Session 19

Evening of the 2nd Stoneday of Petals, South of Castle Farkash

They spend the night at the banks of the river in their own camp away from the chanting of the monks. Sir Milos is eager to get to know his brothers and suggests a game of compliments, where a false compliment must be paid back by stories and the other Knights accept the challenge and play so honestly that they haven't been called out for false praise until the fires have burned down.

2nd Woodsday of Petals

During the last watch heavy rain pours down and Sir Milos realizes that he is on a clearing within a forest where the river has been and no monks are in sight. Instead his eyes are drawn to three plinths, a white one – cracked - , a grey one with a dagger resting on its top and a last one that is black. The first shows an angel comforting a one-armed Knight, that Milos knows to be Sir Heldris, the Houndslayer. The second has carvings of a woman and her toothless scream. When he approaches the last dais his boots step into a pool of blood. Anastasz and Perilake tell the Fox Knight of the statue of an angel who helped Heldris and the Grey Hunter who punished Lady Lydia. Realizing the implication Perilake buries the returned dagger hilt first in the earth, and refuses any further bargains. The branches part.

A white Goat

In the afternoon they come upon a heath under a dark sky, muted colours disrupted only by a stark white goat surrounded by a splash of red. The Knights are worried about the grizzly sight as white goats are never eaten for they are believed to be the reincarnation of Seers. Worse still the goat has been disembowelled by claws, the innards laid out in a ritualistic spiral around it. They decide to burn the carcass on a pyre to cleanse the evil but the flames first turn green until the flesh is purified. 

Anastasz leads them into the mountains where they seek the sanctum of the Cured Seer. At the mouth of a cave they are met by an acolyte, an ancient woman, and led deeper into a labyrinth of caverns. Illuminated by candles, they find the Seer emaciated and encrusted in salt, surrounded by a throng of their acolytes. Boldly Perilake approaches and partakes of the sacrament but his visions are foul: A black sun, golden corona. Seers stumbling eyeless and blind. Panicked animals all around him and beyond something is writhing. A name is whispered: The Wither Within. Now it is Sir Milos' turn to take the sacrament but in his devotion he only dares to take the salt off the Seer's feet: A golden coin, minted in The City, is spinning: on one side the river smothers the fire under Oakfell on the other the dwelling is washed away, At last Anstasz tastes the cheekbone of the Seer and is returned to the fabled poppy covered hills where he defeated the Elf. There he sees the Herold of the Elf, Tizria, the Season Scout, leading a group of children, who are compelled to follow him.

A disturbing Omen

2nd Riverday of Petals

When they leave the caves they are blinded by the sun. The arc of a rainbow spans over the mountains as they spur their steeds towards Bohat.