Ludovicio, you either have stones of steel or are the most foolish magus I have yet to meet. No, wait, I know many fools actually.
Nevermind. Examine what you are doing. You are in the darkest most foreboding corner of the castle, The Silent Tower! A murder of crows lives in the top floor. They were just naturally attracted to it, because of the gloom. It is situated in such a way that the sun rarely ever shines upon it, except at certain angles once during the day, and even then it is usually blocked by a coincidental cloud. The place has its balancing charms though, ample heat & light, an observatory/gallery, and the whole building is exceptionally well crafted. But the master of the tower is certainly
And then you let him put the Svengali eyes on you! No wonder your memories are magically messed up!
The long and the short of it is this. Whether it takes a single casting or successive castings, the two of you are up late into the night delving into memories. Octavius cannot fully restore your episodic memories, but he can help you reconstruct certain events from what wasn’t wiped out of your mind. And in fact, part of it seems to be substitute memory, because what you recall now seems to conflict what you thought was going on. And it all begins with the Obsidian Ring.
Erat Caecus is the only known living filius of Abbadon, whom you were seeking out to learn something of his legendary necromancy. Trying to remember how you got to Val-Negra all begins with him. He said he was willing to send you to Val-Negra if you paid his price (some awful deed or amount of vis or something). He then said “Very well, I shall put you where I wasâ€. He wore his Obsidian Ring on his left index finger. Pointing at you with that finger, you (mister Luduvicio who foolishly trusts other magi to cast spells on him) were whisked away to Taglyn.
Yes, unless there is a significant block deleted, and you don’t think there was, Erat Caecus teleported you straight into Taglyn. You already remember your time at Taglyn, but for whatever reason, there is a critical detail you were subconsciously omitting. There were seven Taglyns. When you first arrived, you asked the magi there about Val-Negra, and they chuckled. They said that Val-Negra was destroyed long ago, all that remains is a crevice full of ghosts. The Taglyn magi study the ghosts, adding new ones occasionally, sometimes even sending living beings into the Magic Realm to dwell with the spirits. The ghosts think they are still alive. The magi introduce dilemmas and the occasional crisis, and analyze how the ghost magi react and solve problems. They admitted that there was a terrifying ghost in there named Abbadon, and if that is who you were seeking, you had to go in there.
On a hunch, you go in there to see what you can. The results are frustrating for the whole pattern repeats itself. There is a bottled city inside the bottled city, also named Taglyn. The story changes a little each time, and so do the characters. Except for one. Berenguer of Criamon. You explored seven layers of this BS, getting angrier each time. No matter which direction you went, you discovered a wholly new Taglyn, and each time the membership completely changed except for one magus. The Criamon magus Berenguer would silently watch you every time. You finally cornered him angrily on the seventh layer, and he said “now that you are ready, I can show youâ€. He lead you back out through each of the layers, then into the Chamber of Illusions, one of the fabled rooms of legendary Val-Negra.
There you were confronted by Abbadon, by five of him! Some or all were certainly duplicants of some kind. But what is notable is that here you sense a chunk of missing memory. There are the little tidbits of knowledge I have sprinkled on you already, your flickering memory of this confrontation, and you now recall Abbadon forcibly ejecting you, hitting you with Mentem spells that blazed through your Parma, and who knows what else, leaving you to wander somewhere in the Pyrenees in a dazed state for several days before you remember coming to your senses and summoning Ssskkk the spirit of that particular piece of land.
And that is as much as you can cobble together, and even then it doesn’t seem quite right. The reverse order of your visit seems correct, Taglyn first then Val-Negra. It seems obvious that Abbadon has indeed muddled with your mind, though not under the false pretenses you had presumed. Why he left certain details intact and muddled others in unclear though.
As for Erat Caecus, he is probably in hiding. Octavius recalls that Antonio beat him up not to long ago and took his Obsidian Ring. He turned it over to Fuego, the super-old magus visiting us downstairs. He has one just like it, for Fuego is also a former apprentice of Val-Negra. There are only two left, one young and one old.
From there, no matter how shocking and revealing it all may seem, you are both too tired to continue.
. Xavi said we can use Marcellus as an NPC, and I told him he can drop in and out again whenever he wants. Boxer still intends to join us eventually 
, and I think Fixer is on Vacation.
Ready or not, your characters are here at the Castle of the Covenant of Andorra, located in Andorra, overlooking the village of Arans. You are tag along magi with old Fuego, who has fallen asleep. Basically, you have been left alone to wander, and wonder such things to yourself like “Gee, what does this button do?â€. I have not memorized the names of your characters yet, but I will eventually 
. As far as developing you and catching you up to speed, sorry to be slow on that but I have been busy with crap. But feel free to role play a bit, get your feet wet. The villagers down in the valley are having some kind of huge impromptu party, celebrating the defeat of Khyron the Fire Giant. You notice several people headed out to go join them (grogs you figure).
In case it isn't obvious from the roleplay, Ludo is rather unhappy about his situation. He just has never been one to balk at 'paying the price' if he really wants something. I think that is part of being an advanced summoner. Otherwise, you couldn't get there. So... don't expect such risk taking to be normal behavior from him, but it isn't OOC either. 
