Evening of the 2nd Skyday of Bales
In a forest South-East of Kozamost
Referee
Anastaz and Ludmer, you
travel east through the underbrush until at nightfall you hear
several voices singing and you make out the flickering light of fire
under a rock overhang. You can make out five figures in robes sitting
around the campfire.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
Anastaz signals to
Ludmer to proceed carefully, and looks for a vantage point from which
to appraise the robed figures.
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Acolytes of the Eye (artist's impression) |
Referee
You can hear boisterous
singing from the campfire as you sneak up a nearby hill. You hide
behind trees to have a good look at the camp. The campfire reflects
off mirrors on the robes of the figures, their faces are painted with
one eye blacked out by charcoal. They are singing about walls falling
before the might of The Eye.
After the last verse
echoes through the woods the robed figures calm down. They are
sitting around the fire talking loudly with each other although from
your position you can't make out what they say only that they seem to
be in a good mood. Their weapons - clubs with vicious spikes - lean
against the wall of the rock.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
Anastaz unsheaths Zuraw
and glances at Ludmer as he prepares to pounce on the assembled
revelers.
After a hectic exchange
of hand signals, Anastaz creeps through the woods around to the
overhang above the cultists' camp. He glances across at Ludmer,
waiting for his body language to signal the time to strike.
Ludmer, the Trail
Knight
Ludmer, meanwhile,
slowly and methodically makes his way to the heart of the camp. A
prayer to the seers on his lips he throws a drinking horn one of the
cultists left on a tree stump into the smouldering campfire. An
explosion of embers and stinking smoke surprises and rattles the
cultists. Using this distraction, Ludmer does his best to smite as
many of them as he can with all his might before they gain their
senses.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
As Ludmer advances on
the group, Anastaz leaps down from the overhang and brings his ornate
bastard sword to bear.
Referee
Ludmer is standing over
the campfire and deals a flurry of blows all around him, bones
cracking where his beaked axe connects. The robed figures are flying
like ragdolls away from the fire while Anastaz lands like a cat
beside him. The cultists lie dying in their blood.
Ludmer, you move
quickly from body to body to tend to the wounded, staunching the flow
of blood, putting limbs in makeshift splints. Two of the cultists
will be disfigured, deep wounds where flesh was rendered from the
bone, an older man who will never use his arm again, a younger
woman's face marked for life: But they all will live! When you search
their belongings you are appalled by the lack of personal items as if
they had given their life to the cause completely.
Anastaz, one of the
wounded, a man of maybe 60, sits up against a tree, a deep cut in his
shoulder bandaged by the Trail Knight. He looks at you with cold
eyes: "Will you torture me Knight to do your overlord's
bidding?" Every word spit out in disgust.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
Anastaz' dispassionate
gaze is cooler than a glare, but not by much. "We serve no
overlord, only the Seers. And we do not wish you to suffer, hence you
are still alive. Who are you and why do you follow the Eye?"
Referee
The man stares at you
for a second, then throws his head back and laughs hysterically:
"Only ... the ... Seers"! His laughter turns into a cough
and when he recovers he says without emotion:' So you do serve
darkness and pain, for the Seers are your overlords and they stand
for everything I despise. I follow the Eye for IT is the light in the
darkness and before ITS might all walls will fall. AWAY WITH THE
DARKNESS!", he suddenly screams.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
Anastaz subtly
flinches when the man screams. He kneels down to look the man in the
eyes. "How did you come to revere the Eye? Explain that I might
understand."
Referee
"Before I saw the
light I was a goat herder in the mountains, a few of my kin with me.
One day I had a dream: I dreamed I was in the Lord's castle and I saw
him walking down a corridor and when he entered a room it wasn't his
own nor his wifes. The old goat slept with one of the Courtiers! "The
old man looks at you probingly" The Seers know! Ah, they know
but they never tell! All they mumble are riddles and dark whispers.
If we can't trust the Seers and the Lords who can we trust? But THE
EYE sees all and tells all, no secrets and no riddles."
Anastaz the Salt Knight
How did you meet these
others?"
Referee
"We all have the
same dreams and they tell us the time and the place." He leans
forward conspiratorially: "And more will come.", he
whispers.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
"Have you
considered your visions may be deceiving you?
Referee
"All the visions
of the EYE have been true so far whenever I followed ITS wisdom. I
have no doubt IT always speaks the truth!"
Anastaz the Salt Knight
"And do you and
your cohorts simply come out here and revel, or do you plan to do
anything about the Seers?"
Referee
He looks at the broken
bodies all around him: "You mean kill them?" He laughs
bitterly: "No, we are acolytes, we won't use violence against
the Seers. But their reign has to end and if the EYE commands it they
will be dealt with."
Ludmer, it is some time
before midnight. Anastaz is talking to the old men who might be the
leader of the group. In the twilight of the last embers of the
campfire the bedrolls and sacks of the cultists are scattered. You
return from searching their belongings and find the two severely
wounded lying on the ground sleeping. They will be out of it at least
until morning. The other three that you have treated however are
regaining consciousness. They are weak but will be able to act soon. You see a torchlight
dancing between the trees. Somebody is approaching.
Ludmer, the Trail
Knight
I tap Anastaz on the
shoulder, alerting him to the torch light. I motion for him to take
cover.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
Anastaz looks back,
sees the torchlight, and nods to Ludmer, before seeking shelter in
the shadows.
Referee
Over the rasping breath
of the wounded and the old man humming a tune you hear the muffled
sound of hooves on the forest ground. Zoltan staggers into the dim
light of the dying campfire, barely able to stay on his feet: “By
the gods, what happened here?”
Ludmer, the Trail
Knight
Ludmer steps out of the
shadows outside Zoltan's immediate field of vision, causing the boy
to startle "Zoltan! Never was I more happy to see you than
tonight. Still though, you should thank the Seers that it was us you
happened upon and not someone who bears you Ill will. A brigand could
have stabbed you like a little piggy before you had seen them coming
with that dumb torch of yours. What have you found?"
Zoltan
Zoltan looks at Ludmer
wearily with bloodshot eyes: ”I found the spot in the … mumbles
... where the smaller … mumbles …. mumbles ...”, he says weakly
slurring his words, “... and followed them north to a … mumbles …
it was almost … mumbles … decided to turn back, when I found the
yellow petals that Sirs left. It was really hard to … mumbles …
in total darkness so I lit a torch.” He looks around, sways
slightly and steadies himself against his pony: "Those aren't
the mercenaries we have been following", he mumbles half to
himself.
Anastaz the Salt Knight
The Salt Knight sighs.
"Indeed they are not." Anastaz glances at Ludmer, then
looks down at the mass of bellicose cultists and frowns for a moment,
before retrieving some rope from his saddlebags. "Come, boy,
help us bind them."
Referee
Zoltan helps the Salt
Knight restraining the prisoners. He stumbles around like a child way
past bedtime from one to the next but his knots are precise and
tight. He flinches when he sees the face of the young women but says
nothing. Pensively he tends to the campfire before crushing out on
his bedroll.
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