Hyperides Hylas helps a local craftsman lay his dead father to rest with the help of Theoclymenus and Ivan Volkov. During the investigation, thugs attempt to kidnap Theoclymenus to deliver him to some impoverished knights in the service of Geoffroy de Merry. They have become aware of his real identity and think they can make good money selling him to his family's enemies, but are ultimately defeated. One of the knights is killed by Theoclymenus, and the other is put on the run. Theoclymenus ends with a good relationship with the head of the thugs, local criminal gang leader Bartolomeius.
Hyperides Hylas investigates the disappearance of vis from the vis source they discovered in the regio, some apples in the ruins of an inn in Constantinople. With the help of Ivan and Theoclymenus, they kill some magical snakes that were stealing them, similar to those in the regio but larger. Fearing what they can face there, they decide to not investigate their underground lair.
Eric d'Ancelin, accompanied by Theoclymenus and Kostas Allectoros, goes to help his brother after his wife has been murdered and his son has disappeared. After investigating, they manage to recover the infant, kidnapped by a faerie queen to marry him, killing the queen in the process and restoring her husband to the throne of the faerie court.
Participants:
Eric d'Ancelin
Theoclymenus
Kostas Allectoros
Note: This adventure is basically the adventure of the same name in Chapter 2 of the Hooks supplement.
When one of the trading house's ships is accused of working for the enemy, Kostas Allectoros investigates with the help of Eric d'Ancelin and Thubayta Al-Shafiyya. They uncover a plot by the Teutonic Knights to get their hands on the En-Dor tablets they have that they brought back from the Levant. They also make contact with a Jewish group with supernatural powers called the Sho'elim'ov, who are also after the tablets, and with whom they strike a deal. In the process, they learn about an ancient Hermetic necromancer named Polydoro Tytalistes.
Participants:
Kostas Allectoros
Eric d'Ancelin
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Note: This adventure is unrelated to the one with the same name from Thrice-Told Tales. It's actually home-brwed, and the first major adventure related to Canaanite Necromancy, from "Ancient Magic" Chapter 2.
Return to White Island September 1224 - Adventure 15
Hyperides Hylas, Eric d'Ancelin and Theoclymenus return to the White Island to return the urn. Once there, they find out that some faeries have been impersonating them and are living a story based on what they did last time they were there. They manage to defeat them, letting the one who has assumed the role of Eric go.
The Fall of Thessaloniki December 1224 - Adventure 16
Eric d'Ancelin travels with Hyperides Hylas and Theoclymenus to Thessaloniki, to help defend the city against the attack of the Despotate of Epirus. There they fight against a terrible demon in the shape of a woman and her pet panther, who is the lover and ally of Despot Theodore I Komnenos Doukas. After a desperate defense of the Covenant of Oikos tou Eleous, they manage to escape with the help of some Tremere from Gigas, rescuing a couple of hundred wounded mundanes in the process through a tunnel excavated with spontaneous magic and the expenditure of huge amounts of vis. Some of the magae of Oikos tou Eleous die in the defense of the city, while others are pressumed dead. Eric realizes they Holy Magae were not just religious bigots when they accused the Despot of being in league with the devil, and wonders if they were also right when accussing the Paulicians.
The Murder of Geoffroy December 1224 - Adventure 17
Theoclymenus assassinates Geoffroy de Merry on Thubayta Al-Shafiyya's orders. After discovering that this negatively affects the plans for peace of Anna of France and Enrico Mauroceni, they spread a rumour among the Lombard nobles blaming the Emperor for Geoffroy's death. Meanwhile, the Emperor appoints his new council, consisting of Narjot de Toucy, Auleames de Clari and Jean de Valdemare.
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya, accompanied by Hyperides Hylas and Ivan Volkov, journeys to Thrace to investigate stories of a djinni protecting a village there. While investigating, she meets Oge, a former Hermetic maga and runaway apprentice of her own Salomonic master, Salima. Oge tells them how Salima wanted to use her as a new body for her transmigration, just like she suspects was the plan for Thubayta as well. She also tells them about someone called Tamen-Set, whom she claims taught Salima the ritual of transmigration many years ago. She tells them she fled Salima into the Order of Hermes, but was eventually Marched by an Iberian magus named Abu Al-Din, whom Thubayta met when young and knows is an ally of Salima and a friend of Eric d'Ancelin's pater. They offer Oge to help her return to the Order of Hermes, but she declines and leaves. On the way back, Hyperides destroys a strategically significant bridge, thereby aiding the Nicaean troops.
Participants:
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Hyperides Hylas
Ivan Volkov
Notes: This adventure tied in to the backgrounds of two of the characters, Thubayta and Eric. But it also featured cameos and references to the characters both players had in an older Saga I had run in the Provençal Tribunal, many many years ago, back in second and later third edition.
The Shadow of the Serpent June 1225 - Adventure 19
Hyperides Hylas, Thubayta Al-Shafiyya and Ivan Volkov visit the ruins of the Antlered Deer Inn, where they have a vis source consisting of some apples. They want to check if the snakes that were stealing the apples have returned. They realize that they indeed have returned, and that the snakes are larger and more numerous than two years ago. They are forced to flee without the apples and without solving the issue, deciding to simply give up on that vis source.
Participants:
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Hyperides Hylas
Ivan Volkov
Note: This was a very short "adventure", mostly just a session, and part of the "The Waimie" story arc, as found in the book "Antagonists". I've been making heavy use of that book in this Saga, and I couldn't recommend it enough. Its stories are fleshed out enough that they can be used off the bat, but vague enough that they are incredibly easy to adapt to your Saga and characters.
Also, you'll notice neither Charis not Father Simon have appeared in any adventure since #10. That's because they were the maga and companion of a player who had to leave the game. At first it was meant to be a temporary absence, so we just kept the characters at the Covenant, until the player could make it back.
As time went by, it became increasingly obvious to all of us that the player wouldn't be able to make it back into the game. So at some point we decided to make permanent accomodations for the fact that the characters would not be participating in the adventures anymore. Father Simon went on his merry business with the Church, still in Constantinople but no longer a part of the Covenant. Charis traveled back to her original Covenant of Erebos, where the father of her child lived as a grog, to be with him and raise the girl together.
This was all decided with the participation of the absent player, so we left a door open in case a come back was ever possible. It turned out the player managed to come back to the game, three real-life years later, and it was possible to bring back the characters. The way we "retired" them temporarily when the player had to leave allowed for an in-game reasonable explanation of why they didn't participate in adventures during that time.
Hyperides Hylas travels with Thubayta Al-Shafiyya and Eric d'Ancelin to the Sultanate of Rûm, in search of a black opal for his initiation into the Mystery Cult of the Confraternity of Eirene the Younger (called Irene in HoH:MC). They stop at the Al-Arama Covenant along the way, where they procure a list of previous buyers of the Canaan tablets. Once in the Sultanate, the magi mediate a conflict between some miners and a group of Khwarezmian refugees who have fled their Empire after it was invaded by the Mongols, finally obtaining the opal that Hyperides needs.
Kostas Allectoros travels to Taurica (modern-day Crimea) with Ivan Volkov and Thubayta Al-Shafiyya, to set up a new trading post for the House, in partnership with the merchant Kadmos. During the journey they must deal with a strange illness caused by one of the Skulls of Ascalon, that has been smuggled onto the ship by a member of the Genoese House of Cosini. Once in Taurica, they ally themselves with the Cuman nomads under the command of Khan Köten to confront a koldun allied with the Genoese House of Cosini. With the additional help of the ruler of Cherson, they manage to kill both the koldun and Guiglielmo Cosini, and establish the trading post.
Participants:
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Kostas Allectoros
Ivan Volkov
Note: The koldun are part of the background of Ivan, and House Cosini part of Kostas', so this was an early attempt to tie both characters together into a shared plot. This ultimately didn't work, as Ivan's player lost interest in the character and would eventually change it for another one. So the koldun plot line was never pursued further.
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya searches for some texts written by Pliny the Elder about the ancient Garamants, on behalf of her patron, Salima. The book is held by an old companion of Agathonika, one of the magi of the Covenant of Thermakopolis who died during the sack of Constantinople in 1204. He tells them that Agathonika was not killed by mundanes sacking the city, but instead was murdered for having the book by some Hermetic magi from the Roman Tribunal who call themselves the Sons of Garama.
Obsession and Corruption November 1226 - Adventure 23
Hyperides Hylas recovers his mother's body, that was inmured by nobleman Aymeric of Blois in the town of Gianakos. In the process he discovers that his aunt Euxodia has been psychlogically torturing the murderer and his son for years. Soon afterwards, Eric d'Ancelin and Kostas Allectoros travel to Pyramus with Theoclymenus, having received a letter from Vasileio Eiredopoios. Once there they are confronted by Hannelora, who has become a powerful diabolist. Her turn to the infernal has apparently happened under the influence of the demon of Saint Angelos, and perhaps with the help of Father Gurgos, a priest in Constantinople. After defeating her and capturing her alive, they imprison her in the nunnery to which Anna of France has retired, under her surveillance.
Participants:
Eric d'Ancelin
Kostas Allectoros
Theoclymenus
Note: This was intended to be a long and complex investigation adventure about the murder of Hyperides' mother, but due to poor planning on my part they managed to quickly solve it with magic in half an hour. I didn't want to punish clever thinking with a "you can't do that" just to salvage the adventure, so I decided to let them "win the adventure" since they clearly earned it, and instead ran the second adventure from Hannelora's chapter in the Antagonists book. As a Story Guide, sometimes you need to let go of your planning and adapt to the circumstances.
Theoclymenus guides a group of Lombard knights, led by Auleames de Clari and Pierre de Bracheaux, into the Imperial Palace to depose Emperor Robert de Courtenay. The Lombards are angry at the Emperor for his continued affair with and secret marriage to the Lady of Neuville, and because they believe he ordered the assassination of Geoffroy de Merry by the captain of the guard, Jean de Valdemare. During the assault, Theoclymenus manages to kill Jean de Valdemare, preventing him from revealing that it was not he who killed Geoffroy de Merry. He finally confronts the Lady of Neuville who turns out to be a demon, the same one who was a lover to Despot Theodore of Epirus in the capture of Thessalonica. Pierre de Bracheaux ruthlessly murders the demon as it was again pretending to be the Lady of Neuville, and also kills the Lady's mother.
Participants:
Theoclymenus
Note: By this time, Theclymenus had started working with Bartolomeios, leader of a criminal gang of thugs in Constantinople, who first appeared in adventure #11. While the only player character that was actually present in the adventure was Theoclymenus, the other players participated playing thugs under Theo's command, similarly to how they could play grogs in other similar situations. Also, both the Lady of Neuville and the lover of the Despot of Epirus were incarnations of the Akgah (see The Sundered Eagle page 139), which in this Saga is slightly re-purposed to be more like Bael, from Realms of Power. Infernal page 67.
When the serpents that were stealing vis from the ruins of the Horned Stag Inn show at the Covenant's doorstep, Eric d'Ancelin, Hyperides Hylas, and Thubayta Al-Shafiyya attempt to deal with the problem. Meanwhile, a bigger serpent slips through the subterranean entrance into the inner regio level, passing through the Aegis of the Hearth. Hyperides and Thubayta bargain with it to leave them alone in exchange for vis, and suggest that they could help it take over its mother's place. They decide to give it some of the infernally tainted vis they got from Saint Angelos.
Participants:
Eric d'Ancelin
Hyperides Hylas
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Note: This was another "step" in the Waimie story arc from the book Antagonists.
The magi of the Covenant attend the Tribunal of 1227. During the Tribunal, the maga Lancea Tremeristes is readmitted, albeit as a metoikos, and the magus Formosos Guernicuistes is declared ostracized. It is also approved that the Council of Magistrates should keep a permanent census of the sigils of the magi of Thebes. Charis, who now lives in Erebos and comes with the other magi of that Covenant, meets with her former sodales and tells them that she is returning to Ouroboros. She also confronts Megethia Ex Miscellanistes on the issue of Lancea's readmission into the Tribunal. Boustaphan Tremeristes offers them the opportunity to travel to Baghdad on behalf of House Tremere, in search of the Hermetic Embassy, and they accept. During the course of the Tribunal, it is decided to send a group of hoplites to kill the infernal lover of the Emperor of Thessalonica, who is believed to be a demon. It is also decided to send a detachment of hoplites next year to the Cambunian Mountains, to hunt down the Daughters of Erichtho, and the magi of Ouroboros volunteer to join them. They talk with Evantia, and agree to pass on a question from her to the Sibyl residing in their regio, about the whereabouts of her mother. Several magi from Moero Kepeia congratulate Hyperides for having hindered the advance of the Epirus troops against Nicaea in Thrace.
Participants:
Charis
Eric d'Ancelin
Hyperides Hylas
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Note: This was the adventure where Charis' player was finally able to return to the group. We all agreed that it was a perfect opportunity for the maga to show up at Tribunal as one of the magi from Erebos attending, and request her former sodales to rejoin Ouroboros. The other magi, of course, accept her back with open arms, and was already able to play the Tribunal sessions with them. She would travel back to Constantinople with them, with her daughter Europa, to settle down in the Covenant once more.
The Magi travel to Baghdad on behalf of Exarch Boustaphan, in search of the Hermetic Embassy. Once there, they become embroiled in the politics of the Order of Suleyman, meeting the Grand Vizier Khatraz in person. Thubayta Al-Shafiyya enters Fatra Bayna, which causes her to disappear for a year, but the rest manage to contact Aurora Borealis of the Hermetic Embassy, who is imprisoned by the Grand Vizier in a lacuna of the Realm of Magic. She assures them that she is fine, explaining that she is no prisoner but instead is there voluntarily. She explains she's trying to build a bridge between the Order of Hermes and the Order of Suleyman to face the upcoming danger of the Golden Horde in the near future. During their stay in Baghdad, they face Salima, Thubayta's patron, who captures Khalila for a time, but Eric d'Ancelin manages to free her. A year later, Thubayta returns from Fatra Bayna, and is taken in by the Great Vizier. She negotiates with him her formal expulsion from the Order of Suleyman, to avoid the enemity of the Order of Hermes since she knows the secret of the Parma Magica, and the Grand Vizier also frees her from her service to Salima. After returning to Constantinople, she confesses to the other magi her true mission in the Order of Hermes, which she is no longer doing. She also confesses to Khalila that she is her sister. Khalila, furious, leaves the Covenant and joins House Mercere in Alexandria.
Participants:
Charis
Eric d'Ancelin
Hyperides Hylas
Thubayta Al-Shafiyya
Note: This was a big turning point for Thubayta, as she was outed as an actual member of the Order of Suleyman to the other magi. All the players already knew this, as we use a policy of playing everything at the table in front of everyone. A character's secrets are not secret to the players, only to the characters. We feel this allows everyone at the table to greatly enjoy the stories focused on a particular character. This was one of those cases, and everyone had a blast seeing Thubayta's player sweat. In the end, we agreed that the other characters would accept her into the Order of Hermes, as her secret was revealed at the same time she was cast out of the Order of Suleyman. Her agreement with the Grand Vizier served to advance her patron's switch from patron to antagonist, as Salima will be one of the main antagonist down the line. We're also playing a plot whereas there's a rift in the Order of Suleyman, which will take center stage later on. Also, this adventure featured one of the worst-timed Twilights I've ever seen (Fatra Banya in her case, but it's all the same).
As agreed at the last Tribunal, the four magi head to the Cambunian Mountains to hunt down the Daughters of Erichtho. They join the expedition together with Lancea Tremeristes of Gigas and Tryphonas Flambonistes of Favonius, all under command of the Polemarch, Maria Laskarina Guernicuistes of Polyaigos.They remove Tryphonas from the mission not long after its start, because they suspect that he has become violent due to infernal influence suffered during the attack on the lover of the Emperor of Thessalonica. After that, they rescue magus Svegner ex Miscellanistes of Erebos from a coven of witches, who turn out to be Stringlas instead of the Daughters of Erichtho. They proceed to wipe out two other covens, leaving those they consider innocent in the hands of Maria Laskarina to be taken into a nunnery to redeem themselves. As they are about to leave, the magi of Ouroboros find the real Daughters. They conclude that they are a magical tradition instead of an infernal one, and that they are actually working together with the Thessalian Witches of Erebos. So they decide not to tell the rest of the hunting party about them. Grateful to them, Destasia offers Charis to join the Witches of Thessalia, to which she replies she'll think about it.
The Initiation of Eric Autumn of 1229 - Adventure 29
Eric d'Ancelin faces an assault on the alliance by the serpents, only to discover that he is actually inside his own mind, undergoing his Initiation into the Criamon Path of Seeming. During this ordeal, he discovers some painful truths about how he views his sodales and his own prejudices.
Participants:
Eric d'Ancelin
Notes: This was a very short, one session "adventure". Eric had previously contacted a Criamon Mystagogue to guide him in his initiation into the Path of Seeming. As Story Guide, I decided that he'd have a psychodrama (HoH:MC page 59) as his initiation, as suggested on HoH:MC page 64. I thought it might be fun to have the player not be aware Eric was living a psychodrama, so I secretly enrolled the help of the other players. In the previous adventure I asked each player to list me what prejudices their character had about the other characters. Of course, I was only interested in Eric's prejudices, but I disguised the question by asking everyone, and pretending that I needed to know because of the presence of demons in that adventure. Before we gathered for this session, I talked with the other players, and explained to them how the adventure would run. They all knew it wasn't real, but just a psychodrama, except for Eric's player. I asked the rest to act out their characters as charicatures of how they actually were, exaggerating to the max the prejudices Eric had. The initiation was over and considered successful once Eric realized the other magi were acting too much like his worst prejudices about them, thus realizing they were actually prejudices. When the player mentioned that the way they were acting felt out of character, we considered Eric had realized that extreme behaviour was not really how his sodales were, and the psychodrama was over. We all had a lot of fun with this.