Queen & Country

Reports concerning the death of the Queen and the recovery of the Pendragon Throne.

Archaeological Discoveries

The purpose of this mission was to discover what was occurring at Glastonbury with regard to reported Imperial activities. It was believed that the Empire were carrying out archaeological excavations at a place heavily linked with stories of Arthur and his knights and it was felt that any information or artifacts relating to those times could not be allowed to fall into Empire hands.

On arrival we found a pavilion erected by the Imperial archaeologists in front of an ancient tomb. There were no Imperials in sight however, only a death knight (Sir Owain) and accompanying undead. The undead challenged us and we were forced to destroy them; fortunately King Stephen's dagger was available and many were lain to rest.

Inside the pavilion we found a diary which had been kept by the dig supervisor. This trailed off in a convincing way suggesting that they had opened the tomb behind the pavilion and the death knight and his companions had destroyed them. However, it was clear that some may have escaped and could even now be fetching reinforcements, so time was of the essence.

The Tombs

There were eight ancient tombs in the vicinity. I will try to list them all here in the order in which we opened them, along with everything we know about them. This follows discussions with Lord Percival which led to the theory that each of the tombs ties in to one of the sets of opposites (Air, Earth, Law, Chaos, Illusion, Reality, Knowledge and Spirit) which featured on the puzzle; and that each of the seven of Arthur's knights who were interred within them can be tied to a house associated with one of the seven tribes of Albion. Thus some of this information is hypothetical in nature for which I apologise.

Sir Ector (House Ursa (Bear), Spirit)
This was the first tomb we found, which had already been opened by the empire, releasing Sir Owain who was Sir Ector's brother. There are two Sir Ectors in legends of Arthur, but the only one I believe would fit the age of the other knights present is the Sir Ector who was Arthur's foster father.

Sir Titus (House Hroc (Raven), Reality)
While we were attempting to open Sir Sextus' tomb, we heard sounds of fighting and discovered a death knight fighting off several hauntings. This knight was Sir Titus. He happily cooperated with us when we explained who we were. He had trained Galahad. He was not happy with his present condition and agreed to be lain to rest after he had assisted with the opening of two more tombs. Within his tomb were some Shards and a mirror which did not show one's face.

Sir Sextus (Hawk, Air)
The riddle which enabled Sextus' tomb to be opened related heavily to air and to either disease or poison. I believe it was shortly after wriggling in to this tomb that Lady Glycell was found to be radiating poison in quite a serious fashion and had to be quarantined for some time. Fortunately she herself was immune to the ill-effects. Sextus was also a death knight but it seems that he was profoundly deaf and it was very difficult to reason with him. He also made a few random attacks on people and eventually he had to be destroyed. He kept enquiring about his son - Tristan or Tristram, it was not clear which. If he was saying Tristan he can only have meant the father of the current Earl of Exeter - but we think he was not a Hroc and Sir Percival believes that Sir Titus claimed his own name was Hroc.

Sir Gawain (Earth, Stag)
This tomb was a little further on from Sextus' and contained a clay golem which proved very difficult to kill so that it had to be fought and distracted while people went into the tomb and retrieved what was inside. I didn't really see much of what went on due to the fight and need for healing.

Sir Marcus (House Canis (Dog), Knowledge)
This tomb contained a knight, a banshee and another undead creature. Of these the banshee proved the most difficult to destroy. The tomb itself brought Lord Percival a massive amount of grief when he went near it, evoking a dreamlike state in which he saw the faces of many long gone and felt once more all the pain of their passing. He did not recover from this state until we left the clearing. Lady Glycell passed on a letter which had been found in the tomb revealing that it had been Percival himself who had sealed up that tomb, which may explain his reaction.

The Betrayer (Jay, Chaos)
This tomb contained only what Lord Percival himself described as “a giant candle made of ogre nose drippings”. Strange and random things happened when people were inside the tomb and when they attempted to touch the candle/snot they were teleported out to a random nearby location. The tomb was eventually “solved” by sending in a person sworn to law - in this case Lord Alexander Hulce. I believe this tomb may have belonged to Arthur's betrayer as there was no evidence of an actual burial and also because it is fitting that he should lie opposite to Arthur (chaos as opposed to law).

Sir Bedivere (Salmon, Illusion)
I was working on the puzzle at the time this tomb was opened so I did not see much of its opening. I know that a recipe for a potion requiring … was found and that this potion was made. When the tomb was opened an invisible creature attacked those in the vicinity and only by drinking the potion could individuals see the creature.

King Arthur's family tomb (all tribes, Law)
This was the last tomb to be opened. It required the completion of a puzzle (more on that below). Arthur himself of course was not interred here, but it was the resting place of his throne. It was decided to summon the giant, Gogmagog, who took the top off the tomb so that the throne could be retrieved and we carried it with us. On entering the tomb however, Dierdre Karlennon received a vision which told of chaos in Winchester and the prince being kidnapped, so we left post haste to return via Mad Bill's device to Stretton where we could use the ritual circle to return to Winchester.

The Riddles

I believe most of the tombs required a riddle answered as part of their opening. The riddles were written in old Albione and were kindly translated by Lady Angharad of the Bards Guild and Lady Katerina. Many people assisted in not only the translation but also the solving of the riddles, including Captain Eclipse of the Company of the Blackened Staff, High Mage Jasmine Daisybreeze, High Ritualist Lady Glycell and v'Ar.

The Puzzle

Many of the tombs contained pieces of a puzzle. The puzzle consisted of a board with nine squares drawn on it, and nine square pieces each of which bore a word on each side. The words themselves were written in old Albione but were translated to reveal four opposing pairs: earth and air, chaos and law, reality and illusion, and knowledge and spirit. The puzzle was required for the opening of the last tomb and was completed on Sunday afternoon, more or less as Imperial troops marched into the area. Lord Cawd Henrikksen, Eborus, myself, Celador, v'Ar and Bleys Karlennon were amongst those who worked on the puzzle though I am unsure who finally completed it.

Imperial Relations

On Saturday morning a group leaving the pavilion on a mission came across a force of Imperial troops including two Dragon Knights and at least one Lion Knight disguised as a ranger. A cry went up and more Harts quickly arrived. I didn't see exactly what happened but I believe Thomas Rowthall went down and Lord Alexander Hulce and Marcellus went to assist him; unfortunately they were cut off from the rest of the Harts who were driven back by the Dragon Knights and Lord Hulce and Marcellus were retained by the Imperials as hostages, on the agreement that the Harts would not interfere with the tombs.

A parley followed on Saturday night with Lord Hulce, Marcellus and Lady Prudence de Gales present. Shouts were heard inside the pavilion and the Imperial guards quickly sealed the entrance; some minutes later, the Harts still immobilised, the Empire troops left.

I later learnt from Lady Prudence that the Imperials had demanded everything we had taken from the tombs, specifically the puzzle pieces. Lord Hulce had denied that we had anything, for which the Imperials had cut him down. Fortunately we got to both his Lordship and Marcellus in time to heal them.

Joseph Henroth was by now pushing for us to follow the Imperials and attack their camp. The majority of the Harts were behind him and Lord Hulce was, I think, only too pleased to lead us to them. The battle swung both ways but the tide was turned by Lord Percival's summoning of a group of spriggans who attacked the Imperial flank.

Unfortunately I believe Calligar may have misunderstood slightly as it seems he was ordering the Spriggans (and indirectly his Lordship) to wipe all traces of civilisation from the field. Cuthbert took the decision to subdue Lord Percival and we began to evacuate the wounded with everyone following after.

The Empire troops present, in my opinion, did not act honourably in attacking Lord Hulce. However, they did not seem up to the usual standard of Imperial troops - the Dragon and Lion knights notwithstanding - and it is possible that they were largely diggers or local recruits.

We were very aware of the promised presence of two Imperial cohorts by Sunday afternoon, and we therefore hurried on and fortunately managed not to be caught by them.

Calligar and the Enchantment of Albion

During the course of the weekend there were several missions which uncovered small enchantments. These included a bear which appeared enormous and which attacked Harts, but when slain became the size of a normal bear, a knight who challenged all who wished to pass and which when slain became a young girl, and a group of lizard men who, again when slain, became dead newts. Lord Percival was present at the first two missions and he went berserk in the face of the enchantments, slaying both the bear and the knight. In the first case he could actually see through the enchantment to what lay beneath. In all three cases it seems a small amount of magic drained away when the enchantments were ended, and in the first two cases it went straight into Lord Percival himself.

This seems to relate to the dream which Lord William Hulce had at Oathsnight, with the three figures on the hill, the last one being the Green Man who could not be put down by the Empire when they came, so they took some of his power and bound him with it, sending him to sleep. Each time we destroyed a piece of the enchantment, some power flowed back to the Green Man.

The implication from all this is that what we know as the enchantment of Albion was in fact created by the Empire in order to keep the Green Man down after they had defeated Nethras and Taranis, Albion's native ancestors.

The Temple of the Architect

I understand that part of the deal the local people had with the Imperial troops concerned the rebuilding of the Temple of the Architect in the area. We had some dealings with the Temple as the second in command there, a priestess named Invicta, wished to depose the Abbot and we were asked to arbitrate the dispute. A trial was held which Lady Prudence oversaw but I believe not enough evidence was available in the first instance to depose the Abbot. However on Saturday night one of the local people came to the camp and brought further evidence.

It was discovered that the Abbot, amongst other things, had been creating Grolloch demons and this explained those we had met in the tunnels when we first came through the other side of Mad Bill's device. I believe the Abbot fled, but Lord Cawd ordered the local rangers to follow him with extreme prejudice as it was clear he was a very bad man.

	We went to Glastonbury. We discovered the creator of the grollochs though we have not captured him yet as far I am aware. We defeated the vast enchantment placed on the eight barrows by Floris Merlin (we think) and recovered the artefacts that the Imperials were trying to gather. They included the Pendragon throne. We also did a lot of Harts and mind work, most of which seemed to be enchantment of Albion related. We escaped from Glastonbury before the two cohorts arrived to butcher us. On return to Stretton we recieved orders to proceed to Winchester with all haste. Prince Edward had been kidnapped by Imperial agents during a mass jail breakout in Winchester. He was recovered by Harts and is safe. Her majesty, when she only had a small personal guard and the household, was ambushed by what appeared to be several Lion Knights, a number of 8th legion troops, a dragon knight and several imperial mages. She ordered me from her defence to get aid. We were unable to reach her in time. Her majesty, along with Jac, Jasper, Jonathan and Brogar all were killed. Parlay was called with the Imperial troops for an exchange of wounded during which it was negotiated that both sides would leave the field with the dead and wounded once the empire were aware of the death of her majesty. However there were some inconsistencies in the imperial force. One of their main combatants was a werewolf and I noticed that they had elves amongst their ranks - something previously unheard of. Their high mage transported them all to the void, also unusual for the empire. There are other minor things too that may need our attention. I am sorry this is so brief but I am merely trying to get as much vital information across as possible at this time. Sir Percival de Gales, Baron Londinium Royal Seneschal