Alpha Storyguide: Chris Blake
In the spring of 1225, Lady Lena Lancaster arrived at the Manor house in the dead of night, asking to speak with the magi. It would seem that she had a child with someone other than her husband, who was obviously none too happy with her for this. He had threatened to brand her for her crime, so she fled from Lancaster, and through a roundabout way came to seek help from Roland. After all, she said, he is the father!
As she told the story, the night before his wedding to Margaret, Roland had seduced her, saying that he just wanted one last fling. Lena was neither quiet nor tactful in telling her story, and when Margaret overheard this she was irate. Needless to say, Roland slept in his lab that night. No one really believed her tale, but nobody could yet prove her wrong. Father Brendan believed the child a Changeling, because when he tried to baptize the child, he screamed, and the holy water boiled off his head.
The following day Baron Lancaster and Baron Boyuill showed up. Lancaster had Lena followed, knowing that she would lead him to the true father of this bastard child. The Baron Boyuill came along to give Lancaster permission to arrest someone on his lands. He did not want any strife between him and the Lancasters, and did not want visiting nobles causing problems on his lands. Since it was now clear that Roland was the child's father, he would be taken back to Lancaster with the Lady Lena, where they would be tried for adultery. If found guilty, they were to be branded.
All this was too much excitement for Margaret, who went into labor. Lancaster agreed to let Roland stay the night to see his daughter's birth, only because it was getting late. Then as it so often happens, the expecting Gwendolyn also went in to labor. This gave Father Brendan the leverage he needed to talk Lancaster into allowing Roland to wait until the children had been baptized before he took the prisoners away. The longer Lancaster stayed at Austhwaite manor, the longer Sir Christopher and Prava had to prove to him that Roland was not the father. It was Father Brendan and holy water that finally convinced him that the father he sought may not be human.
With that settled, the magi concentrated on finding out who Lena had slept with. A little Mentem magic soon revealed that the father was "the Old Man in the Swamp." Not knowing who the Old Man was, the magi asked Lancaster if he knew who this might be. The Baron had no clue, but said before she had come to Corona Montis, his men had lost her trail in a swamp south of his lands. One of Lancaster's men was told to guide the magi to this swamp, so the magi could return the child to its father.
The swamp turned out to be the swamp in which Blackthorn lay. The magi dismissed their guide, and went to see what Blackthorn knew of this matter. Roland's friend Fagan, the young Flambeau, told them that the Old Man of the Swamp is what the locals called Eglentine, but Fagan had never seen the Lady Lancaster. Eglentine was not at the covenant at when the magi arrived, but Fagan said he would take the matter up with the others and they would decide how to proceed. After a while, Firman came to tell the magi that they would take the child, and let the Quaesitoris handle the matter. They suggested Corona Montis draw up their own letter to the Quaesitoris to clarify things.
Thus the magi reluctantly turned over the hapless babe to the infamous covenant, and now await word of the affair's resolution.
Cast: Roland (Ann), Prava and Father Brendan (Mike), Baelthornon and Christopher (Patrick), Lena Lancaster (Chris).
Alpha Storyguide: Chris Blake
On her way to the manor house one morning in the autumn of 1225, Odella the cook came across a strange woman standing in the river. She asked Odella to send any and all the magi down to see her. Baelthornon, Celer and Roland came down to discover Mirabel of House Verditius who had petitioned Corona Montis for membership at The Tribunal of 1221 but who had instead chosen to make a name for herself at the covenant of Chapel Hill. She said that she was in great peril, and that she feared the rest of her covenant already slain.
Mirabel went on to give a brief history of the Order on the Isle of Man (see the Ars Magica supplement Heirs to Merlin: The Stonehenge Tribunal). She explained that some of their grogs had spotted a dragon watching the covenant from a nearby hill one night. Benezet of House Trianoma convinced everybody that it would be best to approach the dragon and attempt to reach a truce with it. This plan did not work, however, the dragon having eaten Ælfred of House Bjornaer, with Benezet and Gillis believed trapped in the dragon’s cave.
The magi of Corona Montis agreed once again to help rescue the members of Chapel Hill. They arrived at the old covenant site only to find it burned to the ground, and all of the servants, grogs, and livestock missing. Fearing the worst, the magi set out for the cave where Benezet and Gillis were thought to be trapped. They came across the village of Pen-Rallt, which had suffered the same fate has Chapel Hill. The surviving villagers reacted hostilely to the magi and knights, and when somebody said that they had come to slay the dragon, the villagers moved upon the party, insisting they would simply bring the dragon’s wrath down upon them. The villagers were no match for the well-equipped knights, and soon all but two of them where dead, even the women! (Most of the women fell to the alien Marcellus’ crossbow, earning him a very bad reputation.) The villagers did manage to inflict some damage, as a pitchfork thrust killed Sir Richard’s page, Theo Goonhilly.
After the battle with the villagers, the captives were set free, and the party prepared to camp and rest before confronting the dragon. The dragon, however, did not wish to waght that long, and tried to steal Mirabel away from the camp in the middle of the night. Sir Christopher managed to thwart this attempt, but thus brought about the wrath of the dragon upon himself*. This proved beneficial, since the stalwart knight withstood all that the dragon had to offer, and although he himself could not get in a telling blow, the rest of the party managed to make quick work of the dragon, Sir Andrew dealing the fatal blow. Miraculously, nobody was injured in the conflict with the dragon!
The fate of Benezet and Gillis still had to be determined, so in the morning the party set out to find them. They found the cave in which the missing magi where thought to be trapped. Within the cave they found the dragon’s treasure, the half-eaten bodies of the missing magi, and some kind animal egg or cocoon being guarded by two drakes. In the darkness and confusion of an ambush, the drakes proved more formidable than the dragon. Before they were finally dispatched, the Welsh bowman Gilbert and the magus Prava Sagitta lay mortally wounded.
*It is true that the redoubtable Sir Christopher was no doubt aided by Baelthornon's Ward Against Heat and Flames and a full suit of chain mail!
Cast: Marcellus (Ann), Prava Sagitta (Mike), Baelthornon and Christopher (Patrick), Celer, Richard, Mirabel and The Dragon (Chris).
Alpha Storyguide: Chris Blake
Upon returning from the Isle of Man in the winter of 1225, Baelthornon received more sad news: a letter awaiting him from his older brother Tathal stated that he had lost his wife in a riding accident. Only a few months later, he received another letter, saying that Tathal was to remarry, to Sarah Dewitt. The Dewitts were long time family friends, and Sarah their youngest daughter (closer to Baelthornon in age).
Baelthornon arrived in Falmouth to find his father ill, and Tathal rather aloof about his upcoming wedding. After some magical investigation, Baelthornon learned that his father was being poisoned. Whoever was poisoning Lord Cador had knowledge of the seas and its fish, as the venom was blowfish poison. At first, Baelthornon suspected the new butler of this deed, but he soon learned that the butler’s suspicious behavior revolves around him trying to keep news of his bastard son quiet rather than assassinating his new lord.
Although he had not seen Sarah since he was a child, villager stories of her terrible pox cars before returning from a monastery a "changed woman" made Baelthornon suspicious of her. Casting a subtle spell upon her, he was not surprised that something resisted his magic. The Bonisagus began to suspect her of plotting to take over the family fortune, as might occur after killing Lord Cador and then marrying his son and heir. After talking to Sarah’s parents, the magus felt even more certain she was not who she claimed to be, so Sir Andrew was sent to Dunlevy Monastery, where was educated, to see if any of the nuns could describe her.
Meanwhile, the wedding took place as planned, and Tathal prepared the ride ahead to the family’s summerhouse to prepare it for his new bride. Sensing this would be a good chance for Sarah’s assassins to strike, Baelthornon decided to ride with him to ensure that no harm befell him on the road. Aeddan’s intuition proved correct, for six men ambushed the group on the road. Their attackers, however, could not stand against Baelthornon’s magic and Tathal’s sword. After a brief fight, the two brothers rushed back home to expose Sarah.
While Baelthornon and Tathal were gone, however, events reached a climax back at Mawnan. Sir Andrew returned from Dunlevy with the real Sarah Dewitt. Cador called out the impostor, only to find himself face-to-face with his lost daughter, Adwen. Caught in her deception, Adwen killed her parents and severely wounded Sir Andrew as he tried to stop her. Adwen then fled to her ship and set sail only hours before Baelthornon and Tathal returned. Baelthornon gave chase upon seeing the damage done but found no sign of his sister. An incensed Sir Aeddan returned to Corona Montis, stopping only at Palma Sorviodunum to declare a Wizard’s March against Adwen before the Quaesitor there.
Cast: Baelthornon (Patrick), Roland (Ann), Andrew (Mike), Tathal and Adwen (Chris).
This page last modified August 26, 2011 10:55 PM
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