Spring

Rhine Tribunal Gathering of 1366AA

Held a year earlier than usual to accommodate the Grand Tribunal next year.

• 10xp + 1 confidence

Trouble at Home

Cast Jeppe, Siemer, Ingraham, + ??

While the magi are away, the covenant was expecting a shipment of glassware which did not appear. Jeppe was expecting supplies from the same vendor, known as Elof. Jeppe, Siemer, and Ingraham go into Stockholm to investigate.

When they get to Stockholm, they find Elof’s ship abandoned and his warehouse catches fire. The fire is easily extinguished, but breaking into the warehouse they find it empty, but for traces of a person, probably a child, having been held captive.

At Elof’s house, they find another merchant, Elric, arguing with the maid. Elof owes money to Elric, but the maid does not know where he is. The maid can say that Elof returned to town two weeks ago, and then disappeared 4-5 days ago.
No other properties of Elof’s are known, although there is rumour of one in Lübeck.

Allegedly, Elof has two children who have also disappeared two days ago, and the description of the daughter matches hair found in the warehouse. Elof’s wife died in childbirth, and according to the midwife, the children were stillborn. Other rumours are patchy, about children who never leave the house. Jeppe suspects demonic offspring.

Elof has paid for docking for the season and let the crew have paid leave. Unusual boot prints were found at the site of the fire, matching Elric’s boots.

Siemer breaks into Elof’s house at night to steal the ledgers. It seems that Elof buys junk and sells it off to some Aatto. Is that a Finnish name? They also confirm the loan of £20 from Elric.

Inquiring about Elric, they find that he is known to lend silver which disappears before the debt is due, and pursuing the debt mercilessly as if it is genuine. Elof has no other known associates.

At the same time a crate with broken glassware washes up at the covenant. It has a sign which Ingraham identifies as belonging to a tradehouse on Saaremaa off the Estonian coast.

The party goes to Saaremaa to find the tradehouse, which turns out to be in the wilderness in the middle of the island. Aatto turns out to be a merfolk faerie. They come across him talking to the maid who runs off and escapes in the river when she sees them.

The children are Aatto’s, and Elof has kept them in a regio which both he and Aatto can reach, where they make the glassware. Now Aatto is blaming Elof for their disappearance. Aatto has been buying the trash which he finds interesting, from Elof. Aatto suggests that they talk to Guðrunn, a mermaid living near Stockholm. She is known to drown people.

Siemer stayed behind in Stockholm. Elric is very frustrated—presumably he didn’t get much out of Elof’s house. On the second night, he comes out of Elof’s house holding a small wooden chest. Siemer waits a bit, and then breaks into the house.

Siemer broke into Elric’s house. In Elric’s room, there are two locked wooden boxes. One is very light, the other is very heavy. Siemer takes the light one and brings it back to the inn, and opens the box. Inside, it’s full of gold coins. Siemer shows it to Claas, who starts experimenting. The gold coin has a head, but no writing. The blacksmith looks at the gold coins, and says they’re not real: they don’t melt and can’t be bent.

Seasonal advancement

• Artal studies Bjornaer Lore - 13 SQ
• Andreas: 10xp (Bargain 5/Parma 5) + 1 confidence
• Honeystocker: 10xp (East Norse 5/Hunt 5)
• Gesche practices Single Weapon (4 to Single Weapon)
• Talpa: Copy in Lubeck. Covenant pays 1p Vis. Exposure 2xp Scribe
• Claas
• Jeppe: Story 20xp (Bargain 5xp, Awareness 5xp, Faerie Lore 5xp,, Area Lore Baltic Sea 5xp) + 5 conf. pts.

Summer

Elof’s disappearance

Session 1 and 15 November 2022

The magi return home and start to investigate the disappearance of Elof. Andreas and others find the entrance to a regio from the maid’s chamber in Elof’s house. There, they spook a hut which runs away as they approach. The owner comes later, unamused, but Andreas is polite and they get a good chat. Elof had asked her for help. He had not realised that Guðrun was a faerie until after borrowing the Gold. She expresses no friendly feelings towards either the maid, Guðrun, nor Aarto.

Session 22 November and 13 December 2022

Cast Henry, Werner, Angelhart, Lerke, Jeppe, Basilus.

The troupe finds the village that was missing from Elof’s map, and make initial inquiries while camping just outside the town. The camp is attacked by a lizard-like creature. Basilus defeats it by enclosing it in stone.

Continuing inland, towards the splotch on the map, they encounter a little girl, about twelve years old and presumably faerie. She shouts «intruders» in a strange and unrecognized language. And when the group try to approach, she dives into the lake, and disappears. Henri tries to jump after her, only to realize that he’s not a great swimmer, and his armor is weighing him down, but he makes it back to shore.

Later, the group moves back, to camp, and plan their next step, but at night, during Basilus’ watch, a group of four men approach, presenting themselves as members of the tribe that controls this area, and tell them they are not welcome to go any further.

The group tell them that they are after Elof, and then the girl appears, apparently she was standing behind the four men.

The girl promises to talk to Elof on their behalf. While they wait, a mystical eagle creature approaches the camp, and Basilus attacks it unprovoked. It turns out to be one of Elof’s children. They are surprisingly forgiving and gives them a lot of the complex backstory.

• The children made a deal with Guðrun to be freed from Elof.
• They are bound to Elof in something which reminds the magi of a familiar bond.
• Elof has now made a bargain with mystical creatures upriver.
• These creatures are similar to the lizard-like creature slain outside the village.
• The girl is one of these upriver creatures too.

Jeppe and some of the others went for a hunt, looking for other tracks. They found two sets of children’s tracks, which they followed, leading to a number of birds killed by shattered glass. The birds were not native but rather from around Lübeck. They also found a regio up in a tree; Elof’s kids later said that it is empty.

Our camp was destroyed by a massive serpent-like creature. We managed to track Elof (presumably when he left the regio he was in); with our tracking help, Elof’s children killed him and thus ended their servitude to him.

They got a deal for new glassware from the children.

• The children will be free from slavery
• The covenant will find them a Faerie Regio nearby that they can live in
• In return, the children will provide the covenant with glassware.

Gathering of Twelve Year

• Artal adventures (Gathering) - 7 xp, +2 Confidence (2 xp in Bjornaer Lore, 5 xp in Intrigue)
• Gesche learns East Norse from Gertrude (11 to East Norse)
• Gertrude teaches East Norse (2 exposure in Teaching)
• Talpa: Copy in Lubeck. Covenant pays 1p Vis. Exposure 2xp Scribe
• Jenico writes out 80 spell levels (Exposure 2xp Latin)
• Andreas Invents Binding the Hermetic Codex
  • Train Honeystocker (8xp Magic Theory) Exposure 2xp Magic Theory
• Claas prepares Artal’s lab; Exposure 2xp Magic Theory
• Jeppe: Story 15xp (Bargain, Awarenes, Figurine Magic) 3 conf pts

Autumn

• Artal learns The Voice of the Bjornaer Magus, from lab text (2 exposure in Muto)
• Gesche speaks with the priest in Stockholm, gaining Theology Exposure (2 xp)
• Talpa: Copy and Illuminate Beautiful Letters. Exposure 2xp Scribe
• Jenico visits Tiffany in Heorot (Verditius Lore +11)
• Andreas Transcribes 100 levels of lab texts. Exposure 2xp in Latin
• Honeystocker: Practice Brawl 4 experience
• Claas practices painting
• Jeppe 14xp single weapon taught by Angelhart
• Angelhart 2xp in teaching by teaching Jeppe

Winter

• Artal writes 100 spell levels (2 exposure in Magic Theory)
• Honeystocker: Practice Brawl 4 experience
• Gesche works on getting the mundane members of the covenant to work together (Leadership exposure)
• Jenico assists Typhannie in the lab (Exposure MT 2)
• Talpa reads Fons Vitae
• Claas prepares Artal’s lab; Exposure 2xp Magic Theory
• Andreas reads Mentem summa
• Jeppe works as an apothecary (2xp exposure)
• Angelhart practices Music