 |
Winter 1221 |  |
| Calendar for 1221 | This is the Vilicus' personal view. |
Winter Solstice,
Tuesday, December the 14th:
I understand that Speculor again rose at midnight in order to
observe the Solstice throughout the entire day. Speranda and
Constantine joined him around dawn. I sent a grog with food in a
basket, once I realised what the problem was.
The magi were disappointed, as nothing seemed to happen - it remains in the dead of Winter. Nevertheless Magus Speculor insisted that he had to remain and study the phenomenon all day - and that he requested the other magi delay the Council meeting until tomorrow so that he might complete his studies.
Wednesday, December the 15th
The postponed Council meeting was
held today. This year they remembered their obligation to hold
elections, and have done things properly according to the Charter.
Maga Iuris Perita was proposed and re-elected unopposed to the post of Princeps, Maga Speranda was proposed and re-elected unopposed to the post of Libraria, and Magus Joachus was proposed and re-elected unopposed to the post of Defensor.
Magus Constantinus attended the Council meeting as Amicus, as he is not yet elected a Member of the Covenant.
For some reason Magus Joachus has promised to carve a Gargoyle for the other magi, in the form of a Pig. I thought the magi liked Maga Saskia, but now she has gone they keep requesting Ham and Bacon from the kitchen.
This morning we sent out a party of Grogs to the Peat Bogs with the wonderful Vis Wand, so that several Grogs may replace a Magus for the task of hunting for Vis, and the Magi may perform their own duties. We have sent Yves to be responsible for the party, and Garth, plus Gerard and Guirec from the northside guard post. They have camping gear and food, and should be away for most of the season. They will return briefly as and when they find Vis, bringing it to be preserved safely here.
At noon today - being the appointed time and day for this spell - the Magi, and all the agricultural labourers, and all those with cottage-gardens gathered together while Joachus (our expert in Herbam Magics) spent nearly IV hours intoning from the text of The Bountiful Feast and expended a whole VII Pawns of Vis in order that our burgeoning community prosper. The strain of this effort saw him collapse unconscious, with a minor internal wound: let us hope the rewards justify such a price in Vis and effort.
I have also been chasing the workers about the Manor House. If the Manor is not ready for Achilles d'Azé, then the prestige of our magi will suffer: they must get it right, and soon!
Thursday, December the 23rd
Our Vis Hunters return
triumphant, with some obscene remnant sloshing about in a leather sack of
bog-water. They hand this over to Maga Iuris Perita who managed to appear indifferent
before scuttling hurriedly off to her Sanctum. (She is to preserve the Vis and
then hand it over to the Libraria for safe keeping.)
Saturday, December the 25th:
Achilles d'Azé and a small party arrived today!
Sir Achilles has his manservant, but the soldiers guarding him were hirelings, and will leave tomorrow with their money in their pockets. We have installed some of the Grogs in his Manor House, to keep it for him; we will rotate some of the Turb out as guards, to keep him happy.
Work continues on raising some more cottages to move more of the grogs out from the Glade to this "New Village": this will both make Sir Achilles feel "at home" and alleviate the mundane pressure on the magical Glade. Unfortunately, we must also finish off the finer parts of the Manor House - the plastering of the interior walls and such, and the construction of more furniture as befits "a Lord".
[Footnote added Sunday, December 26th: the men have now admitted that that when they claimed the Manor House was "finished", that they meant the Great Hall and most of the outbuildings: the Lord's Solar and the kitchens are not yet finished, but promised that they will be finished in time for Sir Achilles' return.]
Still, after he had a word with his cousin "Marie Helene"(!) he seemed happier and more content, and settled down to bossing underlings around the Village.
Jean Clouard, my Bailiff, has moved out to the village, too. For a short while, he will live in the Manor House, until a cottage is built for himself and his family. He will be better able to supervise the fields from there rather than the Glade (and save my poor aching bones the long walks), and more importantly, he will be reporting to me on everything that Achilles gets up to!
Monday, December the 27th
Cado the Hunter returned, alone and out of breath, around midday. He babbled
tales of a monster which had
ripped through the party, leaving major injuries. He was calmed down, and gave
a slightly more coherent version of the same tale. We have put him to rest now.
Tomorrow he must guide the rescue party back to where he left his injured comrades.
Tuesday, December the 28th:
Constantinus Flambonis is to lead the rescue mission, as our fiercest Combat
Magus. He takes with him Redwald, Francis, Elli and Zacharias to defeat the
monster. La Doctora Jimena also travels with them to tend the injured.
Friday, December the 31st:
All return safely: even Yves has walked back on his own feet: Constantine's
magics can temporarily remove injuries. Time (rather than Vis) will heal him
fully now that he is safely in the charge of Mistress Jimena.
Constantine arrived to find the battle won, and the disappointment of a futile trip, and the matter already resolved by the time he reached the place. The grogs encountered another Maga of the Order, who took charge of them and commanded them to assist her in defeating the monster. Once that was accomplished, she left them safe at the site of the ruined hut of the beggars who triggered the whole episode.
The Grogs, being well-trained remained there to rendezvous with the expected party from the Covenant. It seems this stranger Maga, Elise filia Hadis ex Miscellanea ex Cad Gadu in Britannia, also stabilised the wounds on the unfortunate Yves, so that he was better able to last out the expected wait.
Jimena has had time to look over his wounds and to bind them (although with Constantine's spells interfering, she states that his "body's natural healing" has not yet been effective): it will take only 7 weeks of carefully tended rest before Yves is well again. (Our Jimena is a most highly skilled healer, and Yves has a constitution like old boots!)
Needless to say, the beggar woman being now widowed, Constantinus recruited her for our Covenant: I expect it will turn out that we should clean her up, and she will be quite pretty underneath the grime and rags...
Saturday, January the 1st:
Word of My Lord Achilles has spread quickly! This one day we have had visitors
from My Lord de Robien and
My Lady de Plaintel, both bypassing
the Covenant proper and visiting Achilles - it seems they wish to impress him
with their largesse. Alain de Robien has a greater largesse, as it were, so
gets to express himself first. There is to be a Feast at Chateau Robien in two
weeks; Lady Marta may hold another feast a week after that.
The hermitage also sends its regards, via Father Edwin.
Father Edwin, in turn, is getting on my nerves: he keeps insisting that since we are building a fine stone Manor House for Sir Achilles, we ought to build a Fine Stone Church for him! Pah! I am sure the magi have a better use for the efforts of the stone masons!
Monday, January the 10th:
I gather that Magus Joachus is already planning Gargoyles for the Stone
Church to be built in the New Village. It seems that this Father Edwin has a
way of weaselling his ideas into the Council of Magi!
Pah!
Thursday, January the 13th:
Achilles will go to Chateau Robien tomorrow, so I have asked our blacksmith &
groom to check the horses' hooves and saddle-gear before the journey.
Friday, January the 14th:
Achilles has gathered up the best looking soldiers from the Turb, had them polished
and lined up, and taken them off early today, to Chateau Robien. Achilles rode
one of the better horses, Sergo another, but the others walked. They will eat
and drink themselves silly, then stagger back tomorrow.
This afternoon, while Achilles and "his" men were away, a runner came from the Village to say that VI or more mounted raiders were putting it to the Torch! In the absence of the Centurion, Jacques (sent off to that Feast!), Magus Joachus must take charge as Defensor. They came back later to say that Magus Constantinus had put out the fires, and La Doctora Jimena patched up the peasants' bruises and contusions: the raiders had not used sword, but torches - the wounded injured themselves in their headlong flight. When the magi arrived, the raiders had already left: they had (quite sensibly) worn no livery, although the Grogs tell me Achilles will be upset by this, as it breaches some Code of Chivalry.
Even the magi and our best hunters were unable to follow the trail more than a mile - even though so many riders were involved - until someone dragged out Zane, and he Saw the tracks despite the magics. They followed Zane until they reached the more travelled roads near Robien's lands. Messengers sent in to Achilles reported back that no-one had ridden in that day, save the morning arrival of revellers.
Saturday, January the 15th:
Achilles and the men return. I am told Achilles looked torn between exercising
his Knightly might and riding after them, and a more realistic assessment of
the odds of a Lawyer vs. several fully trained Knights - it seems discretion
won.
Monday, January the 17th:
Lady Marta came storming up, first to the Manor House, then insisting on
barging on into the Tower (as if she has some special rights of access!). She
too has been raided, and recognised part of a ripped saddle cloth as the livery
of Alain de Robien, and has come seeking allies.
Our own magi had already divined this from a small scrap of fabric they had found, but had been alerted to the subtleties of the offence by the magical blocks. They suspect Sir Jean de Ploeuc (despite the livery), Baron Alain, (Lady Marta - until she complained), and the Fae. The Fae are held by some to be most likely, as we have had unfortunate entanglements with them in the past; on the other hand it is said that this behoves too much knowledge of the ways of men and heraldry to be Fae...
To add to the Confusion, a messenger came late in the day, from the south, from Ploeuc himself, to complain of the same type of raid, and proffering the same evidence: these conveniently lost scraps of Baron Alain's livery, dropped by otherwise disguised raiders.
Now the magi suspect the Fae, or perhaps Baron Alain after all.
Tuesday, January the 18th:
Magus Constantinus has taken his parchment with him: he will continue to write
his text on the Magical Arts, but at the Manor, so that he may react (like a
true Flambeau) to any trouble.
More raiders came again to the Village this very day, and Constantine drove them off with bolts of fire. Their leader was lost in the forest, disappearing into a cloud of sulphurous mist: a sure sign that it is the Infernal, not the Fae.
Wednesday, January the 19th:
A rider in Plaintel's livery, came full tilt into the Glade. He must have
set off at first light. They have found the raiders' camp, and sent to summon
the magi (who must walk... hmm). We in turn sent Iussuf to warn the others of
yesterday's unmasking of the Infernal.
I was told later that when they got Iussuf's message, the combined Knights of Plaintel and Robien attended a special Mass, in which they were armoured against the Foe. They then rode out and struck at the raiders, and captured full half of them!
Friday, January the 21st:
Iuris Perita has now heard all about the shenanigans over the Raiders, about how
news was sent blaming the Infernal, and how Speculor was involved with the various
Knights' battle against each other. She is apparently very cross, and has Read
The Code to the others!
Pernelle turned up again this afternoon - apparently she has been away (I thought
she had just left me in peace!).
She has brought some outside wench (another one!). This one is to become a Lady's
Maid to Maga Speranda - I do not see why I was not asked to provide this servant,
it is in my purview to do so! Anyway, it's a Breton girl, speaks some Francien,
so I suppose Speranda will be able to Speak Loudly and be mostly understood. (It's
asking too much to get a Castilian speaker in Brittany!)
Sunday, January the 23rd:
Constantine has been going round in a black
mood since the Raiders struck the village for the second time, when he successfully
drove them off; however he has set that aside now and become more cheerful.
He has also started wearing a Christian cross pendant on his belt, which much please Edwin, his Priest.
Wednesday, January the 26th:
Now that the fuss over the raiders has finished, Lord Achilles is off
to Plaintel to dine at Lady Marta's expense.
By my calculations, Achilles now owes these two Lords a Feast in return. Be-damned if I will let my own accounts pay for his feasting - let the upstart find some richesse of his own!
Tuesday, February the 1st:
I am becoming quite fed up with the shouting from the Grogs as they train
in the clear area near the Barracks building. Last Winter, all was quiet, as we
had other work to do, but this year it seems they feel established enough to "relax"
and to leap around bashing each other with padded weapons. It would not be so bad,
but it seems they must "enhance" the effect with battle-cries, else it
will not seem real.
Thursday, February the 10th:
I am told yet again that the Manor House in the "New Village" (as
it is becoming called) is now finished... I have made the long aching walk out to
see this, and it appears true! The men who had been plastering and making furniture
are sitting idle, enjoying an unseasonable warm day, and neither Sir Achilles nor
Jean Clouard are around chasing and berating them for their idleness when they have
finishing-work to complete. I must therefore conclude that this time the tale is
true, as opposed to all previous reports on the completion of the Manor House.
Wednesday, February the 16th:
"Lent" begins today, apparently.
This means that the Priest, Edwin, is going round everywhere pestering people.
He wishes them to stop eating, or something equally strange.
For today he is also going round with a pot of ashes and trying to daub them on
people's faces - strange... He promises not to do this after today, so I will not
pursue the matter.
Saturday, February the 19th:
It seems Edwin has also interfered with the cooks: the food for the last few
days has been different, oddly missing some of the normal ingredients. Still, they
are being ingenious about filling in, and the magi have not complained yet, so I
suppose I will let be.
Sunday, February the 20th:
Edwin has certainly been busy, for he has them all out singing songs! At least
now they go off to the Village to do this. I must ensure that the Centurion. Jacques,
is aware of the disturbance, and has posted sufficiently many guards to maintain
the Watch!
Friday, March the 11th:
Magus Glomerulus Criamonis ex Mummolide has arrived,
to share in the Equinox in the Regio Glade. It was Glomerulus and Marpesius Criamonis
ex Odela who helped us in previous investigations, following the Visions at the
1221 Tribunal Meeting.
Up to the diary link page, or back to Autumn 1221 or on to Spring 1222
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