergy and doctors. The Hospital/Hospice itself is a seperate building, 200 paces from the manor house. The grounds are surrounded by green lawns and stone wall. A gatehouse and stable are set at the main gates. The back of the manor is bounded by the Thames. About 7 miles away is a faerie wood, shunned by the locals.

One of the Covenant specialists, Healer John Durham runs the hospital. A German, Doctor von Pimm is a lawyer who helps maintain the Covenants rights in civil and church courts. Vicar Braithwaite attends the sick and dying in the hospital and gives Last Rites.

In the Magi's sanctums and labs and cellar the Magic Aura is 3. (for so long as no clergyman or True Faith source enters them) In the rest of the manor house its Magic aura 0. The Dining Hall/Main Hall has a Dominion rating of 4 from a Miracle. The grounds have a Dominion Aura of 1 (zero at night) due to the church bells of Gravesend being heard daily. In the hospital and hospice, Dominion of 2 due to the regular prayers for recovery heard there.

The fields outside are Dominon 1, local villages Dominion 2 and Gravesend is Dominion 3. The local church and Monastrey are Dominion 4-5. Dominion generally rises by 1 on Sundays and falls by 1 at night.

The Dominion causes any magic to be cast in its area to be reduced on its roll by Dominion rating x3. (Magic auras boost by its rating). This means that magi in towns generally cast spells at a whopping -9 penalty to the die roll. The house rule is that the Gentle Gift also reduces the impact of Dominion rating on the Magi by 3. So a Gentle Gifted Magi can cast normally in town, but may struggle if he tries to do so in a cathedral or holy place of a saint. Infernal and Faerie auras still impact you normally.

Once you are out in the wilds, on the sea (out of earshot of church bells), in faerie woods or the like then you wont need to worry about Dominion auras.

Members

Gregory Oakwood
Sister Mahult: Jerbiton
Mitch
Helena of Mercere
Hugh de Neville: Jerbiton
Simon de Flambeau: Flambeau
Quasitor Marcus: Guernicus
Father Gregory
Edward Doddson

Library Cost

Parma Fabulae 17
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 8; Level: 3; Topic: Parma Magica; Language: Latin; Author: Bonisagus

Change (Good Copy) 20
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 9; Level: 11; Topic: Muto; Language: Latin; Author: Bonisagus

Code of Hermes (Partial Copy) 13
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 4; Level: 3; Topic: Code of Hermes; Language: Latin; Author: Guernicus

Caerulea Caela (Copy) 20
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 5; Level: 15; Topic: Auram; Language: Latin; Author: Priamitus of Mercere

A History of Kent & Wessex 13
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 7; Level: 2; Topic: Area Lore; Language: Latin; Subject: Kent & Wessex Geography, History and Environs; Author: Abbot Bonneville

Magical Gardens of Hibernia (Copy) 24
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 9; Level: 15; Topic: Herbam; Language: Latin; Author: Airen of Merinata

Knowing the Raven (Partial Copy) 9
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 5; Level: 4; Topic: Animal; Language: Latin; Author: Whitburh Frithowebba ex Guernicus

Faerie Illusions 19
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 5; Level: 14; Topic: Imaginem; Language: Latin; Author: Caitlin Suil Uaine ex Merinata

Corpus Medicorum Graecorum- Translated 28
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 10; Level: 6; Topic: Medicine; Language: Latin; Subject: Humours; Author: Galen

The Body Revealed 31
Type: Summa; Total Quality: 11; Level: 20; Topic: Corpus; Language: Latin; Subject: The Human Body; Author: Maximus of Bonisangus

Lab Texts Level

Aegis of the Hearth ReVi25
Circular Ward Against Demons ReVi25
Demon's Eternal Oblivion PeVi25
Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit PeMe15
The Chirurgeon's Healing Touch CrCo20
Sense the Nature of Vis InVi5
Scales of the Magical Weight InVi5
Gather the Essence of the Beast ReVi15
Clear Sight of the Naiad InAq5
Total: Build Points: 28 140

Vis Sources Pawns

Corpses of Graves End: Corpus 1d10
Physical Form: Black ichor from the hearts of dead corpses; Location: Graveyard/river/marsh; Seasons: Spring
Rotting roots: Perdo 5
Physical Form: Rotting roots of elms on the river bank; Location: Winter Court in the Faerie Wood; Seasons: Winter
Placenta of the Newborn: Creo 1d10
Physical Form: The dried placenta of new births in the hospital; Location: Covenant; Seasons: Summer, Winter
Chrysalides of the Flame Butterflies: Ignem 5
Physical Form: Magical butterflies; Location: Faerie Wood- ; Seasons: Autumn

Total: Build Points: 200 30
Vis Stocks Pawns
Vis: Creo 5
Location: Covenant
Vis: Intellego 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Muto 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Rego 12
Location: Covenant
Vis: Animal 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Aquam 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Auram 14
Location: Covenant
Vis: Corpus 6
Location: Covenant
Vis: Herbam 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Ignem 7
Location: Covenant
Vis: Imaginem 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Mentem 5
Physical Form: Library Dust; Location: Covenant
Vis: Terram 10
Location: Covenant
Vis: Vim 12
Physical Form: Black Crystals; Location: Covenant
Vis: Perdo 7
Location: Covenant

Specialists Cost

Healer John Durham 9
Com: 1; Teaching: 3; Highest Ability Score: 5; Abilities: Chirurgy: 5; Medicine: 5

Gareth Headley - Scribe (Int 1) 7
Com: 1; Teaching: 0; Highest Ability Score: 6; Abilities: Artes Liberales: 1; English: 5; Latin: 5; Profession: 6

Scribe Quentin Simnell (Int 1, Dex 1) 6
Com: 1; Teaching: 0; Highest Ability Score: 5; Abilities: Artes Liberales: 2; English: 5; Latin: 5; Philosophiae: 4

Cook 3
Com: 0; Teaching: 0; Highest Ability Score: 3; Abilities: Housewife: 3

Doctor von Pimm 9
Com: 2; Teaching: 2; Highest Ability Score: 5; Abilities: Church Lore: 3; Civil and Canon Law: 4; Common Law: 4; Flemish: 2; German: 5

Vicar Charles Braithwaite 9
Com: 3; Teaching: 1; Highest Ability Score: 5; Abilities: Folk Ken: 4; Intrigue: 2; Theology: 5

Total 43
Hooks Cost
Politics 3
Road 1
Weak Aura 1
Dominion Aura of 2
Total 5
Boons Cost
Wealth 1
Prestige (Reputation 3 among Mundane Society) 1
Library Building 1
Hidden Resources 1
Easy Access to Goods 1
Total 5

[SJE]

So, after 8 months, we return to the game. The initial idea was to spend this season planning what people wanted to achieve over the 5 year time jump, and clearing up the cliffhanger end to the Battle of Horsingas, but that quickly got derailed by a botch or two.

Summer 1223

So we return to the sky above Horsingas Covenant in the Loch Legean Tribunal where the Army of Stonehenge is launching its punitive attack on the northern raiders who have long bedevilled Burnham. Quasitor Marcus has just botched a short range teleport and found himself naked and high in the air above Horsingas Covenant. Still the Magus keeps his nerve and sponts a non-fatiguing, personal range Rego Corpus 5 “Rise of the Feathery Body” to arrest his fall. (it feels like this should be a stress dice, but the formula doesn’t support it mechanically). Then making his Concentration check on ReVi 5 he frees up his concentration to combine his existing Eyes of the Eagle spell and Sight range gravedigger spell to throw Ser from his horse and Frithowebba disappears in a cloud of soil.

As the battle winds down, he sponts a second ReVi5 spell to move horizontally and eventually descends to the valley, calling for Edward Doddson to bring him his cloak. He descends near a bemused new Flambeau Magi cracking some jokes about what big swords the Quasitors have and throwing balls of fire). The new Magi is Simon ex Flambeau who knows BOTH types of magic – Creo AND Ignem. That’s left him with facial burns out of nightmare. Still the Flambeau quickly proves his worth when the last gasp of mounted Horsingas Grogs traverse the valley rise and charge down upon the 2 isolated Magi. Simon, his burnt face a nightmarish wide grin, invokes a lvl 45 Big Ball of Abysmal Flame (Group Target instead of Ind) and turns the 8 Grogs and their mounts into charcoal and the heather beneath them into a smoking crater. Then joined by Kirist of Flambeau, the fire magis head off to bombard the covenant buildings with fireballs until they beat the Aegis. A quickly dressed Marcus heads off to find the other Stonehenge Quasitors and get a headcount on both sides.

Victory is declared over the smoking ruins of Horsingas, though both the rogue Loch Legean Quasitor and Bjornear bodies cannot be found on the battlefield. Most of the Horsingas Grogs are dead or injured and the covenfolk run off. The library is found already stripped of magical texts and most of the laboratory crofts burned under over-enthusiastic fireballing. Some Celtic knotwork is found that may or may not be a spellbook, so that’s ignored and only minimal Vis supplies are found (since the Horsingas Magi had tooled up for the final battle) but Milton Chantry does get 3 pawns of Intelleo vis for its contribution.

Simon ex Flambeau is interested in the healing reputation of Milton Chantry- while he has been mono-focused on Creo and Ignem, he sees the Chantry as a possible way of restoring his once handsome face and elects to join Marcus on the road south.

Autumn 1223

We then try to plan for the next 5 years, as the Magi launch their assorted 5 Year Plans. It seems that there must be something in the water as both Marcus and Hugh de Neville start getting broody and fixed on siring an heir before they sup of their first sterility-inducing Longevity Potion.
Marcus, feeling his biological clock ticking, admits to a certain romantic regard for his Covenant-mate, Helena of Mercere. As the shy and withdrawn Quasitor was working from a standing start (and him nearly 35) he spends a season wooing Helena. She is flattered by the attention, but doesnt feel that she really knows the man behind the Quasitor title. So Winter 1223 is spent in renewed pursuit (with some Cyrano de Begerac-style hints from noted Ladies man Hugh de Neville) until Marcus says the 3 magic words to convince Helena to accept his suit and marry. In nearly no time at all, she too is pregnant with their child and Marcus can begin thinking of working with his parens to create a Longevity potion.

Simon ex Flambeau learns that there is a third type of magic- Corpus, and with his great strength in Creo, it might not be too hard to learn some healing magics. And the Covenant have a rather good book on the Corpus Arts to study for the next year or so. He esconces himself in the library and begins giggling when he discovers he can make a human corpse appear with CrCo sponts for target practice!

It is Hugh de Nevilles plans that send all askew and take our 5 year timejump completely off track. The Casanova-Jerbiton still harbours a desire to be a great noble-wizard, with great properties, wealth, prestige and political power. He too also desires an heir, so to solve all his plans in one stroke, he seeks still to marry the sole daughter of their neighbour, the newly promoted Baron Robert of Gravesend. If they are married, he is fairly sure he will outlive Baron and wife, and so inherit her great tracts of land. He decides to do this by wooing the heiress. Sadly he botches his Charm (Women- speciality) roll and with his Curse of Venus Flaw, gets 3 botch dice, one of them confirming. The botch is a matter of putting the cart before the horse- so irrestiable is our handsome lothario Magi, that the young woman quite succumbs to his charms - well before they are married and her father approached. Hugh does sire his heir, but when the Baron discovers that his daughter and chattel is in the family way, he visits Milton Chantry with 6 burly knights to give Hugh a damn good horse-whipping!

Hugh, while great one-on-one (as the daughter can attest) is no match for the many knights who knock his blade from his hand and drag him before the Baron in the Chantrys Great Hall (Dominion Aura 4 and dropping). Its at this point that Simon de Flambeau shows his value to his new Covenant and intercedes with the Baron.
"Baron Robert- what causes you to bring violence to our home, we your good neighbours?"
"That man has bewitched my daughter and wronged me!"
"How has he wronged you? What crime has he committed that would cause you to carry your horsewhip into our dining room?"
"He stole from me!"
"Stole from you?"
"Yes, my daughters virginity! Now that she is ruined, I will never be able to secure a decent marriage for her! She is my property and he has stolen her!"
"But she's gone- I dont have her" protests Hugh at this
"YES! Sent to a nunnery far from here so her shame wont be known" spits the Baron
"Well now the damage is done, and I quite agree he has harmed your property," conciliates Simon "But why not let Hugh marry her and make an honest women of her and the child? He is a noble of the de Neville clan and the harms done after all"

"Marry them? Why would I reward the man who has ruined my daughters virtue? And he is no noble- merely a 7th son, with no property of his own, and a warlock to boot! Nonsense! I will take my payment in blood from his back!" rants the Baron, swinging his crop back and forth.

"NO you wont!" hisses Simon and the fine leather crop ignites at the Flambeaus will and burns to ash in seconds

The Baron backs away, intimidated. "Fine, keep your thief. I always knew it would be trouble to have you witches on my doorstep. But if I ever catch him on my lands, then I'll string him up!"

With that he leaves, and the Covenant gather to decide what to about this new crisis. Hugh is all for busting out the Barons daughter from the convent that she’s been imprisoned in. He also calls upon his noble de Neville relations to speak on his behalf to the Baron, but Lord de Neville just buries his face in his hands as he listens to the story and responds that while he might be able to discover the location of the nunnery the girl is at, her father will never permit them to marry.

Lady Mahult suggests that Hugh may want to avoid the Baron for some time, and suggests that he might also want to beg Gods forgiveness, so she suggests that going on a Pilgrimage to Rome along the Via Francigena might accomplish both these ends. Hugh accepts the idea (somewhat reluctantly) and Harold Potter, a merchant friend of the Covenant offers to accompany him and trade some books with other Hermetic Covenants along the way.

[SJE]

Session 12

I've actually swapped around the write ups of 12 & 13, as we fought with the challenges of missing players. It will all make sense in the end.

Winter 1223

Hugh mulls over his marital problems and ambitions and we define a bit more about his neighbour, the angry father. Formerly Lord Robert of Gravesend, we decide that he has been promoted to the rank of Baron by the King gifting him the lands of Robertsbridge and Saleshurst in Sussex. They formerly belonged to Cistercian monks who’d built the bridge over the River Rother, but due to unspecified naughtiness, the Kind had confiscated it. (I’m imagining a Pillars of the Earth type squabble between Church and nobility). Hugh knows that the Earl of Essex dislikes Baron Robert, and briefly considers provoking a conflict between the 2 nobles to distract or kill Robert while he tries to free the daughter, his pregnant lover Lady Mary from the convent in which she’d been imprisoned. He could easily provoke such a conflict by going to Essex and implanting memories in the minds of peasants and officials that Roberts baliffs had been expanding onto their land and seizing their goods, as he’d tried with the Covenant a few years ago. Given his later bad luck, its perhaps fortunate that Hugh never gets to pursue this as it could well have reignited the civil war. Hugh is also worried that his efforts might make a fierce enemy of their neighbour and so bring doom upon his covenant mates. He tries to seek them out for consensus but Marcus is away, Mahult bedridden, Robert lost to the Faerie Woods and Simon called to Winchester, so after consulting with Gregory he decides to act unilaterally.

Hughs first priority is to see if Mary will marry him. His elder brother, Lord de Neville has discovered that she is being confined to a windy seaside convent in Cornwall called St. Hildas. Hugh sets out on the dangerous road to Cornwall in Winter 1223 with only the Grog Mitch to protect him. A random encounter with 4 Cornish tin miners turned highwaymen has tragic consequences when Hugh refuses to give up his purse. While Mitch goes beserk and tears through 2 of the bandits (armed with bows) and Hugh puts a 3rd to Sleep with a glance, a 4th knifeman shoved his blade into Hughs gut and everything goes black!

Though Mitch runs off the last of the bandits, he is on the road between villages, at least 5 miles from the nearest help and knows not how to staunch the bleeding. Desperate and quick, he races Hughs horse across the landscape, cradling the near dead Magi on his saddle. He comes to a crossroads at which a tall, very thin man man with hair like thistledown leans against the crossroad sign.

“Help Me! Do you know of any healer or Chirugeon, for my master is close to death”
“Indeed he does look in a bad way. What you need are the Quick Roads - fast and sure, through thistle and hedgerow. I can guide you by such means to the finest hospital in the land, if you have payment enough”
“I have silver”
“Silver is but a trifle- payment must be of significance and meaning- a first born perhaps? A soul or dream?”
“A soul?! I know enough of such matters to say ‘Get Thee Behind me Satan”’” responds Mitch, making the sign of the Cross, his face reddening
“Pah, I am no demon nor their ilk, but rather something far older. Still you are an angry one- give me your passion and fury and I’ll guide thee”
“Perhaps, but how will I know Magi de Neville will survive to reach help”
“Worry not, for on the Quick Roads, there is no death- much as some would beg for it”
“Very well, for my masters sake! I agree” responds Mitch and the bargain is struck with the Faerie of the Crossroads

The Faerie starts into a run, which Mitchs horse is hard pressed to follow- setting out on a diagonal to the crossroads, they are soon racing across a heat haze landscape- the grass a vivid green, the sky an electric blue, twisting and curving around hedgerow trails and stranger woods, thick and snarled to either side by thistle. At last they turn around a corner and Mitch finds himself approaching a very familiar herb garden (& just outside the Aegis) – the finest Hospital in the Land - Milton Chantry.

Its touch and go for the near dead Hugh- he should have died twice that night, but the prayers and magic of Sister Mahult and the fine care and Moorish chirgury of Healer John Durham, just suffice to keep him alive, though he does develop a weakness and palsy in his limbs that reduces his Dex from +1 to zero. He then takes near 2 seasons to heal up and finally leaves his bed in Autumn 1224, his son now born but unknown to him.

Sister Mahult warns that his misfortune came from him trying to deceive God – not only had he ignored his promised Pilgrimage to Rome but he’d also sought to break out his lover from her convent in which she could have atoned for sin of lust. Staying in a Convent never did anyone any harm, insists Mahult. Only if he truly repents and turns to God will these tests and catastrophes cease. Hugh decides to stop trying to contact Mary and his child, and decides to make the Via Francengina pilgrimage from nearby Canterbury to Rome.

Mitch too has been affected by the Faerie of the Crossroads – not only has he lost his Beserk virtue and +3 Angry, but now all excitement and passions seems to have fled from him- leaving him tranquil but unmoved in most situations. Indeed to hit someone now needs to invoke his Loyalty +2 or Brave +2 vs. Ease of 7 to even hit someone, which limits him as a Grog. Once more I observe the irony that it’s the Grogs who most often pay for the Magis misadventures and hubris.

Summer 1224

Harold Potter, the merchant Companion recruits six new Grogs to replenish the Covenants supply of effectives, most of them Saxons, seemingly by way of Sweden. 4 of these warriors and Harold will accompany Hugh on his pilgrimage to Rome. And this time Hugh makes sure to travel with a group of other Pilgrims to deter more deadly banditry. While protected physically this time, the journey across France and Italy presents lots of moral temptation. Nubile and dusky Itailian maidens are attracted to the finely dressed ‘Lord’ Hugh. Despite his grogs urging him to resist temptation, Hugh soon succumbs to the carnal sins when he learns one beauteous innkeeps daughter has a twin sister…. Shortly afterwards, he discovers that his purse has been expertly pickpocketed and the troop of Grogs and merchant find themselves living a bit rougher and begging for pilgrims charity.

They finally arrive in Rome at Christmas day, but there is no room in the inn, nor even the stable for Hugh till he uses his Mentem magic to encourage Christrian charity from the innkeepers (whether they like it or not, but holds the line at outright theft). He continues his sinful habits and we roll 1d10 (getting a 2) for the number of bastard births he leaves in the wake of his pilgrimage across Europe. (Damn that Curse of Venus!)

Without money to buy an indulgence from the Pope, and being as deeply mired in sin as ever, no particular spiritual revelation or journey strikes Hugh on this pilgrimage, but he’s happy to be alive and to see the Pope give the Christmas Day Mass in St. Peters Square. Its nice, but not life or soul changing.

On their return journey through St. Bernards Pass, Hugh meets a passing Italian Redcap who mentions that a nearby Covenant has embarked on a mighty project to build a Great Tower that will rise up to touch the heavens. Apparently the Roman Tribunal Spring Covenant of Luctatio (Tytalus dominated) had 2 members who were legal heirs to their parens who’d mysteriously vanished from the Marie Celeste-like Greater Alps Tribunal Covenant of Tarragon Vale. The young bucks of Luctatio had crossed the Tribunal border, claimed the vast Vis inheritance held in trust for them by the Quasitors and Redcaps and then begun building the vast foundations of a Great Tower, high in the Italian Alps, possibly with the intention of reaching the Celestial Sphere and storming the Gates of Heaven.

Intrigued (though thinking “This cant possibly end well- look what happened in Babel”) Hugh detours to Tarragon Vale/Luctatio, confident at least that he should get a hot meal and decent accommodation from his Heremetic sodales. The Tower is all that is promised- nearly a mile across, and already 8 stories built! Greeted warmly by Mario of Tytalus and Paul of Jerbiton, he is asked if he has come here to join the Great Project? All are welcome, so long as they contribute magic, texts or vis to- particularly of the Creo or Terram varieties. There will be space enough for all and while they estimate it will take 50 years to complete, it would be able to serve as a new home for every member of the Order should they need it.

Hugh seems to like this (or maybe its just the hot free, food) and is more than agreeable to join a ritual casting at full moon, throwing in his limited Creo Terram talents to a group effort. Its not a spell he knows, so he mumbles along to a casting tablet. Before his eyes, the white marble vis tokens turn to a great white cloud of mist that rises up around the 8 stories of the tower, continues ascending up until it disappears into the sky, and the tower of gleaming white marble is now two stories higher at 10 levels!

Though their 50 year project has barely begun, it is already one of the tallest buildings Hugh has seen.

1225

After staying for a few weeks in the Tower, poking around and recovering his strength and health Hugh eventually returns uneventfully to Milton Chantry in 1225. Whether it was his near death experience at a bandits knife or his experiences on the pilgrimage, he now makes no effort to re-contact Lady Mary of his now born son. Instead he re-devotes himself to magic and undertakes a project for Marcus. Marcus has been haunted for some time by the ghost of an irascible, drunken Tremere Magi, constantly demanding ‘DRINK!”. When he was a bachelor Magus, it was a petty annoyance, but now that he shares a bed with wife Helena, they have found it awkward in the extreme as the drunken ghost is forever watching them in the bedroom and shouting “GIRLS!” or “ARSE! “ whenever he sees nudity. As a result Helena has demanded that Something Must Be Done to rid their marriage of this unwanted third wheel – and until something is done, Marcus will be a very unhappy husband.

Lacking much Rego or Mentem magics, Marcus instead turns to the master of such powers in Milton Chantry – Hugh de Neville. Hugh then invents a Lvl 20 Ward Against Ghosts (“A.K.A. Ward vs. Cantankerous Old Gits” over 2 seasons with some experimenting and then takes another season to teach it to Marcus. It’s a good guess- the Ward is enscribed around Marcus & Helenas bedchamber and when next the Tremere ghost approaches, he bounces off an invisible wall. (my house rule is that attacker must beat the resistance of the ward- not the Ward must penetrate the attackers Might) Matrimonial peace once more descends upon Marcus and Helenas marriage.

1226

Mostly spent studying Corpus and thinking about his Longevity Potion....