3rd Rainsday of Petals - Outside Barow Castle
A cold mist covers the whole of
the Realm and the three Knights leave Barow Castle at dawn to find
the source of the curse. Soon they meet Sir Ludmer, grizzled and
haggard, and the brotherhood of the black fleece is reunited again.
They travel north through the bog to seek the Entombed Seer's
council. In the distance they hear shrieks and emaciated figures move
just outside of view. They make camp at a lake but their sleep is
disturbed by the howling of the lurking horrors.
A thick fog envelops the Realm
and at dawn the campfire is dull and all sound is muted. They travel
blind through a forest and into the hills, stalked by weeping and
wailing things and Heldris - troubled by a sleepless night - lashes out, grabs one of the creatures and wrestles it to the ground but he is hit
by a foul tail. Ser Perilake spurs Blackwyn and strikes the horror
down. For a while there is silence.
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| The Gilded Knight and the Lurking Horror |
They spot the ruined watchtower
where the acolytes of the Seer live and reach his sanctum. The mist
had crept into the valley and snuffed out all the sound and they wait
for a long time before the white wall of the tomb until at last a
hollow voice announces: The Smoke from burning Bones dispels the
Mist. The ask the acolytes for a burying ground and hear about the
burnt gallows to the West. They leave the sanctum in the afternoon
and find a crossing over the Obra where deer graze between wild
flowers. The night is filled with more horrors and even Ser
Perilake's smile is gone
in the morning. Bowed and almost broken Sir Heldris sings the cruel
song of the Bat, that lives in the nearby mountains and soon they
hear the flapping of leathery wings. It listens to the Dove Knight's
plea and leads the company
further west until they come upon a hill with three blackened columns
connected by beams from which hang chains and dead bodies. The
inscription on the base of a column reads They burned the innocent
and paid for it. The
Knights dig out bones from the ground and build with them a huge pyre and when night falls they set it alight. The
flames leap upwards and a spire of crimson fire illuminates the faces
of the Knights and where the smoke touches the mist it retreats and
for the first time in months they see the sparkling stars that turn
and turn in their eternal dance. |
| Flames illuminate the sky |
~ An Age passes ~
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