The Eye V

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.

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.

A flickering torchlight 

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.