As described earlier, the Praeco Dama seems to be a skilled elder maga who has accomplished many of her goals. However, in truth, she placed herself in the thrall of her familiar, Maju, a powerful supernatural being who twisted her ambition and sympathies to its service. The faerie Maju bound her spirit to itself as surely as it was bound to her and through that connection it subtly corrupted all of her accomplishments.

Maju was originally worshipped as Teutates, and the Gauls sacrificed captives to the faerie by drowning them at the muddy rock in the lake at Mimizan, creating a Faerie aura of 3 there. An inscription still exists, buried in the muck. Some tossed silver rings into the waters as votive offerings and Maju granted them gifts of wisdom and prowess. After the Romans left the area, the highly cognizant Maju shifted its mask, taking the aspect of Sugaar and seeking out Basques to the south to satisfy its desires for Vitality and its unwillingness to surrender mortal worship. When Christianity became more widespread, and pilgrims began to cross the Gascony wilderness en route for Compostella, Maju returned to its old territory to play a part in Oriande Le Fee's tortuous games and faerie court politics. Dama first saw Maju there, and later sought it out as a familiar.

Maju's history and counsel led Dama first into sin and blasphemy and then skirted the edge of infernalism as it encouraged her to incorporate the chthonic Sorginak into the foundation of her cult, dressing it in the subversion of the Black Madonna. Dama drove Marie away when she prioritized the cult over her filia and refused to incorporate the aspects Marie claimed Eleanor taught her on Crusade. Dama made Mimizan a frightening and illfavored place on Maju's advice, claiming the enchantment serves to protect the covenant grounds from Crusaders; only a small game trail from the southwest remains unaffected. Redcaps know to approach using this trail. The Maters and Matrones have become (at least at the upper echelon) a coven of tainted witches, subverting the Christian faith, and teetering dangerously close to demonic corruption.

And yet, Dama truly is a friend to all women; it is her weakness. She gives freely and generously to all members of her cult, and she has never murdered a woman. The fact the acting (and likely new) Chief Quaesitor is a woman worries her slightly. However, she doesn't think Beatrice will pursue the investigations of her pater, and believes she has convinced the young Guernicus to join the cult, with the hopes her disappointed ideals will make the Maters and Matrones more ap-

Characteristics: Int +3, Per 0, Pre +2, Com +1, Str –2 (1 aging point), Sta +1 (1 lost to Decrepitude), Dex –2, Qik –1 (1 lost to Decrepitude)

Size: 0

Age: 193 (60; Longevity Ritual Modifer total: 23; +15 Ritual, +5 Baetylus, +3 Living Conditions; –19 Age Penalty)

Decrepitude: 1 (8) Warping Score: 8 (9) Confidence Score: 1 (5)

Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Charm Magic**, Cthonic Magic, Feminine Ceremony (major), Feminine Gift#, Major Magical Focus (controlling human beings)**, Story Magic**, Sympathetic Magic**; Affinity with Rego, Arcane Lore, Dark Magic#, Faerie Magic*, Skilled Parens, Venus' Blessing#; Driven (establish a legacy)**, Evil Destiny, Favors (Oriande le Fee)**, Proud, Twilight Prone; Fear (spiders)**, Oath (protect women)**, Weakness (women in need)

• Twilight Virtue

• * House Virtue
• ** Mystery Initiations and Ordeals

Personality Traits: Driven +4, Proud +3, Optimistic +2

Reputations: Ambitious 3, Ancient 3, Pagan 2, Reclusive 2, Secretive 2, Possible Diedne Maga or Sympathizer 1 (Order of Hermes)

Combat:

Fist: Init +0, Attack +0, Defense +2, Damage -2

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

Damage +1

Soak: +5

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

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Area Lore: Provence 4 (vis sites), Area Lore: Pyrenees 3 (vis sites), Artes Liberales 3 (astronomy), Athletics 1 (hiking), Awareness 3 (observation), Bargain 3 (faeries), Brawl 2 (dodge), Carouse 1 (recovery), Charm 4 (women), Code of Hermes 4 (Tribunal procedure), Concentration 6 (comprehending Twilight), Craft: Weaving 2 (wool), Cthonic Magic 5 (using Infernal vis), Dead Language: Latin 5 (Hermetic terms), Divine Lore 1 (female beings), Etiquette 3 (faeries), Faerie Lore 4 (female beings), Faerie Magic 7 (experimentation), Feminine Ceremony 4 (group casting), Finesse 5 (Rego), Folk Ken 3 (women), Guile 3 (women), Infernal Lore 3 (female beings), Intrigue 4 (long-term plans), Leadership 4 (inspiration), Living Language: Basque 4 (conversation), Living Language: Danish 5 (descriptions), Living Language: French 4 (conversation), Living Language: Greek 4 (conversation), Living Language: Occitan 4 (conversation), Magic Lore 3 (female beings), Magic Theory 10 (experimentation), Organization Lore: Folk Witches 3 (Basque Covens), Organization Lore: Maters and Matrones Cult Lore 8 (initiations), Organization Lore: Merinita Cult 5 (initiations), Organization Lore: Order of Hermes 4 (Tribunal members), Parma Magica 7 (Mentem), Penetration 3 (Vim), Philosophiae 2 (ceremonial magic), Stealth 1 (remaining hidden), Survival 1 (Gascony), Swim 1 (rivers), Teaching 3 (single student)

Arts: Cr 21, In 14, Mu 14, Pe 16, Re 20, An 13, Aq 15, Au 13, Co 20, He 15, Ig 12, Im 13, Me 17, Te 11, Vi 17

Twilight Scars: As the result of three comprehended Twilight experiences prior to her long disappearance, she gained Feminine Gift, Venus's Blessing, and Dark Magic. Her Twilight experience of 19 years destroyed most of her personal memories, leaving her with a raw patchwork of events prior to 1001 and almost no distinct details. Two later Twilight experiences, one for six years and one for nine years, left her resembling the popular depiction of the Virgin Mary, glowing with a faint, unnatural aura and with auburn hair and ruddy skin.

Vis: She carries 15 pawns of Faerie Vim vis in three gold rings. She can easily acquire 25 more within a week through her contacts in her mystery cult.

Equipment: Courtier's finery, dagger, gold rings (4), stone pendant, good boots, walking stick (club)

Encumbrance: 0 (0)

pealing. The fact Dama created the Longevity Ritual for Alazais' mundane companion has served her well, securing the Praeco the political support necessary to sidetrack official investigations thus far.

While Dama constantly meddles with the Basque Sorginak, she hasn't taken any more apprentices, as Maju thinks it is too risky. However, she is always available to initiate new cultists, as the mysterious aspects of being a Mystagogue suit her perfectly. She is very good at it, and while she does it without revealing her identity, Initiates strongly suspect who she is. She is also openly pagan, not Christian, which makes the magi of Castra Solis less sure of her, and gives the magi of Aedes Mercurii hope she is at least somewhat impartial.

Player characters could become involved in Maju's plotting through investigating Dama's past actions, or be caught up in her future plans.

Sins of the Past

Discovering what happened to the last two Chief Quaesitors lies at the heart of a saga focused on Dama and her cult. For storyguides who wish to make the Praeco and her ambitious machinations a serious storyline, it's important to know the details of this tangled web. By 1210, Dama's cult had come to the attention of the Chief Quaesitor, Senex; whether this was out of fear of a potential conflict between the Black Madonna Cult (and by extension, the Order) and the Church at a time when the Albigensian Crusade still burned Cathars, or from a personal desire to become the Praeco himself, is unclear. Senex simply disappeared. He supposedly went into a village to investigate something, and never returned. In truth, he waited until Dama departed for akelarre with the Sorginak and infiltrated Mimizan. However, Dama returned unexpectedly, discovering him within her sanctum— either searching for details regarding the cult, or planting damning evidence. The hampering power of

Spells Known:

Mighty Torrent of Water (CrAq 20/ +36) Circling Winds of Protection (CrAu 20/ +34) Incantation of Lightning (CrAu 35/ +34) True Sight of the Air (InAu 15/ +27)

Purification of the Festering Wounds (CrCo 20/ +41)

Restoration of the Defiled Body (CrCo 25/ +41) Cheating the Reaper (CrCo 30/ +41)

Curse of the Unruly Tongue (ReCo 5/ +60) Lifting the Dangling Puppet (ReCo 15/ +60)

Seven-League Stride (ReCo 30/ +60)

Leap of Homecoming (ReCo 35/ +60)

Trap of Entwining Vines (CrHe 15/ +36)

Repel the Wooden Shafts (ReHe 10/ +35)

Pilum of Fire (CrIg 20/ +33)

Ward Against Heat and Flames (ReIg 25/ +32)

Veil of Invisibility (PeIm 20/ +29)

Image from the Wizard Torn (ReIm 30/ +33)

Wizard's Sidestep (ReIm 10/ +33)

Weight of a Thousand Hells (CrMe 25/ +38)

Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie (InMe 20/ +31)

Coerce the Spirits of the Night (ReMe 25/ +37)

Veil of Haunting Terror (ReMe 35/ +54)

Wall of Protecting Stone (CrTe 25/+32)

Earth Split Asunder (ReTe 30/ +31)

Piercing the Faerie Veil (InVi 20/ +31)

Enigma's Caress (CrVi 20/ +38): As "Enigma's Gift," (ArM5, page 157) but inflicts two Warping points instead of one.

Sight of Active Magics (InVi 40/ +31)

Demon's Eternal Oblivion (PeVi 10/ +33)

Demon's Eternal Oblivion (PeVi 15/ +33, mastered with Multicasting)

Faerie Scourged from Memory (PeVi 15/+33, mastered with Multicasting): As "Demon's Eternal Oblivion," but affects Faeriealigned creatures.

Revoke the Protection of Bonisagus (PeVi 20/ +33, mastered with Magic Resistance)

Gather the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15/ +37)

Circular Ward Against Faeries (ReVi 20/ +37) Aegis of the Hearth (ReVi 35/ +37, mastered with Magic Resistance)

Familiar Chains of the Faerie Slave (ReVi 45/+37)

New Spells:

Revoke the Protection of Bonisagus; PeVi 20; R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Individual: Destroys the Parma Magica of the target if 30 + stress die exceeds the targets Ability score x5,. Must Penetrate to take effect. (Base 10 (Dispel effects of a specific type, level +4 Magnitudes), +2 Voice)

Veil of Haunting Terror; ReMe 35; R: Road, D: Moon, T: Group: Shifts the targets' mental state to an unnatural desire for fearful flight from the road. The target simply wants to run away in terror. As a cosmetic effect, each affected person sees their own worst fear manifesting along the road. The fear fades naturally. (Base 4, +2 Road, + 3 Moon, + 2 Group) At Mimizan, Dama walks a game trail surrounding the grounds and leading out to the main thoroughfare to define this road.

Appearance: An older, attractive Basque woman who wears rich, contemporary garb that would not be out of place in a royal court. She generally keeps her hair pulled back in a bun and under a traditional Basque shawl. Her face is lightly lined and her healthy skin is complemented by her silver hair still showing a tinge of the auburn locks she had in her youth. She wears a finely wrought dagger, a hen's-egg-sized green-black stone on a gold chain, and several gold rings, and leans on a walking stick. Her Twilight scars of a faint, amber nimbus and ruddy complexion are more apparent in the evening, when she almost seems transparent and ghostlike.

Casting Sigil: The faint scent of lilies is present when Dama casts spells.

Voting Sigil: Dama has an ivory carving of a dragon's head gilded in red gold which she uses as her voting sigil. It was a gift from her father, the only thing she possesses from before her apprenticeship.

Design Notes: Dama has (45 + 75 + 45 + 240 + 60 + 50 + 5100 =) 5615 experience points. She has spent 2250 in skills, 50 in mystery initiations, 50 in five seasons crafting a talisman she later sacrificed, three Longevity Rituals (30), one season spent developing a Longevity Ritual for Alazais' lover, three seasons gathering vis (30), 150 spent developing Mimizan, 150 spent training her apprentice, and 150 spent crafting Initiations. She has 1960 spent in Arts and 795 in spells.

the Aegis*,* combined with Revoke the Protection of Bonisagus and Maju's viper-form poison, spelled the doom of the Guernicus. Dama stripped him of goods, and Maju shifted form into a drake and consumed the body. Certainly, Senex had forfeited immunity by entering her sanctum uninvited, making the legality of his death with regards to the Code of Hermes unquestionable. However, Dama felt the Maters and Matrones cult could not risk the attention an investigation would bring, and told no one.

When Senex failed to attend the 1214 Tribunal, Tibaut became acting Chief Quaesitor, a position confirmed when Senex remained absent for two years. He investigated Castra Solis and learned Senex told no one his destination before he last departed. Tibaut entered Senex's sanctum and discovered the first threads of the cult investigation in laboratory notes. After another season of research, he knew a cult was the focus of his predecessor's last investigation, but he didn't know which one, or why. He became convinced that Senex was dead, and he shared this suspicion with Beatrice, his filia. In 1217 he began investigating cults within the Tribunal, though he was hampered by the events of the Albigensian Crusade. Tibaut considered the members of the Hermetic mystery cults, the Cathars, possibly the Sorginak, as suspects. He sent sealed correspondence to Beatrice via an Iberian Redcap, attempting to leave a secure trail. Ambushed by Crusader camp followers, the Redcap perished from his injuries in the wilderness along the Via Domitia; the letter remains in his satchel.

Tibaut continued his investigation, but an offhand comment from Luc of Ara Maxima Nova alerted Dama to his intentions. The fellow Merinita complained about the Quaesitor's pressing questions regarding incidents with any members of the clergy or pilgrims using the Via Domitia. Luc and Tibaut fought a Certamen over the answers. While Luc lost, he provided the most cursory replies and later told Dama what arts to

Order: Duke of False Gods Infernal Might: 45 (Vim)

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +2, Com +1, Str +4, Sta +5, Dex +4, Qik +4

Size: –2

Virtues and Flaws: Puissant Charm, Puissant Guile; Overconfident

Personality Traits: Deceptive +6, Proud +6, Clever +3, Persuasive +3, False God Demon +3, Trustworthy –5

Reputation: Duke of Hell 7 (Infernal) Hierarchy: 7

Combat:

Fist: Init +4, Attack +9, Defense +9, Damage +4

Or as appropriate for physical form.

Soak: +5

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

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–3), –3 (4–6), –5 (7–9), Incapacitated (10–12), Dead (13+)

Abilities: Artes Liberales 7 (astronomy), Awareness 5 (identifying magi), Bargain 7 (pacts), Brawl 5 (Dodge), Carouse 5 (appearing drunk), Ceremony 3 (summoning), Charm 5+2 (first encounters), Dominion Lore 5 (angels), Etiquette 5 (magi), Faerie Lore 5 (mannerisms), Faerie Magic 3 (experimentation), Folk Ken 4 (humans), Guile 7+2 (appearing mundane), Magic Theory 4 (learning spells), Music 6 (guitar), Infernal Lore 6 (demons), Intrigue 6 (longterm plans), Philosophiae 5 (ceremonial magic), Teaching 4 (magic), Theology 3 (contradictions)

Powers:

Change Form, 0 points, Init 0, Corpus: Can take on the form of a humanoid between Size –2 and Size +2. He often chooses the form of a troubadour with a guitar or a small, winged sprite.

Shapeshifter, 0 points, Init 0, Animal. Can take on the form of animals (even fantastic creatures, such as a griffon or a drake) between Size –2 and Size +2. He often chooses the form of a dove, a hare, or a snake depending on the circumstances, but he is not limited to those forms.

A Pretty Cloak to Wrap it Within, up to 9 points, Init 0, Imaginem. Maju may create Imaginem effects up to 9th magnitude.

Obsession, 1 to 3 points, Init –5, Vim. Cruelty, Greed, Pride.

Coagulation, 5 points, Init –1, Corpus. May take on a physical body in 45 rounds of manifestation, or may dissolve with a round of concentration.

Lend Senses, 1 point, Init 0, Mentem. While in physical contact with another being, the demon can lend that being either its hearing or sight. This lasts indefinitely, but if the eavesdroppers witness a display of religious sentiment, it is immediately terminated.

Shroud the Stench of the Pit, variable points, Init +3, Vim. The demon can conceal the Infernal nature of any other supernatural power or aura, making it appear to be Magical or Faerie instead. It may also be used to remove all stench of the supernatural, making things appear wholly mundane. This power can shield a creature or effect from the Sense Holiness/Unholiness ability. This Power costs Might Points equal to the original cost of the Power being concealed, or Might

avoid when challenging Tibaut to Certamen. Realizing the route Tibaut likely traveled, she gathered Maju and prepared an ambush as the Guernicus neared the road to Foix. The attack occurred within an abandoned house; feigning an emergency, she lured him inside where Maju waited in a viper form. The Praeco shattered Tibaut's Parma Magica with Revoke the Protection of Bonisagus, but Maju's poison failed to quickly incapacitate the Quaesitor. He burst from the house and into the road before collapsing. The pair attempted to re-

trieve him, but fate intervened. A large group of Crusader knights witnessed the man's collapse and rode to aid him.

Divinely Blessed and resistant to Dama's magics, they carried the dying Tibaut to the nearby Abbey of Saint Hilaire, thinking him to be a monk. The monks said that Tibaut was not one of theirs, but took him in anyway. In their care, he succumbed to the poison. As they thought about events afterwards, the Crusaders formed the belief that Tibaut had been a Cathar, and returned to raid the abbey

Points equal to the magnitude of the Infernal effect if it does not cost Might Points. This Power lasts for as long as the Power it is masking. This means Maju normally has 42 Might Points to spend, as it regularly cloaks the Infernal aura at Mimizan to conceal its past.

Wealth of Nations, 3 points, Init 0, Terram. The demon can summon riches; each use of this Power can create wealth equivalent to up to 45 pounds of gold. This wealth can be of any form gold, gems, rich tapestries, ivory, etc—but it always has intrinsic value, rather than being valuable because of its utility (a roomful of grain, for example). This wealth is not created, it is instead summoned from somewhere else, chosen by the demon usually for the greatest corrupting effect. This might be a royal treasury on the other side of Europe or the purse of the man standing nearby.

His Master's Voice, variable points, Init +1, Vim. The demon can summon other demons or corrupt beasts to its current location. This costs one Might Point for every point of Infernal Might of the being summoned, so is used sparingly. The demon has no control over the demon he has summoned.

The Serpent's Oracle, 2 points, Init –3, Vim. The demon can duplicate the effect of any non-ritual Intellego spell for the cost of 2 Might Points. It may also gain a morsel of future knowledge, understanding the most immediate consequences of any one future action.

Weakness: Protected Group (Those who have given alms that day)

Vis: There are 9 pawns of Vim vis in the demon's eyes.

Appearance: As Dama's familiar, Maju often appears as a small, winged faerie sprite, though he is also capable of shifting forms between a hare, a snake, or a dove, as most appropriate to the situation. In private, he prefers the shape of the snake as it allows him to wrap around Dama and tantalizingly threaten her with strangulation.

Maju has played a very long game with Dama. It started as part of the pagan religion of the Gauls, then subverted the pagan religion of the Basques in the region (Maju often takes the form of a snake and has Dama call it Sugaar when dealing with Basques, and many of the folk witches who serve Dama believe they are the god and goddess of their faith). Eventually, the sins the creature perpetuates will taint it so deeply that it will transform into an infernal being. Until then, Maju is trying to corrupt both Christianity and the Order of Hermes. It does this by setting up conflict between men and women, making women think they have a special, purer version of their faith than the mens'. Through Dama's cult the creature has taken aim at the Virgin Mary. To Maju, the Black Madonna represents a dark feminine goddess in perfect opposition to the masculine God of the Dominion, who is different and more exalted. It seeks to make women desire glory beyond their place in the Christian hierarchy, to want to teach and preach, and to worship Mary (or multiple Marys) instead of Christ. To do this, it teaches great power to those who serve it. Like the serpent of Genesis, it corrupts mankind through Eve with forbidden fruit.

in retribution for the monks' activities. The monks of St. Hilaire have occasional contact with some of the Tribunal's Redcaps, trading various goods in exchange for bookmaking materials or blank quires. Through this route, the news of the death eventually traveled back to Castra Solis, which attempted to make arrangements to recover the man's effects. They met with no success as his body already lay buried in the Abbey's cemetery and the monks remained in a state of disarray after the Crusaders' attack. Tibaut's belong-

ings sit locked in a chest in the abbot's office, as the Albigensian Crusade remains particularly active in the region. When he failed to meet Beatrice at their agreed upon time, she approached Dama with her suspicions regarding Tibaut's possible demise. Maintaining her composure, the Praeco suggested Beatrice fulfill his office until the matter could discussed at Tribunal in 1221. Honored by this suggestion, Beatrice accepted the post and Dama informed the Redcaps.

Schemes of the Present

This leaves Beatrice as the temporary Chief Quaesitor until her confirmation at the next Tribunal, and Dama extremely paranoid about her cult's activities. She doesn't know who else is aware of the investigations, but she secured the tacit political support of Alazais and the Coenobium when she secretly provided a Longevity Ritual to the Chief Redcap's close mundane companion. Dama believes the covenant's clout will easily derail any motion she needs buried at least once, and she stores this influence against need. She does not know if Tibaut managed to confide in the knights or the monks of the abbey before dying. She wants to grow her cult, and cement its gains, but worries about whom to initiate. Maju pushes her to bring more Sorginak into the fold, looking to corrupt their beliefs in Mari and Sugaar while syncretizing them with the followers of the Black Madonna in small coastal villages, and subverting the male domination of the Church. The faerie points out her failing Longevity Ritual; these last few years took their toll and that she no longer looks as young as she once did. It needles her about her estranged relationship with her filia, Marie, and about the small, isolated nature of Mimizan in the shadow of Oriande Le Fee's Rosefleur. "Time is running out," it hisses and Dama may leave no legacy behind if she cannot increase cult membership to a self-sustaining level. Aggressive recruitment may alert the Church to her activities, involve a player character folk witch in the conspiracy, or drive the Sorginak to seek out political allies or Trianoma magi willing to thwart or distract the Praeco.

There are many ways to bring player characters into the story. Protendus of Tremere's investigations may uncover Dama's machinations where he thought to find Tytalan intrigue, causing him to enlist Tremere characters to aid him in exchange for their sigil. The characters may discover the remains of the dead Redcap while traveling, allowing Beatrice to finally receive her pater's correspondence, indicating his suspicions, but not before Dama invites her to join—thereby making her complicit. Dama may inadvertently reveal her connection to Senex's death by attempting to engage a newly arrived Verditius character to render

No ordinary stone, the baetylus contains a shard of the very beginning of Creation, possibly a fragment of Sol Invictus, maybe the essence of Cronus, and because of this primeval nature, it has several miraculous properties. Firstly, it infuses the bearer with life — as long as she is touching it, Dama gains a +5 to any aging roll, and does not suffer aging crises. Secondly, it constantly purifies Dama and everything she touches or consumes, much as if she possessed the Greater Purifying Touch Virtue, so she suffers no ill effects from poison. Thirdly, it gives Dama Visions (like the Supernatural Flaw), usually associated with her own impending danger or danger to the stone. For Dama, this has unfortunately only heightened her sense of paranoia.

The path of the fabled stone to Dama's possession is very murky. While Maju may know some details, and Oriande even more, differing tales recount the stone's history. According to the one Dama believes, the stone plummeted through the sky and fell into the lake of Toulouse, where it sank to the bottom and glowed with a magical shimmer sometimes visible on moonless nights, inspiring stories of a golden treasure hidden below the waters. Later, local pagan wizards of antiquity, many of whom eventually became Hermetic magi of House Diedne, brought it to the surface. One of their number — perhaps the famous Maugris, wizard-advisor to Charlemagne, unnaturally long-lived due to the stone's effects — kept the stone when the Schism War broke out, and hid in Oriande's court. Sworn to serve the faerie queen as long as he lived, he grew weary of life in hiding and came to desire more than anything to pass on and join his brothers and sisters in the next life. But he also knew Oriande would gain the stone if he ever let it out of his control, and he did not believe Oriande deserved such power — in fact, he had visions she would surely become evil and corrupt if it passed into her inhuman hands. Entrusting the stone to Dama allowed him to escape, in more ways than one.

the vis from several lesser enchanted items, or by trying to sell those items abroad for vis to power the new Longevity Ritual she will need within the next 12 years. Rumors at Beatrice's confirmation during the 1221 Tribunal suggest, with Tibaut's death, that Senex did not simply disappear, but suffered from foul play. A player character Quaesitor may have been apprenticed to Senex, or mentored by either Quaesitor, and come to Provençal to discover the truth behind their mentor's death from the lab notes in Tibaut's sanctum. The inner circle of Dama's cult meets within the confines of the Médoc, the realm of a capricious faerie queen; Oriande Le Fee may offer hints and leads to characters willing to play her games. Merinita or Bonisagus characters who seek out Dama as a mystagogue might be subjected to curious interrogations and unrelated tests as she satisfies her paranoia about their intentions actions which may unintentionally drive them to begin their own investigations. All the while, Maju presses Dama, whispers intrigue and power to the other Sorginak of the cult, encouraging their corruption while losing bits of its faerie nature until it is dis-

covered at the core of the plot—at which time it becomes the demon listed in its statistics section. (If statistics for Maju are required prior to this point, use the presented statistics but drop the obviously Infernal powers, such as Obsession, Coagulation, Shroud the Stench of the Pit, Wealth of Nations, or His Master's Voice.)

If the characters decide to seek out and challenge Dama's conspiracy, many options exist. Dama can be brought to salvation by showing her the rotten, befouling nature of her familiar. She might provide the connections allowing the characters to defeat Maju. Deep down, Dama is obsessed with leaving her legacy, and currently convinced that her every attempt has failed, or is failing. Despite her experience, her power, and her position in the Tribunal, she feels her goals are unattained. This belief must be reversed if there is any hope of her redemption. If characters bungle and reveal their investigations, crippling Dama's ambitions, Maju murders Dama and seizes control of the cult, or even convinces her to turn the cult against the player characters—possibly engaging them in a shadowy and unannounced magical war with the cult's hedge tradition members or through other means, such as attempting to lure them into the Lou Carcohl's lair, or sending them into the heart of the Crusader army to question the knights who rescued Tibaut while Sorginak use their spirit walking powers to alert the camp followers.

Left to her own devices, Dama may just create an enduring but ultimately subdued Black Madonna movement which quietly spreads through France, to the Balkans, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and even Malta, but ultimately forgets its founder in devotion to the Virgin Mary and leaves her control as she strives to gain more time in this life. While the Baetylus protects her from Aging Crises (see the nearby insert), she visibly ages five years over the next ten years, making her more desperate. Knowing she must renew her Longevity Ritual before 1232 if she is to have any hope of success, she might largely ignore her Praeco duties and strive to increase her Magic Theory to 11 (an increase of 1), and her Faerie Magic to 10 (an increase of 3). Increases in her Creo and Corpus Arts are absolutely required. She might decide to sacrifice Maju to power her own Longevity Ritual, requiring its Faerie vis in order to ensure sufficient supply, and possesses the spells to do so. Her expansive knowledge of mystery initiations may cause her to revisit her Merinita roots, exchanging the secrets of Story Magic to player characters for gifts of Faerie vis. News from the Theban Tribunal might drive her to gain the Blood of Medusa to augment her ritual (The Sundered Eagle, page 62).

All of this rests precariously on the tipping point of the role the storyguide wishes Dama to play in the saga—she may be the tragic maga who left a long series of nearly great but merely adequate accomplishments in her wake, whose only real legacy lies in her amazing long life, or she may become the examplar of a maga consumed by ambition, who disregarded the costs of her endeavors and ultimately left only a tarnished name and dire warning to those who failed to consider the consequences of their actions. And if, by chance, she manages to defeat the player characters, Maju transforms into a demon intent on carrying her soul to Hell, the Sorginak are sundered and retreat from Hermetic culture, and the Provençal Tribunal suffers another disheartening blow to the culture already ravaged by the Crusaders marching across the landscape.