Tales of mystery

Wyr, the Rune of Mystery covers things that are not known, but whose nature can be uncovered.

Mortal Magic

Not every strange event is magic, not every magical thing is strange. Magic can be familiar or alien, and may be different things to different people. One thing is sure though, from the most mundane hearth magic to the strange influence of the stars, to the vagaries of fate and chance, it changes what it touches. And, as the philosophers say, you cannot cross the same river twice.

Magical events relating specifically to the eternals are detailed in the companion piece, Tales of imagination.

The Deadwood Knight

• The Deadwood Knight continues to build its forces in Weirwater and Karov
• The creature sent its forces to attack the estate of the Earl of Fools

The Deadwood Knight - also known as the Schlacta of Rot - continues to be a threat to the people of Weirwater and Karov. At the Spring Equinox, wise ones and troubadours visited Anvil to speak with those committed to bringing an end to its rampage; it is believed that there are folk in both Varushka and Dawn who are actively seeking a way to bring an end to the threat posed by the creature - possibly even to end its existence once and for all.

Deadwood Knight, the heart of Dawn lies in challenge and test, and in this the House of Fools offer thus. A test-of-mettle, to fight our champion, ungirded, with steel undrawn, in manner of your choosing.

Earl of Fools, Dawn Assembly, Spring Equinox 386YE, Vote: Greater Majority 338-10

Stand strong Varushka! The national assembly urges courage from the soldiery of Varushka to stand firm against the predation of the Schlacta of Rot! We call upon the military units of Varushka to band together to oppose its threat!

Vaclav Mladenovich Kosti, Varushka Assembly, Spring Equinox 386YE, Vote: Greater Majority 246-0

Two statements of principle were upheld by the priests of the two nations. One by the Earl of Fools called the Deadwood Knight to take a test of mettle and join the earl's house. It's not entirely clear how the knight became aware of a statement circulated among the priests of the nation, but it sends a cruel response. Without warning, a cohort of unliving warriors - a hundred or more in number - descend on the Earl's estates. They kill as many people as they can, but are ultimately rebuffed by the Earl's defenders and by both Dawnish and Varushkan warriors visiting the noble household as part of their ongoing efforts to deal with the knight. During the fighting, the awful captain of the attacking force shouts a message. The Deadwood Knight requires no test of mettle, and when it comes to slay the Earl it will do so girded, and with full steel. Behind it, the captain leaves the heads of Gerard and Margueritte of Valewatch - two of the troubadours that visited Anvil last season.

There is one positive thing that comes from this attack; it's obvious that the knight has some awareness of the statement of principle. Perhaps something about its nature makes it sensitive to attempts to challenge it. Those who hear of the attack on the Tourney of Ash and Bone note that, in the context of a formal tourney, the knight seemed to fight by the rules of engagement. It did not savage the audience, focusing its attention on fellow combatants. Perhaps the secret is finding the right sort of challenge, one the knight cannot ignore and would be bound by. Or the right kind of combatants. With the Grand Tour coming to an end, perhaps there is some opportunity to get the knight to the right place at the Autumn Equinox?

That said, the knight continues to refuse to die. Without a way to force it back into quiescence, a challenge is likely to be of limited use. Even if the Schlacta of Rot is defeated, it will simply recreate its body and continue to build its army until it is powerful enough to begin conquering the lands it threatens. Hopefully someone, somewhere, will be able to find an answer to the mystery that surrounds it.

Further information about this situation can be found in last season's Momento mori wind of fortune.

Participation

It is up to the Earl of Fools and their household to determine how bad they want the attack on their estate to have been. The fighting was likely to have been savage, and the unliving warriors of the Deadwood Knight neither offered nor asked for quarter. Everyone was fair game for the abominable warriors. Any characters who might have been guests of the Earl of Fools are encouraged to work together to come up with stories about their heroic or glorious deeds during the attack. One element that may be relevant however is that the Schlacta of Rot itself did not appear at any point.

By Blood Undone

• The constellation of the Three Sisters shines brightly over Anvil following a curse being given to them by means of an enchanted veil (which may itself have been a tulpa).
• Freeborn Hakima are experiencing an unsettling effect, as if they are being hunted and watched - especially when alone.
• A familiar prophet is returning to Anvil immediately following the start of the summit on Friday to speak to the Freeborn about this.

Something seems to have happened during the Spring Equinox. Starting three days after the summit ended, the hakima of the Brass Coast have begun experiencing an unpleasant sensation of being hunted. It begins with nightmares - a twisted creature with hateful eyes stalking them through otherwise familiar territory. Then, some of the more sensitive begin to feel watched while they are awake. This effect spreads slowly, but intensifies. By the time of the Summer Solstice, hakima of the Brass Coast are left with the nagging certainty that they are being hunted by a monstrous creature not entirely real but also not entirely imaginary.

There are obvious parallels with the Dreamscape of the Endless Hunt - enough that some hakima take the reasonable step of invoking the Wisdom of the Balanced Blade. What they discover is deeply unsettling. It seems that every hakima in the Brass Coast who was at Anvil last season, and those close to them, have been cursed. Not by any mortal agency either, but by the Three Sisters - the astronomantic constellation - and via the medium of a magical veil. According to the ritual, the method of removing the curse is to "speak with the Three Sisters - presumably this refers to tulpa rather than the constellation itself as nobody has ever had a productive conversation with the night sky.

Some good news (?) is that the urizeni stargazer Cassius, formerly of the Arch of the Sky, is apparently on their way back to Anvil, full of new portents of Doom. Given they offered their "aid" during the Winter Solstice to deal with an earlier manifestation of the Three Sisters, this is unlikely to be coincidence. They're expected to arrive at some point of Friday evening and will likely want to speak to the hakima.

Participation

Every hakima who attended Anvil last season is affected by the curse. They experience a roleplaying effect: You know that you are being hunted by a twisted monster. It haunts your dreams, preventing restful sleep, and you catch glimpses of it during the day. It is a twisted humanoid, with hateful eyes, that you know wishes you harm. When you see the night sky, it is as if the stars of the Three Sisters are particularly bright.'

While under the effect of the curse, a hakima cannot recover spent mana naturally by sleeping. Other methods of restoring personal mana, such as potions or an enchantment such as Chamber of Delights work normally. This last is an exception to the normal restrictions on recovering personal mana while unable to sleep properly - while it is unpleasant the curse is not currently as debilitating as Dreamscape of the Endless Hunt.

If you did not attend Anvil during the Spring Equinox, but still wish to experience the curse, you may opt in to doing so. If you attended the Spring Equinox, but do not wish to have this effect, you may opt out out. Once you make the choice, however, you cannot change it during the event.

Gossamer Whispers

• it is no longer possible to swap memories with Cast Off the Chain of Memory
• There are unsettling stories of changes affecting masters of Night magic

On and off over the last year or so there has been an odd phenomenon surrounding the ritual Cast Off the Chain of Memory. A method of casting involving written memories and Iridescent gloaming that has twisted the effect of the ritual slightly askew. Rather than just abandoning a memory, the peculiar method caused those subject to it to gain new memories not their own. The power seemed to ebb and flow - resurging at the Spring Equinox - but it seems that during the Summer Solstice the ritual has settled back onto its normal path.

This might well not be a bad thing. There are several stories starting to emerge of masters of Night magic undergoing unpredictable changes, some of them quite severe. Three magicians - a Wintermark mystic, an Urizeni illuminate, and a respected League dramaturist - are brought to the Quiet Hall by their covens suffering from a completely fractured identity, apparently unable to tell who they are and what is real any more. One of the healers there likens it to a disastrous Transmogrification of the Soul's Echo - they have replaced so many memories with so many other peoples' memories that their own identity has been lost entirely. There is talk in Varushka of a pair of cabalists who somehow traded away all their memories of childhood, and no longer understood the importance of keeping to the path... It's not all darkness; a tale out of Dawn tells of a guiser who ended up with several memories from some long-dead wizard that left her with the ability to perform a ritual they had not personally learned - the memories of the one who had learned it, unknown years ago, providing her with the understanding needed to conjure magical birds to send messages in dreams. Unfortunately, the guiser has since disappeared. Her friends hope she returns soon.

Hopefully, then, this is the end of it, rather than just a lull in the creeping strangeness. Well known doctor of magical maladies Doctor Aodann de Spiral (formerly de Holberg), who visited Anvil in the Spring, urges anyone who has experimented with the exchange of memories to seek out the aid of magical healers, the Unfettered Mind, or if the worst comes to the worst, a priest.

Streets of Kalpaheim

• Something seems to have stirred within Ogila’s tower or its regio
• Strange noises can now be heard at night in the Street of Runes in Kalpaheim and are beginning to spread across the city
• There has been time for only cursory exploration of the mystery before the Summer Solstice

A week before the Summer Solstice - when many of those travelling for Anvil have already departed, and others are making their final preparations - a commotion breaks out in Kalpaheim in Hahnmark. In the small hours of the morning, just before the Sun begins to break the horizon, a low rumbling roar echoes from the very top of Ogila’s Tower, passing like an icy wind down the Street of Runes before dissipating across the city.

Those Courageous enough to enter the tower find a great crack spidering through its floor and walls, centred in the minor regio housed inside the tower. The crack, although unsightly, doesn’t appear to have caused the tower any major structural issues. For the rest of the day, it seems that whatever occurred at the tower is now over, but come nightfall the Street of Runes is filled with grunts, growls and the thumping footsteps of some great beast. No creature can be found, however. The following night, people report strange sounds and the misty breath of something larger even than a mandowla stalking the darkest corners across Kalpaheim. No beast has been seen, and there is no indication of its presence besides a creeping dread, the sounds of a predator stalking its prey and occasional clouds of warm, stinking breath.

Credulous rumours begin to rear their ugly head that Kaapo Kingfishering, who owns Ogila's Tower, may have made a pact with a dark power. More sensible people - including several of the magicians who ply their trade on the Street of Runes - suggest that it's just as likely that something simply took advantage of the regio to slip out of the Autumn realm into the mortal world. The people of Kalpaheim should stop panicking, they suggest. It's just as likely that this is some kind of trick, perhaps perpetrated by a rival to Kaapo. Autumn is a realm of Prosperity, Trade and Influence, not of monstrous beasts haunting cities.

Art of Miaren

The scions of Oblivion seek to destroy that which we celebrate, our culture, our art, our expression. The Empty Hand left in their wake at Miaren trees devoid of life, calcified, petrified, and dead. This was meant to wound us, but it is an opportunity! Artists of Navarr, embrace our tradition of living art. Carve into these trees our Dance, paint upon their surface our story, decorate upon them with your passing all that our people are! Their attempts to harm us will become the very canvas upon which me mark their failure! In ink and blood!

Nathair Autumngale, Spring Equinox 386YE, Vote: Greater Majority 324-0

• An enchantment inspiring art and creativity has settled over Miaren
• In conjunction with a statement of principle it has encouraged people to reclaim the trees damaged by Cold Sun

After the Spring Equinox, with the scions of Cold Sun cornered in the south-east, a subtle cloak of Night magic settles over Miaren. The enchantment causes the air within the territory to become charged with inspirational energy. Even simple food and drink feel more vibrant when consumed; artists and musicians feel inspired to create new works. Those who live in or visit the territory feel energised to work on new ideas regardless of their practicality or their usefulness.

The magic comes at an apposite moment. At the Spring Equinox, the Navarr assembly upheld a statement of principle proposed by Nathair Autumngale. For the past six months or so the Empty Hands have blighted the trees of Miaren. Across the territory, former living trees have been calcified into an unnatural material part-way between ceramic and bone. Dead, they remain a terrible reminder of the scions and their dreadful acts. When judgement and enchantment come together, however, they urge the people of Miaren to reclaim the trees, to change their meaning. Painting, carving, crafting gewgaws and decorations to hang from the dead branches, the trees are slowly transformed into works of art. Obviously those nearest the steadings, and those where the stridings camp most often, are the ones first transformed but "bone trees" across the territory are transfigured. Even those with little experience of creating art are encouraged to take a chance to make something if not beautiful then at least meaningful.

As the season draws on, the subtle influence of the enchantment and Nathair's words spreads. Stridings passing through Miaren are inspired, and when they leave they take that inspiration with them. Across the Empire, where stridings camp and especially along well-travelled trods, it becomes common to see a tree hung with flowers, or decorations woven from wood or grass. In some places, brightly-coloured designs are painted onto the bark of older trees, with successive stridings adding their own splash of beauty.

The enchantment has faded by the Summer Solstice, but it's possible that it may have helped to inspire a new artistic movement among the Navarr - and it has certainly worked a gentle transformation on the trees scarred by Cold Sun.

Beaches and Nets

• Combing the Beach no longer functions
• Roshanwe has passed a ritual text of Netweaver's Eye to the Archmage of Day
• Until the end of the Autumn Equinox, the ritual Distillation of Diverse Parts can be used to break a tempest jade effigy into its constituent tempest jade

During the Spring Equinox, the Imperial Conclave chose to accept an offer made by the eternal Roshanwe. In return for releasing her from the requirement to respond to the Combing the Beach ritual, she provides a ritual text of a new piece of magic. Netweaver's Eye divines whether a particular magician has cast a named ritual in the last three days. This is an investigative tool that may have applications when gathering evidence of sorcery. The Netweaver's Eye has an assurance - it loses all power if the Sevenfold Path ever abandon their order's goal of building "a bridge between the Conclave and the priests of the Synod."

Roshanwe has not made any particular demand with regard to this new ritual. It may be entered into Imperial Lore, or it may be kept to a select number of magicians - that is largely up to the Archmage and the Conclave. But there's no going back: Combing the Beach has lost its power and will no longer have any effect. She is aware that there are likely a number of tempest jade ammonites out there in the world created for use with the ritual. She is still considering whether she might find a way to let mortal magicians use them in some fashion, but during the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox she offers a minor boon.

The ritual Distillation of Diverse Parts normally breaks a potion down into its constituent herbs. Until the end of the Autumn Equinox, the ritual can be cast on a tempest jade ammonite to cause it to break apart. After a short time, it will break apart into 2 ingots of tempest jade - restoring the materials used to create it. She hopes that some people will choose to keep the effigies regardless, perhaps as a memento of a brave experiment that simply did not work.

OOC Note: We've removed Combing the Beach from those characters who previously had it mastered. A ritualist can learn a new ritual to fill that ritual slot using the normal rules.

The Red Dice

• The constellation of the Wanderer has positioned itself squarely over Anvil, glowing brightly
• Anyone staring at the star for any period of time experiences odd dreams

On the subject of peculiar stars... the night before the Summer Solstice summit, the Wanderer pauses in its unpredictable peregrinations. It seems to hang in the night sky over Anvil, twinkling balefully. Anyone who spends time staring at it, trying to tease out what its odd behaviour might portend, finds that their dreams are full of tumbling dice. In each case the dice are eerily similar - red, translucent, and capricious. There doesn't seem to be anything going on precisely, but there's no doubt it's a portent of some kind.

Participation

Anyone who is outside during the night and seeks out the Wanderer will note that it seems to be hanging over Anvil in a slightly unsettling way. Spending at least a minute in appropriate roleplaying studying the star will mean that, when you sleep, whatever else you dream of your dreams will feature the bouncing, rattling red dice. The exception is that anyone who is unable to dream - such as people who have been excommunicated - will still not dream.

Cunning Whales

• A cambion whale has been wreaking havoc in the Sea of Snow, ramming ships and stealing objects held over the side
• The Lictors believe a Callidus herald has been swallowed by it and is corrupting the creature. The herald owes a debt
• The Lictors appear to be holding a Freeborn man to account for this, but details are scarce

Over the last few months, there have been an increasing number of sightings of a scarred cambion whale in the Sea of Snows that seems to take great pleasure in ramming ships and swallowing anything that falls overboard. In a few cases it has even grabbed items held over the side of a ship for whatever reason (and a few hands and arms for good measure). The creature flees confrontation, seemingly being able to sense when a ship's crew might be able to harm it. It seems particularly drawn to ships with full holds - wealthy trading vessels - rather than ships intentionally hunting monsters in the Sea of Snow.

This would all simply be an interesting travellers tale except for the fact that in the last month or so there have been multiple encounters in Meade and Westerhal with a harassed-seeming emissary of the Lictors. This investigator, which seems to go by the name of Zaraz, is apparently hunting for a Freeborn dhomiro of the Kalamar family. The herald is cagey about the details, but apparently it has something to do with spectacles and a fugitive and the eternal Callidus.

At the moment, the whale is more a nuisance than anything else, but if it continues its surprisingly clever attacks it is not impossible that it will start to impact trade between the Empire and Faraden.

The Lesser Sadness (Conjunction)

• A group of "former" cultists have been discovered
• This skirmish is a combat possible encounter
• The Custodian of the Lost is responsible for finding out what is actually going on

The sheltered vale of Gorek's Reach is a strange place in Moresvah. Neighbouring vales often say they never recovered from "the war", or that they're not right, or that they make the hard choices a bit too easily. The vales that surround them give as many excuses as possible to not have to interact or trade with the folk of Gorek's Reach; there's just something off about them.

It is entirely possible that this state of affairs would have continued if not for the efforts of Rakhel Vitkusovna, a volhov, who journeyed to the vale and accepted the hospitality of their hearth. Rakhel, a volhov, has uncovered that a large portion of adults in the vale are "former" cultists who are struggling to come to terms with the things they have done in the past. There is no indication what kind of cult they were exactly - possibly following an eternal, a sovereign, or even a tulpa - but they are clearly trying to make up for what they have done in the past. It is the responsibility of the Custodian of the Lost, Anthemius Netherwatch, to finding out what is actually going on.

Starstrand (Conjunction)

• A steading in Broceliande is suffering a strange effect
• They are looking for Guides, Vates, matchmakers and astronomancers to help - as well as inviting any who would benefit from the services of a matchmaker to visit
• There is a combat unlikely conjunction for 50 participants to the Starstrand Steading in Boar's Dell, Broceliande at 2230 on the Friday of the Summer Solstice

Accessibility: This encounter is an opportunity to pass through the Sentinel Gate for a mixture of matchmaking, social roleplay and investigation a somewhat strange atmosphere. It is intended for both characters trying to solve the steading's problems, and characters who are interested in visiting a place that will push them towards forging new connections with fellow player characters. It will take place across an area of woods a couple of minutes walk from the Sentinel Gate, on flat ground. Further accessibility information is available from referees, egregores or members of the GOD team.

Caeden, or possibly Madoch, Starstrand has reached out the Empire about a strange effect at his steading situated almost directly on the border between Brocéliande and Semmerholm. He reports that a couple of seasons ago, the steading welcomed a visiting merrow who offered to "call down the stars" to help solve all their problems.

Since then, members of the Starstrand have found themselves overcome with an awareness that they are not "complete" and are searching for others in the steading - as well as those outside it - to help them feel whole again. This desire has become so pressing that other steading matters have been neglected in the meantime. Madoch, or possibly Caeden, asks Imperial heroes to visit the steading, investigate what is happening and resolve the issue if appropriate. He suggests seeking the help of Guides, Vates, matchmakers and astronomancers - and also indicates that those who feel in need of connection may find some solace in visiting the steading.

The Civil Service has tasked the Spear of the Seven, Corwyn Heartsbane with assembling volunteers for a conjunction to the Starstrand Steading in Boar's Dell at 2230 on the Friday of the Summer Solstice. Caden, or possibly Madoch, has requested that the group be made up of several Imperial nations - with at the very least Navarr and Dawn represented, given the location of the steading by the border of the two nations.

Touch of the Chalice

• This encounter takes place in an area with a locational roleplay effect
• Whilst in this area, you become more aware of the need to connect with others. You are drawn to finding those who may help you achieve your ambitions - and feel an increased certainty that the right people to help are close by.

This aura affects anyone exposed to it who does not have the ability to overcome it. The easiest method to overcome the effect is to receive an anointing, but particularly heroic individuals, or those in possession of certain enchantments or magic items may also be able to counteract the effect. The aura does not cause your character to feel a need to make new connections they weren't already interested in - and it is explicitly not intended to force anyone to engage with romantic roleplay. In addition, anyone who helps others to come together and use their connections to solve their problems can use the act as a source of spiritual strength for the purposes of resisting the location aura.