Bayonne

Rebuilt in the mid-tenth century by Basques and Viking settlers, Bayonne is a major shipbuilding port and whaling center in Aquitaine. Construction of its great cathedral of St. Mary of Bayonne began in 1213 and still continues, while the completed crypts now house the relics of the city's patron saint, Leon de Carentan, beheaded

"At first I thought it no different from other cats, perhaps oddly colored, but the creature has a definite taste for food and a vindictive nature. The gold was useful, I admit, but I can do without the temper of such a damnable, cruel beast."

—From the Journal of Acumenis Ex Miscellanea

Magic Might: 15 (Animal)

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre –2, Com –4, Str –7, Sta 0, Dex +3, Qik +4

Size: –3

Season: Summer

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal; Luck, Perfect Balance, Puissant Awareness, Sharp Ears, Unaffected by the Gift; Magic Friend, Nocturnal, Proud, Tainted with Evil, Vow (serve the individual who first feeds it food until the person dies or releases it from service)

Magic Qualities and Inferiorities: Ritual Power (Quid Pro Quo) x2; Improved Abilities, Improved Power (Quid Pro Quo), Improved Recovery, Improved Soak, Lesser Power (Wages of Greed), Minor Virtue (Shapeshifter), Minor Virtue (Tough); Susceptible to Deprivation

Qualities: Ambush Predator, Crafty, Good

Jumper, Skilled Climber, Thick Fur Personality Traits: Cat +3*, Curious +4, Cruel +3, Deceptive +3, Vindictive +3, Independent +2

Reputations: Evil 3 (local), Strange and double-edged creatures 2 (regional)

Combat:

Claws: Init +3, Attack +10, Defense +12, Damage -5

Teeth: Init +4, Attack +10, Defense +9, Damage -6

Soak: +6

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–2), –3 (3–4), –5 (5–6), Incapacitated (7–8), Dead (9+) Abilities: Area Lore: Local 2 (villages),

Athletics 3 (chase), Awareness 4+2 (humans), Brawl 4 (claws), Guile 2 (playing dead), Hunt 4 (birds), Occitan 4 (conversational), Shapeshifter 4 (human), Stealth 5 (remaining unseen), Survival 3 (home)

Powers:

Quid Pro Quo, 1 points, Init –10, Terram.

This power creates a cache of gold coins worth approximately 20 Mythic Pounds. The matagot creates this horde in a hidden place, such as under a house or in a foundation, but prefers an isolated location. It parcels out the coins when its adopted family acts appropriately, as determined by the matagot. The coins resemble a local coin, if the matagot has one, but otherwise have a strange, unidentifiable design. CrTe 35 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind (Base 15, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 finesse): Ritual Power (35 levels, -3 reduced cost; Note that this power reduces the matagot's Might Score until it either spends a season in a Magic Aura of 3, or consumes 15 pawns of Animal vis), Improved Power (-3 reduced cost)

Wages of Greed, 5 points, Init –6, Corpus

The matagot often reserves this power for those who refuse to release it. This power causes miserable pain which hampers them from regular activities without actually injuring them. PeCo 25 R: Voice, D: Sun, T: Ind (Base 5, +2 Voice, +2 Sun): Lesser Power (25 levels)

Vis: There are three pawns of Animal vis in the Matagot's tail.

Appearance: A large, dark calico cat flecked with gold, but with tufted ears and dark eyes with a vicious look. Note that the matagot is a specific sort of magical creature, and not a magic cat lineage.

The Sorginak know of the Lou Carcolh (see opposite page) which lives the hills near Bayonne, at the edge of the mountains, and they avoid the creature. It does not seem to roam too far from its cavern lair and attacks mostly pilgrims when it does. This steady stream of easy meals might be enough to placate the creature for now, but the witches are aware of the threat and closely monitor the situation. Occasionally, troublesome knights, interfering magi, or foolish bandits are led to the cave by one of the folk witches, both to supplement the monstrous beast's appetite and to eliminate problems. It just so happens the characters have arrived asking too many questions… questions with answers held in the Lou Carcolh's cave.

by Vikings in the ninth century. The incomplete cathedral has a Divine aura of 2, which rises to 3 on the saint's feast day of March 1st.

Bayonne gained a charter from King John in 1215, granting it a mayor, jurors, councilors, and advisors. This freed it from feudal obligations to the count of Labourd. The count has lived about ten miles east, in Ustaritz, ever since Richard the Lionhearted crushed the local lords in 1177 for participating in a rebellion against King Henry and then remained to occupy Bayonne until 1199.

Regardless of who ruled them, the Basque people have lived in this region since before the Romans arrived. Their traditions and culture form the very core and personality of the land. They are expert whalers and capable warriors, and even have a population of roughly fifteen folk witches, or Sorginak (singular: "sorgina," See Chapter 6: Pyrenees) scattered amongst the various villages and townships of Gascony, and the Basque Country of the Pyrenees.

Although far more mundane than the coven of folk witches, the whalers of Bayonne are also a sophisticated and wellorganized community. Excellent shipbuilders and sailors, they watch the coastal waters from high towers, called "vigias," and launch a flotilla of small boats into the water at the first signs of local whales, or "sarda." Then, armed with harpoons and throwing spears, they pursue the animals. After driving one to the shallows, they harvest it for meat and natural products. They have honed this deadly craft for nearly 200 years, and are considered second to none. The bones of Whales of Virtue hold Animal vis, while the baleen (a long series of thin plates in the whale's mouth) contains Aquam vis.

It was a vast creature, lumbering and vicious. Oblivious to us as we hid, its head was like a dragon with a beard of tentacles, a mouth of sword-like fangs. Its neck became that of a snail and its body disappeared within an enormous shell. It left a trail of thick slime in its wake, rolling over the broken wagons as if they were nothing. The mule, however, was not so fortunate, and its cries were quickly silenced after the tentacles shot forth and pulled it bleating into that ravenous maw. I can only hope

— From the Journal of Acumenis, Ex Miscellanea

Magic Might: 25 (An)

the monster wasn't an immature beast.

Characteristics: Cun 0, Per 0, Pre –2, Com –5, Str +10, Sta +7, Dex +1, Qik –3

Size: +5

Season: Summer

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal, Magical Monster; Greater Immunity (Deprivation); Ferocity (trying to eat people), Homing Instinct (cavern home), Improved Characteristics, Puissant Brawl, Tough; Mute, No Hands; Compulsion (eat people)

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities: Greater Power (Grasping Tentacles), Greater Power (Viscous Travel), Improved Defense (tentacle), Improved Initative (x2, tentacle), Improved Stamina (x2), Improved Might (x5), Improved Power (x3, Grasping Tentacles) Improved Soak, Lesser Power (Sense the Quivering Prey)

Personality Traits: Lou Carcolh +3, Rav-

enous +2, Uncaring +2

Reputations: The Terrible Monster which Eats Travelers 4 (Local Area); Strange Beast of Legend 2 (Local)

Combat:

Fangs: Init -3, Attack +12, Defense +6, Damage +15

Tentacle: Init +3, Attack +14, Defense +11, Damage +14

Grapple: Init -3, Attack +8, Defense +4, Damage n/a

Soak: +11

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–10), –3 (11–20), –5 (21–30), Incapacitated (31–40), Dead (41+)

Abilities: Area Lore: Local Region 3 (trade routes), Athletics 4 (moving), Awareness 5 (humans), Brawl 5+2 (tentacle), Concentration 2 (Sense the Quivering Prey), Hunt 3 (people), Penetration 3 (Grasping Tentacles), Stealth 4 (remaining unseen), Survival 4 (finding prey)

Natural Weapons:

Fangs: (Init 0, Atk +4, Def +2, Dmg +5) Tentacle: (Init 0, Atk +5, Def +3, Dmg +4) Powers:

Viscous Travel, 2 points, Init –6, Animal. The lou carcolh slithers over any terrain, unhindered by brambles, debris or any other rubble of lesser size than itself. ReAn 30 R: Per, D: Conc, T: Ind (Base 15, +1 Conc, +2 size): Greater Power (30 levels; +5xp Concentration, +10xp Penetration, –1 might cost)

Grasping Tentacles, 2 points, Init +2, Animal. The lou carcolh has the ability to extrude its many tentacles to attack up to 100 paces away. Each tentacle requires another invocation of this power. The lou carcolh suffers no penalties to attacks made at this distance. MuAn 45 R: Pers, D: Diam, T: Part (Base 25, +1 Diameter, +1 Part, +2 size): Greater Power (45 MuAn; +5xp Penetration), Improved Powers, (+10 initiative, reduce Might cost -3, +10xp Concentration)

Sense the Quivering Prey, 2 points, Init –4, Imaginem. The lou carcolh can sense the presence of creatures by "feeling" the boundaries of the air with its tentacles. This doesn't permit fine discriminations, and cannot discern between live and dead bodies. InIm 10 R: Per, D: Conc, T: Touch (Base 4, +1 Conc, +1 Touch): Lesser Power (10 levels; +15xp Penetration)

Equipment: None Encumbrance: 0 (0)

Vis: There are five pawns of Animal vis in the lou carcolh's tentacles

Appearance: This strange creature appears to be an enormous, dragon-headed snail, with a beard of nearly a score of tentacles extending implausibly far to grasp prey and pull it toward a maw filled with forearm-sized teeth. A thick shell covered in lumps the size of a man's head forms its carapace, while its pebbly hide easily turns most weapons.

Just outside Mimizan is the residence of Dama of Merinita, the current Praeco of the Tribunal. On the swampy coast on the north side of the lake there is a squat building about three stories high, which the Redcaps call Mimizan covenant, though at Tribunal it is technically considered part of Castra Solis. It was founded in the century following the Schism War by the Praeco and she has maintained it ever since. It is located near the ruins of a Gaulish shrine where ancient priests performed many sacrifices. The site is also very near Dama's birthplace. After her apprentice achieved her Gauntlet and fled Oleron (where they were living at the time, see The Lion & The Lily), Dama investigated the site while looking for a suitable familiar. She discovered Maju and decided the location would make an excellent covenant. After an extensive discourse with the faerie, they came to a mutual agreement and she later bound it to her using the special spell known to her house (Faerie Chains of the Familiar Slave, Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 90). Under Maju's counsel she has become more paranoid, more secretive, and more ambitious, and does not like visitors, setting up her covenant to keep most people out.

The highest level of the tower is taken up with Dama's living quarters and laboratory, the second is divided into guest quarters for those who come to see her, and the first is where her servants live and work. The solid block of stone forming the tower includes a basement, but this lowest level is rarely used for anything besides storage.

The site has a moderate Faerie aura of 4, centered on a muddy black rock almost entirely buried at the lake's edge. Besides a surprisingly powerful Aegis of the Hearth (Level 50, cast using Wizard's Communion and a casting tablet), the site is also protected from curious visitors with a Rego Mentem spell causing anyone without Magic Resistance who steps on the game trail surrounding the site and leading out to the main road to experience a terrifying vision and an irresistible compulsion to flee. For this reason, most of the locals fear the marsh and refuse to go down the small trail leading to it; many ghost stories circulate about the creatures living down that trail. The wild coast and other marshy lands surrounding her tower often have pockets of Faerie aura.

There is a copse of scrub trees inland from Mimizan covenant, on the northern side of the lake, where twelve members of the Basque folk witch community and some Ex Miscellanea members of the Order of Hermes meet every year to help Dama and discuss their machinations in the coming months. This area has a Faerie aura of 3. Dama leads these gatherings, initiating many into the mysteries of the Maters and Matrones cult (see Chapter 3: Hermetic Culture, Cults & Factions of Provence). Almost all of them view her as a granddame worthy of great respect, and a few revere her as a saint. One, Rebecca, a folk witch sorgina member of the Order, lives with Dama at her tower.

Dama and Rebecca are the only residents of Mimizan.

Dama of Merinita

Born in 993, Dama's early memories are a jumble of fragments shattered by Twilight. Perhaps she was the daughter of a Basque folk witch and one of Gascony's invading Vikings. Her mater was a Greek Merinita (and former Witch of Thessaly) trained as a Hoplite at Val-Negra and Castra Solis, and specialized in the symbolic and sympathetic mysteries of her House. At turn of the millennium, in 1001, just before the Schism War's outbreak, Dama became her apprentice and the pair hid as guests of the court of the Faerie Queen Oriande la Fée (see Rosefleur, earlier in this chapter). After passing her Gauntlet in 1016, Dama initiated the full path of the Folk Story Magic, and ill-advisedly joined Oriande's court.

By 1061, Dama had taken such risks that she fell into Twilight. Nineteen years later, what returned looked like Dama, and a Quaesitor confirmed that it was Dama, but truthfully it was more a husk of a human born of her hazy patchwork memories, driving ambitions, and deep desires. She vaguely resembled the popular depiction of the Virgin Mary, like an iridescent demigoddess with auburn hair, and ruddy skin. While she remained Dama, or at least everything left of Dama, this Twilight event did more than leave a scar: it completely altered Dama's life.

Upon her homecoming, she received an unusual windfall. She, like many others at the faerie's court, had sworn to serve Queen Oriande for the rest of her natural life, and according to faerie prophesy, she would be seventy years old when death came for her. Thus, she had been presumed dead, which meant she returned liberated from her oath of fealty. Furthermore, a very elderly man, claiming to be a childhood friend, pressed her to accept a farewell gift, charging her to carry it far away from the faerie's castle and keep it safe from she who greedily desired it. He called the small, green-black stone, roughly the size and shape of a hen's egg, a baetylus. While he claimed it would gift Dama with vigor, Oriande would use it as an Orphic Egg, allowing her to complete an apotheosis of great power. While displeased with these developments, Oriande la Fée could not prevent them.

Reacting to her brush with the infinity of Twilight and the opportunity for a fresh start with her life, Dama refocused her ambitions. She swore to create a legacy, but she decided make it her own, rather than one for her House. She embarked on four major projects: she trained an apprentice, Marie of Castra Solis; established a covenant at Mimizan; bound Maju as a familiar; and founded a Mystery Cult, the Maters and the Matrones..

Rebecca Ex Miscellanea

Rebecca has never given up hope she might still find a husband, and constantly watches for a young magus of proper breeding and personality. Open to the idea of a whirlwind romance and swift marriage, she wants to become with child as soon as possible. She might settle for a mundane knight or ship captain, but Rebecca's upbringing included high standards; her growing powers and proud nature exacerbate this desire. In the meantime, she has taken an apprentice to teach at Mimizan. Young Alexa assists Dama when Rebecca is away. Once Alexa's training is complete, she intends to Initiate Intuition upon admission to Dama's cult.

For additional details about Rebecca, refer to the insert.

Characteristics: Int +1, Per 0, Pre +2, Com +1, Str -2, Sta +3, Dex +1, Qik +1

Size: –1 Age: 32 (32) Decrepitude: 0 Warping Score: 1 (7) Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Magus, Wealthy; Feminine Gift*, Good Teacher*, Improved Characteristics, Personal Vis Source, Privileged Upbringing, Venus' Blessing*, Well Trained Folk Witch; Proud**, Waster of Vis; Cabal Legacy, Close Family Ties, Flawed Folk Witch Gift Opening (Animal Ken), Flawed Parma Magica (Animal), Optimistic, Small Frame, Susceptible to the Divine.

* Mystery Initiation through Cabal Legacy

** Mystery Initiations

Personality Traits: Optimistic +2.

Reputations: Pragmatic +3, Well-informed +2

Combat:

Fist: Init +1, Attack +1, Defense +2, Damage -2

Dagger: Init +2, Attack +3, Defense +3, Damage 0

Soak: +2

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16), Dead (17+)

Abilities: Animal Handling 2 (birds), Area Lore: Gascony 3 (vis sites), Artes Liberales 1 (astronomy), Athletics 1 (hiking), Awareness 2 (Observation), Brawl 1 (dodge), Carouse 1 (staying sober), Charm 2 (men), Concentration 2 (flight), Craft: Weaving 2 (wool), Cursing 3 (men), Dead Language: Latin 4 (Hermetic Terms), Dowsing 3 (in bog), Flight 3 (at night), Folk Ken 2 (men), Folk Witch Magic Theory 3 (vis extraction), Guile 2 (men), Healing 3 (sword wounds), Living Language: Euskara 5 (description), Living Language: Occitan 4 (conversation), Organization Lore: Order of Hermes 1 (Tribunal members), Organization Lore: Folk Witches 3 (Sorginak covens), Organization Lore: Maters and Matrones Cult 3 (Initiations), Parma Magica 3 (Mentem), Penetration 3 (Cursing), Second Sight 1 (seeing invisible creatures), Shapeshifting 5 (birds), Stealth 2 (remaining hidden), Survival 2 (Gascony), Teaching 1 (folk witches)

Witch Moon Scars: Gained 5 experience points in Cursing

Equipment: bear fetish, clothing, dagger, hare fetish, pots and equipment for brewing potions, raven fetish, stag fetish, wolf fetish.

Vis: 15 pawns of Corpus vis kept in a string of animal skulls.

Appearance: A mature and attractive Basque woman who wears a number of animal fetishes and generally keeps her hair pulled back and under a shawl. Rebecca dresses as a traditional Basque wise woman, in a dark woolen dress with a wide, bright scarf tied around her waist.

Voting Sigil: Rebecca has a wolf fetish which she uses as her voting sigil. Claimed in combat, it once belonged to a rival sorgina.

Design Notes: Rebecca was designed using the Folk Witch rules presented in Hedge Magic as a member of Ex Miscellanea Sorgina.

Raised in a Basque village, Rebecca's father discovered a cache of Roman gold and kept it hidden. He used the wealth to provide Rebecca with a comfortable youth and an education. He'd hoped for her to marry one of the minor knights who lived in the region and groomed her for just such a pairing. Unfortunately, Dama's coven discovered her and encouraged several of the area's potential suitors to depart on Crusade. The young girl then joined the coven, becoming the primary aide to Dama at Mimizan after her apprenticeship.

Rebecca regularly acts as an emissary, messenger, or spy for Dama, utilizing her flight and shapeshifting powers to move quickly and remain hidden. She often travels back to her home village, where she spends time assisting the local whalers by secretly flying overhead. The hunters believe the appearance of her albatross form to be a good omen and cheerfully sail where she indicates. Rebecca also helps young mothers recover from childbirth through potions, but she demands the afterbirth as payment. The folk witch harvests 5 pawns of Corpus vis, her personal vis source, by rendering this material at an ancient hillside shrine on the Spring Equinox. Bordering on pagan, Rebecca has no qualms regarding the Maters and Matrones cult, feeling it is good and just to provide such empowerment to women; after all, doesn't mortal life spring from women?

Established in the eleventh century by the count of Béarn to defend the fjord of the Gave de Pau river (which begins near the Breach of Roland), it occupies the northern bank, overlooking the crossing with two large, square towers. Many regional shepherds have used this fjord for bringing their flocks into or out of the same mountain pastures since antiquity. Bits of wool collected from brambles along this route generate 4 pawns of Creo vis on the spring equinox and 4 pawns of Muto vis on the autumn equinox

Set at the foot of the Pyrenees, Pau and the county of Béarn are often torn between the politics of the crown of Aragon and the ongoing conflict of the Albigensian Crusade at its doorstep. While it is not a Cathar stronghold, the previous count of Béarn aided Toulouse and Foix on several occasions and its knights hold no love for the Crusaders. Notably, William Raymond is more active in Aragonese matters, while his son William favors the English in Aquitaine. If your saga follows history, William shifts his focus to the Aragonese when his father dies in 1223 and he attempts to take over the county of Cerdagne. (See Chapter 6: The Pyrenees.)

Tarbes is the capital of the county of Bigorre, and nominally ruled by Guy de Montfort by marriage to Petronilla de Bigorre. Tarbes currently sees very little noble

"…dangerous business catching a whale. Better for me to go on the river than to go hunting whales on the open sea… I prefer a fish I can kill, rather than a fish which could kill not only me but also my fellows with a single blow."

— From the Journal of Jean-Michel, Former Companion of Castra Solis

Characteristics: Cun –3, Per –2, Pre +2, Com 0, Str +19, Sta +5, Dex +2, Qik –4

Size: +9

Confidence Score: 0

Virtues and Flaws: Improved Characteristics, Reserves of Strength, Tough; Poor Eyesight.

Qualities: Aquatic, Defensive Fighter, Hardy, Imposing Appearance (x3), Tireless, Tough Hide, Vocal.

Personality Traits: Patient +3, Cruel +2, Hungry +2

Reputations: Creature which drowns sailors 3 (coastlines)

Combat:

Tail: Init –4, Attack +10 Defense +2, Damage +24

Soak: +10

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, 0, –1, –1, –3, –3, –5, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–14), –3 (15–28), –5 (29–42), Incapacitated (43–56), Dead (57+)

Abilities: Awareness 2 (food), Brawl 4 (dodge), Music 3 (bellowing), Survival 5 (coastlines), Swim 5 (coastlines)

Natural Weapons: Tail (Init 0, Atk +4, Def +2, Dmg +5)

Appearance: Most consider this enormous fish to be quite strange, with a sweet scent evident from its vast mouth and a thick, pebbly hide rather than scales. Strangely, its tail lies flat, instead of vertically. Bad tempered, they are known to smash or overturn boats when harassed by fishermen.

total of 30 and at least a season of research to decipher. Intellego magics reveal that the ring contains four pawns of Mentem vis. It acts as an arcane connection to the spirit of Tharbis for those with the proper magics. Knowledge of the ring's power was lost when one of the bishops gave it to his successor on his deathbed, telling him to never forget its power.

Lourdes sits on the banks of the Gave de Pau river, with numerous caves and quarries pocking the surrounding countryside. Boasting a large, square tower, the fortress stands to the east of the walled town, on a rocky promontory. It served as the ancestral home of the counts of Bigorre with foundations dating back to the Roman era. Those fighting in the Albigensian Crusade consider it a vital defensive structure in the region, key to controlling the salt mines of the local valleys and strategically more important than Tarbes.

The castle was the site of a miraculous conversion and victory against the Moors. In 778, Charlemagne besieged the Moorish commander, Mirat, for months. An airborne eagle unexpectedly dropped an enormous trout at the feet of the Moorish general, who then flung the fish down to the attackers. Charlemagne thought this meant the defenders had enough food to survive far longer and broke his siege. Turpin, the bishop of Puy, left Charlemagne's camp to speak with Mirat. He convinced Mirat that the bird and Charlemagne's departure were miracles from the Virgin Mary, miracles worthy of submission. Mirat agreed and visited the Black Virgin of Puy to offer gifts. Inspired by the beauty there, the general surrendered the castle and converted to Christianity. On the day of his baptism and in honor of the virgin roses at the shrine, Mirat took on the name of Louerda (the rose in Arabic), which was then given to the town. On the anniversary of this baptism a Divine aura of 2 exists at the top of the castle tower.

The Romans valued the local towns, such as Bagnères-de-Bigorre, for their invigorating natural baths. Lourdes has one such spring, located in a bend of the river, said to have healing properties. Collecting

The current count, William Raymond, is an old man who rules from Tarbes while his son William administers Pau. The count's rights to Pau are contested because his brother's widow, Petronilla de Bigorre, married Guy de Montfort—Simon de Montfort's son. If your saga follows history, this conflict finds resolution in April of 1220, when Guy de Montfort is killed in a Crusade-related skirmish with the forces of the count of Toulouse near Castelnaudary, a market town in the Toulousain. If the characters forge an agreement with the younger William and engineer or even execute this skirmish, they might find a way to establish a covenant in the towers overlooking the river fjord. In exchange for guarding the crossing, maintaining the village, and collecting reasonable tolls, William would ignore their curious behavior and could focus on supporting his father's politics. However, this relationship is dangerously close to serving as a court wizards, and might prove troublesome if charges are brought against them at Tribunal.

supervision while Guy pursues the Albigensian Crusade and Petronilla lives in Poitiers to avoid reprisals. With no established seneschal, the municipalities maintain order as best they can with the assistance of the bishop and local clergy. The city spreads across the left bank of the Adour river as six walled villages surrounding the bishop's palace and cathedral.

Legends state that the Queen of Ethiopia, Tharbis, a Cushite woman Moses spurned, founded Tharbes. While the oldest ruins are Roman, an ancient ring and a polished walking staff of African Moringa wood have been passed down from bishop to bishop. The staff currently rests in the offices of the bishop, a curiosity he doesn't use but keeps nearby. The ring is a simple loop of gold set with amber and kept in a small soapstone box. When some one gifts the ring and tells the recipient to think of a subject, the ring causes the recipient to slowly forget that subject. Intelligence checks are made every full moon against an Ease Factor of 7 (+1 per failed check). After five failed checks, the ring's wearer forgets the subject matter. This is a non-Hermetic effect, requiring an Intellego Mentem lab

the waters of the first spring melt yields 4 pawns of Creo vis.

South of Lourdes is the village of Saint-Savin. It hosts an abbey and convent, and is notable for the fact that Roland, one of the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne, once stayed there while Charlemagne's army besieged Lourdes. In exchange for the hospitality, Roland fought and killed two giants. Much to the monks' dismay, the giants Passamont and Alabaster lived close to their priory, preying on their flocks. These faerie giants did not die, however, as their essence was concentrated in the skull fetishes Roland left behind. They now live deeper in the Pyrenees, giving rise to tales of mountain pastures and passes hunted by a tribe of vicious brutes.