Malatesta 970907

2nd Story: Tribunals and Tribulations, (Played Septemper 7, 1997)
The Roman Tribunal will soon have a meeting of the covenants. The Malatesta Covenant will decide whether to attend. Local nobles have resumed their war with the Duchy of Spoleto. The Church is investigating the nature of the demonic beast in Monte Cucco.
Adventure Background, Adventure Outline
Players: Not played yet
Summaries: 970907.Chelette

Adventure Background

None

Adventure Outline

None Yet

970907.Chelette

The Characters: Guido the Twilight Visionary (Joe), Chiccolina of Faerie (Kara), The Nameless Redcap and Wife (Ray), Vipera the Snakeman (Scott), Tycho "silver nose" Brahe (Scott/companion)

Out of the blue, a grog arrives at the townhouse with a letter from Lupus Magnifico, the Werewolf Magi from the last adventure. They know we have their books and they want them back. Guido is currently studying one of the tomes and has no interest in giving it back. We stall the grog until it is time to leave for the meeting of the Covenants of the Roman Tribunal.

The players journey to Rome. Our objective is to establish ourselves as a recognized Covenant. When we arrive, we find that all eight remaining members of Lupus Magnifico are also at the tribunal. They also want to become a recognized Covenant and are accusing us of stealing their library. We make counter accusations of Diabolic influence and attacking a Magus (Ray the Redcap). To complicate matters, the Varian's Tomb Covenant is opposing the recognition of both new covenants. They claim rights to the Papal States and all of the Vis sources within.

Shortly after arriving, Chiccolina tells one of her Faerie related contacts about the fire demon we saw under the mountain. Somehow her story is completely misunderstood and she is advised to leave the tribunal ASAP. Sensing trouble, she returns to our townhouse.

We meet with a repersentative of Lupus Magnifico. They are amking formal charges against us and they want their library returned. Vipera suggests that the conflict be resolved with a trial by Certamen. The winning covenant would be vindicated and the other shamed. The werewolves decline and continue hard negotiations. Wisely, our redcap is able to talk sense to both sides. If we fight, Varian's Tomb will surely prevail in having us both banished from the Papal States. If we work together, we may both become recognized covenants and even benefit from mutual cooperation. In the end, we agree to work together and have a library loan program.

When the tribunal considers the issues, the Maletesta and Lupo Magnifico groups drop the charges against each other and agree to peacefully coexist. However, Varian's tomb still wants us out and makse a claim on the Vis sources. The other covenants don't want to have any new covenants causing trouble, but also don't want Varian's Tomb to get any more powerful. To strike the balance, the Tribunal puts Maletesta and lupo magnifico on probationary status.

Vipera, true to his House Tytalus status, is still ready for confilct. He challenges one of the Werewolves to Certamen to establish a dominance relationship between the two covenants. The Werewolf accepts, but is unwilling to offer fair stakes. He offers a year's supply of Vis, but Vipera is unwilling to wager his 8 income versus only 1 for his opponent. They agree to have no stakes and commence the ritual of Certamen. In the first two rounds, the wolf has the advantage and it looks as if Vipera will loose. About to strike the blow to render Vipera unconscious, the wolf suddenly looses control of the magical energy and is swept into Twilight. Vipera, unwilling to break off the combat attempts to follow but returns to the mundane world. The werewolf is never seen again and Lupo Magnifico is reduced to seven members.

As we return from Rome, word comes that the Pope himself is coming to Monte Cucco to deal with the fire demon. Sensing peril, the members of Lupo Magnifico ask for sanctuary in our townhouse. Wanting to keep them out of trouble, we agree. A few days later, our patron orders all of the Maletesta Magi to attend a meal with him. He questions us about the Demonic encounter, but we have no information to add to the report prepared by Giovanni. As we are sitting there, a middle aged church official and his entourage arrive. The Archbishop wants to personally question Baron Alfilo about the demon. The Baron has no new information and gives him Giovanni's report. After reading the report, the Archbishop and his followers leave town and are not seen again. We did not know who the archbishop was, but Giovanni tells us that is is none other than the Pope himself. We didn't recognize him since the Pope is a man in his early thirties. The encounter with the demon has aged him some twenty years.

When we return to investigate the demon's lair, all diabolic traces are gone. In the journey back we take a turn and end up in Faerie. Guido is anxious to get back to his studies and wants to leave right away. He turns around to go back to the mundane world and walks right into his own adventure. Instead of making it back to the world, he ends up in wizards twilight and has trouble getting out. He tries multiple spells and enigmatic wisdom and has twilight experiences, but is unable to get back home. Finally, he ends up in the Faerie Castle of Monte Cucco. There he meets the master of the castle who is not happy to have an uninvited guest. Guido explained that he is tresspassing by accident, but the master is unimpressed. He agrees to let Guido go only if he performs a favor. Guido agrees and sets off to recover a small bottle object from a magus in twilight. When Guido arrives, the magus is entranced and ignores him. It would be easy to snatch the bottle and run if there were not several other maguses sitting around talking about twilight. Guido talks to them for a while and finally decides to make a run for it. The other maguses cast spells at him, but cannot follow him out of twilight. Guido returns and gives the bottle to the master of the castle. The powerful Faerie then pulls out and destroys the stopper. We learn later that he is a Djinn and was once imprisoned in the bottle. With the enchantment destroyed, Guido returns home with the gem encrusted bottle. Fortunately, the adventure took far less time in the mundane world and he is able to continue his studies without loosing a season.

Meanwhile, Chiccolina, the Redcap and Tycho Brahe have wandered through Faerie to the dungeon of the same Faerie Castle. We meet the master and stay for a while. Chiccolina explores the mysteries of faerie while a faerie princess somehow falls in love with Tycho. When the princess becomes pregnant and it is obvious that the master of the house is not the father, we are all asked to leave. He shows us to the front door, which inconveniently opens somewhere in Palestine. Chiccolina does some fast talking and gets permission to go back out through the basement to Italy.

Tycho Brahe, sensing the opportunity to pick up new skills, goes out the front and ends up in the middle of a vast desert. Fortunately, he is able to use his minimal survival skills to make it to a small oaisis and trade a backpack full of salt for a camel. He travels around staying for a while at the home of a merchant and skirting around a large Arab army set up in front of an unknown city. Eventually he makes to the camp of Richard the Lionhearted. His information on the Arab army is of great interest to the Crusaders. Unfortunately, he places the Arab troops several hundred miles away from their actual position. As a result, Richard arrives too late to lift the siege of Jerusalem. By that time, Tycho has arranged passage on a ship and is on his way back to Italy.

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