[Date: 2000-07-22, Storyguide: Michael Krammer]
Two of the other young magi from the tribunal, Tonitrus scholae Bonisagi and Silvus scholae Merinitae left together with Septimus Ex Miscellanea ad Dormitate who had promised to guide them to the village of Pettenbach, where they were supposed to meet maga Imma Eule. They walked from Exedra Caeli to Trient and over the Brenner pass to the covenant of Mons Tutori in the mountains of Wilder Kaiser ("The Wild Emperor"), a trip which took about two weeks to complete. After resting for a couple of days, they left and walked the remaining distance to the village of Pettenbach.
Augustus scholae Mercereris followed his master Livia back home to the covenant of Apex Ruber.
When Silvus, Tonitrus and Septimus, accompanied by five grogs from Dormitator, finally arrived to Pettenbach at dusk on April 27th, they found a strange man sitting in the village's tavern. The man noticed that the two magi spoke latin and quickly introduced himself as Flavius scholae Merinitae ad Corona. Flavius confessed that he had hurried to Pettenbach to claim membership in the new covenant as soon as news had spread from the tribunal meeting to his home covenant of Corona in the duchy of Bavaria. This was welcomed by all magi, except by Silvus, since the relations between his home covenant of Silva Aeterna and Corona had become even worse during the recent tribunal.
The four magi ordered some food and drank some fantastic beer, brewed by the tavernkeeper Heinz himself and served by his beautiful young wife Matilde. Flavius examined a strange giant oak tree, which is growing from the tavern floor up through the roof of the building (!), but found nothing magical about the tree.
Finally, Septimus rented the tavern-keepers' private room for himself and his two shield grogs, insisting on dreaming peacefully without any disturbances. The other magi and the remaining grogs slept in the tavern room together with Heinz and Matilde.
Shortly after dawn the next day, maga Imma Eule arrived disguised as the man Imhardt Eule (once again using her spell "Transformation of Bodily Mask"). The magi sat down and talked while eating their breakfast. Septimus then left for Dormitator, together with his grogs, while the others decided to explore the Pettenbachwald and the ruin of Ad Astra.
While walking through the wood, they suddenly approached a strange glade, where seven giant oak trees formed a big circle. In the centre of the glade, they found a big boulder surrounded by seven smaller boulders, all covered by a thick, green moss. Flavius casted a spontaneous InVi spell while standing on the top of the big boulder, and confirmed the suspicion that the glade was magical. They left the glade, intending to examine it more thoroughly in the future.
Guided by Imma in her owl-shape, they at last reached the mountain of Pernecker upon which the ruins of Ad Astra can be found. They walked the strenuous winding path up to the ruin and arrived at the main gate, which turned out to have fallen apart. They explored the ruins and discovered that the upper part of the castle is severely damaged and that some of the towers have almost collapsed. The lower part is also damaged, but not to the same degree as the upper part.
They also discovered that the inner walls of the castle is covered with a mystical silver-black-violet shimmering dust, so thick that it almost resembles a moss. A quick InVi spell confirmed that the dust is magical and guesses are made that the colours represent the magical arts of Vim, Perdo and Rego. They were puzzled by finding all rooms and halls to be empty; no furnitures and no items, not even any remnants of such things. The only items that can be found throughout the ruins are rocks and stones, fallen from the roofs and the walls. Some of these rocks seem to have melted, perhaps a sign of a magical battle? They also found some foot prints in the magical dust, but they couldn't conclude if they were fresh or not.
While Imma scared away a flock of crows from the main tower in the upper part of the castle, the other magi searched out a room suitable for using a temporary sleeping place while staying in the ruins. Tonitrus cleaned out the magical dust from the room, using a spontaneous ReAu spell. Imma flew down to the wood where she had hidden the killed deer, took the shape of a wolf and carried the deer up to the ruin. Exhausted after an exciting day, they enjoyed an evening meal. They all slept a bit uneasy during the night.
On the next morning, Imma took her Owl-shape and flew back home to Aesculus, where she wrote a letter on behalf of Tonitrus to his master Iustus, telling where he is, what he is doing and that he is in desperate need of resources. Imma then rested a short while before returning back to Ad Astra again late at night. On her way back, she stole silver items (candlesticks, cups and coins) from some nearby churches and manors, since she figured that they would need the money.
Flavius, Silvus and Tonitrus continued exploring the ruin for a while, until they walked down to Pettenbach where they spent the night under the roof of the tavern.