The Needle Seer's Relic II / Session 29

 Noon of the 3rd Stoneday of Sprouts, in the hills east of lake Ryba

Sir Ludmer gets closer, his head weighed down to the side by a single grotesque horn sprouting from his temple. He looks over to Biserka struggling to control the pony. “He is coming … he might be writhing inside her.” He smiles with wide open eyes. His face is twisted and wet from rain or tears. ”You, serf!" he cries. "Let me cut you open and have a look!” Perilake steps between the visage of Ludmer and the terrified woman. "You are not Ludmer." He says with cold fury. "Of all the oaths, Ludmer was most sworn to protect the realm and above all, its people." He draws Reznik.

"Let me cut you open and have a look"

Between the rocks a fight breaks out. Ser Perilake cripples the hand of the knight who once was his friend. Ludmer, his head swollen and something writhing under his skin, draws a dagger with his off-hand and lunges at the Salt Knight, who has stepped between him and the frightened trapper.

“Or maybe he is within you!” Ludmer titters as he buries his dagger deep into Anastaz's guts. Anastaz crumples to the ground. With his next strike Perilake beheads the fiend and blood pools under the corpse.

When Sir Heldris lands next to the twitching body, he transforms into a man again … or so it seems. He stumbles and falls into the mud, taking Anastaz's hand. Rain falls on the Brotherhood of the Black Fleece while Perilake presses his hands onto the deep wound in his brother's body. They are united again: cursed and broken and bleeding.

In the night Perilake stands guard alone at the pyre where he burns Ludmer's body, staying far from the others to spare them the stench. Back in the camp Heldris stares into the fire with unblinking eyes and a hound-like snout, unable to speak. When Anastaz sidles up next to him, the Dove Knight's wings shield him from the rain.

After midnight a voice bellows over the hills: “I have come to rid the Realm of the filth of all Knights!” The speaker strikes the ground, making the earth quake. The Gilded Knight tries to reason with the Axebearer, but they just rage and strike the ground again and a chasm opens. Heldris, smelling blood, lopes forward with a snarl and crashes into them, while Anastaz lets loose an arrow. The Axebearer almost cleaves Perilake's shield in half, the shield that bears the cradle of the child, driving the Gilded Knight back and throwing Heldris off. Anastaz holds his side and draws his mace and together they break their foe. The Axebearer falls to the ground, blood squirting from the stump where their hand used to be and Heldris bites off their throat.

A nearby Ravine

The night passes and a cold wind blows from the west. Biserka serves them breakfast but keeps her distance. Heldris, who has found his voice again, explains that the relic must be in a nearby ravine. The old hunter leads them to the place. They climb down and find a niche with a lacquered box bearing the symbol of the Seer. Inside is a slender bone and they kneel in its glow.