1205 A.D.

The Court of Epona

Date - 6/11/95 (27th Session)

... When Rabenstein discovers the mystical faerie court of the Celts

Charlotte of Bjornaer lead an expedition into the Styrian foothills, and following the recently-discovered directions in the journal of Sarimarcus, found the faerie Court of the woods, which included warrior Celts, milky-skinned nymphs with iron chastity belts, and the bewitching Epona. They negotiated with the hot-tempered Celts to end the curse of Frohleiten if they would return the shawl of Cernunnos, and also learnt that Rabenstein was a 'drunemeton,' an ancient tomb of Celtic kings. Roland the chicken-thief, enemy of the Covenfolk, was also found to have been captured and imprisoned by the Court, though in pleading with Angelo for his life, he belayed the existence of some sort of a secret entrance to Hagen's sanctuary, castle Kleistburg (which Geoffrey and Katrina discovered subsequently to be hidden drainage tunnels by the Mürz river). Departing the Court, a wizard's council was convened at Rabenstein to plan an assault on Captain Hagen, ultimately deciding on a small, stealthy incursion rather than an all-out attack.

Sneaking into castle Kleistburg through the secret sewage tunnels, a pitched battle led to the death of the beast-captain at the sword of Geoffrey in late spring of 1206. Journeying to the faerie court with the shawl, Cernunnos the horned god returned, but saddened by the ebb of his flock in the world, departed the sullen Court, lifting his curse. Passage back to the Court proved impossible afterwards, though a great oak tree stood in the mundane woods to grace the land with the majesty of Cernunnos.

Cast: Geoffrey and Merento (Clint Buss), Katrina (Dallas Perry), Gustav (Christian Young)


Fool Me Once, Shame on You

Date - 12/21/95 (28th Session)

... In which Rabenstein is mislead by the Castellan of Graz

The scholars of Rabenstein were summoned to the Schlossberg of Graz by Castellan Otto, where in council with his cousin Sir Meinhart Heinfeld of Norbisch, they learned of the kidnapping of Meinhart's son. Having learnt of the scholar's ability to find someone with merely a lock of their hair from his knights Klaus and Bernard (who journeyed with Magi of Rabenstein across the Neusiedler several years earlier), Otto produced a locket of his kidnapped nephew's hair and asked them to use their powers to find him. Merento and Gustav reluctantly agreed, and departed with a small group of knights led by Meinhart to the new fortress of Riegersburg near the hungarian border. Using the locket, they guided an expedition of 10 knights, 14 archers and pikemen, and several priests across the border and into Hungary (all the while uncomfortable that their violation of the Code was becoming more prominent). En route, the Magi discovered that the hot springs of Bad Gleichenberg possessed a modest magical nature, and determined to return later. Along the banks of a small river, an old woman was discovered, washing the bloodstained clothes of knights in the muddy water. When one of the knights confronted her, she vanished in a fog. Merento and Gustav continued to lead the knights by cover of darkness (although at times only guessing the proper course) to a wooden fort amid a grove of chestnut trees. There the knights revealed their true purpose and attacked the fortress, which housed a petty enemy (and the true proprieter of the lock of hair). No 'nephew' had actually existed, and the Castellan had cruely used the Magi's powers for his own ends. In the battle, Sir Meinhart was slain.

Cast: Merento (Clint Buss), Gustav (Christian Young)


The Sailors of Mabanogia

Date - 8/11/96 (31st session)

...where Lassitor and Slavs of Russia meet on the great Hungarian plain

The Magus Lassitor had stayed some months at the Pannonhalma Abbey in the Kingdom of Hungary researching the fate of some Roman soldiers interred within the hill of St. Martin. Disappointed with his discoveries, he departed in the early summer of 1205 with his custos for the Covenant of Mondsagen in Silesia, venturing east and across the great Hungarian plain (the Anfold) to avoid the dangerous roads along the Danube. In the tiny village of Nyiregyhaza he chanced upon a young "Russian" Magus of Ex Miscellanea (Cynric) and his travel companions. Villagers, angry at the destruction of their sugarbeet crop by a recent thunderstorm, accused the Magi of having fallen from the sky as thieving sailors of Mabanogia. Apparently the villagers believed that spirits of the heavens (called 'tempestri') had stolen their crop (by means of the thunderstorm), and sold it to these legendary 'sailors' who plowed the clouds in their magical ships. After trying to prove their innocence, the leader of the village, Hajgri, who spoke German, agreed to let them all depart unharmed (instead of being stoned as the villagers wished), but only if they agreed to depart via the path through the nearby swamp of Hamor (a place the sailors would fear). In the swamp, they became lost and were threatened by a gruesome hag who tried to poison, then drown them. Escaping the hag's wrath (and black-headed gulls) the group climbed out of the swamp and into the safety of the Bukk mountains.

Cast: Lassitor (Chris Blake), Jozef (Kathy Solace), Cynric and Brother Meshach (Patrick Murphy), Piotr (Kendall Miles), Tatyana (Blythe Newton)


This page last modified on 11/5/97.

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