Session 15

 2^nd Woodsday of Petals

Valamonte, The Rune Knight approaches the cave on his warhorse, his body inscribed with stories and sigils and carrying a pillar of stone. He is sent by the Drowned Seer to aid the Company of the Black Fleece. Sir Davith and Sir Anastaz inform their fellow Knight about their plans. Mist rises from the nearby lake as they ride south. At noon they arrive at a strange forest, past crumbling pillars and broken statues.

2^nd Armsday of Petals

The Rune Knight rises before dawn and hides behind a statue to carve a figure onto his body when the statue suddenly moves. The Grey Stone Hunter asks Sir Anastaz: “Who shall I punish?” but the Salt Knight remains silent. Should a Knight use foul magic to enact his revenge? Finally he says: “Lady Lydia of Szalai.” The Hunter answers: ”She shall be punished!” and disappears.

"Who shall I punish?"

They press on through a dark forest of twisted trunks and watched by silent toads until they reach a spiral of natural steps and find at its bottom a dried well that displays the story of the Feaster, a golden giant emerging from the sun to come down onto the Realm. He feasts on many before three brave Knights slay the giant.

They decide to turn east to finally conquer the mountain that had denied them, hoping to find the Elf. Instead they are approached by one of his heralds with cold eyes and strawlike hair. He carries a bow and presents it to Anastaz as a gift from his master. Reluctantly the Salt Knight takes it and holds it in his hands: An ornate bow, twisted like braided reeds with symbols of flowers and grain. “Bring news to your lord, that I will challenge him to a duel.” The scout agrees and turns around. At the summit the Knights rest.

More signs of harvest arriving early

2^nd Riverday of Petals

They lead their horses down the mountain through ferns that grew to unusual height and observe from a vantage point the lands to the south: rolling hills covered in a sea of glowing poppies but when they pass through the field of flowers and under the glaring sun they cast no shadow. They see another herald carrying a snake and covering a distance with each step for which humans would need many more. The viper will bring a message to the King, they hear, and no one else. Sir Davith confronts the season scout and charges forward. He breaks his foot with a forceful blow. The scout is bound and pressured until he finally agrees to bring them to the Steward of Seasons. The viper eyes The Salt Knight and doubts his wisdom but Anastaz doesn't trust the symbol of treachery. From a blood red hill they see a large camp of tents and in between a warband each of scouts with swift bows and destroyers wielding golden falxes. 

Session 14

1st Rainday of Sprouts

A rider approaches the cave at dawn: Sir Davith, The Tome Knight, short and stout and dressed in bright colours of esoteric design. He has been sent by another manifestation of the Tangled Seer to aid the company. Sir Davith consults the movement of birds and they decide to travel North through a dense forest in order to find an inspiring sight that might lift Sir Heldris' spirit. But they are turned back by spiky roots obstructing their path. When night falls they come upon a quiet glade within which stands a White Stone Hunter. She asks Sir Perilake gravelly:”Who shall I aid?” and without hesitation he firmly calls the name of The Dove Knight. Colmán, his sure footed steed, carries the broken man before the statue who embraces him and whispers: “Be still young Knight but be aware: Amid the stillen halt and hush, a poison blooms in grove alush”. Puzzled by the revelation but unburdened by doubt, hope returns to Sir Heldris.

The White Stone Hunter

1st Stillday of Sprouts

Under the canopy no breeze comforts the Knights. They pass trees with dead vines and a lake deep in the forest with ducks drowsy and placid from the strange warmth, until they reach the foothill of mountains where they can breath again. As they turn South they try to cross mounting dunes with treacherous ground, hooves trying to find purchase and failing. Heldris recalls the map he received on silken cloth and they ride West when Sir Davith perceives a figure striding forward confidently but with unnatural speed. The Knights spur their horses and intercept the straw haired herald. When confronted the elf declares impatiently: “ This rod I carry is a present for the Veiled Seer. Who dares to disturb my mission?” Sir Perilake announces himself and they weigh their options: To slay the elf or escort her to the Seer - but their curiosity overcomes their thirst for blood. They travel through darkness guided by their outlandish scout. Near the banks of the river she steps towards a solid rock wall that causes ripples as she passes through. The Knights follow her into a cave illuminated by a luminous pond and there, next to their bearded acolyte, sits The Veiled Seer, folds of flesh and horse-like hair where their face should be. They receive the Rod of Summer and say only one word to the Season Scout: ”Go!” The Company of the Black Fleece spend the night outside the cave knowing that the Seer will not speak again.

The Veiled Seer (sans the horns)

2nd Stonesday of Petals

In the morning the acolyte calls Sir Anastaz to come forth and speak to the Seer. “How can we stop the Elf to advance the seasons before their due time ”? And the Seer says:”Duel!” The Tome Knight observes the movement of fish to recall the location of the Dried Well where they expect the Elf to reside. Three times he asks and three times a carp swims to the surface and mouths its answer. They ride South.

Who is who in Barowia?

 The Company of the Black Fleece

active

Sir Perilake The Gilded Knight and his Squire Zoltan of Kranach. Proud and poised

Sir Anastaz The Salt Knight and his Squire Gundhilde of Szalai. Scowling and taciturn

Sir Heldris The Dove Knight, one-armed and formerly cursed by the Hound within. Calm and serene

Sir Heldris ambushed by the Hound in Shadow

inactive

Sir Ludmer The Trail Knight

Cormorant The Gull Knight

Lady Dragana The Hooded Knight

Lady Cadwyn The Mule Knight (dead)

The Houses

There are 6 major houses (ancestral seat / crest): ruler

Barow (current Seat of Power is Castle Barow / buck-head and star): King Andrasz

Karpat (Karpat Fortress / Crown and Flame): Lady Lamberta

Kranach (Kranach Castle / Key & Crane) Lady Zdenka

Masur (former Seat of Power is Castle Loadstone / honeycomb and crescent moon); unknown

Szalai (Szalai Keep / Rearing Horse): Sir Adalbert

Urban (unknown / Lock and Quill): unknown

A short history of Barowia

The Realm is ruled by King Andrasz of Barow who claimed the throne after invading from the North and driving out the old King Tadeausz of Masur.  During the war Szalai and Kranach joined forces with house Barow, the former rather quickly, the latter after terrible losses. Karpat surrendered eventually but never changed sides. The wounds of war have not been healed.

Dwellings (resource: leadership)

Swinjo: Pig farmers and fishers: Mayor Bogdan
Kozamost: goat herders and peat farmers: Mayor Mira
Bohat: farmers and apiarists: Lady Wendela of Urban

Factions

The Beekeepers: A secret society of nobles and vassals loyal to the former King Tadeusz of Masur. Their crest is a Beehive and Sickle
The Merchants Guildry of Szolnok and Mohacs: An association of merchants from the North  

Neighbours

Barowian Crownlands. A vast Realm of warring Duchies
East Masuria. Ruled by house Masur
Svenrijk. Landsknechts from Svenrijk supported King Andrasz during the war.
Altenburg. Rich and powerful supporters of house Kranach
Waldochia. Home of nomadic horse people and ruled by house Waldoch

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 ...