1250 Au

In the autumn of 1250 a couple of things happened.
Alessandro had read through the “Titanomachy” and told the council that the summa talked about Zeus and all the other Olympians, but didn’t go into details about them other than what they ruled over (Zeus god of thunder, Hades god of the underworld, etc.). It also talked about how Cronus learned of a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him and so he swallowed all of them. However Zeus’s mother was able to trick Cronus, spirited Zeus away and let him grow up to overthrow his father. However, Alessandro said it seemed as if the book was incomplete. It led up to Zeus growing up but it didn’t say how Zeus was going to overthrow his father and what happened after that. Alessandro thinks there is another part to this book.
(Now we as modern players know the story of the War of the Titans, but in Medieval times much of that knowledge had been lost and didn’t become known to the learnèd men of Western Europe until the fall of Constantinople. When people fled the Turks and took the documents to Italy which started the Renaissance.)

Also during the autumn of 1250, a man came to the gates of the covenant and said that he was Godwin Vismanson and he wanted to become a member of our covenant. He said he was a broker of Vis and would be a valuable asset to our covenant. The Magi came out to meet him and question him. Godwin (controlled by Nick) claimed he was a Vis broker but also was skilled in Goldsmithing, silversmithing, jewelry, and perfumes. To prove his skills in Goldsmithing he presented a summa on the subject and with a cursory read through Alessandro confirmed that the information in the summa was legit. However, he noted that the name of the author “Godwin Vismanson” seemed slightly out of place on the page as if it had been written in later.
The Magi told Godwin that if he wanted to be a member of our covenant he would have to answer the three Rubiton questions and that magic would be cast upon him during the questioning. He said he was fine with that, so we performed the three questions and he passed every one of them.
However, the council still had to decide if they wanted him to become a member.
We had Godwin wait just outside the council room and seeing as Simeon had had the most dealings with him we asked him what he knew about Vismanson.
(Now we as players knew what “Godwin Vismanson” really was, a man that Simeon had convinced to play the part of Godwin Vismanson but the Magi didn’t know it for certain hence the questioning of his character)
Simeon said that he had had a few dealings with him in the past and that he was very good at brokering Vis. When we asked Simeon how he obtained his Vis, Simeon hemmed and hawed “It would be rude to ask a merchant for his sources” and “what does it matter? He is a valuable person who wants to work for us.”
However, Silvanius wasn’t going to let it go, because if Vismanson was getting his Vis by poaching it from Vis sources that other Magi had already claimed (even if Vismanson didn’t know it was a registered vis source) it would bring huge legal troubles down on the covenant or possible attacks from other Magion the covenant or Vismanson himself. (By this point the Magi were shouting enough that Vismanson could hear it out in the hallway. He entered the room, walked up to the table next to Simeon, set down the case which held his Vis and pulled out a bag of coins set it on the table and fearfully told Simeon that he didn’t want to do this anymore and he wanted to go home. Silvanius told Godwin that he couldn’t go home because he had agreed to become a member of our covenant, and that until the council had resolved this matter he was to go and wait out in the hallway.
Simeon questioned if Vismanson obtained his Vis through trade and not poaching them why should we care. To which Silvanius pointed out that the Order of Hermes already had vis brokers, the Redcaps, and they wouldn’t like it if someone outside the Order moved in on their business (I.E.the Redcaps being a kind of Magical Mafia) and the Redcaps would also be unhappy with our covenant if we housed a non-Redcap Vis broker. With that statement Lucca suddenly became a lot more interested how Vismanson got his Vis (Lorenzo, our Redcap Vis broker companion wasn’t at the meeting to voice his concerns).
A series of arguments went back and forth about perhaps having Vismanson becoming a member of the covenant, giving up his Vis sources, and Lorenzo taking him on as an apprentice to become a Redcap.
Simeon argued against this because Vismanson was a man already in his Prime and to have him use up 15 years of his life to become a Redcap was a waste of his talents.
This devolved into an argument between Silvanius and Simeon about Magic and mundanes, with Simeon saying that Silvanius spends so much time with magic that he couldn’t get anything done without it. To which, Silvanius called on one of the Grogs to fetch Voop (our physician/poisoner). When Voop arrived Silvanius told him that he was a valued member of our covenant and we had been remiss in not letting him use his poisoning talents. Silvanius asked Voop to, through painless means, poison and kill Vismanson, as he was a threat to our covenant.
Voop left the room and a few seconds later through the open door we heard the sharp exhale of a blowgun being used and a loud thump like a body hitting the floor.
Voop leaned back into the room and let us know Vismanson was dead.
Upon hearing this Silvanius turned to Simeon and said “and I did all of that without using any magic!”
This caused Simeon to write a note to Silvanius at the council table (which Nick did IRL) and passed it to Silvanius. Now only Silvanius and Simeon know what was written on that letter, but Silvanius after reading the letter said” why wait? Let’s have the Certamen right now!”
So Simeon and Silvanius performed Certamen with the prize being if Simeon won Silvanius would have to, without using magic, teach someone of Simeon’s choosing an effective life skill up to a workable level (I.E. about level 3)
If Silvanius won then for the next two years (1251-1253) Simeon would not be allowed to do anything as a Count and would have to rule through a proxy (his wife).
Both agreed to these terms and Silvanius ended up winning the match. This ended Autumn of 1250. (The arguments about Vismanson and the Certamen took about an hour and a half to complete)

As a hook for next week, at the winter of 1250 Queen Mab knocked on the front door to Simeon’s Manor House and asked to be allowed in to speak with Simeon. The doorman Julianos awestruck by her beauty and regal bearing invited her in and sent the footman Forbplay (yes that is spelled correctly) to find Simeon.
Forbplay found Simeon and told him that Queen Mab was here to speak to him. Simeon immediately used his radio conch shell to inform Lucca that Queen Mab was in his Manor House. Lucca let Simeon know he was on his way, and then Lucca warped to the covenant barracks and told the 5 Grogs there to get their armor and weapons and get over to Simeon’s Manor House. He then warped to the Manor House.
Simeon, Leticia, and Lucca walked into the sitting room that Julianos had led Mab into.
Mab turned to them and said that she had arrive to take Grace with her.
Simeon and Leticia told her they weren’t going to let her take Grace, to which Mab simply said “one”.
She then looked at them with a puzzled look on her face and then with a realization said “Ah I see she didn’t told you. Well, It doesn’t matter. Grace made a deal with me and now it is time for me to collect it.”
Leticia “But she’s just a child! She can’t make decisions like that on her own. It doesn’t count!”
Mab” Two. Child or woman it doesn’t matter. I did not harm or coerce her in any way. She chose the deal willingly. A deal was made, when Belgen stole all the children of Punta Rossa I came to Grace and offered her a deal that I would give the people of the covenant a way to rescue her brother and the children of Punta Rossa from Belgen. I even sweetened the pot by telling her that I would tell the people of your covenant the secret to destroying Belgen. A secret I see you have thus far ignored.
A deal was met, I showed the way to find the children of Punta Rossa and I told your covenant the secret to destroy Belgen.
I told Grace the price of this deal was that she would become the Lady of the Winter court and would be taken every winter to be trained to fulfill that role. A deal was made, a deal was met, and so the deal shall be kept.”
Simeon “Rhyming doesn’t mean that we are suddenly going to do what you say. Grace is not yours-“
“And that’s three.” Interrupted Mab.

Simeon” Oh yes we can all count numbers. I’m about to count-“

Mab interrupted again” Three times you have denied me. Three times you have delayed me. And now Grace is being hurt because of your delays. The power of the Winter Court has begun entering her body. If she is not trained how to control it, the power will only grow and it will kill her slowly and painfully.
Not this winter, or even the next few winters, but she will always be in pain, unless she comes with me and learns to control it. She will be returned to you each spring.”
After Mab finished saying this the group did a awareness roll and Leticia could just barely hear Grace crying out in the Gardens of the Manor House.
And we ended the session right there.