Covenant Log
Antiqua Natura

The possibly not fully accurate accounts of Lucius Delvander in the Year 1215 AD.
(English translation of Latin text ...)

After the vampire attack which we were able to in some way defeat due to Byron's premonition of attack but we were now left wounded and arrayed around the island in various states of wounds and fatigue.

Next we left the island for a period to deliver the old and somewhat useless mage Gregory of Jerbiton and our other adventuring mage Janus the lab rat of Bonisagus to the best care we had available, the monks at Ely. This left just me and the fairy with the blue beard, to return to the island to see what fates were yet to befall us.

So what happens next well of course we got into more trouble but were able to retrieve ourselves due to my great courage and my ability to fight unlike some others.....

We approach with probably a little trepidation the island that was proving to be slightly more troublesome than I had ever previously been informed when first contacted by Gregory, so I was unsure of what to expect this time more vampires or something worse....

We approached what we had already identified as the main hall of this covenant. We opened the main doors to the hall to find ourselves facing a hall with a walkway around the edge of the hall halfway up from the floor so we could look down upon the central hall itself. And below us we were greeted with the site of a mage who we identified as Uffius the previous leader of the Covenant sitting at a table conversing with a redcap and being waited upon by grog's. This was quite perplexing, as we knew he had been dead for many years previously, upon seeing us he invited us we should join him. Byron feeling more able to spot danger and traps went first with me following and protecting his back. As we approached we felt a demonic presence after a while we were able to show this Uffius as not being human but a demon... The hall was awash with dried blood and a body was seen upon the wall of the hall crucified the wrong way round. Then the demon attacked and we defended ourselves after a battle which lasted what felt like a short time and used what little Vis we had we left to rest a recuperate. During the investigation of the hall that followed we made a startling discovery a Hermes portal within the boundary of the covenant underneath the stage in the hall behind a trap door. It certainly required more investigation to find out where it went.

By now we had moved the still recovering Gregory to Bury a hot spot for dominion activity, to the house we rented and staffed by two local mundane peasants. We too rested till the others were over their more serious wounds and moved on towards our next attack upon the island and whatever lay in wait there, still being aware of the lack of opposition we had faced from the previous inhabitants that were still around and who were of a somewhat not solid appearance.

The party was at fullish strength if you can count any party that has Gregory anywhere near it strong. We arrived upon the island without Gregory who was still recovering. Past the hall and library and gog or magog which ever one was still standing back on its plinth and not in pieces on the ground behind us. There were six labs back here all in a semi-state of ruin we assumed that at least some of the ghosts were back here some where.....

LAB 1:
On approaching the door we could hear movement inside and we prepared for a fight, with who or what we would find out soon enough.

The door was opened and out poured three skeletons with swords, but prepared the first met a Pilum Of Fire then the next and finally the third till they were all but ashes on the ground.

A lab floor covered in bones up to our knees and not much else met our eyes, but two quite useful spells to do with tidy and order in labs were cast by our young Bonisagus mage but quite good considering they have nothing to do with fire or destruction..

All those bones were picked up and deposited in neat piles corresponding to whose they were's.

A lab began to form beyond the door. Quick investigation revealed nothing but an empty, disused bedroom on the floor above

Lab 2:
3 skeletons that appeared from inside this next room, more PoF (Pilum of Fire) and ashes were all we had left again.

Another big pile of bones littered this room and 2 more tidy spells later we had a very battered lab and neat piles of bones.

This time the room above was more interesting with a cupboard that was magically enchanted and had women's clothing and trinkets and other things that were from places we did not recognise.

Lab 3:
A new room no skeletons this time but a lab filled with strange equipment which we turned on a produced lightning, fun but dangerous but a little too much for my companions but I am intrigued....

Upstairs two things of interest, the first being a cloud that floated not more than a foot and half of the floor and was the size of a bed, obviously magical and most comfy. The second item of interest was a series of symbols on the wall which when pressed opened the roof and raised the floor up, but also nearly lost the cloud.

Lab 4:
Another door and no noise but beyond the door a figure but only a statue of a roman figure tentatively identified as a Mercury statue of Roman period and also forerunner of the order of Hermes

Otherwise a typical lab with but a Roman/Italian feel to it.

Lab 5:
Quite obviously the room of the Flambeau mage, which showed the walls all covered in ash and the remains of soldiers who must have fought here for de-Mandeville.
Upstairs more destruction but also some scroll parchment, which upon reading was an old text but also, tainted with diabolism. I destroyed it.

Lab 6:
The final lab and one which we had heard voices in chants from earlier, being somewhat overconfident we opened the door to be faced by the spirits of three mage's who stood around a pit in which their bones rested and chanted lines repeatedly as if stuck doing so.

We attacked and got beaten and retreated for the third time that season - Three ghosts are a lot harder than one, that's for sure......

Vis Hunting- A Gregory type error......

With the book describing vis locations in the localish area we see an opportunity to gather more Vis. Hickling Broad seems relatively easy, we all go taking the Scarlet Cow (our ship) down to Hickling around the east coast of Norfolk and the Wash. Two nights later and we take a small boat to the middle of a lake and wait, then Byron sees that it is a regio that is opening under the water below us. So down Byron flies leaving us all on the surface to wait for any possible trouble that he might face. As Byron finds out below that another mage is expected to turn up for the vis, Byron attempts to deal but the guardian of the regio proposes a competition between the two magi. Meanwhile on the surface a rowboat is heard approaching, I cast a quick fog to cover our movements and attempt to stall this new problem and hope Byron can return with the vis before we are discovered. After a period of time during which I attempt to stall I become somewhat annoyed and try clouds of foul smoke this is not a good idea as he becomes annoyed and attacks full force. But we remained concealed in fog and eventually I make my way to the shore where we two combat mages speak, and I explain it is a mistake on my own part and that I am alone and I didn't know this vis was anyone's I had just heard a rumour while I was passing and upon realising my mistake I had attempted to hide my actions while I made my escape. He took my words as fact and left for the centre of the lake where he found what appeared to be an empty rowboat. But being of an obviously suspiscious nature caused the boat to tip and disgorging both Janus and Gregory into the water. He became enraged again and fight ensues between us as he claimed I lied to him. I make my escape and the other two nearly drown and then nearly get killed falling into the regio, with one group member gaining twilight points. The mage from above comes down a rope from his boat and meets all the others with me left above. The proposed competition takes place and Byron loses, as everyone realises the regio is about to close a mad scramble ensues. The first up the rope is Janus followed by Gregory and the mystery mage, on the way up the flying Byron attempts to steal the vis and is successful and upon reaching the surface the rope upon which he is climbing was mysteriously released and falls back into the regio as it closes, dumping the stranger mage down there.

The Haunted Tavern.

With our speedy escape from the lake to the bar where we left the Scarlet Cow as we approach we see another boat larger than our own pulled up at the dock and make the assumption that it belongs to our trapped friend in the regio. Byron goes to get the captain of the crew with one of his fairy spells cast upon him but the spell does not work well after sun-down and he is left with a glowing aura. A local woman spots him and general panic ensues but the captain of the Scarlet Cow gets the idea and gets the boat ready for sailing. Unfortunately the other grog's have seen magic before and being suspicious over the lateness of the other magus give chase but we finally get clear.

Clearing the Conscience.

After the quick flight from the jetty we soon slowed down when they did not pursue us in their boat (we believe that they went to look for their master). We also talked about what we knew of him, the first startling revelation was that Janus knew him he was a mage from his old covenant Nigrasaxa and the place where we had just been was a vis source of the covenant and had been for some time. This was another fault that we placed upon Gregory's shoulders as he had been so tight-lipped about where we were going that Janus had no chance to warn us because he didn't know....

And the second realisation was that we would need all possible votes to become a fully recognised covenant and locking one in a regio for a year would not help our cause and he may possibly retrieved but only during the next day. (What are we to do??????) Admit stealing vis a fairly strong crime or attacking another magus, we decided to return. With a plan, the main part of this plan to wipe his memory idea and give back this vis. and hope he doesn't realise what had happened. That night tired with Gregory's idiosyncrasies and failure's at all the wrong time's. Byron casts a spell using a small piece of wood from Gregory's staff and a fire to try to learn more about him. He uncovers that all members threw Gregory out of his previous covenant, this he observes this in a vision in the fire. When confronted Gregory reveals that he was thrown out of the covenant because he invited MONK'S!!!!!!! to come and sing at the covenant and the aura was then warped...and nearly lost (The guy is obviously an idiot)

Return to the Regio...

We went overland to avoid the tavern where we assumed that the wizards grog's would still be waiting. Once the boat was in the water we looked down but there no visible regio, but eventually we found it and began our rescue operations. With a rope lowered into the regio and Byron to guide him he soon was making his way up the rope, upon reaching the surface Gregory fell into the regio. He was understandably annoyed and we laid all the blame on Gregory which he seemed more than pleased to accept especially as he was now trapped in the regio and would be till someone returned next year to collect more vis.

Return to Bury......

With Gregory gone we can begin to make ourselves useful, Byron flies to Bury using his special whistle and weak farie spells and visits the house in Bury where he begins an investigation into the affairs of Gregory and uncovers that Gregory is up to a number of things

The first is that he supports one of the factions involved in the leadership of the Abbey of St. Edmund in Bury St Edmunds.

Secondly he has invited another person to join the covenant we no nothing about him except for the fact he is foreign, more so than me and possibly a quaesitor,
third Gregory has a large amount of a lot of money in the cellar of the house and also large amounts of vis.

Additional information revealed that our staffs at the house are relatives of the sacristan of Bury. (More church people --- Honestly I think Gregory's a bit loony)
While Byron is doing this Janus and I on Scarlet cow make our way from the Vis site back towards Brandon via the wash and East Coast. We all plan to meet at Kings Lynn.

Return Journey.........

As we come into port Byron who has got there before us gives us the news.
It adds into an interesting puzzle as when we were arriving in port Janus who is on occasions a rather paranoiac Bonisagus mage cast a spell and saw we were being watched by a powerful user using a magic Spell

Who is watching us and why????

That night we stay in one of the two taverns in the town while the crew of the Scarlet Cow went to the other. As we were settling in for the night we hear a knock at the door, the captain of the Scarlet Cow Noah, is at the door telling us a tale of a strange dark man who is in the other tavern, he speaks no English but the captain feels that we should investigate as he gives of the same feeling as us other magi. Intrigued and after some note writing we are finally able to learn he is Metrodorus a Byzantine Wizard who has been tricked into coming to the covenant by Gregory, after some disappointment at realising he was lied to he agrees to accompany us on the rest of the journey and seems most anxious to run into Gregory again and bring the power of his house to bear upon him.

Back to the Covenant.........

The rest of the return journey was uneventful and yet again we came back passed Brandon and to the island. It was nearly Christmas and captain Hugh said it was going to time for their holiday break and after the new year we would have to hire out the boat again a write a new contract... With these words we left the boat and set foot on the island. We began again, but our additional magus had a useful little spell and while he dispatched two of our three remaining ghosts in quick succession but the third proved unreasonable and took a joint effort to remove him and gain access to the room.

The Covenant……

So now we had 5 graves at one end of the island and we thought we had got everything/everyone so it was time to explore. We started with the destroyed towers, after some more magic tidy spells we were able to go to the bottom of the tower that we had already decided looked a little odder than the two we reckoned were the gate towers. This one seemed to provide no purpose for being there. We went to the bottom of the tower still aware of the dark and as such vampires.

Upon reaching the bottom we looked around nothing, but with magical sight we were able to discern what appeared to be magical steps we walked up them and up and up and up and up, till we reached a ivy covered entrance which appeared to be at the top of a tower way above the earth. Another Regio had been discovered we entered and to our surprise before us was a most cultured griffin by appearance in top hat and tails. He bade us welcome, but wished to know who we were and what we were doing there, he tested us and said if we could name him he would allow us to go free and show us our stocks. We panicked but Janus, had when cleaning the main hall found a single piece of paper with a name on it. In trepidation we read the name out and it was the correct one, that is when he showed us the walk in cupboard which contains the remains of the Vis of the previous covenant. We were content to leave then but first we had something that the griffin called Tea and talked about the past fifty years that the griffin had not really missed because of his home in the cloud Regio. We left and found not much time had passed it was then we checked out the other Towers where Byron had seen the dark knight that had called himself de-Mandeville.

The Tower Crypt…
We approached the tower with some trepidation because of our last failures and near death at the hands of one, we went down together with torches lit but we nearly lost our Quaesitor when he revealed his phobia of vampires but we kept pace and eventually found the bottom and the casket Byron had seen before. Worried that there might still be a vampire in it we tied the lid shut and carried it up into the sunlight. As we tried this the weather became more overcast, a bad sign as we opened it I thought. Inside was a severe surprise it was Uffius as young as the day I had seen him in the demonic trap in the Great Hall, after questioning which lasted no longer than a second he did what we had all expected - he became the vampire and attacked then ran for it. Multiple attacks of throwing knives, PoF and other Ignem based magic weakened him and he fled for the great hall as a bat. Why we do not know why he did this but with more fire based attacks we brought him down and collected up the ashes and spread half on the wind. ( I still do not know why he attempted to get to the great hall and as I believe the Hermes Portal because that led to an even sunnier country than the one he was leaving behind)

Tower Discoveries……..
In the second tower along from the crypt we finally saw what Byron had been the only one to see so far… a number of crates and chests were scattered around the floor and within them we found second grade lab equipment and tools and finally a mirror that appeared slightly odd. Byron instantly took control of this mirror and left, while the rest of us sorted through the equipment we had.

The Thousand Pawns of Aquam…

(A king of Vis is a ******* of a lot of Vis let me tell you.)

Also discovered within the tower base our friendly Quaesitor Metrodorus discovered a Criamon Puzzle box. And because he is an inquisitive old duffer decided to open it. Upon seeing this and deciding it would be wise to retreat a safe distance, myself and Janus sped rather quickly for magi to the other side of the island. Once there we waited to see what was going to happen next. And just as we predicted a giant white bright light spilt out of the tunnel and tower as he got it open. Worried for our friends' safety, as both Byron and Metrodorus were showing no sign of coming out we, decided to blindfold ourselves and enter the base of the tower. After some falls and spills we were finally able to reach the bottom of the tower and locate our soldali's who seemed to our touch enraptured by the light. We felt around looking for the source of this light and eventually I laid a hand upon a slimy writhing mass. At this point part of the hold on my companions was broken and they managed to say "King of Aquam" which meant little at first to me. Together Janus and I were able to return the light source back to the bag and box. Eventually the told us that it was a fish and it represented over a 100 pawns of Vis in one item. On returning to the surface we also noticed that our aura had risen to six making this a very magical place but if it increased one more the tower that supported Calibans tower would become visible and could be seen from all around the countryside (not good)

Caliban Invites Himself to Dinner…
We took this rather important piece of Vis to the regio in Caliban 's domain; the magical creature that he is had already felt the disturbance the opening of the box had caused. He took the box and opened it, but in this regio it had no effect and looked at it. He made us a bargain he said that if he looked after he would require just one thing…A mate… And he said we had to have to have it by the time he came for the feast after we had raised our aegis of the hearth. (How do you find a second mythical creature of the female type in a couple of days, where do you even begin looking???????)

The Mirror…
The mirror was obviously of fey origin because once it was clean it showed some interesting representations of ourselves. Byron became a tall handsome elf, I became a picture of half demonic and half human visages and the others I can't remember about right now. This was Byron something to research at a later date, but I believe he had a name for this mirror but I do not know what it is.

The Hermes Portal…….
The Hermes portal was of great interest to me I was quite curious as to its destination and when looking at list compiled of known ones this was one that I did not know off and neither any of the others including the Quaesitor. ( Who was this covenant that could gained such interesting things and still destroy themselves it didn't add up, and the portal particularly older than the rest of buildings including the hall.) We eventually uncovered the access word and after much trying found ourselves in a hot country which between I and the Byzantine friend we worked out was somewhere in the Mediterranean further south than my beloved IBERIA but not on the moors side of the water.

The Island …
The island was a mystery to us although we knew it was in the Mediterranean, there was little that we knew about so we decided to go and investigate and possibly shop for rare items of merchandise that we could sell for profit and get for ourselves, both I and Metrodorus miss all the good food from home like olive oil and decent fish. Upon our way the group split with the others heading into town and I stayed behind to find good dry wood and guard the way out and remain near the cave and watch over our transport (the magic floating cloud). Upon their trip the others met some moors (blasted people) and found out some interesting news there was another covenant based upon the island with a second Hermes portal that probably led to we suspect Venice to be the place. Lacking time to investigate more we transported our goods back through the portal and back to the covenant.

Missing Rooms.
We began to investigate the covenant more now and after some investigation realised we must be missing rooms and a library. A conversation with Caliban we realised a wine cellar had previously existed next door to the Hermes portal, was this where we would find some missing books, the investigation began. Wanting to be careful because of the Hermes portal to its left we removed a single brick…

The Discovery of Zeppe…
Once the brick was removed we began to hear something and shortly after a small head moved through the hole to stare at us. It was a Basilisk and it claimed to be guarding part of the library as was part of her duty as a member of the covenant. We asked if we look at these books but she said "only if you bring me a saucer of the maids blood" after some time we realised she was talking about milk. So Byron flew of in search of milk. A while later he returned with a large container of the stuff. We gave it to the basilisk and the walls parted she came forward and turned into a purple cat (this place is becoming very strange) behind we saw a regio and within were but a few books and some amphora's containing scrolls written in a language we could not understand. Zeppe said she only spoke Old World languages like Greek but she couldn't read them and so now we must wonder what language they are and if they are important.

The Interesting Cattle Rustling…(Sorry Purchasing of Cow's…)

With Zeppe becoming a new member of the covenant more milk was needed and with the feast approaching to which Caliban was expected and our casting of the aegis of the hearth rapidly approaching we decided that the purchase of cows for both meat and milk would be most useful. We split into two groups Byron and myself heading out over the fens and Metrodorus accompanied by Janus heading through the Hermes Portal. Byron and I made a number of useless attempts to shrink some cows that we could then put on the cloud. In the end we gave up and drove to the nearest port at which we kinda broke the law a bit more (Don't forget cattle rustling) by stealing a boat being pursued all over the fens by some mad sailors who wanted their boat back. We got lost repeatedly but eventually managed to land the boat half way into the covenant returning with two fine cows. But what of the others you may ask, well they left through the portal and upon finding what they thought were wild cattle the charmed them into following them but were accosted by a man who asked for money. They gave him some at which point all hell broke loss as a ball of abysmal flame destroyed the top of a tree nearby. The man rang a bel and the others quickly made their way through the portal not before seeing a magus chasing after the other man who had said the cows were his when they were not, but the covenants of Rellantelli. (Our friendly Quaesitor had bought stolen cattle)

The Raising Of The Aegis…

Using our paltry amounts of Vis we started the ritual and finished it with success and could feel the field of magic around us. Then began a small celebration of cooked meats and wine and more food and more food. Then Caliban arrived and we made the introductions between him and Zeppe which was must amusing as neither believed in the existence of the other after some wild moments the two became close and started the inevitable talk about us in which they shared a bond. Caliban then ate an entire cow and got drunk and went home while we chased a fiery piece of Ignem Vis across the fens.

The Magic Tree Hunt and the Fen Ague…
It was decided that we wanted trees to surround the island upon which we hoped to eventually cast a spell to keep away people. We sent Janus and Byron off to the woods near Grimes Graves to find suitable trees that they were to shrink and bring back to island while I made the holes ready to plant them in. The others returned later thane expected and an accident the spells duration ran out at sunrise but the others were a little late in returning and the trees grew to there full height while still a little way off from the island. This caused Janus to fall in and as we found out later catch the dreaded fen ague, as he and Byron brought the trees to shore I slowly planted them all and the beginning of our forest shield was in place. Once we realised Janus had succumbed to the ague we sent for Metrodorus who using corpus Vis was able to heal the unfortunate Janus. The following day we sent Byron again to finish the job and retrieve the final few trees we needed this he did without incident and our little wood was complete.

Return to Relantelli…
It was decided after some talking that more needed to be known about the other covenant so we set off to explore. We had already discovered the positioning of the covenant on this island so we set off for there. After a long walk myself, Byron and Janus had reached the area within which the covenant rested. After making us all invisible and Byron carried us over the wall we began to investigate we saw that the wizard who had been here before had left for what we believed to Venice via a portal in their great hall. After some excitement when they believed a mundane he had seen us the entire castle, became more alert and an interesting time followed as we made our escape and were pursued towards the Hermes Portal home. Byron had been the busiest of us all he found Vis, which he had stolen, probably from the only mage we had seen at the covenant and found some old parchment. Which gave clues to a link between a covenant that had stood on the site where ours now stood and the one on island.
Under the Covenant…
While we were away the old magus Metrodorus had decided to do some digging
And after some general investigation had begun to dig a hole in the small room under the library. He discovered a set of steps leading down which he followed till he came to some doors and a long corridor. He only opened one door to find behind it a Viking ghost, it attacked but Metrodorus was able to dispel him but he was fatigued and returned to wait for our return. Upon our return he took us down to this new area of the covenant we began to investigate during which time we found two parts of what were in a way the same covenant but totally different. The first part was of the old Roman period and reckoned by the group to show particular traits generally recognised to be to do with old Mercury group the forerunner of the Hermes order. The other part was, we reasoned to do with another order called the Order of Odin who were the Hermes orders enemies and seemed to have come to the area after the mercury lot had left. We found what appeared to be a roman temple in the last but one room into which we entered full of roman statues. The last room we had realised was under Calibans tower and so intrigued we opened the door and were magically pulled inside.

Another Griffin…
To be met face to by another griffin, after some confusion and generally threat making everyone was able to calm down a little and we talked of how SHE came to be here, of the terrible accident that that had flooded the fens and sunk the old covenant of the old roman emperor's and the Vikings of Odin. Strange fish with power, of herself and ourselves. And we enquired obviously to her sex and talked of Caliban and Zeppe (She assured Zeppe cannot be real as she doesn't exist ( What is it about mythical creatures don't believe other ones can exist)) We left with a promise from Gwendyver that she would come to the surface around January but we did not when she meant.

The Odinist Maggot…
Filled by a strange curiosity we went to the room with the well and removed the plate at the bottom, because of the distance Byron flew down and came face to face with a Maggot the size of our great hall. It instantly attacked him with a powerful spray of acid which once Byron had left the tunnel and returned to the surface followed and sprayed all those who waited for Byron's return, injuring all of us to some extent.

We waited until we were healed before again attempting the dangerous trip underground, but only three went as Metrodorus went to collect Vis from all the local sources. With a modified cloak of duck feathers to protect against acid we again attempted to beat the beast which we had also discovered contained large amounts of Vis which as usual we wanted. I attacked first as it approached with perdo animal but to no affect, fire was my last option and eventually after being flattened by it and with assistance from and oil and fire wielding Byron. I was able to pilum of fire its butt till it burned. So we retrieved not only the Vis but also some silver and an interesting helmet of Norse design, which seemed to be enchanted. But both Janus and I require rest and time to heal.

Binham Priory…

The smuggler Marcus and his young companion Roger, accompanied my two soldalis, the two magi Metrodorus and Byron up the river. The aim to land them within a days travel of their destination Binham Priory. They accompanied them to provide additional help/information and backup, if needed on their strange quest. News had reached us that an Priory Abbot had been thrown out after it was revealed that he was learning black magic. Ever on the search for Vis two members of the covenant were dispatched and sent to investigate.

As we approached the Priory they met an acquaintance of ours who invited them to stay at the priory that night. Once within the walls the group split up to search the Priory while on the roof they noticed armoured knights or sergeants on hills around the valley in which the priory stood. Due to the fact that a local lord had sponsored the Prior, Thomas, of the priory, who the group was there investigating and it was known he wasn't exactly pleased it was decided to hurry the search and be gone before the army that Byron had seen arrived the following day ( It was their soldiers that everyone thought they observed upon the hills and that they were advance scouts). While the others searched the priory and kept the prior and met other monks, including the hospitallar of the priory called Johannus, who was also an old templar of the crusades before taking the vows. Byron entered the upper rooms of the prior's house and began to remove and check trunks, He found many items of Vis Including two Vis of an unknown type which he was especially interested in. At this time the others of this merry band had convinced the prior to show them the "items of black magic that were stored there" (while they were shown this they began to steal everything, Metrodorus took three copies of arts liberales containing information on philosophy and mathematics. The young companion of Marcus stole nearly everything that wasn't nailed down including silver and a chessboard plus other items of value.

Then as they were leaving the priors house they priory was attacked (Typical trust me to missing a good old battle), two armoured knights broke through the wall. Upon seeing my friends charged my soldalis but Metrodorus was able to gain control of one leaving one to be dealt with by the smuggler and thief. Other knights attempted to break through he gap made by the first two but were halted by Byron who blocked that entrance by stopping a horse and rider in it. The fight between the giant Marcus was tough and continued with Marcus being slightly wounded by the horsebound knight. Another entered the fight the Byron turned the ground within the forced entrance in to the priory into quicksand and trapping many soldiers in it a leaving only three inside the walls. A sudden attack by Marcus did something of which I have told should be impossible, he displayed a sudden burst of speed and agility, which is quite amazing as he is a very big man, he removed the knights head completely with an almighty blow and hit up to the roof of the priors house near Byron. Seeing this the other knights fled " shouting "Robert Fitzwarrene is dead", "Robert Fitzwarrenne is dead". It was at this point the attack broke and a short while later a meeting was commenced between the Hospitallar and my friends. Brother Johannus explained that there was a way out of the castle but it was dangerous as some who went down don't always come back up again. The party agreed to take the passage in return for delivering a message to King John who the monks hoped would come and save them. The tunnel led them to a skeleton and then form the distance came a serpent that asked each in turn a question, which once answered correctly allowed them to go past. Byron meanwhile had already delivered the message to the King who in an anger formed up his army for the march south west to Binham, swearing 'Either Fitzwalter is King of England or I am!'.

But he also offered us anything in his power to do, because we had helped him. Byron asked for land rights and we were given everything (fishing rights e.t.c.) For ten miles around the covenant buildings. After an uneventful return journey the entire group returned safely.