Men of (re)Action

In the game Incidental contact a hedge wizard called Caitlin was killed by Inrisor. Through the use of Whispers Though the Black Gate it was discovered she knew of a traitor to the order. Unable to gain further information, Inrisor sent her body to Dormus Ortus for Iago to coerce the information from the spirit. Inrisor receives a letter from Iago requesting his presence at the summer solstice feast in Barcelona, at which time he will have the traitor's name. The troupe travels to D.O. and finds the two in house wizards, Iago of house Bonisagus and Pablo of house Tytalus in their labs working on projects. The troupe sets up at a nearby Inn and awaits a summons from the covenant. When none arrives two hours after sunset, the troupe becomes concerned and heads to D.O. only to find the place is inhabited by demon cats and dead covenant staff. A demon was let loose in the covenant grounds at sunset and promptly assaulted Iago and broke the summoning/binding circle where Caitlin's spirit was held. The spirit then took over Pablo. The demon destroyed Caitlin's body with fire. While the troupe was dealing with the demon cats, the possessed Pablo and Demon emerge from the labs and attack the team. After the fight, the troupe aid Iago back to recovery and discover a box with demon runes on the inside lid. This box was brought into the covenant by Maria the maid, and even carried by Francois, who was hitting on her. Questioning of Iago revealed he figured out the back story of the traitor, who turned out to be Callum of house Tremere, who was met briefly in Incidental Contact at Bordeaux. Callum was last heard heading to the new Bordeaux covenant from Durenmar. Maria brought the box into the grounds as a result of her father's gambling debts to a major crime lord in Barcelona named Iron Mike, who took a large sum of coin from Bark Skin Boots to have this package delivered by sundown on the eve of summer solstice. The troupe found Iron Mike and made an example of him. Later the troupe met with Don Pedro's (Iron Mike's boss) man to clear the air. It was agreed that friends make better business than enemies and that Maria and Dormus Ortus had nothing to fear from the Barcelona underworld. Overtures of mutual favors were given by both sides. The troupe went to Bordeaux only to find out Callum had departed rapidly and in emotional distress several days after summer solstice. Juan the redcap was in residence and provided information that Callum recently purchased estates near Nantes. A local teamster was hired by Callum to transport all of his possessions north. Careful examination of Callum's room and lab revealed he was thorough in cleaning up and potential arcane connections. The mages quickly worked up the Victor of Nantes conspiracy theory. The troupe rapidly made their way to Nantes to begin the search for Callum. Taking refuge in a roadside Inn an hour south of Nantes, Francois and Conagal went into town to check with local teamsters. Although eager to help, the teamsters had no information, but indicated the church has the best records for land ownership. Our two lads find out the local parish has limited information, but the Bishop's church should have more and the senior record keeper is very helpful if gifted with a specific wine. Getting late, the two hit bars for food, drink and information. Two leads are found (Julius Marcier and Magnus Imperious). Two cute sisters were also found, but alas that didn't go so well as they turned out to be undead skeletal creatures who lured our drunk horny boys to their spectral fortress. After a rapid fight, the two escaped into a goblin fairy regio, where they encounter Conagal's fairy friend Tuc. It turns out that Tuc is more than a little bitter about Conagal not visiting and when he does, he brings Francois. Tuc leads them out of the regio and in the process palms the Winter's Icy Grip wand carried by Francois. The wand is never to be seen again, as Tuc traded it with other goblins for goblin things. Our two companions contracted a bad penile skin infection and had the seek the aid of a local apothecary. Immediate medical action required circumcising both. Whereas the boys had not slept in over 36 hours, they return to the Inn around noon the next day and sleep. The Des kick's into action by going to the bishop's record keeper, asking about one of the leads, Magnus Imperious. The old man takes a liking to The Des and tells her whatever she wanted to know about Imperious. Most notably, Magnus is the Baron's man, in his late thirties, travels allot as a slaver and is rumored to be the Baron's key advisor. Being men of action, the mages decide Magnus must be their traitor and set about ending his days. Their daring plan starts with The Des to do recon and give the signal that Magnus Imperious is there and there man. Well, Des gave the long distance nod (indicating he was there), so the strike force went into action. Lots of big spells, no botches and near total destruction in a high profile way (lots of loud noises and billowing clouds of black smoke). Turns out that Magnus was home, but alas was not the man they were seeking. Good news is that a maid and her young daughter hid in the root cellar and were spared. Inrisor invited them to join the covenant at Calor Novus and gave the maid a fist full of silver! The two accompanied the troupe back to the Inn. Later that night the wonder triplets (Frankie, Connie and Desi) went back into town to hunt down more leads. They found one more recent land purchase of interest, by a man named Eremert. Upon returning to the Inn, they exchanged information. At that time the Inn was set upon by an ass load of ghouls. Filius suffered twilight, but resisted. The ghouls killed all in the Inn, except of course our troupe centric heroes who made sure they had a highly defensible room. Thanks to the Power of Inrisor, all those pesky ghouls were killed. Oh, by the way, the Inn was burned down due to judicious use of lightning and fire. Yes! - two major structures in 12 hours!!!! It turned out the ghouls got to the maid and daughter, thus tidying up that little problem. The troupe quickly relocated to a nearby forest and got some shut eye. The next day Filius went into Nantes and met with the Bishop's record keeper to get more information on the two other leads. He was able to determine Julius Marcier was not a person of interest and maybe Eremert fit the bill. However, the mages still held onto the Victor conspiracy theory. The troupe went to Victor's old estates and determined there was no Aegis and could not see any unusual activity. They then headed to check our Eremert, who lived in a big spooky keep on top of a hill. The troupe camped nearby and figured out the area was in a large Infernal Aura. So, a few spells later they figured out the keep was protected by an Aegis. After a brief planning session, the assault began. The rain and fog hampered all out ass kicking and required the keep to be entered for clean up action. The traitor Callum laid a trap for them inside the keep, but the troupe easily handled the situation. By massive use of fire, the traitor was killed. Game down.

Men of (re)Action! Pregame Lore It's coming on the Summer of 04. Spring was been good around Calor Novus. The crops are coming in well and the lambs are strong and healthy. Farmsteads damaged during the bandit attack last year are now back to work, thanks to some coin from the covenant funds. NoHedes continues to grow, with three new babies over the spring. You've notice a modest wood and stone palisade wall being constructed around the town. The bandit attack has brought a cold splash of reality upon the town elders, realizing that the Covenant masters might not be available to help next time, so better to be pro active. The deaths of Paval and especially Jacques were taken hard by the covenant staff and towns folk. Father Saverio held a memorial, which was attended by many of the townsfolk from NoHedes. After a full funeral mass and grave side service, the covenant held a feast in honor of the two loyal companions. Once per week, the young girls Elsinore and Elise have been bringing flowers to Jacques grave and said prayers over his marker. During their visits the girls pick weeds, trims grasses and generally beautify the hill top grave yard used by the covenant. Vladimir the Raven always appears while the girls are present and watches their activities. When they depart, so does Vladimir into the nearby forest. Two days ago Juan the Redcap visited and only delivered a letter to Inrisor. Being the chatty guy he is, Juan told you he was headed for the new Bordeaux covenant to spend the next couple of seasons helping as needed. Word has it they are close to figuring the location of another portal and Veditius' favored magus, his former apprentice is working on tokens to active the portal, but keeps struggling. Barcelona is OK, but it's getting hot this time of year. That Iago is a maniac, working on some sort of project night and day. What a great guy, such dedication! Word has it he impressed many at Council in Durenmar with his dissertation on Arab Hedge Wizards. House Guernicus has started recruiting other house members to become Quaesitors, and so far most of the houses have put forth candidates, which Guernicus himself is screening. After a day of hospitality, Juan departs for the North. Orella and Albus are still in Rome. Magi present at the covenant are Filius, Inrisor, Sylvie and Saverio. Companions present are Francois, The Des and Conagal.