The magi are now in control of their own lives, and what is more, they have a wondrous new covenant all of their very own. Having been able to copy most of the books from the Broken Crown - mostly due to Aelfric having been too preoccupied to stop them - they are not short on books, and neither are they short of mundane resources. The main problem will be the severe lack of vis.

The main theme is the survival of the new covenant in the vis poor Stonehenge, possibly coming into conflict with other covenants over rights to various resources. There is also the question of who the Keepers were, and what it is they locked behind the gate on the lowest level of the covenant.

The magi set out for the Hibernian Tribunal at Circulus Ruber. The Tribunal sees the trial of Caecus of Tytalus, who was overcome by demons when his covenant, Ashenrise, was almost destroyed by them.

No proof is found that he broke the code, but he declares his intention to leave Hibernia to get away from accusations and painful memories. The remaining members of Ashenrise are allowed to dedicate themselves to finding ways to combat the infernal. The magi of Stonehenge are fined 25 pawns of vis for causing trouble in Dublin, both amongst the common people and the Norman nobility.

Spent in quiet study at their new covenant.

Spent in quiet study.

Journey to the Stonehenge Tribunal, where the Covenant of the Smiths of the Keepers is declared an official covenant of Stonehenge. Miriam of Tremere is brought up on charges of destroying a magus' ability to work magic, in regard to her destruction of the mind of Asling. She is found guilty, and cast from the Order.

There are some problems with one of the resident spirits in the covenant, which causes some minor damage. Magnus investigates some goblins he found when they first moved in. He finds that they are tending small stone trees which produce terram vis. The goblins are convinced (via spells) to move to the covenant, and their trees are dug up and moved to the highest level aura of the covenant.

A couple (out of seven) goblins die, their trees dying with them. A couple of dead bodies turn up in the cave where the entrance to the covenant is located. They have signs of being ritually sacrificed, and it is first believed to be the work of Carreg Cennan, out to discredit the covenant. After some examination by Hareb, it is decided that the knife cuts occurred after death, and look more medical, than ritual. Magnus and Leri track back to a nearby village, and find Nimin, a magus of Ex Miscellanea who has been performing medical research. She is a self-styled Necromancer, who is convinced to join the covenant. She destroys some of the destructive spirits in the covenant.

Spent in quiet study.

Spent in quiet study. At the end of winter, Nimin is found to be a man, who had been under the effect of a Muto Corpus spell for the past year.

The year is spent in quiet study.

After Felonious peers into the mortal minds of the mundanes living in the covenant, he calls a council meeting to accuse Magnus of withholding important information about events in Leri's past, notably those concerning diabolic influence, and consorting with a magus previously marched for diabolism. After a long discussion, it is agreed that Leri can stay, but Magnus should have informed the council of what he knew.

Felonious travels to the Gates of Adamus, where he finds a woman called Dierdri, who has just given birth to a dead child. Investigating peasant rumour, he finds out that she has done so for the last four years, has never been with a man (mortal or otherwise), and that the body of the child has four pawns of Corpus vis within it. He promises to take her back to the covenant, away from the local Priest who accuses her of wrong deeds.

The old faerie pool of Ursal is investigated next, but it is stagnant with no signs of the Kelpie. The ruins of Broken Crown covenant are empty, with the old source of vis destroyed.

Next, is London, where Felonious talks to Aelflaed, and confronts her with the fact that he knows she is Scarabae, and wants to know more. She denies it at first, then resents his knowledge, and says that he cannot be trusted with the knowledge. He tries to give his own background, but is stopped when he mentions the Smiths of the Keepers. She seems to have knowledge of the Keepers, then uses magic to read his mind, though is thwarted by his familiar, Archimedes. Aelflaed calls upon a ghost to dispose of the owl and Andros. Andros is killed, but Archimedes escapes. Ignoring his pleas for friendship, she mind rapes him, and pulls out knowledge of the covenant and himself. When she has finished, she slays him with Perdo Corpus magic. Attempting to slay Archimedes, she fails, and collapses into Twilight.

The owl flees to Thames Covenant, and relates the events. The magi there send a message to the Smiths covenant to warn them, and three of them (Faron, Reila and Udaet) travel rapidly to Aelflaed's house to apprehend her. They are met by Aelflaed, who attacks them, slaying both Faron and Reila before Udaet is able to take her down.

Archimedes dies a few days later.

The Smiths of the Keepers hires some guards and servants for the covenant, as well as obtaining persuading Michael, a hedge wizard at Oxford University, to become their librarian.

Monks turn up at the covenant to request the presence of the magi at Amesbury Abbey, where the Abbot wishes to meet with them. The Abbot knows about them, though seems to believe that they are scholars of a sort. They are, however, on Church lands, and he demands a sum of five hundred pounds to be allowed to stay there. The money is to be used to build a chapel for some Templars.

The Templar Jacques de Bouillou and Hareb become friends, sharing a common interest in God.

The magus Ingrat of Blackthorn visits the covenant, saying she is about to leave for a long trip around Europe, and wanted to pay her respects to the new covenant first.

Fenaris and others visit an old magical site known as Wayland's Smithy, while trying to find out more about his sword Blood Fate. A regio is found, in which live many sleeping dwarfs, who say they await the return of the master smith Wayland. Apparently their women folk were taken by a dragon, that lives under Cadbury Hill. The group promise to try and free the dwarfen women, and manage to enter the regio under Cadbury Hill at mid summer's eve. A dragon is discovered there, and after a hard battle, is slain. The women folk are returned to their people, while some of them return with the magi to live with them.

The Red Cap Raymond joins the covenant, as does the new librarian, Michael, who is a Natural Magician.

Uneventful.

Julia ex Jerbiton of Voluntas covenant visits, in order to trade for books and vis.

Fenaris and Hareb plus several companions, the Templar Jacques and Marcus of Thames Covenant set out on a trip around Europe, to seek knowledge of the Scarabae. They visit Vespian's Rest, where Justinian does what he can to aid them. They get a cold reception at Valnastium, where payment is demanded for any aid they request. At Venice, they meet Mercator ex Tytalus, who is beaten by Fenaris in a contest of arms, after he refuses a certamen contest. They obtain a book which mentions the Scarabae and Keepers. Heading on to Durmitor covenant in the Transylvanian tribunal, where they have heard the Tremere there are researching into vampires, they find only mindless blood sucking undead. The Tremere claim little knowledge of more intelligent vampyres.

Continuing their travels, in Rome the Templar finds a church official in the Vatican library who has heard of the Scarabae, but the book he saw the reference in appears to have vanished in the last couple of years. He thinks it was last used by a Hypatio, who donated an excellent book on mathematics to the library. The magi think that possibly Hypatio is the Hypatia mentioned in Aelflaed's diary. They return via La Rochelle to talk with Gervase about the Scarabae found there. Eventually, by the end of the season, they get back to their covenant.

Throughout their travels, Jacques - who had accompanied Hareb because of a previous promise to protect her - finds out from Hareb more about their mission, and the Scarabae. There is some friction between the two concerning how to deal with the Scarabae. Marcus comes very close to simply killing the Templar on occasion, but is willing to trust Hareb's judgment on him.

Spent in quiet study.

King Richard is killed in a hunting accident in Normandy, and John becomes King. Eleanor of Aquitaine dies a month later. After the death of his mother, John grows far more attached to his wife Isabelle.

There is a severe winter all across England, which is followed by famine later on in the year. At the covenant though, life is pretty uneventful until the end of the season, when the Templar Jacques informs Hareb that he is taking the information on the Scarabae to the Grand Master Templar, since he believes a crusade against the Scarabae is required, and that Hareb and her kind are not doing enough. Hareb tries to convince him otherwise, but his mind is made up. She informs Fenaris what is happening, and that she is going to kill him before he can tell anyone, but Fenaris is not convinced that she is capable of going through with it, so sends word to Marcus at Thames.

Failing in a last attempt to convince Jacques not to tell anyone, Hareb waits outside the Templar's chapel, planning to ambush him after he leaves. She falls asleep soon after dawn though, not waking until the afternoon. Hurrying after him, she catches up with him at a village some time after nightfall. Watching from the woods around the village, she sees a group of armed men attack the village, and burn the inn the Templar is in. He valiantly attempts to defend himself, but is finally brought down. The attackers steal his armour, plus anything else they can find in the village. Following the attackers, Hareb discovers they are possibly from Brittany, and may be followers of Arthur. Before they can reach the coast (after several more raids), they are caught by English knights, and either captured or killed.

The season passes without incident for the magi, though the end of Summer sees the arrival of Nuribn Azif al Sayid, a Malmaluke from Egypt.He was sent here by a lady of Egypt whose brother was freed from slavery by Hareb while she was in Italy a year ago.

There is trouble for King John in Brittany, when Arthur tries to make a claim to the throne. King John, accompanied by Isabelle, travels to Brittany to deal with his nephew. Arthur is captured, and though John wishes to have Arthur killed, Isabelle talks him unto letting him go, and extracts a promise from Arthur to serve John.

There is a severe thunder and lightning storm all across England, and the following morning, giant footsteps are found everywhere. In a village near to the covenant, a giant hammer is buried in a shattered tree. Magnus and Raymond retrieve the weapon, and take it back to the covenant. Investigation shows that it belongs to a giant who appears to live in a cloud castle. The magi decide not to pursue the matter further.

Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies. The Church tries to elect Stephen Langton as successor, but the King refuses to accept the choice.

Several apparitions are seen in the woods around the covenant by some of the Covenant's mercenaries. Magnus checks through their minds to see what exactly they saw and discovers that one, William is being paid by the Abbot of Amesbury to pass on information to him about the actions of the magi. This revelation prompts a scan of all the grogs minds, and a second grog (Stephen) is found to be passing information on to someone on a yearly basis. Magnus performs a raid on the Abby, to find out what Abbot Peter knows. He and another monk - Brother Andrew - are holding a lot of evidence on a lot of people, in preparation for blackmail. They have circumstantial evidence that the 'scholars' are up to unholy practices, but are currently sitting on the information. The Council met and discuss the problem and decide not to act as they would need the Covenant's Perdo specialist Hareb, who is in Wales.

While trying to find physical evidence of the visions, Magnus discovers that someone (a villager named John) has gone missing from the village of Figheldean. Following tracks from the village, he is led back to a cleared area in the woods where a man has been sacrificed, and several large holes cover the ground. Following the tracks of many people, Magnus is led back to the burning Templar Chapel, which is desperately trying to fight off a horde of undead. He finds the man named John, watching from the shadow. An attempt to read his mind is stopped by powerful magical resistance, and Magnus flees back to the covenant. Moravia, Fenaris and Azif, plus several grogs, travel back to the chapel with Magnus. The survivors of the chapel have locked themselves in the tower, and the magi dispatch the zombies without too much difficulty. Magnus captures John, who is trying to hide, and Moravia destroys the chapel's alter. When the survivors come out of hiding, they are at first thankful to their saviours, until Moravia comments that God has obviously cursed the place. One of the men-at-arms takes exception to this (the Templars themselves are currently away), and demands that Moravia leaves. She responds with insults, which are met in turn. Eventually, he tries to forcibly evict her, but Azif steps in, and he and the other grogs are ordered by Moravia to kill all of them, which they do - even the servants who surrender.

Meanwhile, Magnus and Fenaris find out that John had been possessed by a spirit named Norsan, a druid of old. He knows little, except that Norsan has a hatred for a woman named Britta, and also John's wife Sarah. On getting back to the covenant, the grogs are a bit shaken by what happened at the Chapel, as are the Magi as one of the witnesses to the incident was William the Abbot's spy whom the Magi now resolve to get rid of. Fenaris travels to the monastery to report to the Abbot what happened at the Templar Chapel, giving the story that it was attacked - probably by bandits - and that he and his companions were too late to save anyone. The Abbot sends some people to investigate, and though few bodies are found, and nothing appears to have been stolen, nothing incriminating is discovered.

The following night, an assault is made on the covenant by several dozen undead. While the grogs hold them off, Nimin dispatches most of them with a powerful Dust to Dust spell. Moravia's mind is taken over by Norsan - who has found a new host body - but not understanding her capabilities, she is merely made to sit out of things. Fenaris slays Norsan's new host, and Nimin expends all of his vis to cast a spontaneous Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit, destroying him.

The bodies are cleared up, and things are returned to normal at the covenant, except for a small incident involving too much strangely potent (Muto Aquam) alcohol, a string of extreme good luck for the grog William in some gambling (Creo Imagonem), and a knife fight between the grogs in which William is killed after being accused of cheating (Rego Mentem). It was all most unfortunate.

The magi find out that several more people have gone missing from the village of Figheldean, including John's wife Sarah, whose body is later found by the magi, at the site were the second group of dead were raised. The Abbot sends word to William to report on events, and finding that he is dead, is convinced by Brother Andrew to sent a report to someone, to have a full investigation performed. The Abbot, unwilling to have people snooping around in case his tolerance of the 'scholars' (for reasons of personal gain) is uncovered, sends a letter to Duncan, a priest at Sarum, who is treasurer at the cathedral, and also being blackmailed by the Abbot. The magi discover this information in time (due to Magnus' use of Peering into the Mortal Mind), and they send for Hareb to help them erase Duncan's memory of the letter, and take care of Peter and Andrew. The following morning, the monks at Amesbury discover Andrew and Peter in bed together. Brother Andrew is dead, with no physical signs of cause of death, and the Abbot seems to be insane. The Prior, Luke, has the events covered up, the Abbot taken care of, and takes over the running of the monastery. Due to his apathetic nature, Prior Luke does not investigate matters further, especially since no one else in the monastery knew what was going on.