5 against the 5 Rings

They were escorted to the central conclave where many of the Princes' advisors were in place and reported to Cynan.

Parting of the ways

At this juncture, Harry announced that with his partial recovery, he was duty bound to return to active service and was returning back to the British Army with an aim to secure a commission in the Royal Flying Corps. George was also leaving, needed to support a Indian Imperial Army mission into Turkey. Lyris was also going to be delayed joining the others.

Planning the next steps

(this next section added for colour) After reporting the previous mission, Marco addressed the War Council.

"As we speak, most of my world is at arms or preparing for war, the most terrible war of all history. Behind this war and making use of it is the 5 Rings who see that their time has come. With new powers and knowledge from some of the Fey they can put in place a new world order with global control of governments and commerce. They will be able to corrupt or remove key politicians and lawmakers, divert industry and money to grand schemes and manipulate the populace through the schools, churches and newspapers. They will use the affinity between the 2 worlds to wither the Fey realms.

"This will take time but time they have and unless we work now they will reshape our world to want, knowingly or not, the re-forging to happen accrding to their plan."

Marco proposed a move against the core of the 5 Rings, the Thule society in Berlin, and collect any heroes that might otherwise be subverted. Initially the plan was considered somewhat risky ("You must be bloody insane") but eventually reason won out and they agreed to start in Spain through connections with the Order of Santiago.

Objectives

a) Locate any of the reborn heroes, arrange custodianship or bring out of the area if necessary.

b) Find out the intentions of the 5 Rings.

c) Find out who is manipulating the 5 rings

Escape route : if we find an ancient item and go into the heartland we will be able to stay awake for a few minutes in order to cast a spell to summon help.

New companions

Depleted due to the departure of George and Harry, Cynan co-opted a couple of new members to the group.

Johann : a star pupil of Corvus, this 6'6" blond haired, blue eyed Norweigan is a master of the green weave and a crack shot with a rifle.

Nel : one of Sophia-Astarte's "Chosen Men", Nel is young but one of the finest theives around. Not the greatest sophisticate.

Back to Santiago

First port of call is Santiago where they approach the Order of Santiago. Last time there, George and Marco discovered the infiltration of the Order of Santiago by the 5 Rings. They exposed and killed Don Fernando Gonzalez, scared off Don Ruiz Gonzalo Fernandez De Alazar and persuaded Jose Vincente Manriquez to revert to the original purpose of the Order.

07:00 am Using a gate to Spain and an overnight train, the prty arrived in the city of Santiago de Compostella early in the morning of August 3rd.

As they walked through the town, the party noticed many of the citizens had a nervous and suspicious demeanour.

08:00 am Booking into a hotel, Marco sent note to Jose Vincente Manriquez for an appointment, (later received an invitation to dinner) and Sinclair went to make introductions to the Order of Santiago.

Sinclair met the current head of the order, Jose Vincente Manriquez. He confirmed his credentials as a troubleshooter for the Vatican and outlined the general purpose of his mission. They discussed the spate of recent deaths in Santiago that was making people nervous. The deaths were macabre and had the police perplexed. Manriquez offered an introduction to the investigating officer. As they had arrived with no iron or steel items, Sinclair requested equipment form the Order of Santiago armoury : pistol for Sinclair (his sword had passed through the gate); rifles for Johann and Marco; Mauser automatic pistol for Marco; and dagger for Nel.

Next stop for Sinclair was the police station where he met the medical examiner who explained the quandry, 5 bodies which had obviously moved and acted long after their deaths. Sinclair ensured that he was able to return later for a detailed examination.

Meanwhile, Marco was visiting a local tailor to seek out information about any affluent newcomers to the city. With great dress sense, charming demeanour and (possibly most importantly) plenty of cash, he discovered that theer were 2 gentlemen of interest. An American by the name of Hemmings who was a supposed artist yet knew little of art and had a villa just outside of town. The second was a Spaniard (name ????) with a house in the old quarter of the city, curious for his accent and dialect which no-one could place.

An unsanctioned autopesy

Bringing the and examined the corpses. 5 corpses, all of which died and then were animated for some hours after. Hornet trap. Johann ritual for last thing seen - 5 people being addressed by bearded man.

This included : member of the Syrian Assassins; ambassadors wife; visigoth researcher

Johann went looking for the house he saw in Nazir Ismaili visions. Didn't find it but whilst looking at the Cathedral, Nel spotted an artist using a camera lucida to paint a pictire of the cathedral but on closer inspection wa susingf various powders to check lout the weave coming off the statues off the tp of nthe cathedral. She watched for a while and then pickpocketed his business card and a witch-compass.

Sinclair went examining the murder sites and found a tramp mark on a building (had been removed and re-applied several times). Went to interrogate the tramps who claimed that there was a personless shadow floating around parts of the city and those that it followed died.

Went to site of murder, knowcked on door, crone openmed door, polite enquiry then she ran away

Miguel Gariella (toy boy) Ruis Sebastien (brother Carlos and related to Vega in South America) Rodrigo

American was William Hemmings III. Carina, Blake, Tom, Stacey and Denzil

Old crone worked for Miguel (loved him and hated him)

Evening meal with Jose.

Party scout out the red team. Johann and Marco observe Gabriella as the plane crashes and kill her. 2 shots, dead.

Nel and Sinclair observe Miguel.

Mkigules house :

Nel sniuck in, Locked servants in Opened doors Party sneak upstairs to office. Weave on door, insanity glyph on opposite wall,

Johann - successfull mega ritual, rebuildingf assassin brain and got memory. Fireballing zombies. Double elimibnation of Gabriella/Rodrigues. Shot the cat iron bullet (cat-iron)

Nel - murdering the fat man man, getting snit on for the death of Gabriella; old ladies gold; acquisition of sparklies; frightening kids from America

Sinclair - nail head to wall, smashing zombies, converting the witch before execution

Marco -

Red Weave realm ; Harry nano-bots (healing); George had serpant broach (connection to Quezicoatl); Marco (8 starred item).