A sealed letter is sent to the dwelling of all Courtiers

( Gather at 8pm GMT in Rhovanion )

The Court gathered promptly at 8pm, and found their way to the Shadow Order building. Banging the lock a few times, in order to dislodge the ice crystals that had formed, Muldran struggled to pull the door open, letting Tim, Decardo, Cherry and Callum inside.

The dusty hallway of statues attracted people's attentions for a few moments, and Cherry cast a glamour to whip up and remove the dust from the place, depositing it just outside the door - and just missing Goober of the Duchy of Trinsic, who had heard that something was planned this evening. Decardo did, for a moment, suggest that he wanted to speak to Goober later, but then said that he should attend the gathering anyway.

In the main hall, Decardo laid out what was known about the Books of Sin; and recapped what we'd heard from Eric the Red some time ago. With the additional research from Cherry and Decardo we had a firm lead on one of the books. Well, firm was a matter of opinion, since it seemed that one of the Books was last heard of in the possession of a Council Member in Moonglow - and when he started acting erratically, the Council had him 'removed'.

It appeared that this unfortunately man was called Mandor, and now wandered as a ghost through the town of Moonglow.

The group immediately headed for the town; deciding on the Lycaeum as a likely first place to find a book-obsessed shade. While there, Muldran started ranting about seeing a ghost - and, of course, people ignored him as he ran off, following the thing. He leapt round the Hedge Maze chasing the thing down, and emerged back at the Lycaeum covered in twigs. He was just about to be told off by Decardo when the ghost appeared once more.


With Cherry's ability to commune with things-moved-on, the Court identified that this was indeed Mandro. After a few discussions about him having 'too much to do' the Court persuaded him that the book itself - as evil as it was - needed to be recovered, since others were trying to track it down. Others who might attempt to use it and fall to Mandro's fate. The ghost agreed to help them recover it.


It lead them to the telescope, where it studied the skies for a short while. Through Cherry's translation, it was discovered that in one weeks time, a portal would open to the Ghost Plane, which was where the book had been placed by Mandro's colleagues on the council. However, in order to access this plane at that time, the Court would also need to know the correct words of Power.

Tim hummed his chant that contained the Words of Virtue, but these were not the right ones. The ghost told Cherry that the Words of Power that unlocked the way to the Books were in his Journal, which was stored in the facet of Ilshenar, in the Serpentine Valley. The ghost then slowly faded away.

Leaving Callum behind to rest his weary bones, the group travelled to Ilshenar, and had a few fraught encounters with Juka on the way to the city of Mistas. Once there, they marvelled at the murals on the ground, and lamented the loss of such a historic place. Would there ever come a day when people could settle in Mistas once more? Goober was also particular irate, after seeing how the Dragoons there mistreated their swamp dragons.


Carrying on through to the valley, the group encountered the Golden Guardian of the peaceful place. At the same time, the effects of Decardo's Sidhe armour were becoming more apparent; he seemed much calmer, and even managed to joke at one point; a particular flare that nearly made Muldran drop his bow in amazement. Tim also continued to surprise the group by employing his magical ability to shroud himself in whisps of air, and fade from site.


Once in the valley, the group searched the area, conversing with the pixies, wisps and centaurs. Eventually, in some kind of hallowed library, they discovered a book - Mandro's Journal - and found within its pages Mandro's descent into madness, describing how he had the Book of Coveteous.

The final page of the book had words of power relating to the other books, each named after the anti-virtues - although the page was smudged and torn before the word of power for Coveteous was written. Still, Muldran frowned and looked at the words. He'd heard similar language construction before, and he swore he'd seen those words somewhere else. Perhaps he could work out the missing words - or they may even have been stored in a Library somewhere in the land.

Returning to Rhovanion, the group stored the Journal in the Magi Tower, and then departed the area, to continue their quest.

Side Quest

Muldran was aiming to rest; however, an encounter with an old neighbour meant that he made a detour back through Trinsic, showing the man the way through to Magincia.

On the way back, he again encountered Goober, as he stopped to talk to Captain Kaelyn. Kaelyn told Muldran of strange happenings within Magincia, but Muldran could not suggest how to affect the pillar from which the Demons sprung. However, when she described the awful demise of Fargo of Tremere, Muldran was struck by a sense of coldness.

It seems that Fargo had been found - in several pieces - and the pieces of his body had been blasted apart. More so than that, it seemed that there were words - riddles, Kaelyn described them - to be found on the blasted parts. Kaelyn had stored them safely - but when they had come to be colelcted; they had vanished.

Goober had been nearby at the time, and had been knocked flying by an explosion - had someone been trying to steal them back, and caused the explosion to distract the Guards? Or, Muldran theorised, has something awful (well, more awful) happened to Fargo, and he'd become some strange type of creature, like the exploding light demons?

Muldran brushed over the whisper that was raised about Fargo being a vampire - now was not the time to get into Tremere family history - but he was concerned when he heard that Fayerl had been trying to get her hands on Fargo's body. If these Drow wanted the bones, was there something else going on?

Kaelyn said that it was rumoured that the Court had a place to store dangerous magical items. Muldran agreed, and said that they could use the 'Reliquary'. He explained the place had an area of dead magic, where spells and items refused to work; the ideal location to store dangerous artefacts. And, Kaelyn suggested, body parts that didn't know when to stay still.

Muldran showed Goober and Stewan the building. The Reliquary recognised a Mage and a Warrior, and allowed the group inside - something that meant that the wards were not keyed directly to the Court; Muldran would have to fix this with Cherry and Decardo's help, so that people could not take advantage of it later.

Both Stewan and Goober agreed the place would be useful for storing Fargo's remains (should they be recovered!) , with Stewan remarking that he was blind to magic, but that the Reliquary even gave him a headache.

Muldran returned the two back to Trinsic, and said to Kaeylyn he'd informed the Court of what had transpired so far...

The Book of Shame

Eric's note had arrived shortly after the one from the Shadow. Of course, the idea of sending a spy to the Umbran meeting didn't occur to Muldran, so he set of for Skara Brae, arriving there first. As he poured over the notes and scrolls, others filed into the room; some familiar, some not so.

Eric arrived, and spoke to the gathered people, letting them know a small bit more about the Books of Sin, and that someone else was after them. He informed the gathered people that the Books were dangerous artefacts, and were scattered throughout the world, and then sent away even further; to a ghostly plane only accessible at certain times.


Turning to Muldran, Eric asked him to reveal the word of power that would be needed to access the Book - and Muldran had help from Callum and Stewan - to decode the writing from the journal - and they came up with the word 'infama'. Eric had gone into a sort of trance,and as he concentrated, started to fade from site, leaving a little pattern of blood on the floor.

Another clue? To the location where the book was hidden? Flame called out about the Blood Dungeon, and Gwen said she could lead the group to the place quickly, through the Spirituality Gate of Ilshenar.

The group soon found themselves in the Blood Dungeon, and elected to stay together, and start searching the area. They needed to locate a ghost, and bring it through to the 'real world' and then give it the word to help release the book.


After a short while, they located a spirit, and performed a resurrection ritual. However, the ghost - now materialised - seemed quite reluctant to give them answers, and chose to verbally fence with them. Until it said that it wasn't the one they were looking for, and revealed itself as the Shadow; the being Eric said had been looking for the Books, to use in foul ways.

At that point in time, the group were attacked by numerous dark beasts - and in the battle, realised others were fighting alongside them. Muldran recognised Jade and several others from the House of Tremere. Muldran realised that they must have been lead to the place by the Shadow, and Kaelyn quickly took Gwen and the others to continue the search.


Muldran was then distracted by Vierna, who blocked his way, and spoke with him about the coming disasters - and the need for Chaos to overwhelm all. Muldran was still unsure about what Vierna had done in Magincia, but wasn't taking any chances. As they verbally fenced - talking about Chaos, Balance, and Order - Mul heard Brynhild talking with the Shadow, and speaking about her time in Trinsic... The Shadow told her there were many, many more Trinsics than the two she knew, and went on to let her know that he too was a man of Honor - and surely she should trust him with the book...

Muldran was worried that a magical battle would take place between Vierna and himself - and without all his magical learning at his disposal, he was unsure how he'd win. But just then, he tried a brief cantrip to distract Vierna, throwing a small sapphire to the ground. Which proceeded to do nothing. However, it did distract Hildy, who looked round - and the Shadow vanished.

At that moment, there was a great noise in the corridor, and the group marched back, with Kaelyn triumphantly announcing that they had secured the Book of Shame.


The two groups faced off in the entrance hall - but the Skara Brae group outnumbered those who had helped the Shadow, and Muldran sent the others on ahead. Jade's companion Muldoon stepped forward with his sword in hand, but Jade stayed his hand for some reason. All the while, Vierna looked on, that strange smirk pulling at the corner of mouth.

As the group left, Muldran once more faced Vierna, and the two exchanged further words. Muldran felt a cold feeling come over him; as he spoke with Vierna, it was almost like he'd had this conversation before, with someone else, a long time ago...

Gwen, Flame and the guards came back into the Dungeon after they had not seen Muldran for a few moments, and escorted him out, casting glances at Vierna. Muldran was a bit stunned, trying to wrack his memory about why Vierna's words should seem so familiar. And Vierna? Well, she seemed to glory in Muldran's confusion.


Back in Skara Brae, the groups met up with Eric. Kaelyn asked Eric why they should hand the book to him - how should they trust him over the Shadow. Eric asked about handing the books into Muldran's keeping instead; the important thing was keeping them safe.

Almost immediately both Vierna and Jade, as well as Kaelyn and Gwen suggested that with Muldran's past track record, that probably wasn't too wise. With people on both sides of the fence suggesting that Muldran wasn't the safest person to hand the things to - and with Tim and Callum both out of the way - there were no other Courtiers suitable to hold the Book, so it was suggested that Kaelyn keep the book safe.

Muldran was still discomforted by his encounter with Vierna, so he chose that moment to slip away quietly. But it seems that the forces of Good had been successful - one of the Books was now in their possession!

Kaelyn has sent word that information relating to the second Book of Sin, the Book of Destard has been discovered.


New information indicates that Shadow will meet his people in Umbra at the tavern there.