Birth Right

A naked and screaming baby boy is held aloft by a pale woman, wearing a long white lace bridal gown, standing in a verdant forest clearing. The forestedge is crowded with a fantastic audience: rank centaurs, fecund satyrs, valiant knights. Even the gnarled trees closely observe this ritual held at the forest-heart.

A moment of irritation flashes over the pale woman's otherwise calm face as she carefully pries open the baby's chubby, clenched fist and slips a tiny gold ring onto his finger.

The baby falls asleep and the beautiful, pale woman smiles serenely once more, sliding a larger gold ring onto her own slender finger. The creatures watching from the forest-edge applaud and cheer the marriage. From among the joyful throng a band of faerie knights turn away and head out from the green forest-heart. Out toward the world of men...

The beautiful pale woman is the faerie queen Blegen. She has a Sovereign Ward that means that she cannot leave her forested faerie kingdom. However, Blegen is insatiably curious about the mundane world. Her plan is to marry the infant, first-born son of a local noble and then have her faerie knights assassinate the noble. Her baby husband will inherit his father's lands and, due to his infancy, she will rule until his majority. This will expand her faerie kingdom to encompass the local lands of men, allowing her to "break" her Sovereign Ward and venture into the mortal world.

Blegen's plan has three phases:

• Kidnap the baron's baby son.
• Marry the baron's baby son.
• Assassinate the baron.

Faerie Might: 20 (Herbam)

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

Size: 0

Virtues and Flaws: Focus Power (forest queen), Increased Might; Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie, Personal Power (castle eyes); Narrowly Cognizant; Enemies (loyalists, Old Nanny), Proud, Sovereign Ward (faerie kingdom); Obsessed (outside faerie kingdom)

Personality Traits: Proud +6 Reputations: Forest Queen (local) +5

Soak: –1

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

Pretenses: Area Lore: Local 4 (forest), Awareness 5 (castle eyes), Bargain 6 (mortal men), Charm 4 (mortal men), Etiquette 5 (courtly), Folk Ken 3 (nobles), Guile 4 (mortal men), Intrigue 6 (plotting), Leadership 5 (faeries), Magic Lore 1 (court wizards), Music 5 (harp), Organization Lore: Order of Hermes 1 (House Merinita), Penetration 5 (castle eyes), Ride 3 (faerie beasts), Stealth 1 (courts)

Powers:

Faerie Sight: This power allows the faerie to automatically distinguish mundane things from glamor, and to automatically identify another faerie's glamor, and to automatically see an Arcane Connection (and know to whom it is an Arcane Connection, if that person is present). The faerie can also use faerie sight to determine the motives and goals of other faeries (Awareness + Perception roll against an Ease Factor equal to Might of other faerie / 5). See Realms of Power: Faerie, page 50 for more details.

Faerie Speech: This power allows the faerie to duplicate the language spoken by her human audience. See Realms of Power: Faerie, page 50 for more details.

Forest Queen, 1 point per magnitude of effect, Init –4, Herbam or Animal: The faerie queen can duplicate any Hermetic Herbam or Animal effect, up to level 25, that affects the forest, or its inhabitants. The power costs 1 point per magnitude of effect.

Castle Eyes, 0 point, constant, Mentem: While the faerie queen is within her castle she is aware of everything happening within the castle. To determine whether she notices something make a Perception + Awareness roll against an Ease Factor of 9. If she is specifically looking for the thing, the Ease Factor is only 3. Mundane and magical attempts to hide from the faerie queen have no effect, but this power needs to Penetrate the Magic Resistance of those sensed.

Equipment: Long lace dress, silver tiara, wedding ring.

Vis: 4 pawns of Herbam vis in a wooden heart.

Appearance: The faerie queen Blegen appears as a beautiful pale-skinned woman wearing a delicate silver tiara. Her voice is crisp and authoritative, and it is difficult to judge her apparent age: mid-thirties seems plausible. Blegen usually wears a dark-green, long, translucent, lace dress, but she sometimes changes the dress' color. Her hair changes with the seasons: in spring it is short and white; in summer her hair is long, sleek, and golden; in autumn wild, twisted and red; finally, in winter it hangs in black ringlets.

When the scenario begins the first two phases are already complete. The important consequence of Blegen completing her plan, from the player characters' perspective, is that the covenant is within (or very near) the noble fief she claims via her infant husband. Her suzerainty over the fief will cause it to develop a Faerie aura. This may interfere with the magi's magic, vis sources, and so on.

This story is a hook for the Realms of Power: Faerie book.

Realms of Power: Faerie describes the nature of faeries. Faeries gain "power" or vitality from acting out roles in stories, even if the role requires the faerie to be "killed" or "defeated." There is no game mechanic for vitality, but ultimately vitality motivates faeries.

Most faeries are fully immersed in story roles and incapable of acting outside the role. Such faeries are Incognizant. A Cognizant faerie is fully aware she is merely acting out a role and can change roles to increase her vitality. A Narrowly Cognizant faerie lies between the two extremes and is capable of changing her role in a limited way. Blegen and Old Nanny are Narrowly Cognizant. The other faeries in this story are Incognizant. Most magi are unaware of the true nature of faeries.

Faeries have Pretenses instead of Abilities. Faeries only imitate skills and knowledge, but only Cognizant faeries do this consciously. In play, use Pretenses exactly as Abilities, but very observant characters may notice something odd.

For the story, the mundane noble's fief contains a forest with faerie regiones. The faeries do not need to be the sole, or most powerful, supernatural inhabitants of the forest.

If, in your saga, the lands near the covenant do not contain a suitable forest, you can move the faeries to a different sort of terrain.

For example, Blegen can just as easily rule over faeries of the mountain, glacier, lake, or desert; replace her Forest Queen power, her specializations, and her Might Form as appropriate. You will also need to devise new descriptions for the faerie regiones.

The faeries may not be challenging for powerful magi. If the troupe wants to make the faeries more challenging, the easiest solution is to increase the Might Scores. The Major Faerie Virtue Increased Might increases a faerie's Might Score by 15. The Minor Faerie Virtue Increased Might increases a faerie's Might Score by 5.

Marcus is the baby heir of a noble whose fief contains the faerie queen's regio and is near the covenant. The covenant may be built within the fief too. For this scenario this will be the Baron Frederick, but choose a noble appropriate to your saga. A duke, count, or other noble rank can be used instead.

Marcus is about a year old when the scenario begins. If planning ahead, you can foreshadow this story by news reaching the covenant, a year earlier, of Marcus' birth. The birth of an heir could be cause for celebration by the noble and common-folk of the fiefdom. Apart from being Baron Frederick's heir, Marcus is an ordinary mortal baby, and thus game statistics are not provided here for baby Marcus.

Game statistics are not provided for Baron Frederick either. If in your saga, you already have established statistics for a suitable local noble, use those statistics. Otherwise, use The Knight template (ArM5, page 23).

Baron Frederick has a dozen men-at-arms at his ready disposal; use The Standard Soldier template (ArM5, page 22) for them. The baron also usually has four vassal knights at his castle, but these have been replaced by faeries (see later).

The following scenes give the player characters opportunities to become involved in this story.

The desperately worried Baron Frederick (or his servants) approach the magi for help to find baby Marcus, the baron's heir. The baron's wife (the lady Elaine) was murdered two days ago, and their baby is missing (presumed kidnapped by the assassin). Frederick's four knights were also missing.

The baron's servants have since found the bodies of the knights. The knights' throats had been slit, and the bodies dumped in a forested and fog-filled ravine not far from the castle. Surprisingly, the knights appear to have been killed months ago. This is surprising because the four knights have been recently seen at feasts, jousts, and hunts.

Stories are told in Frederick's court of faerie imposters that haunt the forest near his castle. The baron fears these faerie creatures have murdered and replaced the baron's knights, murdered the baroness, and then kidnapped his son. It is not clear to the baron what might motivate the faeries, but it is clearly a problem that wizards can solve.

Responses to Kidnap

The magi may refuse or ignore Baron Frederick's plea for help to find his kidnapped son and Lady Elaine's assassins. This will greatly anger the baron, but he is too concerned about recovering his son to move against the covenant right now. In this case, the troupe should move on to the subsequent murder of Baron Frederick.

If the player's covenant responds to the kidnap, then bear the following in mind:

• It is easy to confirm with spells when the knights were murdered. It is obvious to mundane inspection alone that the corpses have been lying in the foggy ravine for months. The fog, which has hidden the corpses until now, is a faerie effect (cast by a faerie knight, see later). The spirits of the dead knights (if interrogated) tell of being ambushed and killed in the forest.
• The baron's huntsmen have tracked the faerie knights into the forest, where the trail disappears. The knights continued into a faerie regio containing the faerie queen's court. Player characters with access to suitable spells can easily find the regio and continue to track the faeries. The trail is at least two days old before the covenant becomes involved.
• Queen Blegen has already married baby Marcus. In the next few days or weeks, her knights will attempt to murder Baron Frederick (see later).

The baron's wife, Lady Elaine, was killed by the faerie knights and her body left in the castle. Lady Elaine's murder ensures that she cannot later have rights over the baron's fief as his widow. Elaine's ghost, if summoned, knows little of value. She was killed with a single sword thrust to the heart while she slept.

It is assumed the magi are opposed to the faerie queen's plan. However, magi strongly sympathetic to faeries (such as magi from House Merinita) might instead help the faerie queen complete her plan. If this is likely, rather than sending her knights to murder Baron Frederick, the faerie queen's agents might first try to give the job to the magi.

• There are many things that can be taken from Baron Frederick's castle and used as Arcane Connections to find baby Marcus. Note baby Marcus is not actually in the faerie queen's court: he is in the Nursery (a different faerie regio within the forest).
• The magi may be cautious

of involving themselves too readily in this mysterious kidnapping. There is a risk of accusations of either 'interfering with the mundane' or 'molesting faeries'.

• The magi (especially House Merinita magi) may already be aware of the faerie queen's plan through their faerie court contacts. They may have even been invited to the wedding.

A Hidden Covenant

If the covenant is hidden from the mundane world, then word reaches the covenant of baby Marcus' kidnap and the baroness' murder through the contacts maintained by the grogs. If Baron Frederick is murdered, then word similarly eventually reaches the covenant.

Bad Relations

If the magi are already on bad terms with Baron Frederick, then he assumes that these disreputable wizards have something to do with the strange abduction and murders. In this case, the baron angrily approaches the covenant (or sends representatives) seeking the abducted baby, and may be expecting and willing to pay a ransom. The magi might try to recover baby Marcus to prove their innocence (or to ransom him back to his father).

A few days or weeks after Blegen's marriage to baby Marcus her knights attempt to murder Baron Frederick. The knights either ambush him in the forest or sneak back into the baron's castle to kill him in his sleep.

The baron only has men-atarms left available to him at his castle (see earlier). His other knight vassals all have responsibilities and live on manors elsewhere in his fief. If the player characters somehow gather these vassal knights, the game statistics for the knights in Chapter Nine: To The Dark Tower can be used.

Saving the Baron

If the player characters try to protect Baron Frederick, then the success of the assassination attempt depends on player character actions. If the unsuccessful knights escape they return at a later date to finish the job. If the knights are destroyed, then the faerie queen makes no more immediate attempts. However, she sends new assassins over the following months and years.

If the player characters do not try to protect the Baron, the assassination attempt is successful.

A New Queen

If the Baron is killed, Blegen inherits his lands via her baby husband. This immediately causes a Faerie aura of 1 to arise throughout the barony. In many areas this new aura is swamped by existing Dominion or other auras. However, every spring equinox the Faerie aura increases by 1, until it reaches a value of 4.

Blegen's first action is to send centaur heralds to every village and town in the barony. The centaurs announce the sad death of Baron Frederick, and the succession of baby Marcus and his wife the faerie queen Blegen. The centaur heralds also announce that all feudal taxes are canceled for a year and a day, to commemorate the death of the old baron, and the life of the new. Blegen does this very rapidly and long before the death of the old baron is reported in feudal courts. Thus, her take-over precedes any similar attempt by the king (or neighboring nobles) to install a steward.

If the player character's covenant is within the fief, it is also visited by centaur heralds relaying Blegen's message. Even if the covenant is hidden in a regio the centaurs are able to find it. On the other hand, being only faerie Might 5, the heralds are probably not able to enter the Aegis of the Hearth without invitation.

Blegen's faerie court is densely forested, much more so than the mundane forest. The sea-

sons and days pass at the same rate in the court as they do in the mortal world.

There are many entrances to the court, which is a regio with a Faerie aura of 4. Anybody who is in the forest and can see the way to the court (see ArM5, page 189) can cross into the regio (and lead others across). Within the regio, if a character climbs to the top of the tall trees, the forest appears limitless in all directions. However, this is just an illusion. The forest regio is actually only a dozen miles across, but it has no edge. A character who walks far enough finds himself to have walked in a circle.

Apart from green forest, the main features of the court are a wooden castle and two large clearings, each of which is several acres across. The humanoid faeries of the court, including Blegen, live in the castle. The dense forest is haunted by a tribe of centaurs and wild bands of satyrs.

One of the two forest clearings is used by Blegen as an audience and feasting hall. This clearing is verdant and grassy. The other forest clearing is a dead place. The ground is covered in thick ash and rusting shards of iron. This second clearing is avoided by the faeries.

Player Characters in the Faerie Court

If the player characters travel to the faerie court they find the faerie queen Blegen either in her castle awaiting the murder of Baron Frederick, or in the green forest clearing holding a feast to celebrate the murder and her ascension to her mundane title.

• Most of the court faeries avoid the player characters. However, if questioned, they readily say that baby Marcus is in the Nursery, looked after by Old Nanny. The faeries are excited about the recent marriage between Blegen and Marcus, and (if Baron Freder-

Faerie Might: 5 (Corpus) Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre –2, Com –3, Str +2, Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik +2

Size: 0

Virtues and Flaws: Faerie Sight, Humanoid Faerie, Lesser Power; Passes for Human; Dutybound, Incognizant, Tradition Ward (garlic)

Personality Traits: Brave +6, Chivalrous +3

Reputations: Knight (local) +4

Combat:

Long Sword + Heater Shield: Init +4, Attack +14*, Defense +14*, Damage +8

* Add +3 if mounted.

Soak: +12 (Stamina + chain mail)

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

Pretenses: Animal Handling 2 (horses), Area Lore: Local 2 (forest), Athletics 2 (running), Awareness 4 (weapons), Etiquette 3 (courtly), Leadership 3 (faerie knights), Single Weapon 7 (long sword), Speak Living Language: German 3 (courtly), Ride 3 (combat)

Powers:

Faerie Sight, see Blegen.

Each of the four knights has one of the following powers. Javelin of Earth, 1 point, Init –4, Terram: The knight throws a javelin made of earth at his target. The javelin automatically hits and does +10 damage, but must Penetrate Magic Resistance to be effective. (Lesser Power; 25 spell levels)

(Base 3, +3 Sight, +1 Rego Requisite; +10 two intricacy points to reduce Might Cost)

Flame Sword, 1 point, Init –4, Ignem: The knight's sword is wreathed in flickering blue flames. This adds +6 to damage with the sword, and the blade can be used to start fires. (Lesser Power; 25 spell levels)

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +1 Diameter; +10 two intricacy points to reduce Might Cost)

The Quaffing Knight, 0 points, Init –1, Aquam: This power vastly increases the alcohol content of wine or beer. The power can affect over 3,000 gallons — but has to be used multiple times to affect multiple vessels. (Lesser Power; 25 spell levels)

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 size; +10 two intricacy points to reduce Might Cost, +5 increase Init)

Fog of War, 4 points, Init –4, Auram: This power creates a bank of thick fog that covers an area of 16 acres (an area about 160 paces across). (Lesser Power; 25 spell levels)

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +3

Moon, +1 size; +5 one intricacy point to reduce Might Cost)

Equipment: Full chain armor, long sword, shield, warhorse.

Vis: 1 pawn of Corpus vis (in sword).

Appearance: The knights appear identical to the murdered knights of the baron. They are armored, carry swords, and ride the horses of the murdered knights.

The speech of the knights is slurred and accented. This is because the faeries have concentrated their Pretenses in weapon skills rather than language — in fact, the faeries are marginally better swordsmen than the original mortals they are simulating. The unusual speech pattern of the faerie knights makes them sound slightly drunk.

Apart from murdering and kidnapping for the faerie queen, the knights are dutybound to act in a chivalrous manner. However, being faeries, the knights are only simulating their chivalry, so a careful observer may notice something false.

These knights are warded against with garlic. The knights cannot touch or harm a target carrying garlic and take +6 Damage if forced into contact with garlic.

ick has already been killed) the faeries are happy that Blegen's faerie kingdom has extended into the mortal world. If asked, the faeries will explain that the Nursery regio entrance is the darkest place in the forest, but they do not know where this actually is.

• Unless the player characters attack first, the members of the faerie court do not attack the player characters. Apart from the knights (see insert) the only combatant faeries are the tribe of centaurs. The satyrs are not combatants. The centaurs have Faerie Animal Might 5 (see Realms of Power: Faerie, page 76). The centaurs are Size +3, have +8 Soak, and attack with a lance and shield (Init +1, Attack +14*, Defense +11*, Damage +11; * includes +3 "mounted" bonus). The centaurs attack in squadrons of five, but are not trained groups. The centaurs may not attack (and greatly fear) anybody who carries the sign of the cross.
• The faerie queen does not particularly fear the magi. Although she has heard of the Order of Hermes, she views the magi as irrelevant and, once Baron Frederick has been murdered, she expects magi to obey her like any of her other subjects — if the covenant is built within her new lands. If the magi attack her, Blegen retreats to her castle, ordering her knights

Baby Marcus is asleep, gently cradled in a nest of web hung between two trees. Apart from Old Nanny there are no guards. Baby Marcus is naked except for a plain gold wedding ring, which is an enchanted item.

Quiet My Darling Husband

ReMe 10, 0 Pen, 1 / day R: Touch, D: While (Worn),

T: Individual

This faerie ring causes the wearer to fall asleep.

(Base 4, +1 Touch, +1 While)

and centaurs to cover her escape. Her wooden castle is incredibly and supernaturally large (it is actually another regio, with a Faerie aura of 6), and with her Castle Eyes power Blegen is aware of everything happening within it. This, coupled with the size of the castle, means that Blegen can quite easily avoid the magi once she is within her castle.

King in Ashes

In a previous age, Blegen ruled the faerie forest alongside a faerie king named Aethele. Clearly, Blegen needed to dispose of her husband, so that as a widow she could marry a mortal heir. Aethele was therefore murdered by

Faerie Might: 10 (Animal)

Characteristics: Int +1, Per 0, Pre –2, Com –5, Str +8, Sta +1, Dex +3, Qik –1

Size: +4

Virtues and Flaws: Huge, Ritual Power (Web Weaver); Increased Might, Faerie Beast, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech; Narrowly Cognizant; Driven (create webs), Enemies (faerie Queen), Monstrous Appearance; Reclusive

Qualities: Aggressive, Ambush Predator, Skilled Climber (+3 Climb rolls), Tough Hide, Venomous

Personality Traits: Secretive +3, Jealous +1

Reputations: Ancient Nightmare (local) +1

Combat:

Bite: Init –1, Attack +12, Defense +6, Damage +9*

Claws: Init –2, Attack +10, Defense +7, Damage +10**

* Old Nanny's bite is venomous. If a character takes any Wound from her bite, check to see whether the character is poisoned too. Old Nanny's venom is equivalent to an Asp bite (see ArM5, page 180).

** Due to Old Nanny's many clawed legs she inflicts 3 Wounds when she strikes. If you are using the Group combat rules these Wounds are distributed about the opposing Group as normal.

Soak: +3 (Stamina + Tough Hide)

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–9), –3 (10–18), –5 (19–27), Incapacitated (28–36), Dead (37+)

Pretenses: Area Lore: Local 5 (forest), Athletics 3 (climbing), Awareness 3 (things in web), Brawl 5 (bite), Hunt 4 (prey), Profession: Weaver 10 (web), Stealth 4 (ambush), Survival 3 (forest)

Powers:

Faerie Sight, see the description given with the faerie queen Blegen.

Faerie Speech, see the description given with the faerie queen Blegen.

Web Weaver, 3 points, Init –9, Animal, ritual: This ritual power creates a thick rope of spider silk half a foot in diameter and two and a half miles long. The spider silk is as tough as iron and can entrap people as described in the text. It takes an hour for all the silk to be created, and Old Nanny uses her Profession: Weaver Pretense to fashion the silk into webs (or other items). (Lesser Power; 25 spell levels)

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Size; +5 one intricacy points to reduce Might Cost)

Vis: 2 pawns of Animal vis (in spider silk gland).

Appearance: Old Nanny is an enormous spider. She is a black, scuttling, primitive nightmare.

Her usual tactic is to wait until prey is snared in her web, and then she moves in to deliver an incapacitating, poisonous bite to the comparatively defenseless victim. If a snared victim appears to be too tough (or armored), then Old Nanny merely waits for the victim to starve.

Old Nanny flees from characters who are not affected by her webs and hides in a dark corner of the Nursery.

Blegen's knights, and his ashes, laced with iron, were scattered in one of the forest clearings. Today, most of the faerie court are loyal to Blegen, but a few are still secretly servants of Aethele. This hidden, loyalist court faction aim to resurrect king Aethele, but do not know how to do so.

The leader of the loyalists

is Aethele's old drink-master Guma — a tiny dwarf responsible for providing intoxicating brews at the faerie court. Guma has carefully maintained his position in Blegen's court, and does not aid the player characters directly, nor reveal information about Aethele until he trusts them completely. However, if the player characters investigate the forest clearing scattered with Aethele's ash, Guma carefully observes them. Guma also quietly tells the player characters that baby Marcus is in the Nursery with Old Nanny, if it seems that they will not find this out by questioning other faeries.

Guma has identical game sta-

tistics to Mateos the Faerie Butler (ArM5, page 194–195).

Faerie Knights

The faerie knights are identical in appearance to the baron's murdered knights.

Blegen's four faerie knights could be encountered in her court. Alternatively, the player characters might be present when the knights attempt to murder Baron Frederick.

The knights can fight together as a trained group, receiving a +12 group combat bonus (see ArM5, page 173).

If the knights are captured they can be compelled, by magic, to reveal that baby Marcus is being kept by Old Nanny in the Nursery. The knights are unlikely to succumb to mundane persuasion or torture. The knights have not been to the Nursery. They do know that the entrance is the darkest part of the forest, but they do not know where that might be.

In a dark, deep forgotten place in the forest is the Nursery, in which baby Marcus is watched over by Old Nanny. The regio is cramped, ancient, and covered in thick ropey spiderwebs. The tall trees of the forest, aged and wrinkled pillars, huddle together like shrouded mourners under sheets of gray web. Through the narrow gaps between the web and the pillarlike trees, patches of blue sky and puffy cloud can be seen, but the light is strangely strangled. A close observer can spot that the web extends up into the sky, linking air to earth. Even the sun is caught in this sticky cocoon, and so it only illuminates the regio with a sickly throttled light. Everything else is locked up tight in Old Nanny's clasp.

Old Nanny is, of course, the architect of this trap… the arachnoid architect.

Entering the Nursery

The Nursery is a regio with a Faerie aura of 5. The entrance is the darkest place in the forest, and so the entrance moves around depending on the seasons and the position of the sun (or moon). A character can calculate where the natural entrance will be at a particular time by devising a horoscope for the location (Intelligence + Artes Liberales (astronomy) roll against an Ease Factor of 9). Each such horoscope takes about an hour to calculate and is only valid for a window of one Diameter. The character calculating the horoscope can freely choose the time at which the window occurs when performing the calculation.

The Nursery can be entered by anybody at the entrance location who can see the way: by using a spell such as Piercing the Faerie Veil (ArM5, page 158), for example. However, note that characters must not bring illumination with them when seeking the entrance to the regio — as an illuminated area will, obviously, not be the darkest place in the forest. On the other hand, clever spell casters may be able to artificially create the darkest place in the forest (using a combination of Creo and Perdo Ignem effects, for example).

A magus with access to spells like Leap of Homecoming, and an Arcane Connection to baby Marcus, can instantly transport himself to the baby's location without needing to find the regio entrance.

Moving Through The Web

The sticky webs that fill the regio make it difficult to move. Characters may freely speak and make gestures, but moving around (including flying) requires a successful Strength + Stress Die roll against an Ease Factor of 9. A single successful roll allows the character to move about for several minutes. Characters who are stuck to the webs may not make combat Defense or Attack rolls, and if a free character botches in melee combat he becomes stuck to the webs.

Spiders and other spider-like creatures, including Old Nanny herself, can move without penalty in the regio.

The Time Trap

The faerie queen has tasked Old Nanny with the care of baby Marcus because Old Nan-

ny's webs have stopped the passage of time in her regio. The sun is snared and day neither waxes nor wanes. This means that baby Marcus will not age and will never enter his majority. Blegen will forever act as his steward.

The freezing of time means that any spells (and other effects) cast with a long Duration in the regio do not expire. Momentary Spells still have an instant effect. Spells with Durations such as Until or Bargain expire if their trigger conditions are met, as usual.

If the characters destroy a large amount of web, the sun lurches forward in the sky, releasing stored up time, until it is once again snagged by the web that crisscrosses the sky. It take a Diameter for the sun to be snagged again, and during this period everything in the regio ages by one year; make Aging rolls if required.

This causes active spell effects with a Duration of Year or less to expire too. Causing the sun to briefly move in this way requires at least 1000 cubic paces of web to be destroyed; just freeing individual characters is not sufficient.

Old Nanny and the Faerie Queen

There is an ancient rivalry between Old Nanny and the faerie queen Blegen.

Many ages ago, perhaps before The Flood, the people living on the edge of the forest feared the dark, scuttling creatures of the forest and the greatest of their fears was Old Nanny. In that age Old Nanny had a different name, a primitive, primeval name; she was terror, the stench of death, and the dark of night. However, over the centuries the people tamed the dark forest, named the forest creatures, and no longer feared the dark places. At least not so much. Blegen, the faerie queen, arose, and Old Nanny, the night terror, shrank.

Old Nanny is not part of the faerie court, but she is subservient to it and jealously remembers when she ruled the faerie forest and Blegen was a wispy, halfformed idea fluttering among the swaying trees. Although Old Nanny watches over baby Marcus for the faerie queen, she has her own story to tell. Old Nanny tries to kill some of the player characters if they make it into the Nursery, but she also wants some to escape (even taking Marcus with them), spreading the tale of the ancient darkness at the true heart of the forest.

However this Hook is resolved, the opportunity is created for further stories that involve the Faerie realm, if the troupe wishes. How the nearby mundane nobles react to Blegen's claim to the barony may also be important.

• If Blegen is successful, the barony near the covenant is gradually colonized by faeries. Eventually, the magi need to interact with these faeries, and the faerie occupation may attract visitors from House Merinita. Within four years the barony has developed a Faerie aura of 4.
• Links to the Faerie realm may appear in the faerie barony, especially if the magi botch spell casting attempts or enter Twilight.
• Vis sources within the barony may be tainted by the Faerie realm.
• Many mundane inhabitants of the barony are quite content with Blegen as baron, even though some of the faeries are very frightening. This is because when the year long tax-reprieve is lifted the faeries collect taxes in bizarre ways that the peasants and townsfolk do not consider arduous; for example, "the first sheaf of wheat from the harvest," "the last drop of candle-wax from a vigil held on the spring equinox," and "the tails of seven cats." The magi may suspect some of these taxes are vis (albeit probably tainted by the Faerie realm).
• Blegen attempts to fulfill any feudal obligations she owes as "baron." She swears fealty to the king, pays taxes, and

provides faerie soldiers for the royal army. To receive her oath of fealty the king must travel to Blegen as her Sovereign Ward restricts Blegen's travel. As most kings regularly tour their kingdoms, this is not necessarily problematic. The king's response (positive or negative) to the faerie queen may create further stories.

• Neighboring mortal nobles (possibly including the king) might refuse to recognize Blegen's right to the barony and try to overthrow her. Warfare between mundane and faerie armies could embroil the magi. At the very least, Tribunal Quaesitors will wonder (and investigate) whether the covenant has caused this conflict, and thus perhaps committed Hermetic crimes.

• If the magi prevent Baron Frederick from being assassinated, the faerie queen tries again in future years. This time she tries to distract the magi with some other issue before sending her assassins after the baron. Blegen may seek allies among the neighboring mortal nobles, agreeing to cede a portion of the barony to her neighbors, or offering them supernatural resources.
• If the magi recover baby Marcus, it actually has little effect on the faerie queen's plan: Blegen is still his wife. She tries to kidnap her husband again.
• The player characters may try to get the marriage annulled by the local bishop, or the pope. This requires a

legal argument that the marriage was invalid (perhaps due to age, lack of consent, the faerie priest not being properly ordained, "faeries not being real," etc). Faerie lawyers attempt to counter such arguments in the ecclesiastic courts. It is likely that baby Marcus will be changed by his marriage to the faerie queen, and he may develop faerie powers in later years.

• If the magi kill the faerie queen, the faerie court is thrown into disarray: Old Nanny tries to reassert her power, the dead faerie king tries to reclaim his throne, and the faerie queen tries to be reborn too. Some, or all, of these factions try to gain support from the magi of the covenant.