Autumn, 1227.

At the beginning of autumn, Vladimir ex Tytalus spends a night away from the covenant.

Vladimir ex Tytalus talks with the grog Marigold about the spy network she is helping in setting up around York to investigate the goings on around Voluntas covenant. She notes that the covenant have been buying up a large amount of weapons and armour from York, as well as writing materials and basic lab equipment. A couple of the Icelanders have settled into a cottage in a small fishing village along the coast, and have started constructing a warehouse.

One night, Vladimir heads down to the village and takes an arcane connection from the inside of the (currently unfinished) warehouse. Sneaking into the cottage itself, he finds that the occupants are currently out, and manages to obtain some hair to both of them, as well as a connection to the cottage. As far as he is aware, he is not spotted by anyone.

Alicia ex Criamon has come out of a long meditation that was part of one of her Criamon rituals. Going out for a long walk, she came to the lake where the star fell many years ago and encountered two ghostly skeletal warriors. They claimed to be guarding the land for their Lord Konstantin. There was no sign of the old spirits that inhabited the lake, nor of the old couple that lived in the nearby cottage.

The magi of Cruentis Petram send letters to all the covenants of Iberia and Transylvania asking if anyone of those covenants have knowledge of any falling stars that may have landed near them around the end of the year 1221. They would be willing to exchange information on such things if so.

Late in Autumn, Vladimir pushes his magical abilities to their limit in order to do some scrying of the warehouse in the fishing village. It seems to be full of barrels of supplies such as bear and fish. From outside, he can hear the sounds of fighting and eventually the warehouse is set on fire. As the door is kicked in, his spell ends and he is too exhausted to try again.

He finds Alicia and asks her to take a look, and by this time the warehouse is ablaze and even the house next door is beginning to collapse. At this point though, the sounds of fighting have ceased, and she can see that a longboat full of raiders is now leaving the harbour.

She teleports down to the beach and finds that all the villagers have been killed. Summoning up the spirit of a fisherman, she learns that the raiders were probably Germanic rather than Nordic, but that they didn't seem to take anything. The only ones that were able to stand up to them were the two newcomers who owned the warehouse. Seeking out their bodies, she discovers that they had been fighting on the pier, and seem to have killed several people but the bodies have been taken away.

The bodies of the two have decayed rapidly in the short time since they died, and one seems to have burn marks around his sword wounds. Summoning him up, he says that the raiders used magic enchantments. He asks Alicia if she is a witch sent by Phessallia. She says she isn't, and asks him about Voluntas covenant (assuming that he means Phessallia ex Merinita). He claims not to know of the word 'covenant', or that Phessallia is a wizard, only that she is a merchant lady who had hired him to help her with certain merchant endeavours. They were providing a rest stop for her trading ships.

Alicia agrees to take word of the attack to Phessallia.

Back at the covenant, there is some disagreement about whether to let Voluntas know what has happened, since doing so would raise questions about how Alicia knows, and why she was in the area. Alicia is adamant though that she has given her word, but agrees not to mention Vladimir's name.

Arriving at Voluntas, Alicia is met by a young naked woman whom she recognises as Corva ex Bjornaer. Corva is pleased to see her, then disappointed that Alicia just wants to talk to Phessallia and won't tell her what it is about. Voluntas seems to be more strongly fortified than the last time Alicia was here, and now looks very similar to how it looked in her vision many years ago.

Phessallia is interested to know of the attack, but is more interested to know how Alicia knows of it, and why she was lurking around the village at the time. Alicia simply says that she was told about it by someone who came to the covenant, and refuses to say more. Phessallia is not happy with the answer, but thanks her coolly for the information and asks her to leave.