Summonings and Departures: The tribunal had decided that this season was the time to initiate Long Meg and her Daughters into the Order (and into Vidua Vasta) in recognition for their assistance against The Spider. On the appointed day, Whitraed Guernici and Nectan Dubh MacGruagach turned up at Vidua Vasta to test the ogress and her daughters, and yet to Vidua Vasta's eternal relief, only one showed up. It was Arduinna, the summoner who the magi had met before. According to the rules, she was to display her magical ability, so she set up a summoning circle outside the covenant, and began her ritual. The creature she summoned was a purple-skinned man from Hachim's homeland, by his appearance, and while it was safely contained within the summoning circle, Fariq inexplicitly walked over to the circle and erased a portion of it.
The creature escaped, snatched Forsitan (Hachim's son and apprentice), and flew off in a cloud of blue smoke towards the south. Arduinna guessed that a creature like this could not travel far without resting, for to carry another person was a great drain on its powers. Hachim gathered a troupe of warriors and headed for Berwick, the first town to the south, to see if the djinn had been sited there. Badda and Aelfhere managed to uncover stories of an Arab and a child trying to find passage out of Berwick on a ship. The group headed down to the docks, but upon approaching the boat they were attacked by hooded men (the costumes reminded the characters of the men who had been chasing Rufus when they first came across him). In the fight, Aelfhere was sadly killed by a blow to the head. The furious Hachim rifled through the mind of one of the injured assailants, and discovered that the fight was merely a diversion, to allow the real ship carrying the djinn and Forsitan to clear the harbour and be well away. Hachim made a hurried goodbye, then chartered another ship to give chase; he didn't know how long he would be away.
In this season, the covenant took a deep breath, and relaxed for a while...
[OOC: We converted to 5th edition]
There was a long council meeting to take stock of the covenant. It was clear that the covenant was in a bad way, not least due to the many grog deaths over the preceding few years. Several of the grogs were left insane by the sluagh, and others had been left permanently maimed by other creatures in the final battle against the Spider. Furthermore, what grogs did still remain were getting old, and there was a distinct lack of young recruits into the turb. With the withdrawing of Aethelbald to his lands at Fast Castle, the turb was also without a solid leader, and this position was granted to Grim in recognition for his loyal service over many years.
Manpower was not the only item under discussion; money (as always) was a serious concern. The covenant was still being somewhat profligate, and several cost-cutting measures were taken, such as an agreement to shed themselves of all horses other than Fluvia and Caletos. Richard was charged to take all the other horses (some of which were actually mice transformed by Brude Deathless) down to Seven Sisters, and see what price he could get for them. He was also intending to obtain a good courser for himself out of the proceeds, and to also travel to London to acquire some gems for Hygwald's talisman. Furthermore, efforts were made to increase production at High Farm through the employment of more farmers, and William and Rogier, Aelfhere's apprentices, were brought up to the covenant to reduce costs on arms and consumables.
Finally, there was a discussion about opening the hearthstone of the council chamber as an Invested Item and enchanting it to reduce costs further, but no resolution was made.
Will the Real Sam Weaver Please Stand Up?: Drusilla and Rufus are down in Faverloch gathering supplies for the covenant. Drusilla is attracted to the sound of a man's cries, and they discover a corpse partially buried in the woods. Drusilla can see and hear the man's ghost, and he is demanding vengeance, claiming that Sam Weaver killed him. The ghost - Wistan - won't give the apprentice peace until she agrees to investigate. They head into the village and ask Cumbra (the inkeep) where Sam Weaver lives; he points them down to the edge of The Salt. They come across the weaver's hut, and discover within a man. Pretending nonchalence, they discuss the purchase of some baskets, then head back to the village, with the feeling that something isn't quite right.
Cumbra meets them and tells them that he has just seen Sam Weaver heading up towards Fast Castle. Upon catching up with him, it is indeed the man that they've just met in the swamps, although he has no memory of this, and is under the impression that he is actually the butcher. Over the course of the next few hours, several more doppelgangers for Sam Weaver show up in the village; all members of the village who have inexplicably come to look like the weaver (including the young daughter of the smith!) Rufus notices a magpie seems to be following them around, and tries to catch it, but fails. It turns out that Wistan had taken a lover in the village (one of the fishermen's wives), and the husband was a likely murderer, but this was never pursued further, because Rufus finally managed to harm the magpie with his hexes. The magpie was actually Natasha Gyöngy, a maga of House Bjornaer, and she warned Rufus that his master would be suffering a charge of Imperilment at the next tribunal for his actions.
Rufus is denied a token for the Aegis this season in punishment for getting his master into trouble.
Julia takes her leave of Vidua Vasta in this season to accept a tenure at Durenmar.