"If I may, exarch, young Caelha has shouldered steep responsibilities for an apprentice. It's the first time I hear of an apprentice acting as an autocrat in her parens' absence, she's ran the covenant for close to a year before our arrival. It speaks well of her education and maturity."
«I do not doubt her merits. Yet, you have come to oust her from office and seize the covenant without knowing anything about Tessa's fate. That is as unprecedented as her responsibility.
«never mind, I do not judge,
«yet»
Then he turns to Janus, «is everybody here now? Did I understand you correctly that you want to complete the story? Afterwards, I hope you will give me a tour of the site. I have Tacitus' will with me to read, but I would rather read it in Tacitus' sanctum after the tour. If you do not mind.»
I think it best that we continue @John_Graham_52 . When @Lothindil is ready, she may assume that Sionagh was there all the time or that she just arrived, and respond as she sees fit.
âI am not sure what else you would want in terms of story magusâ replies Janus. âWe can move on to a tour and then the will reading if you are ready?â
âAnd to be clear neither I or anyone from my house answers to you in any way, so your comments on holding us accountable for our actions is a matter for tribunal not for you. I have voluntarily served under Tremere generals during the war but donât think that gives you a right to ongoing authorityâ adds Janus
"About Tessa, we commited a lot of time and efforts to determine her whereabouts within reason and the limits of the code. She has been missing for a year. I would say it's fair to say she's either dead, imprisoned by the Diedne, or in extended twilight. Her rights will be protected until we determine her exact fate, even if it means we need to seal her sanctum for a few years."
«I am sorry, Janus, if I worded myself carelessly. I did not mean to presume that you have to answer to me. ... not at this stage anyway. ... I merely seek to share intel about the state of our joint war effort.
«I am sorry that I do not have much news to bring. We cleared Wales of the Diedne more than two years ago, and we have been fortunately sheltered since then. After your calamitious battle in Mercia one year ago, it seems that Loch Leglean and Hibernia are the only tribunals where the war is still raging. Unfortunately, we have been strained to the limit and there are no more magi to send to the front line, not even from the continent. We can fund another campaign though, if you have a plan.
«Thank you, Cath'rinne, that is reassuring. Tessa is, or was, a good ally and I would not want to risk her interests. I gather you saw no sign of remaining Diedne when you were in Loch Leglean?
The magus weighs his words carefully (for the most part) and seems earnest.
«If there is no more to tell, I shall be happy to proceed to the tour. Thanks for the food. It was good.»
Anything you want to emphasise or hide during the tour?
âThank you for the apology magus, it is appreciated. This Covenant resembles a pre-war one with a variety of magi from many houses. We have full non-combatants and a few who can defend themselves. I would only call myself a dedicated battle mage and so we will need to improve peopleâs arts to make an assault on a Diedne stronghold viable in any way. For the moment the best we can hope for is to rebuild Ungulus as a staging post and hope for reinforcement from the martial houses on the continent.â Replies Janus.
"Maine, a redcap, survived Wicker Hill and was later found dead, eaten by giants. Fenna ex Diedne may also have survived that battle. It's just a theory at this point, but I suspect her fate and disappearance is linked to the fate and disappearance of Tessa, and that either Tessa pursued Fenna, or that Fenna pursued Tessa, or that they both crossed paths after the battle, or that they left Stonehenge as Tessa tried to track down Fenna. We did not find evidence of a significant magical battle occured in the area after Wicker Hill, but not all spells devastate the land and I can't claim to have combed every square feet of the land either. Footsteps are hard to spot several months after the fact too. I find it likely if we determine what happened to Fenna, it will lead us to discover Tessa's fate."
"If I might say so, I'm not sure we've actually seen any magi of House Diedne in over a year. Our excursion at Wicker Hill saw evidence of that battle but not actual magi. And in our travels east of here, we saw no one other than rumors of the Witch Hunter fellow," says Thom more quietly and respectfully than his earlier enthusiasm.
"We lost Master Luciu ex Guernicus last year. He died of injuries he got traveling here with me from the remains of Castruum Antiquum. It was a great loss."
After a moment, Thom adds: "Mildred ex Merinita still lives though she is likely still in hiding."
Sionag enters the room, as calm as ever. Where has she been until now? Probably with the baby, an injured grog or a sick servant, who knows... Just about anyone in need of help or care came before a guest anyway, especially as he was going to be received by more than enough magi for one person. This part was confirmed for the pharmacopean as soon as she entered, when she saw everyone around him. Unless he'd come explicitly for herself - and that's not what the grog who'd come to fetch her seemed to imply - her lateness wasn't a problem.
"Sionag ex Miscellenae, pharmacopean, healer for Ungulus. Do you, or your escort, need help or healing ? If you do, I'm at your service. If you don't, it's for the best."
1 Like
"Send for me when you are done with the tour and are ready to reconvene," says Thadeus with a nod. He still has a lot of work to do setting up his lab before his trip back north.
And he is not about to play tour guide for a Tremere, however senior he is. With another nod to their visitor, he departs.
1 Like
Unlike Thadeus, Cath'rinne is happy to hang arround for a tour. Having someone who is unaffected by her gift is already refreshing.
As Praetor Janus will lead the tour.
Thom tags along, but Hamish remains behind. In fact, he heads out of the tower altogether.
Verassies acknowledges each one who enters or leaves politely.
To Cath'rinne, he says «Wicker Hill was in Loch Leglean. If I understood you correctly, Tessa went into the hills to the West, and not back to Stonehenge.» The Tremere waits for confirmation.
«The war is not going too well. Only one combat mage among the ... euh three-four .. seven of you, does not promise another campaign. Caelha notified me of Luciu's fate. It is very unfortunate. Many quaesitores are fallen, and the presiding quaesitoris is missing. He may have fallen in the battle in Mercia last year, but we have not been able to confirm it. It is good to hear that Mildred is still well, but he never did much for the war.
«As far as we know, the seven of you, and Mildred, may be the only magi left in England. In Wales we are only two at Blackthorn, and maybe a handful at Cad Gadu; they never were very open about their membership.
«We know nothing about the situation in Loch Leglean beyond Galloway. Except for Maine and Chronos, no redcap has returned from Loch Leglean in the last 18 months. Another scouting mission would be prudent, both to search for Tessa and Fenna, and to assess the situation as a whole, but I understand the need to restore the covenant as well.
«We can talk more after the tour.»
Janus leads the tour. What does he show, highlight, or try to avoid?
«Another scouting mission to discover their fate would be prudent, but it seems as if there are no resou
Cath'rinne confirms this is her understanding of what happened.
"Pontius Arbiter of Guernicus is dead. We found his body and buried him." She will add.
Janus will make a point to show the new tower and point out it is a new addition. Otherwise he will show anything outside peopleâs sanctums.
âOnly just over a dozen magi in Stonehenge, I had not realised we were so weak.â Says Janus, obviously shocked.
The visitor looks attentively at everything that Janus appoints, and compliments the new tower and the fortifications he has made. «You have good farming supplies, I see.» In the old tower, he stops to talk to Clarissa and to Osgar. «I have heard of you, Clarissa. It is good to have you, but let's hope we do not need your skills.» He looks critical, but does not comment at the grogs' quarters, that have not been cleaned lately. «The library is quite small, and what's that? A field lab?»
He happily passes by Tessa's sanctum. It still bears her sigil I suppose; nobody has rebranded it?
«Should we look into Frederic's sanctum?» asks he when you get there. «Do you know anything about his last will?»
âWe have no evidence of any will for Frederic so as the ranking Flambau I have recycled his goods in to the Covenant resources. If someone does bring a will later we will honour it of course. I have taken over his lab as you can see by my sanctum marker. There is nothing to see in there as I say his goods are in general Covenant suppliesâ. replies Janus