Malinbois Introduction

(Last update: 26/7/95)

(this page written by Mark Shirley)

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Brother Mouliard stopped to catch his breath. He had been walking all day, and he was no longer as young as he once was. He smiled ruefully to himself - one day perhaps God would allow him to rest.

Before going on, he surveyed the land in front of him. He was a few miles from the port of Canet-Plage on the Western Mediterranean; having left there not 2 hours ago. To the west lay the city of Perpignan, the seat of Bishop Orris who had taken on the bishopric of the entirity of Rousillon upon the death of Certagne of Elne recently. There was talk of making him an Archbishop. Things would certainly change around here for the Magi of Rousillon should Orris become Archbishop. The man is a fanatic - there are no two ways about it.

To the north of where Mouliard sat was the dark brooding forest of Dankmar. It was said that people were taken by the witches that dwell there and used in their horrific Rituals. Certainly Mouliard was aware of the reputation of Shadrith Ex Miscellanea, thrown out of House Merinita due to her pacts with the most wicked of the Unseelie. To the south lay his destination - the Covenant of Malinbois. Across the marsh, and nestled on the very fringes of the Forest of Collbran was Santare Hill with its two summits, the lower of which holds the fort in which these Members of the Order dwell.

Forcing himself to rise, the septengenarian priest gathered up his humble belongings, and left the Perpignan road for a hike across the marsh. Its foul vapours assaulted his nostrils, made worse by the summer heat. He was pleased when he approached first drier land, then tilled fields, even though this meant that he was approaching the village of Julliac, a group of despicable pagans who steadfastly refused to accept the True Word of God. Mouliard was not suprised to find the village abandoned - victims of the Crusaders, no doubt.

Following his instructions, he left the village in a westerly direction. He quickened his pace now - the forest of Collbran was not a good place for a man of God to wander through alone, and it loomed ahead. Mainly hazel, with a fair scattering of oak and beech, the forest was an imposing place, with no paths or trails. Indeed, if his informant was correct, there was no use even attemping to traverse it, for it was a magical place. Mouliard found a convenient tree-stump, and waited. The forest was strangly quiet. He gained a distinct impression that the whole place was watching him. He sat back and surveyed the scene. He was no woodsman, but he could see that this was not a healthy forest. It was midsummer, yet there was little undergrowth. The leaves here were unusually dark, and the tree-trunks an unhealthy pale.

The priest went over in his mind what he had been told about Malinbois. The fort was originally built in the 9th century by Charles Martel, to attempt to stay the waves of Moors crossing the Pyrenees into France. These first line defences were not sufficient, and the original fort was partially ruined by the sorceries of the infidels. When the Magi came here over three decades ago, they performed repairs to the dilapidated fort, and gradually strengthened it with outer walls and a dry moat. The two original towers were added to, and connected via a bridge. Extensive caves beneath the hill were cleared out and made habitable, and there is now a vertitable village down there, as well as a tin mine.

The old man's reverie was broken by the appearance of an armed group of men, lead by a capable-looking aged captain. After explaining that he was expected, the four men escorted him to the Covenant. They passed a small chapel on the way up the hill - one of the reasons that Mouliard had made the trek from Rheims was to see the Friar, Jean-Pierre, who was responsible for the spiritual well-being of this community.

Arriving at the Covenant, Mouliard was disturbed to see that it was in bad shape. Several of the outside buildings and walls were in a bad state of repair, and both towers had lost several floors from their summits, which had crashed onto another building below. It was somewhat reassuring to see that the mighty inhabitants of Malinbois were not completely invincible, still subject to the forces of Nature.

Standing on the lowered drawbridge, Mouliard could see the unmistakable bulk of his host. Bounding towards the priest was a huge toad, the size of a large dog. Before the oversized batrician bowled him over, the priest neatly sidestepped, and rapped the creature on the nose with his staff. "Don't look at me like that, you filthy animal," the priest said at the reproachful look in the familiar's huge golden eyes; then, more kindly "I've saved you some cheese from my lunch. If you're good, it's yours." The toad gulped happily, and followed the old man as he approached the overweight magus, arms open. They embraced briefly, and then walked inside. "Adept Mouliard, " said Marcus Rabinus of House Jerbiton, "let me tell you why I asked you here..."