A Dream of Rogan
Rogan wants to use dreams to drive them off his property. He can actually use his other powers as well, but he will not, at first. Dreams and madness first, and then mysterious deaths. I want to prod them into putting an Aegis up by Midsummer, or maybe Autumn Equinox. So, everything starts just after Midwinter. He can't touch Lucia, as her defences are too strong. Everyone else is vulnerable. All magi sleep at the covenant, and most of the labourers are within the aura, until they are moved out.
Week 1
Everyone starts dreaming of eagles soaring over the Dales, and swooping down for their prey. Lucia is the exception. They probably will not notice much at this stage, although by the end of the week people will be muttering, since everyone has the same recurring dream.
Week 2
The Eagles become more menacing, flying down close to the characters and then veering away. Rogan's Seat figures more heavily in the dreams, looming on the horizon clothed in stormclouds.
Week 3
The eagles actually attack in the dreams, and do some slight damage before veering off. Rogan's Seat is very menacing now, and the magi can sense a presence there.
Week 4
The dreams become agonising nightmares in which the characters are ripped apart by the eagles. Magi can see Rogan's embodied form looming over the Seat and laughing at them. This leads to very disturbed nights, so that everyone is on -3 due to fatigue. Except Lucia, of course, and anyone else who has a high enough resistance or sleeps outside the aura.
Week 5
The dreams continue, and labourers will start to want to leave, unless they have been moved into the valley to sleep. If they have not, on the first night one is driven mad, and runs through the camp striking out with a sledgehammer, accusing them of being agents of the eagles. The next day, another worker does nothing except sit staring at the seat and repeating "The eagles are coming. The eagles are coming." That night, everyone has the dreams, and six people are found torn to shreds in the morning. The labourers will leave at this point. The dreams then stop.
Week 7
Assuming that people still sleep in the aura, one of them spends the day ranting at people about Rogan's revenge, and saying that he has not left them yet, that no-one is safe.
Week 8
Labourers start to have inexplicable accidents, with two fatalities this week. Rogan is driving them temporarily mad, so that they do very foolish things. At the end of the week, one labourer throws himself from the top, screaming in terror and waving his arms as if to fend off an assault.
Week 9
It starts raining, and does not stop for the rest of the season.
Week 12
A labourer is ripped apart by invisible eagles, in front of all the others. All harrassment then stops.
Midsummer's Day
Unless there is a strong enough Aegis, Rogan drives three grogs psychotic, and they dash around killing everything in sight. Otherwise, the hill-top is wrapped in impenetrable fog, and anyone who goes outside is liable to be ripped apart by the invisible eagles.
Copyright David Chart 1995-1998
