Session 13

 Night of the 1^st Kinsday of Sprouts

A unnaturally warm wind plays with the campfire on a hill overgrown with brambles. Heldris and Anastasz join the Hooded Knight and hear the Jewelled Seer's question:”Have you seen The Child?" The Knights admit that they haven't seen it. They learn that the Seeker Knights search for the Child who holds the key to The City and are handed jewels that will allow the Seer to see through them. The next morning they leave westwards and at noon they reach the foot of the mountains. They search the area for a path that would lead them across when they notice smoke coming from a forge and see two gaunt figures in ornate bark armour emerging from a cave, dragging a struggling man between them. “Your blood will bring about the next season”, they declare with cold eyes and alien faces. The Hooded Knight slides into the shadows while Anastasz and Heldris draw their weapons and demand the release of the prisoner. The elves announce their names: Kilunar and Tasiviza and meet the Knights with their golden falxes. 

Kilunar

Kilunar inflicts a deep wound and breaks Heldris' spirit by matching every blow with one of their own until Lady Dragana skewers them with her glaive. The Salt Knight exchanges wild attacks with Tasiviza and the elf is finally struck down. The Knights ask the dying Season Destroyers for their goal but they only laugh. “Blood has been spilled, it is time for the tide of the seasons to rise.” Lady Dragana deals the final blow. The smith invites the Knights into his forge where he treats Heldris' wounds. He wears a wooden symbol around his neck, two crosses connected by a line (x-x) that symbolizes a cradle and he tells them about his faith: The Mother who will birth The Child. He promises to lead them over the mountains to the dried well that marks the place where the Feaster was slain.

Tasiviza

They follow the mountain path under a sky drained of all colours. When they reach the peak they see for a moment the beauty of the realm: a still lake to the west, ancient forests to the south and the fertile Ryba valley when suddenly a cold mist rises around them until all is hidden under a blanket of fog. They press on but soon get lost and if not for the Hooded Knight's foresight (to have Heldris mark their path with his glowing herbs smeared on the rock) they wouldn't have found their way back to a small copse of fir trees where they make camp for the night. Defeated by the mountain they return to the forge.

Mist covers the Realm

Session 12

 1st Silverday of Sprouts

The Salt Knight rejoins the company at the entrance to the mound that is marked by standing stones carved with the symbol of the sun. He steps into a narrow corridor that leads to a small tomb with a broken stone slab bones shining through the cracked stone. The skeleton inside holds a bronze chalice, verdigris partly covering the symbol of a strange wheel and when Anastasz pulls it from the dead man's grasp the bones turn to dust. Sir Heldris peers into the darkness of the only other exit, a sharp, alien smell wafting from the corridor. Lady Dragana inspects a cocoon dangling from the ceiling and finds behind it a cracked fresco depicting scenes of harvest. She perceives a faint draft from the cracks and Sir Heldris breaks the clay to reveal a hidden crawl space. The Dove Knight crashes his glowing herbs and prepares the tip of his spear with it before squeezing into the tunnel.

The Spider Mother

When he emerges through another clay fresco he recognises the chamber where Perilake had found the sword Rzeźnik. Before the company can move deeper into the barrow they hear the clicking of chitinous claws approaching. They kill the two wolfspiders emerging from the corridor and when they pass through, they finally meet the Spider Mother, a massive shape hiding in the shadows and crawling with spiderlings. Anastasz steps into the room and is ensnared in sticky webbing on the floor, while Dragana manages to throw her axe at the monster. Sir Heldris is dismayed when he hears the sound of another wolfspider approaching from behind. He drops his spear, meets the beast with his sword, driving it back with terrible blows. He dodges a spray of webbing and kills the creature. On the other side of the corridor the two Knights evade the Spider Mother's venomous fangs and skewer her with sword and glaive. They burn her nest and leave the mound. The poisonous fumes are dispersed by the wind.

Location of the Wolfspider Mound

They spend the night in the village. A banquet is held in their honour but they leave early in the morning while the villagers sleep off their hangover. Soon they cross the river and stand before the white castle of Kranach, where they are greeted by Lady Inga the Envoy, who manages to hide her disappointment that Sir Perilake is not present. After they had a chance to freshen up in luxurious rooms they are brought before Lady Zdenka to inquire about the Elf. She mentions that a herald with a foreign face and straw-like hair has been spotted in the mountains to the west. The Tangled Seer told the Knights that the Elf would be found “West of Swanstone [the old name for Kranach Castle] and South of the Needle Seer's relic.” Heldris recalls that the relic was rumoured to be near the place where The Feaster had been slain and asks her about the Legend of the Sun that never set. “There is a dried up well in the shadow of the mountains with rich carvings. They show a golden giant climbing out of the Sun. Legends say it marks the place where brave Knights had killed the Feaster.”

The Feaster

The Knights of the Black Fleece leave the castle at noon and ride westwards, through a dense forest of vine choked trees until in the evening they spot the smoke of a campfire on a hill and an ornate cart with horses and beasts of burden below it. The Hooded Knight approaches the campfire and is greeted by three Knights who belong to the Order of the Seekers. There is a heap of jewels next to them and a wolf gnawing on bones is chained to a tree. A grating voice from the heap, that sounds as if a diamond is slowly drawn over glass, asks. ”Have you seen The Child”?

Session 11

1st Riverday of Sprouts.

Perilake and Heldris meet at the ruin of the Eye: An elder tree growing out of a strangely spherical bolder. They meet Lady Dragana, the hooded Knight, who had been sent by the Endless Seer to assist the Company of the Black Fleece. They journey to Lake Ryba, north of Kranach, to seek out the Entangled Seer for guidance. At the shore of the lake they spot tall sunflowers, signs of summer in early spring and in the distance an island shrouded in mist. They meet a young acolyte, Marika, who offers to take them to the island on her boat. Her cruel smile made the knights cautious and they decide to leave Zoltan with her in the boat. They moor the boat next to a flat rock crawling with white crabs and carefully move around them into a dense forest, past a strange menhir with a star carved into the rock, until they reach the sanctum: A domed gazebo within which a mass of faces and appendices are writhing. They ask the Tangled Seer: “What is the biggest threat to the Realm?” and many voices answer: “If you fear for the Knights: The Axe will chop them down! If you fear for the King, the Elf will take his place.”

The sacntum of the Tangled Seer

And when asked about the Elf the many voices sing: “A steward of seasons, nature’s power bestowed - Our land bends to their whimsy, our lives no mercy showed” And when they ask where to find the steward of seasons the voices answer: “West of Swanstone, south of the reliquary of the Needle Seer, you’ll find the Elf. “

Making their way back to the rock they find Marika and Zoltan and return to the southern shore of the lake, where they find their horses and spur them on towards Bohat. They arrive in the evening and are greeted by Lady Wendela who invites them into her home. They learn that the creatures of the barrow continue to prey on the village’s cattle even after Ser Perilake slew the eight legged monstrocity. Perilake swears to end this forever. Asked about the Needle Seer's reliquary she informs them that both King Andrasz and Lady Zdenka wish to retrieve it. Sir Heldris remembers a conversation with his friend Lady Hedwig who believed the relic to be just east of lake Obra and he recalls the legend of the Feaster, born of the Sun, who was rumoured to be slain South of the lake and that the ruin of that Myth can still be found there. Wendela shares with the Knights her worries about a cult that is gaining followers; The Church of the Child. They believe that the birth of the Child will bring eternal peace and bountiful harvest for ever.

The Wolfspider Mound

In the morning, they depart for the Barrow. The well that Perilake had used to infiltrate the mound has been sealed by soldiers of Kranach as promised and filled with rocks. The entrance is marked by standing stones carved with the symbol of the sun. The Knights enter a narrow corridor leading inside.

Session 10 Winter

Between Seasons

Anastasz, The Salt Knight visits the Cured Seer in the hills East of Bohat, his sanctum a labyrinth of echoing caves, his desiccated body encrusted with salt. Anastasz tastes the Seer's salt and is granted a vision of wars to come.

Ludmer, The Trail Seer, upon hearing that he has incurred the wrath of the King, decides to leave the Realm and spend winter in the war-torn Northern Crownlands.

Perilake, The Gilded Knight teaches his Squire Zoltan the justice of Knights as a travelling judge in the mountains of Karpat.

Heldris, The Dove Knight asks Jakub the blacksmith to forge a prosthetic arm with a simple mechanism that allows him to attach a shield. When the village is visited by the siblings Lady Anastasia and Nicolai of Masur he decides to travel with them to Karpat. They don't know yet that Heldris had killed their brother, Prince Grigori of Masur.

Kozamost: A view of the Temple of the River in winter

Winter

Anastasz spends most of winter in the library of Barow Castle studying the history of the Realm. He learns that Zuraw, the sword he is wielding, once belonged to Sir Zigmunt of Kranach, the grandfather of Perilake's Squire. He also finds out that Sir Grigori, the noble whom Heldris had killed in the bog south of Kozamost was next in line to become King of Masur. He reveals to King Andrasz the conspiracy of the Beekeepers and is rewarded for his loyalty by allowing him to pick any Squire he wishes. He choses Gundhilde of Szalai for her devotion to the Realm. He investigates the tunnels under Barow Castle and finds a spy hole to the chamber of the King's Council. A member of the conspiracy, the Courtier Ida of Masur, is exposed and later executed.

Heldris is invited to Karpat Fortress by his friend Hedwig but when she shares her life story, a sad tale of greed and betrayal, their friendship is in peril. The Dove Knight investigates the conspiracy of the Beekeepers and concludes that Lady Lydia of Szalai must be the mysterious Queen L. He receives a message from an unkown Seer who reveals the location of their sanctum North of lake Obra. Heldris spends the rest of winter crafting a beautifully illustrated parchment that holds the notes to a melody from his home and instructions about the unfamiliar tuning of the instrument to play it. The Tankard Knight accepts the present and their broken friendship is mended. 

It's always foggy in Karpat. 

Perilake spends winter at Kranach Castle the holding of Zoltan's family. He visits the prosperous village of Bohat to investigate the reason for their missing sheep. In an ancient burial mound he slays an eight legged monster and finds a magic sword. He falls in love with Lady Inga Svensdottir the envoy of the castle and begins courting her. He then learns that his Squire is driven to find a traitor to house Kranach. He is seeking revenge for the death of Sir Zigmunt, his grandfather, who died at the Battle of the Red Reeds. Perilake knows that it was Lady Dagmar who betrayed the position of Kranach troops to the enemy but he hasn't told his Squire.

Ludmer arrives in the Crownlands as winter begins. On his travels North he and his steed Věrný are bitten by spiders and both fall ill but they are healed by a huntsman. He carries a man who can't walk but takes the life of another: Miro a former guard of his father. He finds seven ominous standing stones, meets a magnificent fox and keeps her fangs. The Trail Knight struggles through frozen thorns to find a village in need of a hero. But his quest has just begun ...

Session 9

Afternoon of the 3^rd Riverday of Bales

East of Karpat Fortress

The three Knights are lying flat on their stomachs watching guards gamble at the entrance to the cave. They are high up a steep forest path looking down on the clearing and the wide mouth of the cave doesn't reveal what hides inside. The Knights are quietly approached by Cadwyn the Mule Knight. She had been sent by the Green Seer to aid the Company of the Black Fleece. She suggests to distract the guards with her glamour that makes her appear as a humble peasant. While she prepares her entrance Heldris sneaks behind a tree near the guards and Anastaz and the Gilded Knight take positions above the cave mouth. While Cadwyn presents her self prepared rations to a many ringed mercenary Heldris rushes in from the right and Perilake and Salt Knight jump down on the unsuspecting guards who are quickly taken out. Lobosch, a soldier, begs the Knights to care for the wounded and is heard. Perilake returns to Mateusz, Zoltan and the spearmen and sends them down the hollow way, while the Gilded Knight return to the clearing the way he came.

The Cave entrance

Heldris carefully checks the cave entrance: Reflected light from deeper within the cave illuminate a forge and a carpentry workshop, a freshly built catapult and the construction of another siege weapon in progress. The sun is about to set as Perilake returns. Lobosch volunteers to act as a messenger but the Knights need guaranties and they bind his hands and follow him into the cave with Zoltan pointing a spear at his back.

They hear singing and talking and laughing as they follow a tunnel that broadens into a large cave where Sandor in his grey cloak sits on a diwan of wood and furs. Braziers illuminate dozens of soldiers and mercenaries sitting on rugs, furs and arrases cover the walls. Lobosch enters the cave with his bound hands raised. “Parley!”he shouts.

Sandor waves the Knights closer and they parley. The Knights tell him about Mateusz and that the Sheriff knows about their hideout. They urge him to flee but he just laughs it off. “I have a reputation to maintain. If you pay me well, I remain loyal until the end.” He won't disband his warband and he won't leave. They suggest a trial by combat, Cadwyn the Mule Knigh against Sandor the Hawk. They will fight until one of them yields. If Cadwyn wins the mercenaries will leave the Realm. If Sandor wins that Knights will leave him in peace.

The Bandit's Hideout (minus the bandits)

The fighters circle each other: Cadwin in flowing motions, Sandor in a deadly dance around her. Finally Sandor strikes, a vicious blow that Cadwyn barley parries. But Sandor is relentless and strikes Cadwyn down. “Do you yield?” he bellows. She surreptitiously takes something from her pouch and extends her hands and he grabs them ready to help her up. She pulls herself up and closer to him whispering:” I never yield!”exposing her hellfire chestnuts to his skin. The explosion tears them both apart. Ears ringing and nobody hears the screaming from the mercenaries who flee in great numbers. Finally Lobosch approaches. Although technically a tie he agrees to honour the agreement.”You bought yourself a winter of peace. We will leave the Realm … for now!”

Session 8

 Night of the 3^rd Armsday of Bales, Eldermass

Karpat Fortress

The Knights are taken to their quarters, narrow rooms with high ceilings and strange angles. There arrival may have been foretold - or maybe the rooms know which Knights they will accommodate – as traditional pagan icons (or small paintings) of their respective Seers hang on the wall. Sir Andrasz peruses a strangely spiky iron bookcase of spiritual texts and sheet music, while Perilake's room is dominated by a rusty suit of armour with a notable hole at the back of the ancient helmet. Heldris marvels at the misty abyss outside the arrow slit windows.

After they are refreshed they are taken by servants to the Great Hall where the court of Lady Lamberta of Karpat is sitting at a long banquet table. The room is filled with candlelight. Hushed conversations and a lone eerie flute playing sacred music are the only sounds. The Lady, a short woman with greying hair under a simple iron crown, sits next to her equally unassuming husband. She laments the lack of spirituality in the realm that is exemplified by the rise of heretic cults and she congratulates the Knights for making an end to sect of the Eye. She warns them about another cult, the followers of the Child who are gaining popularity among her vassals. Nothing else of importance is said as soon the Lady invites the Knights to a meeting of her Council where such matters belong.

The Grand Hall (shown here before the banquet)

Lamberta bows to the altar of the throne room and gestures the Knights of the Council and her guests to take a seat at the round table. Tonda kneels next to her with a bucket of leeches in order to conduct a blood letting of the ailing ruler. In the case of the bandits it is decided that the Sheriff will aid the Knights to get rid of the threat to the law. Soon after Lamberta excuses herself due to deteriorating health. She waves with her ringed hand – the one placed upon her under oath to not remove it by King Andrasz the Ring Knight – and the Knights of the Brotherhood conclude that matters are discussed that the King shouldn't hear.

Indeed it is explained that Mateusz will only be accompanied by a few spearmen as the warband is needed to be ready to protect Karpat's claim over the peat bog when the tax collectors arrive for the Tithe. Tonda returns and exchanges nervous glances with the Envoy, Adalgunde of Kranach as Perilake demurs that the decision of the King should be respected but the Steward, Dorota of Masur, an older haggard looking woman, sharply disagrees.

After the meeting Anastasz takes Tonda aside to a small turret where they sit in the cushioned window sill. He mentions the Beekeepers and shows her the letter they found on Sir Grigori's body. Tonda turns pale before she composes herself. Her flirty demeanour is gone and she leans in to say.”If such a group exists what would you want to tell them?” She talks about certain opportunities that would arise from a change of leadership, maybe a Holding for those who aid the new ruler. Anastasz suggests a meeting and Tonda promises an answer within a couple of days never confirming that the Beekeepers even exist or that she might be associated with them in any way.

It is midnight when the Knights return to their rooms. Heldris finds two chestnuts, one dead and crumbling, one containing no fruit but an entangled ball of string. Many theories are suggested: A message from the Seers on such a holy day perhaps? Zoltan who had been on watch at the stable arrives and reports that a masked figure has left the castle at midnight and the Knights suspect them to beTonda. And indeed when they break into her room it is empty and nobody had slept in her bed.

Mateusz alarmed by the noise confronts the Knights, but Perilake assures him that their fear for the safety of the Leech is justified: Maybe the bandits have taken her prisoner. Mateusz and his men search the castle. Long after midnight the noise of the search subsides and the Knights finally find some sleep.

A mountain cave

Morning of the 3^rd Riverday of Bales

The leave at dawn with Mateusz and his men and ride down the mountain pass until at noon they arrive at a hollow way in a mountainous forest. Above them on a plateau they see the walls of a hexagonal building. They leave the horses with Mateusz and his men and climb up the cliff where they enter the ruined temple. Seven stone seats are the only furnishings left. Each has a skull placed on it, the crest of a Knight roughly scratched into each seat. A flame weasel gnaws the skull that is placed on the seat that bears Perilake's crest. Perilake feeds it and is bitten playfully by the strange creature. A rush of clarity and purpose pulses through the Gilded Knight's body. They search the plateau and find some footprints, a path leading north and behind some shrubs the entrance to a cave that they follow for a long time until it ends in a fortified door that is barred from the other side. They return and follow the path to a clearing where four soldiers guard the entrance to another cave. They climb above them and prepare to attack.

The Eye VII / Session 7

3rd Stonesday of Bales

In a swamp south of Kozamost

They wake up before dawn to the smell of roasted bread and a constant light rain. The knights peel themselves out of the damp bedrolls while Zoltan is serving breakfast. The Prey Seer is massaging her bandaged hand at the campfire. The sun is still a mere suggestion in the sky as they make their way south-east along the track of the parade wagon deeper into the swamp

All morning the rain continues. Only the croaking of toads in the sloughs break the silence as they follow the Prey Seer. The landscape turns even more desolate, until at noon the company arrives at the badlands. The parade wagon is lying on its side in the mud. Nearby the acolytes of the Eye kneel before the boulder standing under a dead tree. The earth begins to tremble ...

“This is the place.” Her voice trembles with fear or excitement, “Drive your steeds between it and the acolytes, they will be too scared to intervene. Let the Eye come for me. Attack it from all sides.” She turns towards you and whispers so that only you can hear her: ”Remember the relic. Break the symmetry and the Eye won't return.” She starts walking towards the epicentre of the quake, the branch of the elder tree raised over her head.

The Eye rises

A hulking stone eye on four squat legs erupts. The Knights charge. Perilake hits it from the side with his great mace, stopping its forward momentum towards the Seer. Anastas, Heldris and Zoltan struggle to find purchase in its stony hide. The creature attempts to crush Perilake but the Gilded Knight deflect its attack on him. Heldris armour absorbs the blow, as does Anastasz. But the Eye opens into an obscene maw. The Knights attack from all sides trying to chip away at the stone creature. Perilake smashing the eye square in the pupil as its maw closes. It reels, and then shrugs off the attacks and moves towards the Seer.

Anastasz and Heldris try to repel it away from the Seer whose face is in rapture at meeting her fate. The great Maw descends upon her. Before Heldris can leap between the Eye and Seer Anastasz stays his hand. The Seer is consumed and terribly mauled by the Eye’s crunching maw. She screeches in pain and ecstasy. The ground below the Eye opens and it tries to flee back in to the earth. Perilake smashes it in the side and prevents it from escaping. Zoltan leaps atop it, his dagger blows bolstering the slaying blow that is struck by Anastasz, who heaves his bastard sword into the obsidian pupil, exploding black ichor. It falls to the ground, it’s animated features turning into dead stone, Zoltan wheeling from its back and nearly being crushed before Perilake snatches his squire away. Perilake picks up the Seer’s fallen branch and buries it in the earth where she fell. Strangely the branch takes root and grows into an Elder Tree. The knights kneel and respect the fallen, Janka, the elderly tanner who was among the acolytes, joins them in reverence.

Karpat Fortress

3rd Woodsday of Bales

They travel North to the sanctum of the Prey Seer with her relic. Janka swears to watch over this place of power until a new Seer is called forth.

The Knights decide to follow up on the mysterious warband. Bartek had shown them the secret hideout of the mercenaries in a region just east of Karpat Fortress. How is this taking place under the nose of Karpat? They were well informed, well resourced, well paid. Could Lady Lamberta aid them? Could she be the mysterious Queen of the Beekeepers? And what about Lady Dagmar the Marshall of Karpat who was blackmailed by Bianka Altenburg, the Iron Knight. Is this even related to the mystery of the beekeepers? The Brootherhood of the black Fleece decide to travel to the Fortress in the hope of finding some answers. They make camp at the banks of the Hleb,

3rd Armsday of Bales

When they cross the river they come upon a maze of stony crags. A message carved in the rock reads All the knights will feel the Axe. They follow a winding path up a low sandstone mountain range until they reach an ornate bridge carved with traditional shapes and stylized animals. Before them lies Karpat Fortress a labyrinth of towers and dark spires connected with steep stairs. Lady Hedwig leads them to the throne room where the ruler Lady Lamberta prays before an altar. She invites the knights to refresh after the travel and join her in the evening for a meal with her Court.