Events:
Elaine building a lab in the stone circle. Acquires the Elementary (Major) and Outdoors (Major) Flaw, with the Natural Environment (Major) Virtue. Costs 5£ of equipment, plus the 1£ of equipment that was lost into the Mercury Temple.
Actions:
Elaine: Setting up laboratory in stone circle CW
Hygwald: Teaching Andreas
Lucas: Teaching Jocelyn
Orsinio: Design spell Wizard's Span of Ignem 2nd season (minor side effect - shape of a horus falcon always apparent)
Vis: 1 Aq (Inner Farne), 1 Vi (Giant's Heart), 1 Au (Eildon Hills)
Events:
The waimie escapes with the acorn
Actions:
Elaine: Instil Greater Feature and Greater Focus in the lab in stone circle - a cauldron. (CW)
Hygwald: Invent Piercing the Faerie Veil
Lucas: Enchant charged items (arrows) with PeVi effect to destroy faeries. Removes 20 Faerie Might (PeVi 30, base 10, +1 Touch; +15 Pen 30) - makes 4.
Orsinio: writing Tractatus on Muto (CW)
Vis: 1 Cr or An (Oak or Waimie) , 1 He (Llawen's Heart)
Events:
Midsummer Night's Dream — Pact with the Fae: on the eve of Lammas, Hygwald and Aline sets off for the Hill of Mushrooms with Coll, Aaron and Sean. Hygwald employs his new spell to broach the Rye-King's regio, although Aline is able to see it on her own. She heads through to the court, only to realise that Hygwald has not followed. He has been ambushed by a horrible creature made up of pale strands — Dodder, the assassin of the Rye-King. As it chokes the life out of the magus it whispers "You have no welcome here". Clearly Robigus has a long memory for the insult he suffered at Hygwald's hands. The grogs (and Aline, when she negotiates her way out of the regio) attack Dodder, but it is capable of growing new limbs, and is horribly strong. Hygwald only just escapes with his life before the creature is finally cut down.
The group head back to Vidua Vasta, and return a few days' later with Elaine and Grim rather than Hygwald and Aaron. The welcome is a little more cordial this time around. The Rye-King is indolent with the glut of autumn, but his rivalry with Garambar makes it difficult to negotiate entrance into the latter's realm. Elaine promises to make Garambar offer a tithe of whatever he gives increase to his 'god', and Robigus allows them to sit on his throne.
Garambar's realm is in the throws of late summer. The caterva meet Green Jack (Garambar's servant) on the way to the Boar-King's lair, but they escape with all limbs intact. Garambar is angry at the intrusion into his realm in a time of war, but the willingness of the characters to resurrect his brother mollifies him. He tells them that if Helvennian's Shawl is returned to Horn Hill the famine will end. He also agrees to halt the spread of the forest, but refuses a tithe to Robigus. He does tell Aline that the Rye-King is vulnerable to copper. The Boar-King has a human captive, Roland — a poacher who showed the Brabançons where Horn Hill was. He pleads for his release, claiming to know a secret way into Etal Castle, but Garambar refuses to release him unless the characters will guarantee his death.
The final task, therefore, is to wrest Helvennian's Shawl from the head of Captain Hagen. During their discussions over the assault, it is discovered that Oswin has been making regular trips to Etal castle to visit his fancy woman. It turns out he has been ensorcelled by an amulet he is wearing, and Lucas determines that it was made with Hermetic magic; suggesting that Alicia de Panne is a member of the Order. Charges are discussed against her; scrying (through Oswin), meddling with the fae and interfering with mundanes, but there is no direct evidence of any of this. However, her presence in the castle makes matters more difficult since the characters have to obey the Pact of Crun Clach (and, as it turns out, deal with an Aegis as well).
Lucas visits Berwick to talk to Nicholas de Giffard. The upshot is that Ramon, Nicholas's clerk, travels to Etal and takes command over two thirds of the mercenaries for a mission (leaving 12-15 behind). However, Nicholas extracts an oath from Lucas that this is not an assassination, and that he will refrain from harming Captain Hagen except in self defence.
Lucas, Elaine, Grim, Halfgrim, Oswin, Reynard go to Etal Castle to retrieve the shawl. Oswin identifies the main tower where Captain Hagen's chambers are, and the characters manage to get that far without being spotted (despite the Aegis inhibiting spell casting). However, the chambers are empty, until Reynard spies a beast entering through the window — immense, with a boar's head, a crown of antlers, and the pelt of a wolf. It is ferocious in the extreme, and in the ensuing fight all the grogs are injured, with Reynard taking three Heavy Wounds. When the beast is finally killed it transforms back into Captain Hagen, and the magi retrieve the shawl. The sounds of fighting have alerted the men, and Elaine erects magical walls of wood to block them out of the tower whilst they make their escape from the roof. The crossbowmen on the barracks cause damage (including Reynard again, who takes a belly wound) until another wooden wall is erected. Under the cover of this wall the PCs escape, but not without suffering another salvo after the wooden wall is destroyed with magic.
Lucas and Elaine take the Shawl back to Horn Hill alone. They hang its tattered remnants on the burnt tree, and watch as the stag-headed Lord of the Shoot emerges from his regio to take back his life.
True to Garambar's promise, the autumn makes one final push to produce food, and there is an unseasonal glut of fruit.
Last year's grain: 26.1 tons
Consumed: 1.5 tons
Sold: 2 tons
Charity: 1 tons
Spoilage (10%): 2.6 tons
Balance: 19 tons
Actions:
Elaine: Instil Greater Feature (still) into the lab in the stone circle, suspended for story xp
Hygwald: make scroll cases using lab text (Heavy Wound, so abandoned in favour of Ignem)
Lucas: make bandages using lab text (makes only 5 bandages due to distraction from lab)
Orsinio: writing Tractatus on Muto (CW)
Vis: 1 Vi (Giant's Heart), 1–3 Pe (Basilisk Tree)
Events:
Lucas has an interview with Nicholas de Giffard, where he announces the revocation of the Interdict. He is satisfied that the precipitating circumstances — the rampant paganism — is no longer present, and is personally horrified at the excesses (and transformation) of Captain Hagen. He feels that the people of the region have suffered enough, and has managed to persuade the bishop the same.
Magdalena and Orsinio conceive a child
Actions:
Elaine: Instil Greater Feature (still) into the lab in the stone circle (CW)
Hygwald: Studying Magic Theory from Tractatus
Lucas: Investigate Hygwald's copper bangle (CW) (CrMe 30: base 4, R: Sound, D: Conc, T: Group - creates a song so poignant that men can do nothing but weep)
Orsinio: Scribe spells
Vis:
Aegis
Ageing