Autumn 1252

• Cieran brings copies of Com of the Heroes and Gift of Perception to offer trade with Tres.

Recap after Hibernia Session 2024-10-30

• #saga/hibernia

Arnault’s story

• Arnault is robbing rich people, likely the church and nobles. He is likely working with Tres on this, and from everything said by Isabeau - Arnault’s earnings are a vital source of income for their covenant and an orphanage run by Arnault’s sister.
• The [Dead Drop Farm] Well is a normal way of supplying Tres’ Band without drawing undue attention.
• Arnau has a Suite in a villa, owned by associates from somewhere in the Rhine and friendly to the Order. Redcaps stay there sometimes. Arnau is technically a head “caretaker” there.

Dead Drop Farm

• Stool sample from the well-camp is well in hand.
  • the stool was recently dropped

The Sacked Sanctum

• The party explored the sanctum of a [[Dead Dark Merinita]]
• Big cottage
  • lower level is two big rooms with a front entrance, upper level is some quarters (which no one checked, but you certainly would …
  • and you find some personal effects, some Merintia paraphernalia including some books on Merinitia house lore… sealing the deal on the deceased Magus’ status.)
• Vis from all the dead fae harvested
  • 12 animal, 4 Imagonem, 8 Ignem, 5 Mentem, 3 Terram, 4 Aquam.
  • 36p total
• Stone turtle
  • The session ends with the party deciding who will carry the large faerie stone snapping turtle that appears dormant but alive.
  • This is the other surviving Fae creature from the back room menagerie. (edited)
  • Next episode - Who carries the turtle?
• [[Slith , the Arachnid-Imp Fae]], is returning for a night in 3 weeks
  • Slith has given his proper name and the way to find the Fae court he belongs to.
• The Sanctum was sacked by a maga [[Juliana]]
  • she could be one out of two
    • Master (Archmagus?) Juliana ex Bonisagus of Durenmar
    • young Juliana who claims Julli blood from somewhere on the Venitian book scene
  • Juliana had a large grog, Iberian or possibly Saracen wearing armor but with swarthy skin and a long black beard.
• The ruined central focus of the Dark Merinitia’s Cottage lab, the power of the Arachnid Slith, and fhe goal of the Merinitia Magus all revolve around opening doorways to specific, seemingly useful, areas of faerie realm(s)
• Loot
  • The party does have 3 red leather bound Journals which include lab notes. 2 1/2 are full.
    • They are all dated entries, though not daily fhey seem to note major events in the course of research.
    • The last entry is 6 months 3 weeks ago, and notes the continued stable function of the shadow gateway.
    • Earlier problems with targeting have only been partially solved, but the gate is stable and can open a “known” set of already used destination coordinates reliably once a daily horoscope is used to add an origin symbol.
  • ACs inside the sanctum, inside the garden, and outside the hedge
  • a variety of mundane material suitable for apprentices, low grade books on faerie lore,
  • high quality books on Merinitia Lore,
  • a variety of bestiaries (he did seem into animals, magical animals, faerie animals)
• Regione
  • there is a magic regio with 2 levels.
    • They are quite large, and have a stone circle that seems absent (or perhaps buried?) in base reality.
  • 2nd level: There is some unfinished, more recent, construction of the same black masonry as the gate on .
    • There isn’t really much here, some basic lab equipment still in boxes, one small room of what will eventually be a massive stone structure is finished and has some basic quarters. Larger versions of the garden are laid out, along with the foundations for the structure, but that work has not actually been done - the property is planned in a very geometric pattern based on six fold symmetry and hexagons but just in the initial stages of consturction.
  • 1st level is also large, a sort of grassland with light copses of trees, but empty save for the stone circle also present on the 2nd level and absent in base reality - as if it were some ancient version of the base reality.
• Magic creature
  • The only magic creature, among all the fae, was Savanha, a golden beetle, that Tiou found in a box

Tiou’s Actions

• Tiou’ reflections
  • just thinking, if this thing targets by something other than arcane connection, then it becomes a BIG deal
  • though if it requires faerie magic, somewhat less
    • SG confirms, It is indeed Faerie magic, newrly at an incomprehensible level for those without the mystery
  • the assaulting magi can almost only be a bonisagus or merinita
    • or is more likely to be that, though someone could be doing work for hire etc, but it is less likely
    • My reasoning for the first point is that to have any advantage from these lab notes, one needs to have the Faerie Magic virtue. The most obvious magi with that are either from the Merinita or Bonisagus house.
  • One mystery here - who the hell was spreading the quicklime?
    • Certainly not the assaulting magi, they didn’t even care enough to kill all the lab “guests” to cover their tracks.
    • Two obvious reasons - to want to use the fields, killing insects make sense. The other is because they wanted to unearth the lab and see what had gone down there - to give themselves better working conditions, first kill the insects.
• Tiou’s first line of business
  • use the stool sample to do some tracking.
    • First step is posing the silent question + intangible tunnel. Full cerominial casting etc. If that bounces, cause it quite vulnerable to MR, then we cast inexoeable search and blow 4 fatigue levels or such.
  • We need to figure out who was spying on the dead drop. We might also want to have left Quinn or Conlae behind to keep an eye on the mansion. Someone was spreading the quicklime, someone had been working there just a few days ago (the wheelbarrow with quicklime, covered by a cloth which seems to have kept the damp out) - someone was expecting to return. And since they were spreading into the gauges in the earth, that def. happened after the assault. (edited)
  • There is a chance that this is a completely different track, that the killed Merinita has nothing to do with Arnault. However, someone was watching the drop point. Maybe that was whomeever was cleaning up the mansion, doing a side gig or just due dilligence?

In Toulouse

• Next session, let’s pick up at Arnau’s residence - Isabeau will have introduced you to his assitant who has access to the home and the business rooms, and can show you around.
• After showing the party Arneau’s neighbourhood Isabeau will be looking for wizards war postings. She doesn’t want to hang around too much, as she fears the Cieran imposter was tracking her.

New notes Session 2024-11-06

• Maxim works at the scriptorium and was searching for Arnault, that is why he was at the well.
• Maxim and Arnault was attacked by Not-Cieran ½ year ago. Probably slightly before Julianna waged a wizard’s war on Malakai.
• ½ a year ago Julianna declared wizard’s war on Malakai and killed him. Her reason was that he had molested the fae and was an asshole, but the primary reason was that he accosted her allies.
• she may also have been after his secret research.
• All Arnault’s allies that we have talked to lost contact with him ½ year ago, about the time of Juliana and Malakai’s wizard war.
• a month or so ago Not-Cieran tried to gain access to the Villa where Arnault lived, but was rebuffed. He was very frustrated by this, but seemed to display some knowledge of hermetic ways or at least “spycraft”.
• We tracked Arnault to somewhere in the black forest, seems likely he is in Durenmar, since that is where Juliana resides and he worked for her.
• It seems very conspicious that Arnault disappeared right around the time of the wizard’s war, and right after Arnault and Maxim was assaulted by Cieran’s doppleganger. It seems likely it is connected to the war and that Juliana has more info, especially as Arnault is probably in Durenmar now.
• Malakai associated with dark Fae or Unseelie Fae, it seems likely that Not-Cieran is a fae of some kind, as he was rebuffed by the wards at Julianna and Arnault’s villa.
• A theory is the attack on Arnault by Malakai or his associate led to the wizard’s war, but that does not explain why Arnault is missing or why Malakai or his minion impersonated Cieran.
• We do not know why Not-Cieran came to the villa looking for Arnault, months after his attack on Arnaul and Maxim, but after Malakai was dead. At least it seems to indicate it is an associate or minion of Malakai, but not Malakai himself.
• We have paid a redcap named Rogier to fly his airboat to Durenmar and bring Cieran’s letter to Juliana, in which he asks for information on Arnault and informs her that he is not his imposter and does NOT harbor hostile intentions.
• Tiou is taking a nap, currently being dazed.