Previously, the heroes had been anxiously awaiting the day of Epidemius’ arrival. Emrys had discovered that Pip had been hospitalised at the clinic with serious injuries sustained in an attack on the wine shop. Neamhan and Quentin had returned from the Seat of Friendship with Quentin’s memories restored after a confrontation with the Good Sisters. And Dame Pauline and the Morvrayne riders arrived at the Careless Wanderer, with news soon following that the delegation had been attacked, leaving Highlord Gauthier wounded.
Third Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waning, Darkmoon is waning)
While the rest of the heroes remained at the Careless Wanderer, Neamhan took flight, soaring across the skies above the northern coast of the Lyrian gulf, heading west to deliver Quentin’s message to his father. Chakuq entertained the heroes, as well as the Morvrayne riders, with an exciting story of horse rustling. Quentin sat in quiet contemplation, Luca was considering breaking his bond with Blackstar, while Emrys prepared to spend the evening in communion with Toruviel.
Chakuq spent some time talking with Ramsey, the cook for the Careless Wanderer, and managed to convince him to prepare a lavish feast for the heroes. The cook explained that the recent events in the city, the ongoing curfew, and the coming winter meant that supplies were getting scarce, but Chakuq agreed on a price that allowed Ramsey to get excited. He promised a roasted boar, stuffed with apples and mushrooms, basted in ox fat.
After several hours of flying, Neamhan saw the camp of the Beauclair delegation come into view. She circled above the camp and observed that several carriages, supply wagons, and tents had been destroyed by fire. The different factions within the delegation were tending to their wounded, and that several of the horses and oxen had to be put down. Neamhan reckoned that one in five people were wounded, limping, walking on crutches, or were sporting bandages.
After Neamhan had landed she walked to the modest Morvrayne quarter of the camp, and found Lord Dorian’s large pavilion. She was recognised by the moustachioed guard who took her inside the lavishly decorated tent, where she found Ser Croy and Lord Dorian. Lord Dorian seemed to have some burn wounds on his hands and forearms, which had been coated in a thick layer of soothing salve. Despite his wounds, Lord Dorian was self-conscious for wearing a set of spectacles to read some important documents, which he quickly took off.
Lord Dorian explained that the delegation had been attacked by agents of the Dark Queen, though he could not explain why the delegation was targeted. He mused that they must have followed the delegation for some time and jumped on the opportunity when the Lyrian knights rode for Kingsport. Several of the perpetrators were caught, and Monsieur Beauregard was in charge of their interrogation, and had learned that they belonged to the Cult of the Dark Queen.
Highlord Gauthier had been critically wounded in the attack, and was being cared for. Neamhan’s offer to care for the Highlord was declined. When she offered to help Lord Dorian, he accepted her aid after some hesitation. He intimated to her that the only time he had seen the healing abilities she displayed was when the Ladies of the Woods had attempted to heal his older brother. There was a bitterness in his voice.
After reading Quentin’s letter, Lord Dorian penned a response:
My beloved son,
I am well, the highlord is badly injured, we will make for Kingsport in the morning, but the injured and wounded will slow us down.
Your father,
Lord Dorian
When Neamhan asked Lord Dorian about the Ladies of the Woods and pressed the point when he refused to speak on the matter. Lord Dorian grew angry and scolded for forgetting her station. Lord Dorian presented Neamhan with the letter for Quentin and then promptly dismissed her.
After accepting the missive, Neamhan bid her farewell and departed from camp to the now familiar copse of trees where she transfigured into her eagle form and took off for Kingsport.
Back at the Careless Wanderer the heroes had remarked that Falka had not been seen all day, and that she had not returned to the inn for the evening.
Luca, preoccupied, went up to his room and attempted to break his bond with Blackstar, something which turned out to be more difficult than expected. The Senhadrim spirit inside the powerful staff refused to let Luca go. Luca threatened to bury the staff, but it did not seem intimidated. Luca insisted that he was his own man, with his own autonomy, which Blackstar thought laughable; Luca had not been his own man since he had consumed those mushrooms and fell under the influence of Aurion. Blackstar seemed open to complying with Luca’s wishes if Luca would vanquish a rival that it claimed could be found to the east. This rival used souls for its own gain, but was neither celestial, abyssal, nor infernal.
For Emrys, who always had a less adversarial relationship with Toruviel than Luca did with Blackstar, the evening was spent in quiet communion with the blade. Toruviel reassured that their relationship with Emrys would never be that of Luca’s with Blackstar, and shared what they could remember of Epidemius; a fallen angel who used to embody the very nature of movement, manifesting as a great, fiery wheel. Now, all of that energy had turned inward, resulting in a violent core of malevolent entropy.
All of the heroes found themselves seated at their table in the Careless Wanderer. It was quiet, and outside it was dark. Through the glow of the hearth, the candles and the lantern lit at the front door they could see snow falling down in the darkness outside. A barefoot man in simple grey robes entered the tavern, it was father Devon. He asked whether he could sit with the heroes and discuss the following day.
Father Devon reasoned that confrontation with Epidemius should be avoided, considering the amount of death and injury it would lead to. He begged the heroes to take a different approach. When asked what the alternative to confrontation would be, father Devon suggested negotiating. Epidemius, he reasoned, did not attack the first time he appeared to state his demands; it was the crownsguard and custodians that initiated the attack.
Everything beyond the people seated at the table fell away, as if a great distance separated the heroes from the staff and other guests at the Careless Wanderer. Father Devon seemed to lock the people at the table into the conversation and that disassociation was not an option. Neamhan tried to leave the table but found herself unable to.
Father Devon seemed to grow frustrated, barely contained anger overtaking him. He argued that confrontation is the death of possibility, that the Epidemius is fighting to prevent the great desolation. The more frustrated he got, the more he barked his retorts, blood spattering from his mouth. A buzzing noise started to grow in the back of the heroes’ minds, like the cacophony of a thousand insects.
The visage of father Devon continued to change, with skin thinning, cracking and horns bulging through the skin on his forehead. Stag-like antlers sprouted from his neck and shoulders. He continued to argue that a confrontation was not in the heroes’ interest, but this time switched to voicing the argument from the perspective of Epidemius. He claimed that death was not his goal, that his divine word was decay, and that his tool was pestilence. His goal was to study, so that they could arm themselves against oblivion, resist the great desolation.
He also claimed that he was talking to the heroes at great danger to himself by infiltrating dreams that Pazuzu, the Prince of the Aerial Kingdom, the Weaver of Dreams, had been feeding the heroes. He claimed it would not be long before Pazuzu would detect him and abjure him from the contact with the heroes. He wanted to bargain.
I am talking to you at great expense and danger to myself. Once I identified you as targets for the Prince of Aerial Kingdom, it was easy to stow myself away and enter my weave of dreams. It will not be long before I will be detected.
Chakuq’s first response was to mark Epidemius. Quentin unsheathed Róisín. Epidemius, through the guise of father Devon, laughed through bleeding gums and barked that Xamael had been weak compared to him. He possessed a divine word, after all. The likes of Xamael would be under his command.
Fourth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waning, Darkmoon is in low sanction)
The connection was broken shortly after, and each of the heroes woke up, bathed in sweat, with their heart racing, bolt upright in their own beds. It was the middle of the night. Neamhan had just slipped into her reverie only an hour or so previously, having returned from her flight back to Kingsport. Each of them tentatively got out of bed and opened the door to the hallway, only to find each of them standing in their doorways, looking at each other. They immediately realised that this had been a shared dream.
