Session 15
« Session 14 | Nova Semitae Saga Journal | Session 16 »
Spring 1224
Following up on a Redcap report of an eerily abandoned village some 3 days away in Northern England, a small group of magi and their grogs went to explore. They found the remains of a village, with some of the houses appearing burnt. Obscurus Ignis used magic to determine the age of the ashes and how they were burned and discovered that it was some 200 years ago in a sudden, hot fire. The magi piece together that the timing coincides with the Schism War, and the manner of burning suggests magic.
Gwendolyn's eyes spot something unusual in the village, and with that clue, Geoffrey notices a very faint pattern of a pentagram beneath the soil. Using Charge of the Angry Winds, he blows away the soil in the center of the village only to discover a thick layer of ash. Once again, Obscurus Ignis tests the ash to discover that it is as old as the burned down houses and contains the ashes of things you might have had in the village -- houses, tools, animals... and people.
Among other things, the magi learn that they are in a low-level Infernal Aura, and that the grogs begin experiencing headaches that end approximately one mile away. Geoffrey teleports back to the covenant to retrieve Fr. Thomas and Ritter Sigmund. While they are waiting, Obscurus Ignis and the remaining grogs patrol the abandoned village and hear the faint sound of a man cackling. Obscurus Ignis thinks this is 'leaking' from a regio. He tries to get Gwendolyn to discover the boundaries, as she has in the past, but is unsuccessful.
Geoffrey, Fr. Thomas, and Sigmund arrive and the party re-enters the village, but this time Sigmund (who has a secret connection to the Infernal) hears a voice beckoning him in and out of the village. He convince the party to follow, and as they follow him they enter and exit the village repeatedly, but they find the village in greater and greater states of disrepair and disease. This is a consequence of the voice leading them deeper and deeper into the Infernal regios. The unshielded grogs are attacked repeatedly by diseases demons until finally, they reach the end regio where Sigmund suggests they stay behind. Geoffrey erects a ward for them as they head in.
Inside the highest regio are piles of bodies from the villagers, as well as dead animals, stinking and rotting. The pentagram is quite visible with a single skull in the middle. The summoning circle is lined with Hermetic symbols of Perdo and Corpus with lesser runes of Creo and Ignem. The head rises with malicious glowing red eyes and asking the magi to free it. They question it, and discover the presence of a mad Flambeau named Flavius who alternately rants about his spell to kill all mundanes in Mythic Europe, and demanding that the magi free him. Geoffrey and Obscurus Ignis inform him that mundanes are quite alive and that Geoffrey is even married to one. Flavius accuses them of being traitors and attempts to throw a Ball of Abysmal Flame at Geoffrey, but it bounces off the ward.
The magi soon leave, knowing that freeing Flavius would be a bad idea, and that to destroy the Infernal aura, they will need to commit all the murdered villagers to Christian burial, along with the skull of Flavius.
Experience Points
Participating characters each earned +5 Adventure XP. Geoffrey, Obscurus Ignis, Fr. Thomas, Ritter Sigmund, Sir Jusef, Gwendolyn, Martin. Infernal Lore is an appropriate skill for this adventure.