AcAdemy JournAlMisthaven Orin Rakatha

Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC 10 Gest

The Legion’s Champion, the Emperors’ Cho-sen, the Stalwart Soldier, the Fearless Warrior, and the Bearded Hero. All these awe-inspiring phrases describe the same man. However, it would appear that despite his outwardly mas-culine appearance, this fine fellow of a man, who by day goes by the name of Brother Achil-les, may not quite be what he seems to be!

Recent investigations into the activities of the Legion led one of the Journal’s intrepid reporters into their inner sanc-tum, and, whilst many of their secrets still lie securely hid-den, one of the Legion’s own was less able to hide a side of himself that has been kept hidden from public view for a long while.

As our reporter explored the Legion’s home, he stumbled across a hair and beauty session. Usually these personal pam-pering afternoons are reserved for the ladies, where they can relax, receive a massage, get their hair and nails done, their pores cleansed, and they make-up professionally applied. However, our journalist was startled to see that it was no lady having her make-up done this day, it was the Legion’s Cham-pion!

His cheeks had been professionally rouged, his eyelids col-oured with a pale blue powder, and his hair had been fluffed and styled into something very different to his usual publicly seen, and masculine style! A long, slinky black lace dress, with a myriad small blue crystals decorating the hem was pressed

and neatly hung to one side, perhaps waiting for his beauty session to be completed! According to the rumour mill that travels via their servants, Brother Achilles also likes to be known as Madam Morrigan when he’s all made up, which apparently translates as the “Great Queen”.

Continued on Page 3

Legions’s Champion exposed

Over the past few years, not many events have occurred

that managed to bring the fac-tions together to work as one unit, for one goal, and in one mind, without arguments en-suing, or bodies falling. How-ever, one such event occurred at the last gathering of the na-tions, and it even turned out successfully!

It all began last year when two naïve members of the Summer Stars decided, against their better judgement, to allow their souls to be bound to a named greater demon in exchange for a prom-ise of power over men. Since that time, people have been working to devise a plan to undo those actions, and to pre-vent the demon from causing havoc amongst the gathered adventurers.

One important element of dealing

with a named demon, is actually find-ing out what the demon’s name actually is. This is required to forge a weapon that can damage said demon, and for a ritual that can summon the demon to the blade. Unfortunately, the demon’s name wasn’t known by the two suppli-cants.

The Legion then took it upon them-selves to divine the knowledge, via a prayer service to their emperor, with the aide of the Master of Truth. Whilst this ritual didn’t actually provide the name they wanted, it did produce a portal key, a physical item that could be used to open a door to a remote, but unknown, location.

With the aide of a scroll of ritual knowledge, purchased from Misthaven Academy, it was decided that a mission should be undertaken to open the por-tal and venture into it, under the pre-sumption that the answers they sought were the other side of the door.

Demon Identified

Behind the sCenes, the emperor’s Chosen Leads a very different Life

Page 2 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

Continued from front page. In order for this ritual to be success-

ful, many people would be needed – both to enter the portal itself, and also to protect the ritual being performed. To that end, many of the gathered factions came together to further this cause, and the ritual started, with the shield bearers of the Cold Dawn used as its protectors. The main forces en-tering the portal were the Legion, al-though other factions were also present, and they knew that once the portal was opened, they only had 15 minutes be-fore its integrity would break down and their route home would be lost.

“seconds to spare”Upon entering the portal, and finding

themselves in a strange land, they ven-tured down narrow paths, swords at the ready. It wasn’t long before they came upon a small party made up of a blood priestess, and a cadre of her guards. A fierce, close run, battle was fought, and it looked like the cultists were on the brink of winning before the Legion fi-nally broke through.

With time running out fast, the priestess was knocked unconscious, and then bundled up and carried back

to the shimmering portal, where every-one managed to return with only sec-onds to spare.

It would appear that those that had remained at the ritual source were not left unaffected by the ordeal. Whilst they had guarded and kept the portal active, many were struck with disturb-ing visions, and nerve-shattering emo-tions, almost breaking their will and making the portal close, however they managed to stay strong long enough for those that had entered to return with their prize.

“she was then stripped”The priestess was then taken to the

Summer Star’s camp where she was then stripped, bound, and interrogated. However, whilst they managed to es-tablish that she was a member of the Mordent Sisterhood, they were unable to extract the demon’s name from her.

This is where the newly acquired ar-tefact of the Crimson Winter came in really handy. A Dagger of Truth that, after drawing blood from a victim, causes them to answer succinctly, but truthfully, three questions. It was at this point the demon’s name, Rubicante, was extracted.

With the interrogation completed, the priestess was then unceremoniously executed and burnt, as the adventurers turned their eyes towards the next step of their task.

by Balnir Stoutmantle

New edicts have been issued by the leading clergy in the holy orders of Orin Rakatha instructing some of their more worldly priests to venture forth and take religion to the masses, who are seemingly

starting to abandon their faiths.In recent times the number of followers attending the lo-

cal temples has dwindled, and the general levels of faith, and prayer, have diminished. As a way to stem this downward

spiral, High Priests, from a number of holy denominations, have made the decision to send religion to the people, rather than hoping the people will come to religion.

A number of capable hallowed clergy have already decided to act upon the mandate, and have set forth on new journey’s of religious adventure. Expect more of them to follow in their wake as the fight to bring religion back to the realm starts.

Although it has not been confirmed as yet, it is also be-lieved that some senior dark custodians of the unholy churches have also decided to venture out with a view to recruiting those who lack faith to their black rites. If this is true then some form of religious war could follow shortly as the two opposed alignments both vie for new followers. Gods help us all!

by Bob, of the Argent Dawn

Holy Orders Decreed

A Mystical Portal

Have you ever wanted to learn dwarven script but did not know where to start. Has your lack of understanding made your life unfulfilled. now is the time to change and do something exciting!

Send a message to Balnir Stoutmantle via the tavern barkeeper and you will find it is as easy as

Dwarvish

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 3

Continued from front page.Amazingly though, this wasn’t the greatest shock that our

fearless columnist came across. No, not even close. Later on that day he came across something that will scar his mind for many years, and the consideration of therapy has not been ruled out.

Whilst the beauty session was limited to just the Cham-pion in a private room, that evening involved activity that, whilst still focussed around him, involved the entirety of the Legion, and they actively encouraged him, and enjoyed the spectacle that was performed before them!

It would appear that the Emperor’s Chosen likes danc-ing. Well, looking at others dancing more specifically. Well, having others dance closely around, and over, him actually. And if they are re-moving their clothes at the same time, all the better. To music, preferably, and, for a pièce de résistance, the use of food in their seductive danc-es really seems to ap-peal to him.

Our reporter per-sonally witnessed two such debauched acts of entertainment within the Legion’s camp that day. Both cheered on by the rest of the Legion, with the Champion sat centrally, enthralled by the writhing and semi-naked bodies that gyrated around him.

The first dancer that tickled the Champions fancy that night, was a tartan clad gentleman, whose stage name is Fat Angus, who took great pleasure in waving his spog into the face of his captivated watcher, whilst proceeding to wrap his bare legs around the Champions prone, but pleasured form. But this was just the hors d’oeuvre. What was to follow is what left the searing imagery into the minds of watching, and captivated audience.

As the music start-ed up again, Baron Wilhelm Otto von Schlossburghausen-Herzdorf, KP CP HPO SP3(DP), of the Zollern Cor-poration, made his entrance. From the gleaming pickel-haube helmet, long dark officers coat, to his dark boots, this smartly dressed man looked, to all intents and purposes, quite normal, and decent. But all that was about

to change.As the music played,

the Baron slowly, but seductively, removed his smart coat, fol-lowed by his white shirt, to reveal a spiked leather clad pair of skimpy tight lederho-sen. All the while he continued to dance provocatively around Brother Achilles.

Then he called for some accoutrements to aid him in his dance, and was handed a 10” long bratwurst, and a container of mayon-

naise. The Baron then started to smear the latter over his chest and arms before rubbing the sausage into it and offer-ing it up to the Champion, in the hopes of double-ending it. However, as the seated audience was stunned into rapturous silence, almost unable to move, this offer was passed up.

The Baron, not put off by this missed opportunity, prompt-ly straddled the Emperor’s Chosen, sitting in his lap as he continued his burlesque dance, running his hands through his mark’s hair, ensuring that the mayonnaise was shared with his eu-phoric client.

As the mu-sic died, and the Baron col-lected his be-longings, the wider audi-ence cheered. Brother Achil-les, however, sat motionless, stunned by his recent experi-ence, lost in the ecstasy of the moment, and completely spent.

It was an evening that would be remembered for a very long time. Even with the best therapy.

by Aredhel Turgle

Fat Angus, Lap Dancer

To the fairest avatar of death on Orin Rakatha

Your point was well made.

Yours sincerelyA Grumpy (and usually inebriated) Dwarf

Baron Wilhelm makes an appearance

The champion tatstes the Baron’s sausage

The champion enjoyed every second

Page 4 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

It was the time again, and Lord Greystone awoke once more from his slumbers. Sum-moning his Halmadonian ret-inue, he descended once more upon the Festival to enact the sacred ritual. Surely, this time they would remember. Sure-ly, this time they would do it right. Surely, there would be less blood-letting this year.

He approached a camp. A strange red snowflake symbol. He had not seen this one before, or…..maybe…a long time ago? But if so, hadn’t they all died? Maybe they would this time – there was only one fire. A good one, with a huge log and a red glowing fire pit, but – just one. And a couple of lights in strange glass boxes twinkled either side of the entrance. The dark rage deep down twisted and stirred.

Mechanically the camp occupants moved toward him, as he knew they would. They always did ‘Where are your fires?’ demanded Lord Greystone.

The tall one dressed in green stood before him without apparent fear. ‘We were told that they just needed to be flames…’ he began.

‘Flames? These feeble things’ the an-ger was stirring, coiling up his torso, making him feel….alive. ‘We will test your mettle, and see if your flames are sufficient.’ He called forth four knights ‘one on one’.

The camp occupants moved line abreast and took a fighting stance. He sensed their trepidation, but…calm-ness too. These men were warriors. No, wait….that one was a warrior, although he wore no armour but, this one – an archer, but without his bow. And those two… priests? Greystone’s ire subsid-ed. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be - always there had been armoured warriors. Proud boastful men that his knights would slay, and enjoy the task.

The Halmadonians moved forward, and the two lines met. A skilful Hal-madonian struck sideways at the next in line, and the archers arm fountained. The men ducked, dodged, dived from the Halmadonians blades, using speed rather than steel. Their agile weapons swept forward, and all of the Halma-donians took hits. It was not enough,

of course. Only a matter of time. One by one, the men fell, the green leader last to drop, coughing arterial blood as his chest was pierced through. Lord Greystone waited for the anger to rise to a crescendo before giving the orders to move in and raze the camp, as he had done so many times in the past.

But. The rage didn’t rise. The men had fought without arrogance, with purpose. With teamwork. Devotion. With the knowledge they would lose, but making the most of their brief time. Lord Greystone’s arm dropped. Maybe…

‘You are deemed worthy’ his words ringing in the ears of the dying men. The Halmadonian knights moved forward, touching each fallen warrior lightly on the shoulder, and they rose, amazed as their wounds vanished be-fore their eyes. ‘Tell me where your lands lie, for they shall prosper’. The

four men looked at one another. ‘I came from…Lyonesse’ Where? Lord Greystone did not recognise the place ‘so did I’, ‘I came from Volkans’ That place was familiar, but not of here, not now. Consternation touched Lord Greystone. ‘I asked not where you came from but where your lands lie’ he called. The deep black stirred again.

‘We know not’ Were these men fools? Had they not

communed with the Black Pharaoh? He reached inside them, feeling… wait, these men did know of the Black Phar-aoh and….had helped vanquish him?

‘Well, if you don’t know where your lands lie, they may prosper, they may not. Go and find them’.

Maybe next year they would know. Maybe next year they would do the fire properly, They had a chance.

Lord Greystone moved forward to the next camp. There were two fires, much better, but not the roaring pyra-mids he craved. Another testing then. An assortment of creatures met him – elves, a faun, a….dark elf ? And wasn’t that a furry lizard, pinned to that tree just above their heads? What sort of worship goes on here?

The world had moved on since the last Beltane, Lord Greystone mused. And with many campfires twinkling through the woodland, it was going to be a long night.

Kay Drakken, Crimson Winter

Beltane Fires

“War”, and the other strange ‘Masters’ that have been seen walking amongst us recently are, according to rumour, anthro-pomorphic personifications of fundamental concepts. Whilst this is a mouthful for some, it basically means that these very much one-dimensional entities represent an single idea.

It also appears that the Lady Crow, whilst to all intents and purposes is probably the most stereotypical anthropomorphic personification of all, isn’t, in fact, one of the powerful Masters of Lore, but something even more powerful.

Apparently these creatures have been given a physical form by the Mystics, al-though these forms are only to allow the sentient races to be able to interact with them, and are not directly linked to their actual being. This explains why striking down the body of a Master does not have any lasting effect.

The biggest question that has been asked recently though is what purpose do these strange beings have?

For the most part, if would seem that the answer is “nothing”. With two of the Masters recently choosing not to grace us with their presence,

nothing changed, and those that remain seem to affect nothing around us with regards to their own concepts. As such, it would appear that War, and the other Masters, offer little, and do even less.

War! What is he good for?

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 5

The Warriors of the Crimson Winter have acquired a strange and rare artefact. Manufactured from a rock that fell from the Gods, it’s metal has a strange sheen.

After much study and experiment, the WCW have learnt how to imbue this dagger with a strange

power, which is kept as a closely guarded se-cret amongst their members. If someone is

cut with the dagger, the wielder gets to ask three questions. During that

time, the cut person may not fight them, cast magic or effects, or

move at more than a walk-ing pace.

This dag-

ger has sparked much interest amongst those attempting to resolve the Daemon issue for the Summer Stars. The dag-ger was employed on minions of the Daemon to see if the name or further information about him could be found. Maybe the wrong minions were selected, or they are under a great geas, as the repeated response to questions was ‘I don’t know’. However, those on the quest to defeat the daemon have high hopes that when used on the right minion it will yield the necessary information.

The WCW would like it known that the services of this dagger may be hired at a suitable rate – minimal for those allied to WCW, and a little more for others. The services of the dagger will be provided free in the quest to defeat the daemon, which is widely recognised as a great threat to Orin Rakatha.

Warriors of the Crimson Winter

Academy Professor MissingFoul play suspected as search for Malacoda is escalated.An incident occurred at the last gathering of the nations that caused one of the Academy’s Field Professors to vanish, with-out trace, and so far all efforts to find him have proved fruitless.

The Faculties of Daeva and Daemon, Mystical Arts and Ritualistic Endeavours have jointly begun a multi-dimensional investigation into Malacoda’s disappear-ance but have so far made little progress with locating him, nor identifying any reasons which may have caused his mysterious vanishing. However, two of the nations, the Vagrants and the Warriors of the Crimson Winter, have recently come forward and offered their aid in the investigation, and it is hoped that their ad-ditional help will speed up the investigation, and aid in the professor’s recovery, dead or alive.

So far, the only knowledge that the Academy has been able to ascertain is that Malacoda was performing a blood ritual aimed at reversing a daemonic corrup-tion he had been suffering over the past few years. It would appear though that something may have gone terribly wrong, or that the ritual itself was attacked from within its seals. The current working assumption is that forces unknown, sensing the blood link created within his ritual, used it as an anchor to open a rift and snatch his prone, and unsuspecting form.

Witnesses have stated that during his ritual, which despite the use of vials of blood gathered from the nations appeared to be going well, large plumes of pur-ple smoke started to emanate from a large, silver chalice of blood that was being used as a power focus for the ritual. When the thick acrid smoke had dissipated Malacoda was nowhere to be seen and the wards that surrounded the ritual were still in place. All of his ritual paraphernalia was still in place, as were the inscribed blood runes, and his scrolls. It is hoped that this result isn’t a permanent outcome, but this hasn’t been ruled out.

Luckily for the Academy though, they had sent two professors to the last meeting of the nations, and Field Professor Jonah Jones was able to coordinate the students in Malacoda’s absence. Professor Jones, an eminent professor of engineering who is currently working on starting up a Faculty of Archaic Wonders, under the Principal Scientia, Lord Marlamin Pegasson, was welcomed by the students, although some had reservations with his extremely non-magical approach to the realm.

If anyone has any information relating to the disappearance of Field Professor Malacoda, or his current whereabouts, please contact your local Field Academy.

Professor Jonah Jones

Truthsaying

Please help!! My Name is Talia I am from Melandir. I am be-ing held against my will please, please, help. I think my friend Thanton escaped. Find him and he can point the way.

Page 6 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

Twas an overcast and chill eve as I made my way to the stockade. This would be my first meeting with this band of Cold Dawn, and I needed it to go well. Fortunately I had taken time to observe them over the previous month, and I knew both their strengths and weaknesses. Although a fear-some band of warriors, they lacked the skill and dedica-tion of a devout warrior priest. This is where I, Tiberius Rak, would step in.

With deft oratory I won over the minds of the warriors with visions of what we could achieve together, and their wise leader Lord Matabar called for a vote. All were in favour, and I was accepted. Immediately I set them upon their first task – an orb of im-portance that had been lost upon this land. The long and heroic quest that led to the return of this powerful ar-tefact would make it worthy of song, especially as two brave maidens of the band achieved this without spilling a drop of blood.

I get ahead of myself however. Bare-ly had the knights met with me than I was leaving. With my new role as head ritualist, I would need to meet with the much respected and oft feared Lady Crow, and also maintain links with the Misthaven Academy. Although I know the mighty knights look down on these pursuits, I hope to show them the fruits such labours can provide. Whilst

away from camp I also took the oppor-tunity to formally meet the warriors of the Keisora Dynasty. While the knights had a close relationship with this group, I wished to take their measure myself, and offer a gift. This was accepted, and throughout these events I would come to have many conversations with the man called Yu, who while at first glance is ragged and simple, has a shrewd mind. He and Inquisitor Valen seem to have struck up a close relationship, to help dealings between the two factions.

While I was away the stockade was visited by a lesser demon, that has been described to me as whiney and annoy-ing. Taunting the Knights, it laid low the mighty Lord Matabar with a blow from its fell weapon, which could only be described as rolling pin like…how unusual. However, the demon was soon dispatched, but disappeared with warnings that its master was coming...

Later that day, with the clouds part-ing, we encountered members of the Celestial Bureaucracy. They informed us of an influx of refugees from the lands of Shou-lun. The lands had been ravaged by plague, and the poor peo-ple hoped to come here. However, with these simple folk came Ronin, great warriors who ruled these peasants. This created many different opinions, from assisting the afflicted, to just burning them. The Cold Dawn held their coun-cil, not wishing to invite plague to our lands.

With the skies beginning to darken we attended the way station to plot our strategy for the great game known

as the Harvest tithe. Ably assisted by the knight Boris, we placed our open-ing gambits. I believed a game of skill was to follow, but others had darker thoughts in mind.

Outside the tavern we were greeted by 4 men, professors who wished to give us an insight into the lives of the people from Shou-lun. Four tasks were set for us: Create a Haiku, a piece of art, a tea ceremony and engage in single combat.

As darkness fell we returned towards our camp, having heard that a white knight would pass through. We waited, but none came, although a group of Asgard must have heard the same tale, and wished to block his path. My fellow knights went out to patrol, but I retired to camp, entertaining some members of the Keisora dynasty. It was fortu-nate our allies stayed, because an angry mob of Asgardians arrived at the gates, demanding explanation for how the knight had slipped past them. As if the Cold Dawn would lower themselves to distraction to fulfil their aims! With bluster and talk of honour, myself and the Keisora were forced to join the As-gard in battle. A brief struggle ensued, and with very few left standing, the As-gard withdrew, claiming their so called honour satisfied. I considered this to be at end, but I was wrong...

Bright sunlight hit me as I awoke, and breaking my fast I rose to find our warriors ready for the trials ahead. My first was to ask Varid for his blessing and empower our warriors. Entering the circle under the watchful eye of

A Personal Account of the Harvest Tithe

Tiberius Rak

The Cold Dawn

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 7

the Lady Crow, and assisted by Inquisitor Valen and a young novice called Eabha, we cleansed and performed the ritual safely, as I knew we would. I may be weakened, but I am not without the knowledge I have gained.

Returning to camp we were called to the gate by the As-

gard. They demanded a tax be paid, or a battle would be fought. Truly they have a foolish leader if they believe they could break our shield wall at our own stockade…a short while later the rabble was beaten to the ground, their meagre stores taken, and sent running with their tails between their legs. Our knights celebrated the glorious, if short battle, and went searching for greater challenges.

The ritual combat challenge run by the Celestial Bureau-cracy was held in the fighting pit behind our stockade. Many brave souls entered, but in the end the privateer Captain was victorious, standing over a Wee Scunner, whose size belied his viper quick draw. Special mention must go to chief scout Minsc, whose skills allowed him to rise higher than any other knight.

I escorted the Lady Carys to the tavern, where a meeting was held to discuss the dangers held by the plague that some of the poor migrants could bring to our lands. Ideas were passed back and forth, but it seemed so many minds could not come to a consensus. The representative of the Keepers called the meeting to a halt as she was hungry, a seemingly heartless act when discussing the poor and starving. I sup-pose that is the way of their kind though. I could not tell you if any progress was made, our suggestions seemingly went unheard, and we shall take our own actions to aid the poor as we are able, unless approached again.

Our aid was requested for something much more suited to our abilities. The various factions had united to open a portal, and bring someone through. While I had grave misgivings of this act, seeing the legion within the circle gave me hope, as these warriors would surely not be dealing with any dark powers. On the way Lord Matabars eye was caught by a dark figure holding court within the way-station. It appeared that the various factions were involved there, and I was sent to investigate. As each faction declared themselves, a piece of land was ceded to them as their own. The Cold Dawn was granted the land north of the Foghorn Wood.

Returning to the ritual circle, we watched it take place. The ritual was indeed mighty, although there did seem to be strange side effects to it. Even one such as I was appar-

ently affected, though I believe I could just see clearer than those around us. At this point of the day I was forced to re-tire, my head wounds still troubling me greatly. The rest of this report comes from talking with noble knights that carried the honour of the Dawn.

Reports from our al-lies told us that the poor of Shou-lun were be-ing herded into battle by more powerful warriors, and even some other types of creatures within their ranks. Learning of a force moving through the lands, the knights travelled quickly to a gathering army. Leadership was taken by the admiral, who knowing of our talents had Lord Matabar form a shield wall along a narrow path. When the enemy arrived the force out-numbered our own 5 – 1. But the knights fought with skill and fury, our god Varid defeating their vile magic’s to warp our shields, and the banner maiden defying any attempts to make us flee. But in the end we had to give ground, the cap-tain calling us back, needing the might of the shield wall to hold the second front.

A measured withdraw took us to the steps of the castle, where the brave knights would be re enforced by archers, magic users and other warriors. The admiral had not wasted the time we bought him, as the second wave charged against us, the cannon roared, and ranks of troops were smashed from their feet. Arrows flew and gunshot clapped, but still they came. With the legion fighting hard, and our noble allies the Dynasty at our backs, the wall held a second time. As the clash of blades and shouts subsided, it seemed only one en-emy warrior still stood. Seemingly from the very heavens an arrow struck straight through his eye, and he fell back dead,

the force throwing him from his feet. A hearty cheer erupted from warriors throats, and the Lady Carys bowed her head, accepting their praise graciously.

Only one final wave remained, the largest and strongest.

Keisora Dynasty

The Carnival

Page 8 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 ACBut healers rushed to the front, easing men’s hurts and healing those close to death. With a mighty roar the battle lines collided one final time. Men gave their all, and finally the alliance was victorious. While the Cold Dawn was the anvil, the others landed the hammer blow.

You may think that such a battle would be enough for anyone, but not a Knight. Returning to camp, our knights fended off an assault of elementals. Then we were visited by a member of the Celestial Bureaucracy, to attend our tea ceremony. With myself absent, it fell to our novice ritualist and tavern keeper to create the legendary Cold Dawn iced tea. Served on the shield of a fallen hero and shared with a knight, this is a ritual of warriors, not a weak ceremony performed by lesser men. Finally we lit the Beltane lights. These burned strong, and once more we were visited, men carrying burning torches entered the stockade, and our strength was tested. We sent a champion forward to single combat, and although he was defeated, he earned the respect of the mighty warrior.

With this last hurdle overcome, it was time for the knights to celebrate Beltane, and a visit to the carnival, to witness jesters, tumblers and various entertainment. It was a merry time, all thoughts of battle and trouble lost in merry making and overflowing cups.

This concludes my report professor. I hope it is informative to you and the various fellows of the academy.

by Tiberius Rak, Cold Dawn The Fall of the Asgard

‘tis with much reluctance that I pen this missive. It has been my honour and pleasure to have many dealings with the Halls of Asgard. They have been honourable allies in their dealings, going beyond the call in order to assist other fac-tions and indeed, saving the lives of all of us through their generosity of resources and skills. With such a proud history, I was hurt deeply by their actions in recent months, especially from those that I would consider allies.

During our last visit to this plane, one of our faction was struck down by the Asgard while they were steal-ing something precious to us from our camp. Once we had healed our fallen comrade, we made haste to the Mead Hall to confront them. When we called out to them to answer for their theft, we were greeted with locked doors. This was not the actions of the Asgard that I knew and called friends. We could hear them whispering, trying to pass orders to hide what they had taken but to little avail. After much negotiating we had our item returned to us.

If this was an isolated incident I would have let this pass and leave their actions as nothing more than a misguided

joke. However, it was revealed that they took more than one item of importance to us and did not return it when asked. It was only through the actions of War that our item was returned to us. Generous compensation was gifted as a punishment from War due to their lack of judgement. Our friendship resumed, but not all of the Asgard were happy at this turn of events.

I pen this, not to bring to light their misdeeds, and not as further punishment to them for I still respect them and pray that they find their way back to honour and glory. This is written to be a warning, that not is all well with the Asgard and to act as a plea for aid. The heart of their faction is at war with itself, and I know not which way it will turn or to what degree. There are many trials for the in the days ahead, and I would wish us all to support them at this time. Though, be mindful of the Asgard.

Do not mistrust them, as to do so would betray all that they have done before to aid us all. Help them if you can, as we will, and be mindful of their potentially misguided actions.

Peace to the peoples of Orin Rakatha by Captain Scales of the Keepers

Fae Pride!Many a night we have sat, elves, demons, daeva, dwarfs, nymphs, fauns and

every other beautiful creature under the stars of our multifaceted universe. In celebration of Fae Pride in a few moons to come the Vagrants will be throwing a party to celebrate the diversity of Orin Rakatha. So shine your horns and clean your hoofs, sharpen your fangs and fluff your wings. There will be party games, plenty of delicious drinks suitable for all races and a pride march at the finale. So bring your banners for your support, your hearts for the solidarity, and your middle tendril for the haters. Humans more than welcome!

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 9

A Deadly ComplimentThe topic of conversation: Assassinations. The target in question? Lady Crow herself. You might think the worst of this, an attempt to lay an assault on death. Certainly you might be right. But I do believe

Khobert thought only to the supreme power of the Lady Crow though as he claims, that she was the most powerful being he could think of.

A test of Shadowsfalls limits in terms of pricing. A compliment perhaps, but a fatal one. Crow was swift, she arrived before I would have even thought it was possible to hear of the news. No one hindered her

as she sought out the tipsy dwarf and after a brief interrogation drained the life from him. Intention was second to action in this case and in hind sight some things are best left unsaid. Luckily after a frantic panic to revive our beloved little tunnel digger, we managed to bring him back and amends made with the Lady Crow. But let this be a warning: those who court death should be prepared to be kissed by it.

by Palin MacGregor

Matsumoto No Odi Kirkio, a rōnin last seen travelling with the Scunners, appears to be carrying around additional weight upon his soul.

As reported in the last edition of the Academy Journal, Old Bill, another member of the Scunners, lost his life

whilst uttering the immortal words “ Ach, feck you ya wee bastard. Ahm an ol’ man wi’ a dodgy ‘ip an’ I’m al-ready weighed down carryin’ some of ya ‘andywork. Sod off.” to the Dark Pharoh! However, his soul, it seems, did not fully pass over into whichever afterlife he believed in. In some strange twist of fate Old Bill’s personality melded into the soul of Matsumoto, where it now hides, awaiting inconven-ient times to emerge and take control of the unsuspecting body.

For reasons currently unknown to this reporter, Matsumoto, an active ritualist now sporting a strange black circle tattoo, doesn’t seem to be that fazed with having a new lodger ‘living’ within his body.

So far, apart from unnerving some people with the switch from polite, respectful samurai to the loud and un-couth behaviour of Old Bill, there are has little other effect, although when Old Bill’s personality surfaces during

rituals it must add untold risk to the lead ritualist and all those that enter a ritual circle with him.

Whether there is a ‘cure’, or a way to full lay Old Bill’s soul to rest, or wheth-er Matsumoto actually prefers having his old friend close at heart, remains to be seen, but in the mean time, expect the unexpected from this strange new partnership.

Old Bill - Gone, but not completely!

Matsumoto

Old Bill, deceased?

Territory Commodities By WhomShadow Dells 2 Tin Cold DawnThe Mere 2 Sharks Teeth KeepersThe Highlands 2 Indigo Crimson WinterThe Escarpment 8 Tin The ForgottenThe Rift - -Badlands 2 Quartz Crimson WinterStarvale Peaks 2 Gold LegionDragur Marsh 8 Indigo Keisora DynastyEast Waite 12 Tin Wizards ConcilliumWest Waite 12 Silver Cold DawnDragur Forest 8 Fey Hair Summer StarsSummer Meadows - -Fallow Hills 8 Gold LegionBremmin Plains 2 Indigo Cold Dawn

Gilden Far 2 Silver, 4 Fey Hair VagrantsDarkvale 10 Indigo Halls of AsgardThree Sister 12 Sharks Teeth SquiresLast Gate Wood 2 Fey Hair SquiresThe Spine 6 Gold Halls of AsgardPendragon Wood 2 Fey Hair SquiresGreensward 4 Sharks Teeth Wee ScunnersMoss Flower Wood 12 Fey Hair SquiresDarkwood 8 Quartz Crimson WinterFoghorn Wood 4 Silk Worm Wee ScunnersKingsvale 2 Tin & 4 Fey Hair LegionMisty View 2 Gold Cold DawnDesolation Downs - -Oasis of Souls 8 Quartz HordeDwimforth Vale 4 Silver CarnivalLost Wood 2 Silk Worm CarnivalThe Greenheart 8 Silk Worm Summer StarsCrown of Haval - -

Harvest Tithe - The ResultsHere follows the results of “The Game”, as played at the

last gathering of the nations, “Birth Rite”:

Page 10 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

The Duel of the YearToday marks the end of a grand day. Today was the day that I was declared the undis-puted one handed swords man to attend the gathering of our factions. It is often difficult to decide contests of weapon prowess between the factions, with dif-ferences in choice of weapons. We have all crossed blades with our factions, and adversaries of many stripes, but rarely in so constructed a contest. I must thank the Celestial Bureaucracy for the oppor-tunity and the contest.

I stumbled across the contest on my journey back from treating with the Legion, and was invited to participate by the Minister for War. As others gathered from other factions, I was curious as to what opponents would prove the greatest threat. Warriors of strength and cunning from many fac-tions came to participate. Three Keepers includ-ing myself partook of the contest, where the only laws were that the bout must be fought with a one handed weapon to the first blood.

My first and second rounds were dealt with quickly. They were honourable and fought well, but speed was my ally and they were quickly best-ed. It is the final two bouts that my mind remem-

bers most vividly.My third bout, was against a champion of the

Wizards Concilium, and a man whom I have faced before and not bested. His weapon of choice is typically a long staff, as is much of the Concilium’s way with which he is skilled and has bested me be-fore, but on this occasion our weapons were equal. There was a tense moment as the bout started, and as we came together, we tested our reactions on each other. We paid no heed to the other bouts happening around us, our focus solely on each other. Then, in a 3 quick moves, we each landed a blow upon the other at the same moment. The Minister for War ordered us to replay the bout, and we retook our positions with our sword sheathed. We stood alone in the arena, and as the Minister started the bout, we were instantly prepared. We circled one another, waiting for the first moment to strike. A parry, a thrust, then, as the Champion struck low a high slash landed a clean blow across his arm securing my victory. It was a worthy fight, and I would honour this Champion when I see him next.

The last combat, was with Fat Angus of the Wee Scunners. His prowess with a blade is legendary, and as I stepped in to the bout I had a strategy to survive, although I was not sure it could de-feat him. We were both on edge, taught as a bow string, and as the Minister counted down the start of the bout, we both flinched causing the bout to be reset. The Minister counted down again, and as he declared the start we both reacted. He struck quick, drawing his blade from his belt to slice my gizzards open. I lept backwards, narrowly avoid-ing the blade, and brought my down to strike at his arm. His upward swing to prepare his next strike blocked my blow, and we were now both in a ready position. We paused, taking the measure of each other. I started to test his defences and reactions, but he quickly had a solid defence. I circled around to find a better position of attack. I lunged, trying to reach inside his guard, but he stepped back out of reach. I was prepared for his riposte, and parried by swinging my blade high. It was it a perfect posi-tion, and I was able to strike, landing a clean blow on his arm. With that I was declared the victor. Fat Angus was extremely gracious, and I would honour him as well. He is indeed a very fine warrior, and a force to be reckoned with. The Minister thanked all those present for partaking or supporting and that was the end of the duel.

Although I was declared the victor, I am remind-ed that just because I have skill with a single blade, does not mean that I am an equal to others when they fight with their prefered weapons. However, I do smile when I see the banner that I was gifted for my victory, and it lends me strength that perhaps I am warrior enough despite my humble beginnings.

by Captain Scales of the Keepers

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 11

In and around the academy FacultIes...Through the newly founded Academy field departments, students now have the opportunity to submit articles to the various faculties and receive personal credit. Some of these articles are then chosen and placed within the Academy Journal so that knowledge may be shared.

Rituals – Under-used, and underestimated.The use of the Ritual Circle, since its powers were uncovered, is being woefully under-used according to the realm’s emi-

nent scholars. They claim that whilst the nations are using its power to charge up their nation’s unique abilities, they are only touching the tip of the stereotypical iceberg.“The power that can be accessed in the Ritual Circle, sourced from Godly Forces, Magical Essence, or from the Aether, is

capable of far more impressive things”, says Istan Spellweaver, an experienced high incantor and scholar. “Current ritualists are only using about 10% of what they are capable of. They should set themselves far bigger goals.”

It is unknown why the current nation’s ritualists are not currently tapping into the vast powers at their disposal. Whether it is fear of failure, the wanting to horde sacrificial resources that have little other use, or just that they are unaware of the scale of what they can achieve, but it would be a significant boon to any nation to have a ritualist tap into this almost limit-less energy.

It is thought that the biggest problem that is preventing ritu-alists from reaching their potentials is that the nation’s them-selves are not fully getting behind them, limiting their access to resources, and preventing them from tapping into a power that would benefit all.

In related news, two ritualists stood out at the last meeting, and deserve credit:

Laveena Erza, a ritualist from the Wizard’s Concillium, has made exceptional progress with her magical studies. The re-sults clearly showed themselves within the ritual circle where she managed to achieve a far greater outcome from that of previous outings. May she continue down the path to ever greater successes!

And the biggest ritual sur-prise from the last gathering was that of the new Asgardian ritualist, Guthix Wolfsbane. His first ritual for his nation, made on his first expedition with them, was a resounding suc-cess, outperforming many of the well established ritualists of the other nations. He is set to achieve great things!

Also, a recap of some information that was given out by Professor Jones during the meeting of ritu-alists, regarding the differences in the ritual circle now that you are back on the real Orin Rakatha:

* A Ritual of Resurrection now only requires a fresh part of the body, or recent remains, not a full corpse.

* Three ritualists can work together to perform a ritual of a higher rank.

* Rituals of Knowledge can now return more answers than before, depending on the rank of the ritualist, although it does now require a small component sacrifice. This ritual can now be performed many times per gathering.

* The strength of the ritual circle now removes the need for additional duration for incantor and high incantor level rituals.

The Faculty of Ritualistic Endeavours

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Page 12 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

The Restoration of Nature Magic II:Observations of potential natural use of magic by the Tur-

bo Bunny and Nightwing OwlIntroduction:

The third article in this series delves into the existence of two more community members of the Dionate’s lush wood-lands. I feel with every new word I write I come closer to understanding some of the true beauty in nature’s design, and am starting to get a feeling that magic may be far more widespread than we imagined, we just have to look for it.The Turbo Bunny

This rampant rabbit is often found in small glades dot-ted throughout the forests near the Dionate. This fuzzy lit-tle critter spends approximately 80% of its time engaging in mating, and is nearly never caught by predators [1]. This combination would lead you to believe that the population levels would explode exponentially, but nature has cleverly led the evolution of these dutiful bunnies, so that the vast majority of bunnies are homosexual [2]. The bunnies often form into large balls of same sex organization and animate furiously until dawn [3]. Pregnancies occur rarely, often due to a result of gender confusion or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What gives the rabbits such stamina is certainly impressive, and I suspect of a magical nature. A quick calculation to see how many calories they were burn off compared to how many were being expended, rapidly revealed a discrepancy.

These keratin dense quadrupeds should be literally coitusing their way to the grave. Suspected predatory magic, such as that used by the Nightwing Owl and the Masked Man of the Forest also seem to bare no effect, and the rabbits seem to detect more direct attack before it arrives, allowing them to disentangle and make a run for it.The Nightwing Owl

This winged harbinger of death is one of the most violent and sadistic predators in all of Orin Rakatha. The feathery fiend often kills by repeatedly picking up and dropping its victim onto hard rocks, at specifically the distance to only shatter bones and not kill. It is then observed to flay the skin of its now immobilized prey over the course of a few

hours before finally eating only the genitalia and brain [4]. The tawny torturer strikes silently, in its famous mute dive, majestic and malevolent [5], although I have my suspicions that skilful flight is not the main mechanism behind the al-most soundless descent.

I believe that there is magic at play. The owl is often never heard, this is common knowledge. But more strangely, the screams of its brutally murdered lunch are never heard. I had thought this was perhaps due to the removal of the voice box upon first striking, but with some patience I viewed a kill in which the unfortunate Barking Hedgehog most certainly had its voice box intact. More curiously as the hedgehog called out to its favourite bush for protection, no sound came out and no bark came. The rest is history. Nature is cruel. But through this cruelty I may have found an animal capable of muting sound and thus the use of magic in other creatures, and as is commonly witnessed, the use of this power is al-most overwhelmingly abused. The nightwing owl is known to also feast on the smaller, unsuspecting members of the squires, so keep them close.References

1. Anne Summers, How to Snuggle Whilst Avoiding Being Eaten

2. Bob Baker, If its fluffy, its gay3. Voya Rishem, Sights that’ll Shock the Kids4. Domen Ator, Roleplay Inspiration for Advanced Play-

ers5. Belinda Dodds, My Boyfriend is an Owl, Get Over it

The Turbo Bunny

The Nightwing Owl

The Faculty of Flora and Fauna

NoticeTiberius Rak, Warrior Priest of the Cold

Dawn, invites all religious leaders to the camp of the Cold Dawn for refreshment and lively discourse on the state of faith within Orin Rakatha, and an opportunity to share spiritual beliefs.

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 13

The Restoration of Nature Magic III:Observations of potential natural use of magic by the

Pudding Plant and Barking HedgehogIntroduction:

The second article in this series will be focusing on two other members of the community of life around the Dion-ate. Even more fantastical observations are included, all with the aim of understanding the uses of nature magic, which are either a close guarded secret or forgotten art of the ma-ges of Orin Rakatha. The Pudding Plant

The pudding plant is not a rare sight in many goblin house-holds, indeed it is often used to garnish deserts [1]. Many of the other races regard this plant with suspicion though due to the acrid smell of faeces associated with its leaves, earning it the affectionate alternative name of ‘turd weed’ [2]. It is however for this exact reason that goblins enjoy its addition to meals [1]. I have been assured it tastes every bit as similar to how it smells, especially when placed into a pipe com-prised of magic herbs [3]. A common side effect of which is ‘bowel breath’.

The main reason this plant caught my attention however, was due to the rapid ability of it to grow when damaged. Of-ten pudding plants can regenerate around 50% (95% confi-dence interval of 35% – 73%) of their total mass in a matter of hours [4]. This ability however seems to be constrained to short bursts, and this feat cannot be replicated for a few

weeks [4]. I believe that the pudding plant may have mas-tered a method of tapping into the magical energy surround-ing it to rejuvenate its tattered body. Upon moving the plant to a new location or giving it a large supply of fresh human manure, it did seem to lower the amount of time it needed to perform a cycle of rapid regrowth. Perhaps with more inves-tigation we may be able to gain the ability to rapidly heal our own wounds under the use of a refined form of this magic.The Barking Hedgehog

The barking hedgehog is a now fairly rare creature, often mistakenly assumed to bark in a similar manner to a dog, or a threatened/angered/happy orc [5]. The small bush dwell-ing rodent usually potters around minding its own business with a set of soft and shiny quills on its back. It was for this reason so many of these tiny legged mammals were hunted for their unique fur. Since the banning of hedgehog slip-

pers though, the population is making a slow comeback [6]. The barking hedgehog often forms a symbiotic bond and home with its favourite bush, eating the berries and dispers-ing seeds.

The once quite trusting creatures have since become fairly hostile to humans and react in a similar manner to being perused by their more natural predators. This reaction in-volves a hardening of the skin and quills into a bark like sub-stance harder than most known metals [7]. The protective effect can be eventually hacked away, but usually provides enough of a deterrent to allow the hedgehog a plodding re-treat when the most imminent danger has passed. I suspect that the mechanism relies on a drawing of protective magic,

of which the source is a stronger natured symbiosis with its beloved flora companion than we might have first expected. The hedgehog after all also eats the pests which threaten the bush, and the bush in return provides its strength to shield the hedgehog from harm.References

1. Fangdragora Grumbles, Meals, what’s is GOOD2. Lucy Colon, Common names for Common Plants3. Palin MacGregor, Personal observations carried out on

fellow Vagrants4. Darlie Chimmock, Gardening Despite Lower Back Pain5. Patty Crumby-Ring, Myths about our Aquiline Friends6. The National Survey of Animal Populations – Proceed-

ings of Infrastructure and Life in Elven Suburbs (PILES)7. Moh Scale, The Hardness of all Known Objects

by Palin MacGregor1, Illowyn Orchediaeas

The Barking Hedgehog

The Pudding Plant

Looking for LoveDo you like long, romantic (and den-

grous) walks in the Underdark?Does the sound of an evil, spider god-dess make you tingle in anticipation?Does dark skin set your heart aglow?Are you looking for your soul mate?Contact Araya in the Summer Stars

Page 14 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

As someone who has recently discovered the Emperor’s light, I understand how one may think the faith of the Legion is simple and universal. However, my time with the brotherhood has demonstrat-ed that this is simply not the case; though all share an unshakeable faith in the Emperor, the nature of that faith varies from brother to brother. What separates us is firstly that which we find most corrosive and offensive to the Emperor’s cause and secondly the length to which we are willing to go to in or-der to further his light.

Though all Legion will oppose the panoply of the Emperor’s foes, some choose to focus upon particu-lar forms of heresy:-Deimos

Those whose calling leads them to the branch of Deimos hate the demon most of all and will go to great lengths to banish these fell creatures in all of

their forms. By hammer, by blade and by prayer will the Legion seek the guidance of the Em-peror as to how best deal with such abominations. When action is required to deal with such a foe, the followers of Deimos will be at the forefront of the faithful.Barabas

The non-human is the natural en-emy of those of the Barabas. Be it fey, hordling or ettin, this arm of the brotherhood have a deep and ingrained hatred of all that do not share the common ancestry. Though a limited tolerance of such creatures has been necessarily adopted to fur-ther the Legion’s cause, those of the Barabas maintain a natural distrust for such beings and, in quieter and darker moments, advocate the need to purge them by fire and blade.Veneficus

Those of the Veneficus view the witch, the mutant and the sorcerer as the vilest form of heresy. Usually the most puritanical of the Legion, brothers of this persuasion will fre-quently voice their concerns regard-ing the use of magic or mysterious items of power. The Veneficus see the use of such power as anath-ema to the Emperor’s Way and will only utilise it in the direst of cir-cumstances. If such use is deemed necessary, those of the Veneficus will be weary and ever vigilant of the user, whether a member of the brotherhood or not.

Alongside the chosen specialisms noted above, the faith of the Legion is also separated by the central ques-tion: does the end justify the means? Some members shun anything but the blade, the hammer, the shield or the faith and see all else as a step toward heresy. Others support the use of the weapons of the enemy to further the cause of the Emper-or. Though more of a sliding- scale than an absolute and rigid philoso-phy, the more puritanical members of the brotherhood are becoming increasingly concerned for the in-quisitive and the progressive. Some advocate that a greater understand-ing of one’s enemy aids in their de-struction; others believe that way dragons lie.

by Marcus Stormcrow, Legion

A Short Discussion on Faith, and the Legion

The Legion

The Faculty of the Divine Pantheon

Leto Levo LegionFor the Purity of ManWe take pride in our human heritage.

Those of green, red, or other such tainted skins; those that have tainted, not-fully-hu-

man, blood; those the speak strange tongues; all shall be purged in the fires of hell.Join Us! For the Emperor!

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 15

This is a document in which I will de-scribe how we performed a ritual that was able to summon a physical mani-festation of the Spirit of Nature, praise be unto him, or her!

I know not what gender this spirit takes, if any at all, but I saw the green creature with my very own eyes and I am truly blessed for it. I apologise, I write with some excitement. This is some-thing my scholarly companion, Palin of the Vagrants, and I have sought to do for some time and I almost cannot believe that we were successful in our endeavour. Many thanks to all those of faith who lent us their skills as devo-tees, ritualists and incantors, I hope you all understand the magnitude of what we have achieved and that you will ben-efit from your efforts in the near future.

The ritual we performed was an ex-perimental affair, as far as we know the first of its kind. The aim was simple, to ask the spirit of nature to return to the world of Orin Rakatha in the hope that we may be blessed the ability of nature magic, provided we properly research it and respect its power. This is some-thing my esteemed comrade Palin has devoted much energy to. I was happy to lend him my skill as High Incantor. I will now describe the manner in which the ritual was performed.

1) Entering the circle – as usual all must enter in a focused and reverent manner. As this was a ritual of such magnitude we asked all other factions to lend us their faithful few, we were surprised by their generosity. Ultimate-ly I believe we had almost three dozen skilled in the art of rituals within the circle. I’m not ashamed to say it was a tight squeeze. We formed a wide circle.

2) Sanctification and sealing of the circle – Palin sanctified the circle. We did not seal it as we wanted the spirit

of nature to be able to enter, should we succeed. We asked all those involved to sacrifice something. We received a range of generous gifts, from gold and magickal spells to blood. One brave elf sacrificed her own ear to the cause.

3) Palin and I had discussed the na-ture of.. well, nature. We had deter-mined that it consisted of two distinct elements, both of which are alive; flora and fauna. Flora is the slow creeping growth that seeks the sun and forms great beauty. Fauna is the vibrant, bouncing energy of creatures that crash through life and scream and snarl and love. Palin had set out to invoke some instances of plant life. He scat-tered seeds and leaves and blades of grass in the circle to attune it to the na-ture spirits. I told everyone “We must be strong like the oak, but flexible like the willow.”

4) To lead us smoothly into the mat-ter of Fauna, I had wandered deep into the forest and picked a mushroom of magickal properties, that would allow us to see into the spirit world and find our spirit animals. I broke the mush-room into small pieces and handed it to each participant for them to eat. One of our number was a carnivore, so I

told him to press the piece to his fore-head as it would have the same effect. I then asked each member of our en-deavour to speak their name and state their spirit animal. The results were... interesting; from the slimy slug to the minty badger! I then asked all to raise their voices in unison and cry out with the voice of their inner beast. The racket we roused was tremendous, and before I knew it an emerald silhouette loomed over us menacingly, weapon in hand. Some among us drew their swords, but I urged them to drop them to the ground as I knew that we had summoned a peaceful spirit that would not attack us unless threatened, as is the way of nature.

5) Palin spoke at great length with the creature, imploring it to lend us its pow-er. After a time, the green man seemed appeased, and left back into the forest from whence it came. We all cheered and left the circle in merry furore. This may be attributed to the mushroom we ate.

Now we await further research from Palin to confirm what spells may exist in this sphere of magick. I urge those interested in the matter to read his ac-count of these events.

SUMMONING THE MAGICKAL NATURE SPIRITAN EDUCATIONAL RITUALISTIC INSTRUCTION by Belfreid Bellamy of the Vagrants

Palin leading the Ritual of Nature

Page 16 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

The Faculty of Culinary DelightsDragons Blud Wyne - A Taster from the Pickled PixieHistoryThis is an ancient Dwarven receipie that as been passed down

through the ages. Now normally us Dwarfs and them greedy Drag-ons are mortal enemies on account of both races lyking gold. Us Dwarfs like gold, but them dragons are down rite greedy. Many ages ago there was a big battle between us Dwarfs and an evil ancient wrym Tay’Toe’Tall who wuz not only after our gold but also our unicorns and we wuz aving none of it. We mustard an army led by our legendary hero Glen Mor’Angie and marched off to fyte the evil dragon Tay’Toe’Tall and his brethren.

It was an epic battle that lasted for many days and there was lots of death and fire and all that kinda thing. Anyways us Dwarfs got thritsy as it wuz hard work fyting dragons, and it wuz hot on account of all that fire but water was scarse so the Dwarfs had to resort to drinking the blood from the dragons. Well the dead ones. Dragon that are alive tend not to lyke aving their blood drunk. Even unre-fined dragons blood tastes quite nice, though it duz ave a sulphury after taste.

Anyways the battle waged on and hundreds of Dwarfs died and many of the dragons as well. The mighty Glen Mor’Angie killed the big lizard Tay’Toe’Tall and wiv their leader dead the other dragons surrendered. Glen Mor’Angie looked over the battle field and saw all the dead, his brothers and sisters, his cousins, his friends and even his mum all lay dead. Their aint a dwarf alive today who didnt ave family die in that battle and so the most harsh swear word in Dwarf society is Tay’Toe’Tall.

But out of that tragedy came sum good. My grandfather Ard’Burg approached a dragon and offered him gold for his blood. And cos all dragons are greedy little critters he said yes and so Ard’Beg took a barrel of it away and started to mayke a wyne out of it.

Recipie: You need: 1 barrel dragons blud, Sugar, Yeast, 1 pint Goblin Urine, Gold.

You take a barrel of dragons blood, ideally fresh as the older it gets the more sulphury it tastes. You heat it gently until just about simmering. You add one pint of goblin urine. Kobold urine works as well, but you need 2 - 3 pints. Dont use orc urine as although it get rid of the sulphur taste it adds a garlic tone to the brew that aint nice.

Anyways you simmer the dragons blud and the goblin urine for one hour. The blud simmers down to a thick syrup. Once ya stirrer can stand up the blud is ready. You add sum water until the syrup is runny again then you add sum sugar, more water, then more sugar until there is half a barrels worth of the stuff. You then sprinkle some yeast over the mixture, and put a lid on the barrel. Leave it in a warm room for several days or a week.

Then add more warm water until the barrel is full, stir it all and then leave for two more weaks. At this point it should have stopped fermenting. Normally in the brewing process you need to clear the wine or it is all cloudy, owever the Goblins urine naturally does this and so you can skip that. I once tried using the goblins urine to clear another type of wyne but it gave it an orrible coppery twang and so i dont recomend it.

Now you get your bottles that ave been cleaned. Its a long and boring task to clean bottles, but i find that if you leave em outside your back door with two pints of dwarf ale the Blud Imps clean em for you. Anyways you pour the Bragons Blud into the bottles, then cork em. It is a nice drink already, but the longer you leave it the more flavoursum it gets.

by Khobert (formerly deceased), Landlord of the Pickled Pixie

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 17

The Faculty of the Mystical Arts

IntroductionWith the current return to Orin Rakatha and

the transformations of power and magic we are all getting used to on this new plane, I decided it might be a good time to hit the books, cook up some magic herb cakes and sit back and relax with some well needed re-search. Anyone can read a scroll, cross their fingers and hope their spell will do some good, but if you want to make it through the day with your friends alive and your lower intes-tines firmly in your gut, then a well-timed piece of intellectual genius might be just what you need. So what can we learn from our quick witted predecessors?

Looking through the literature it seemed very odd to me that so many mages did not enjoy the blue school of magic much. True the spells are seemingly harmless and a bit situational, but with some cunning, blue magic can be a saving grace or a deadly weapon. I’ll share some stories with you I came across of particular note.Petricia Puff ’s Perishing Push

Perhaps one of the most famous uses of blue magic came from Petricia Puff [1]. A powerful ritualist (and notorious dwarf), Petricia was calling upon a spirit of wealth to transform her silk worms to gold, when in-stead a large demon emerged pre-ferring to change her into its next bowel movement. Petricia instantly closed the circle and cast a repulsing gust of wind knocking the demon back half way through its generic evil-doer speech (usually this is frowned upon, but it was an emer-gency). The sudden gale shoved the surprised demon through the en-trance of the ritual circle. For those of you who don’t know the result of trying to cross the barrier of a closed ritual circle, it’s a swift and awful demise. The demon was ter-minated, the smell of brazen trot-ter and overdone bacon the only remnants of its tyrannous presence. You’ll be glad to hear that after a large amount of therapy, Petricia was well, although sadly a permanent vegan which led to her later assassination by the Legion as an ‘unclean’ [2]. There are few other spells you could employ to take down such a tremendous foe, and Petricia Puff will al-ways be known as a mage of renown.Sam Sonite’s Safe Sojourn

Sam Sonite was a timid young mage’s apprentice, asked to carry a very valuable brassiere for a few miles to the tavern for a trade of information [3]. Most people wouldn’t have looked twice at the unassuming mage’s ap-prentice, a perfect cover for an item of such value. In the

last few meters of his journey though, a group of bandits who had raided his master’s house had

teased the information out of his teacher. He had no way to deny it either, the nine bloody toenails in a bag attested to this knowledge. Sam would know the delicate curves of his master’s big toe anywhere [4]. The tavern was so close though! Sam was surrounded as he

began to cast. He shoved a bandit clear off his feet as they all rushed towards him. The man

was flung into the aura of serenity as Sam fol-lowed rapidly, the bandit unable to strike Sam as

he also entered. Safe but sad, Sam Sonite used his fame and inheritance to craft travel bags for adventurers all over Orin Rakatha, hoping his luck would rub off on others.Cat’s Celeritous Counter Curse

Mage’s of the wind are known to be some of the fast-est talkers in the world [5]. Their command of the air makes them forget that not everyone is so attuned to its vibrations and flow, often making them seem over ex-cited and giddy. It is often the case too that the more you say, the less of it will be interesting. This can be annoy-ing for most people who prefer to be surrounded by the sullen, moody monotone of other warriors of seasoned

battle, or of those trying to sleep. Cat was one such over-active speak-er who gained back some of her respect by founding a new use for the repulsive spell in her repertoire. On hearing the first note of a spell in an enemy, Cat would outpace the mage word for word and shove the mage backwards completely inter-rupting their spell. Timed well, this could even knock the foiled indi-vidual into a sticky situation and guard an ally in one fell swoop. Next time you tell your chatter box of an air mage friend to shut it, just remember they might just save your life. Whether you want to keep liv-ing when accosted by that incessant chatter though is a matter left up to the individual to decide.

References1. D Oven, Devastating Effects caused by the Con-

trolled Delivery of your Wind2. Summ Tossah, Vegans Aren’t Humans3. Anon, The World isn’t Worth Saving Unless I’m the

Richest Man in it.4. Tony Phalanges, Skin and Keratin: The Raw Confes-

sional5. Lorelai Gilmore, Shut up all of you; I’m speaking

now

Thinking Outside of the Scroll: Blue MagicA Collection of Novel uses of Spells by Famous Mages of Orin Rakatha, by Palin MacGregor

Page 18 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

Advertisement ClarificationIn a previous edition of the Academy Journal an advert was placed on

behalf of a group of individuals, known as the Mordent Sisterhood, who were looking to recruit new like-minded colleagues into their group.

Apparently the advert may not have been fully clear in its intention. Despite being made by the “Sisterhood”, and wanting its members to

“rise up and take control of those ignorant male fools” because they felt that “the males around you ignore your opinions”, it would appear that not all of those that responded to the advert fully understood that they were only looking for female applicants.

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show them who is really in control here! Interested applicants should leave a written message for Sister Mez’Barris with the tavern barkeeper.

The Return of Nature MagicA Gift of Beltane

It was in the lush forests of the Dionaite that Erellion came to us. A thirst for red wine; imp’s blood of course. Even Poops behaved, not a single breast in sight. Only the best for such an honoured traveller.

Our elven guest brought us news of celestial magnitude; a rendering of the seasons so profound that the opportunity of commune with one of the most powerful of forces was possible. This time was Beltane. A festival to mark the setting of spring and the dawning of summer. The height of floral beauty, the first rites of passage for infantile fauna and the seductive promise of natural abun-dance. If we were to call upon the mag-ic of the wild, it was soon. Four hours from the zenith, the Vagrants decided we would stand together and call upon an ancient magic.An Audience with the Green Man

Belfried led the ritual, and has detailed the workings and methodology in his academic transcripts for the interested reader. But just know this: we succeed, and he came. The entity went by many names, ‘The Green Man’, ‘Nature’, but what’s in a name? His presence was his signature. His face was a sculpted masterpiece of intricate branches and leaves, his robes an eternal green. His voice was a humble whisper, but in it there was power. Standing on the edge of the circle, all within felt their mortal fragility.

Through the slight hint of a smile he asks what we desire.

We implore our wish to restore the power of Nature Magic, his magic, back to Orin Rakatha. He inquires for whom this power is destined. As a Vagrant I cannot deny that I wished for the power to be given to those of moral standing, to those factions gathered here honouring him and calling him forth with us. The Green Man is displeased with this answer. With a sage wisdom and that same faint smile he reminds us that nature can be cruel; in nature there must be balance. I know this to be true, and feel ashamed in my heart that I thought my own animus could bend the most fundamental rules of our world. I quickly admit that for nature magic

to be released it would only be fitting if the entire world were able to access it, for that is truly the only way for the scales to remain equal and for nature to have its parity. It is not the outcome I wanted, but it was the outcome that I knew inside was always necessary.

With this admission, the Green Man is satis-fied and asks who amongst us wishes to learn his art. A small sea of hands suggest that those gathered are keen for instruction. A no-ble voice of countless age addresses all as if we were the unique recipients of his carefully crafted syllables with his final proclamation. Nature Magic is free, the chains separating it

from our mortal minds shattered. The only caveat is minor, a period of time and diligent study to attune ourselves to its essence and prove our determination. We thank the spirit as he fades, his easy grace vanishing into the aether before us. The ritual comes to its ultimate conclusion: Nature Magic has truly returned.The Long Branch of the Lore

With the ebb of power trickling back into the world my

The Faculty of the Mystical Arts

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 19

attention turns to the pragmatic task of discovering what new found energies we can summon and more importantly, how? Approaching the Master of Nature I feel the vibra-tions of the most melodic harmony to the new arcane notes resonating around us. Is it me, or does he has a newfound purpose to his gaze? He stands just that little bit taller, more authoritative, more alert. Had he always seemed this grand, commanding and magnificent? It was like part of his soul had been restored.

The Master of Nature speaks to me openly of the colours of magic. Of the flow of nature tending towards the green and brown schools, yet different in their own right from the elemental aspect of the colours themselves. These were powers that he had tasted not in his being, but longed for like a cherished and long faded memory. He can feel the change though, I can see it: the new found power starting to course through his veins.

I couldn’t help but also notice a dazzling piece of art in his hand, a cup of beautiful craftsmanship. On impulse I had to inquire about this chalice, this ornate and arcane object of unknowable value. It transpired that this is perhaps one of our only links to the mysteries of conjuring nature. The beautiful vessel is capable of creating potions and liquid to cure poisons; another hint at the true ability of nature magic

and one of my only real clues. The Master of Lore gives me the name of a tome I should seek out, one which details the olden uses of magic, perhaps within it I can learn more of how to weave spells from the cryptic ener-gies we have re-leased.The Chro-matic Enig-ma

The tome was not easy to come

by and my rectum is bleeding. But this is not a story I wish to recount.

The read is slow going but fascinating, I feel like my head will burst with all my new found knowledge, but I can’t tear myself away. The eight colours of magic were once sepa-rate. Distinct. From my point of Nature is composed of many of the colours. Nature makes up nearly everything. I cannot seem to reconciliate this breakdown with nature at all though, and no matter how hard I try to cast chromatic spells of water, earth, wind and lightning, my attunement to the elements is too weak now, I can barely manage to create enough wind at once to out-do my own digestive system. The implications of my sacrificed ability; to control elemen-tal magic to the ritual circle; manifesting itself painfully to me. Could it be my offering to nature had locked me out of its bountiful grove?

I laboured for hours to understand the scripture, the prose, the subtleties of meaning, but the power would not present itself. It was on a dark night in the tavern after a day of frus-trating reading though the winds of fate stirred again. I’d had seven martini’s too many and missed the toilet twice. The evidence of my misadventure, a depressing wet patch on my robes and the smell of a defeated man. It is often in the most unexpected of times and places though that everything can change. Perhaps my sorry state worked to my favour. It may have been my rancour that attracted the Goblin barkeep. Handsome by goblin standards, with my martini spectacles on, had he been any less of a gentleman, I might have woken up in his slimy green arms. This was not to be however, he simply handed me a small book, tapped his warty nose and trotted back to the bar to do his job.

The book was an amusing read, a se-ries of short stories and fairy tales about druids, witches of the woods and chil-dren being taken for various sick activities. I was smiling at one particularly horrendous illustration when it hit me like a tree smashing to the forest floor. Nature magic wasn’t tru-ly a colour we could see at all. The chromatic enigma was cracked. Magic it turns out is more like the light refracted from a prism. The colours are all there, merging, blend-ing, overlapping, no magic is truly isolated from the others. There is also mediums that this light has to travel through, a composition of the aether configuration and character of the plane we are upon, which warps the full spectrum or causes an opaque blockade to the light in places, so we can-not access it. The Green Man had changed the flow of magic in our plane, effectively removing an obstacle from blocking the spectrum. The second epiphany was that there is magic we cannot see, the ultra violet of the arcane world, the infra-red of mysticism. Nature had no colour, it was not a chro-matic discipline. It was a sphere, a portion of the magical spectrum in its own right.

Trying to bend water, earth and air to my will wasn’t work-ing because my mind was pulling the wrong aetheric strings. Master Nature

Page 20 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

In this new light I saw the power, and I felt it brand me. The power of nature yielded to me, or perhaps I yielded to it, and with practice my efforts started to show promise.

Of Flowers and ThornsI sit in a ring of flowers. They grew here moments ago as

I sat down to meditate. They are beautiful. The thorns drip with poison. My powers are wild and enchanting to me. For every gift of mending I discover I find myself now capable of equal harm. The balance of nature, how had I had been naïve enough to ever try to stand against it?

My abilities are still awakening and I see them coming to life in those around me too. A new age of magic is dawning, I can feel it. Perhaps the Green Man shifted more than I am aware. All I do know is that it is an exciting time to be alive, I hope I remain so for the coming years, my work here on Orin Rakatha is far from over.

by Palin MacGregor, Vagrants

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Everyone knows of the glorious phoenix but few know of the legend that saved it.

The phoenix was more than halfway through its 56th life cycle, having graced the skies for years alone. Sadly these years of loneli-ness had caused its heart to become cold and without a burning heart to restart its flames it knew this cycle would be its last.

With its fire slowly dying the phoenix became weak finally falling to the ground unable or unwilling to get back up. It was then that a young sparrow did find it, the sparrow saw the sorrow in the phoenix and so did not flee but instead quietly sat with it. Night after night the tiny sparrow kept guard of the phoenix without a sound. Even when a pack of

wolves came by to take opportunity of a rare treat, the sparrow puffed its feathers and re- fused to leave in the face of

sure death, unwilling to leave it’s defenceless charge. At this moment the phoe- nix

turned its head for the first time, seeing the brave tiny bird willing to sacrifice

itself for him, the fires within him grew tenfold and with a burst of flames the wolves retreated. From then on the spar-r o w and the phoenix were inseparable

and travelled far and wide from snowy mountain tops to blistering desserts.

Although both old and dying, unlike the phoenix, the sparrow was not immortal.

On the morning that the phoenix saw his only friend had departed its tiny body, the phoenix screeched in de-

spair. Its heart rapidly began to cool. Desperately nuz-zling its old friend, willing it to re-awaken, it noticed that in its final hours the sparrow had laid a single egg. The phoenix knew that if it did not come back the egg would not survive. In honour of his only friend the phoenix vowed to protect its offspring forever more. In its own embers the phoenix hatched the egg, aris-

ing in time to care for the chick.And so began a new life for the phoenix who would

never be lonely again as over the years one sparrow became four and four became fourteen until this day when the phoe-nix soars with a flock of sparrows, all descendants of his first friend who he has never forgotten.

By Lilthkoi Oniwakahisa

The Legend of the Sparrow and the PhoenixThe Faculty of Minstrels and Mummers

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 21

A cross-faction group of the Ritualists have been confer-ring about how best to use the Ritual Circle, and a number of interesting suggestions have been made. It is recom-mended that all ritualists intending to use the Festival ritual circle read and consider the points that have been made.

The author of this work stresses that this article contains knowledge contributed from many wise ritualists, and fur-ther ideas and contributions in the inter-ests of furthering our understanding of the ritual circle. This is vital to the ritualists, as there is recognition that the circle itself does not stay the same but is itself evolving, and may even becoming more dan-gerous.

It has suggested that maybe the ritual circle is not a sen-tient being but a lense, focus-sing the powers of the ritu-alists, contributors and gifts. However, this has not been proven one way or another, and at times the ritual circle has appeared to behave almost in a human manner. The author rec-ommends that the ritual circle is treated as sentient unless proven oth-erwise, and other strategies are identified.

Unfortunate errors in cleaning the circle has led to ritual failure in the past, and the author recommends that not only is the ritual circle cleansed at the start of the ceremony but also at the end. This is in respect not only for the circle (as it may be some time before the next ritual begins) but also to help the next users of the circle. This practice has already been adopted by many ritualists.

Another recent development was the observation that the spilling or possibly even the consumption of alcohol in

the ritual circle had affected subsequent rituals. It is strongly recommended that ritualists do not spill alcohol in the cir-cle, and consult with the Lady Crow concerning the con-sumption of alcohol within a ritual.

We demand a lot of the circle, and to be respectful, maybe we should also commune with the circle without demands. My esteemed colleague Honsou has pioneered this, spend-ing time in the circle just offering time, his peace of mind and other things to the circle, with no thought of reward.

T he Legion are known to pray in this ‘church’ with-out demand as well. Crow has confirmed

that the ritual circle can be used this way without the need for booking.

If the dangers to using the ritual circle increase, we should be consid-

ering better defensive arrange-ments to protect participants, and their goals which often involve the protection of Orin Rakatha itself. At present,

once a circle is sealed, the cir-cle is regarded as impenetrable.

Thus, if something goes wrong in the circle, forces defending on

the outside may do nothing but watch events unfold. However, it may be that the seal isn’t as immutable as we have

assumed, and that there may be ways that selected people may pass through the por-

tal, in either direction, to deal with threats. It is hoped that the High Incantors may study this possibility with Crow and Professor Jones, to see what can be achieved.

There are thoughts that the use of symbols in the circle may enhance its effect. Again this would require experi-ment. Sadly, Malacoda, who was expert in the use of sym-bology within the circle, is no longer with us, but a study of his papers may reveal powers that we could consider employing

by Kay Drakken, Warriors of the Crimson Winter

Thoughts on the Ritual Circle

The Journal is looking to hire more staff !

Cash rewards are offered to the best content writers, and regular content contracts can also be negotiated.

News columnists, bloggers, advice writers, sports reporters, com-ic artists, interviewers, rumour mill grinders, illustrators, creative writers, cartoonists, personal’s manager, war correspondants, por-trait artists, agony aunts and uncles, fashion writers, and guest au-thors are all sought to bring news and entertainment to the masses.

Put your skills to work and make a name for yourself. Contact the Academy Journal now!

Contact your local field professor for more information.

The Faculty of Ritualistic Endeavours

Please help!! My Name is Talia I am from Melandir. I am be-ing held against my will please, please, help. I think my friend Thanton escaped. Find him and he can point the way.

Page 22 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC

The Warriors of the Crimson Win-ter are made up of a band of creatures and humans who have fled or been ex-iled from their homelands, they travel as mercenaries, seeking out the riches of the lands: bounty hunting, under-taking any task for a price, and going wherever they will be paid the most in reward. At first many of them travelled alone, but the lands were arduous and often infested by creatures that they stood little chance against alone. One by one they have met up and become the Warriors of the Crimson Winter. Now they earn coin together, sup-port each other, and battle together. Within any group there are clashes of characters, and this group is no differ-ent, some of them may fight amongst themselves, but when it comes to it they are a tight unit that stand together against whatever they face.

The Original WarriorsThree years had passed since’ The

War of the Crimson Winter’ was fought, it wasn’t a race war, we were all fighting for human lords, it was not our battle, we did it for the money! Be-yond the cash, none of us cared who won, and we were all in the same po-sition, the elves, orcs, trolls, dwarves and goblins, they fought on both sides. But there was the one thing that we all agreed on, one was far better off dying than to sit again in the cold around a pathetic and damp fire. There was no turning back, it was do or die. Both generals fell. No-one noticed, no-one cared, we fought on. In the end, all that was left on the field were oppos-ing mercenaries. The source of coin had gone, there was nothing left for us to fight for, no-one left for us to report to, we are all that remained, sur-rounded by fields of twisted corpses,

of frozen blood, and sticky gore.We set a fire, went to the tents of

the former generals, we found strong beers, aged ciders, meads and fine wines. We rejoined at the fire and de-cided to band together to form a new group.

“There are many who have fallen today. The twisted frozen faces of the dead stare in horror as they realise that they are forgotten. I could not tell you the name of any man who has fallen today. Of course wives will remember their husbands, mothers their daugh-ters, and fathers their sons, but they will soon be forgotten. It is not enough for us to live and die. We live for our coin, we risk our lives for our coin, but there is only one day that we will die for it. On that day we will be remem-bered. We will be those never forgot-ten. We will never be another bunch of faceless cretins, trampled into the ice. We have a duty to each other. We will keep each other warm, we will fill each others cups, and we shall together make every single one of us into a leg-end. We will not be the forgotten dead. Each one of you is worthy of legend.

If you die before achieving it, you de-serve to die.”

Kraagdush - on the battlefield on the last night of the Crimson Winter.

People have joined us, people have died. The fire moves on, and the drinks vary as fortune smiles or betrays, but we will always be the Warriors of the Crimson Winter.

The Eddicts1. Never break a deal with a custom-

er (unless there’s profit in it)2. Never leave a man behind (unless

there’s profit in it)3. The customer is always right (to

his face)4. We share the profits (unless you

know you won’t get caught)5. Do not disrespect the dead (unless

there’s profit in it)6. Follow the orders of Urek &

Kraag (unless they’re clearly talking bollocks)

7. Never turn your back on the War-riors of the Crimson Winter.”

The Warriors of the Crimson WinterThere are men of The Cross and The Hammer,

A few of the Moon Crescent,Men simply searching for Glamour,Some concealing their royal decent.

The axe bearing foreigners, they have aptly named us,Though we come from afar,Diversity is what unites us,

Warriors of the Crimson Winter

The Faculty of the Past and Present

Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 17th High Sun, 2 AC Page 23

An account of the Harvest Tithe, as described by Yfritte of the Summer StarsFIRST SUN.FIND OLD BAT, NO TALK JUST SIGN, KILL MANY SNAKE, TOAD, LIZARD. GET SHOT, NASTY ARROW

MAN. TRICK SMARTYPANTS TROLL HAHAHA.FIND WEIRD SKULL THING. GIVE TO COLD DAWN - DONT WANT ANYWAY. GIVE ME NICE FUR.LEARN ‘RITUAL’ GET HEALY POWERS. WORDS.WEIRD ACCENT MEN TURN UP. IGNORE THEM.SHOW BOB OFF. VERY PROUD OF BOB, PEOPLE

LIKE BOB, PEOPLE ALSO HATE BOB. GOING TO BREED BOB HAHAHA.

PLAY WITH NAYRUN KITTY WIZARD HE FUN.KILL HORRIBLE NASTY JESTER. DIE. OH WELL.

WORTH IT.

SECOND SUN.FOLLOW WAR FOR FIGHT. WIN. ALSO LOSE BUT

MOSTLY WIN.WEIRD MAN IN TREES. ARROWS AT ME. NASTY.

FOLLOW, TRY KILL BUT FAIL. NO HELP FOR LONG TIME.

SHOUT AT FOR CAMP THIEF. NO MY FAULT. SHOUT BACK. WIN.GO HEAL PEOPLE, AND SOME MORE.

NASTY SCUM RACIST EVIL LEGION ATTACK AURAYA AND MAKE HER HURT. ME HURT THEM BACK BUT HAVE TO LET GO SO TREYA CAN TALK. ALSO LOTS MORE OF THEM THAN ME...

PROTECT CIRCLE SEE MEN ON FIRE. HURT FIRE, HURT MEN. DRINK ‘RUM’ ALL BETTER.

NASTY SCUM RACIST EVIL LEGION MAN ASKING NAMES. HE CAN ‘F*** OFF’ AS COMMON PEOPLE SAY, NO GIVE NAME.

MAKE BUCKET OF TEA FOR GUEST. HE NOT READY. DOES GOOD EFFORT.HEAL MORE PEOPLE. LEGION ASK FOR HEAL. NO.DO RITUAL. KNOW MORE THINGS. FEEL BLOOD LOSS. IS WEIRD.ATTACK THING. ANOTHER BLOODY ARROW. SEE SCARY HORNY THING,

WAKE UP ON FLOOR. STARS SAY THINGS ALL I SEE SCARY HORNY THING. WRESTLE AURELION. WIN.WATCH PRETTY CARNY PEOPLE. IS GOOD. SLEEP.

Yfritte, with Bob

‘Aurelion’

An Ode to Lilth’Koi by Belfreid Bellami

Nuzzle the troublesome oneGuzzle her fun

Watch her laugh, watch her run.

Spill those damn beansEat all your greens

Then crash through them, in-between.

A stick is a joyAnd we’ll whack all of yoi

Me and old young Lilth’KoiShe can beat any boy.

The Faculty of Artists and Authors

Page 24 Misthaven Academy Journal, Fire Day, 25 Planting Moon, 2 AC

All enquiries, submissions and requests should be made directly to your local Academy field professor.

The Faculty of Flora and FaunaTo maintain ongoing studies within the faculty it is impor-

tant to ensure that stocks of various naturally occurring sub-stances are kept at adequate operational levels. The retrieval of these items can be performed by Academy members as part of their field training, and any suitable donations can be exchanged for course credits via any on site field professor.

A notice shall be posted in the Academy’s field tent de-scribing the current needs of the faculty, and all assistance will be gratefully received.

All donations should be made in a suitable container and within twenty-four hours of gathering to ensure the fresh-ness of the specimens.

Professor Milicent Filbottom

Misthaven Academy The Academy’s field units are now up and run-ning and accepting applications from prospec-tive members of all factions.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Acad-emy, or you have any questions, or you wish to apply for mem-bership, you should contact your local field professor who will be happy to go through it all with you, and arrange to have an in-formation scroll sent to you for your convenience.

No cost, no commitment, no conflict & no discrimination.

Strange new cults are always looked upon with suspicious eyes, and cults with dark, fore-boding undertones are even more distrusted. And when these religious radicals start using strange symbols and fol-lowing entities that are power-ful, but not entirely real, peo-ple start to get really nervous.

Cults are commonly defined as a “religious or social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practises.”, although this definition if often given due to the secretive nature of its mem-bers leaving those outside its closed enclave naïve about the true nature of its nature.

“Socially Deviant”The Legion, whilst taking a census

of the attending nations during the last gathering, started to notice that some of the people that were being recorded were sporting a strange symbol upon them. This “black circle” is believed to be an identifying brand for members of a new dark cult that has formed and is starting to gain in members.

The focus of the cult’s religion ap-pears to be the Crow, purportedly an Avatar of Death, or possibly “death” itself. How or why this group of in-dividuals were drawn together is cur-rently unknown and it is also unknown what their current purpose is, or what their goals are, but where “death” is part of the plan, it is unlikely that the

outcome will be welcomed by those outside of this closeted group of in-dividuals.

Some of the people within this new cult appear to be coveting strange new feathers that they now wear visibly. What these items are, or what they do, is currently unknown to this reporter, but they are presumable linked to the Lady Crow herself, are may potentially be granting great power to her new minions.

by Artemus Black

cult oF death uncovered

The Lady Crow

Strange Black Circle Symbol

assassIn For hIre

no job too bIg.great prIces!

KIll 2, get one Free.10% oFF FIrst order.

all enquIrIes should be Forwarded to the

shadowsFall camp.