The recent events within the Bacchus religion have been difficult for everyone involved, but nobody really expected that things would get as bad as they did. Several members of the group came very close to death, and this was before any enemy of the Harts showed up.

The Council met on Lord Benedict's lands, and this time he was there himself. I say this time, as it was the second time in recent months that we had travelled to this part of Albion, and although the weather was an improvement on the last time, the events that occurred were very troubling indeed.

I write this as a warning to members of the Bacchus to be on guard at all times. Even when it appears there are no enemies near and friends are all around, beware, as what appears the safest place in all of Albion can be deceptively dangerous, as we found at the Council with almost more than fatal results.

Due to the serious situation with Tnuc, the Spirit of Beer, certain people have been affected in a variety of ways. George is in a very bad state of health, and getting worse the longer this goes on. It appears that if Tnuc dies, then George will die too. The balance will be irrevocably lost. The House of War will be all that is left of the religion of Bacchus. No more love. No more drink.

No more drink.

This is very difficult to conceive of. The very fact that it is quite possible that there will be a Bacchus group without drink is enough to make anyone tremble with fear.

But how will the House of War survive without the other Houses. How can the Guardian of War allow this to happen? The reason is she wants it to happen. With George out of the way, the path is clear for Leah to take his place as the new head of Bacchus.

Before the Council, we knew there may have been a risk with some members of the group. Even so, all present were equally shocked when on the eve of the council, Leah struck George with a dagger through his heart before openly weeping of her failure to complete the task. Had it not been for the quick reactions of some of the healers in the group, she may have succeeded, and the Trivinar may have been dead today.

The rest of the evening I kept a close eye on Leah, and a grim paranoia struck me that she may not be the only one with a reason to see George dead. Later George confirmed that there were others to watch out for, Pelleas and Dionysus.

Apparently Pelleas may try to desert the House of Drink, believing it to be a lost cause, thereby strengthening the House of War and Leah's position.

Dionysus is influenced by any one of the twelve spirits, changing from one to another randomly at any time. Through no fault of his own, he has become highly unpredictable, and due to his invulnerability to certain things, his threat is even greater. The problem is that it is a lot harder to keep a check on a 9-month-old, hard as anything son of Bacchus, as it is the slightly more predictable duo of Leah and Pelleas.

Dionysus on the rampage

During the day of the Council, there were several training activities involving fighting, tactical and in particular team building skills. There were several teams competing, but it wasn't long before more trouble occurred.

Dionysus went on the rampage, attacking at random people in his group and in other groups that were near. Luckily no one was fatally wounded, but it took some time to bring him under control. It was a sad sight to see him lying on the ground crying and simpering like a baby of his own age, maybe he was close to Tnuc at that point.

The disruption caused an emergency meeting for all members of Bacchus present. Remy led the meeting,and it was decided that in the Council the rest of the Harts should at least be informed that there was a problem. They were told who to watch out for, even if they could not be told why.

This is the position we are holding with regards to any non-Bacchus. It is acceptable that they know we have a problem, but they do not need to know any details. It is forbidden to discuss religious matters outside of the group. This has always been the case, and still remains unchanged.

At the council, many things were discussed, most of which I for one was unable to hear. This was mainly down to the fact that I sat too close to Sang and Puss, who giggled a lot and played with mice!

Rootvine's Ritual

After the discussions had come to a close, we went to see a ritual by the hopelessly incompetent Rootvine. On the way over to the ritual circle, we saw fire coming from the centre of the circle. This was quite uncanny, as I had just set Pelleas the challenge of setting fire to the ritual circle. The timely coincidence of this should have made me more suspicious of Pelleas, but I failed to take heed.

It appeared that an evil mage character had taken one of the Queens bodyguards. There then followed a complete shambles, as too many people tried to take charge at once. People who knew nothing of ritual magic were ordering about people who thought they knew about ritual magic, the circle was attempted to be sealed when somebody else had already sealed it, and then opened by somebody who was outside! In the end it took George in his weakened state to take control of the situation.

Even though he was in great pain, and could hardly stand let alone walk unaided, George completed not one, but several rituals. My persisting pleas fell upon deaf ears, as he continued until he collapsed, and had to be practically carried back to safety and warmth of the manor.

Vampire attack

Later that evening, as is customary in that part of Albion, we were attacked by a vampire. Although we thought we had rid ourselves of all vampires last time, this one was something to do with the mage and the disappearance of Jonathan.

The problem with this vampire was that instead of getting weaker with every blow, he seemed to be getting stronger, and as luck would have it, most of the fighty type people were outside. George, a few others and myself were trapped on the inside, with the vampire between us and the door.

George was attacked and was being hacked to pieces by the vampire. Something had to be done. I hurled myself at the vampire, throwing both of us across the room. Unfortunately, in doing so, I got hurt somewhat, and had it not been for Xantalia and Sang, I would have been in real trouble.

They had managed to heal George, so he could just about stand. The problem was, the door was blocked by a four-person deep shield wall keeping the vampire trapped. Several people were trying to force a waythrough while other members of the Harts were distracting the vampire, but the shield wall would not give way. Eventually, we pushed as hard as we physically could, almost squashing George in the process, but we escaped out into the night air and a short distance away.

Less than a day after Leah attacked George, another member of Bacchus showed his true intentions, and attempted to take George's life.

Another betrayal

To start with there was chaos as the vampire fought its way outside, and too many people wanted to be the hero that took him down. George, Xantalia and I managed to get some distance between us and the melee, when from out of nowhere the vampire brought his sword down on George. It was too late for me to raise my staff to parry the blow, so I did the only thing I could, and hurled myself in front of the blow. It hurt somewhat, and I knocked George to the ground in the process, but at least he wasn't injured.

We were ordered to form into the teams we had been with earlier in the day. Both Xantalia and myself objected as strongly as possible, as we both knew the danger George was in if left alone. Not through our choice, we had to go back to our teams.

George was sent to pick up an amulet for the queen. Alone. It was then that Pelleas struck.

Consumed with rage and seeking glory, Pelleas tried to corner George inside the building. George used his considerably weakened powers to repel Pelleas three times, but still Pelleas rage spurned him on. Pelleas took George down, but not before George had made it outside. If only I had remained with him, I could have stopped the attack from happening. Logain helped me tie Pelleas up to restrain him, and then ordered me out with my team again. This time I refused, and ended up having a major row with the illogical and uncompromising Logain.

I had already disobeyed Lord Hugo and Benedict, so another refusal to obey orders would not make much difference. The only reason I had got around Hugo and Benedict was that they were trying to stop Xantalia and Leah of all people from leaving their teams. Whether to help George or assist Pelleas I am still unsure.

The vampire eventually went, I do not know why or how, but it went. After normality returned (as normal as is possible after those events), Queen Elspeth most graciously allowed me to leave the pink team and personally guard George.

Playing games

For the rest of the weekend and the following morning I never left George's side (except for a quick game of Bacchus Ball and 'Ed Tennis') and due to his deterioration in health and the behaviour of Leah and Pelleas, we decided to return to Londinium accompanied by Remy.

I did hear that after we left, the council were attacked by the Tomorrow Court and groups of trolls. During these attacks, Pelleas was nearly killed by a particularly vicious and uncommonly handsome and intelligent troll and was only saved from death by a couple of girls that outwitted it. Whether this is true or not, I cannot say.

Ed Mund of the House of Drink