Previously, the heroes mounted a defence against Epidemius’ incursion into Kingsport by rallying troops and allies. Epidemius arrived through a portal with forces of his own, joined by sinister skaven and wicked devils. Some of the skaven were sacrificed to perform a ritual that intensified the disease that spread through Kingsport.
Fourth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waning, Darkmoon is in low sanction)
Emrys had made a mad dash for the portal through which Epidemius and his infernal guards had come. Clutching Toruviel in hand, he called upon the miraculous powers of the blade to vault him through the air and into the portal. The portal became unstable and started to collapse, but not before Epidemius, responding with uncanny speed, crossed the short distance between him and the portal and dove in after Emrys. Chakuq, who had just jumped onto Epidemius’ mount and had engaged the fiend, was inadvertently teleported as well and drawn into the portal after Epidemius.
While the rest of the heroes stayed behind on Steward’s Square to continued battling the infernal forces, Emrys and Chakuq found themselves in a tunnel together with Epidemius, once again in the guise of father Devon. The ground was paved, though neither of the heroes would later be able to recall whether they walked on cobblestones or packed earth. The tunnel extended about a hundred foot, and the exit behind them showed Steward’s Square, but the fighting was slowed down to an almost imperceptible crawl. The other end showed a grizzly wasteland.
Across the gore-spattered waste, made up entirely of dust, mud, and loose shale rock, marches an infernal legion. Row after row of strictly regimented devils march in perfect unison. Above them hover constructs of infernal terror; flying fortresses of black metal and burning engines.
You can’t make out their enemy. There can’t seem to be any unity of form. They are creatures. Creatures whose physiology makes no sense and are utterly without order. You see what appears to be tentacles, enormous mandibles, claws, fangs, club-like limbs and tails. They aren’t bipedal, nor quadrupedal, in fact, they do not seem to have any regard of bilateral symmetry at all.
You suddenly realise that the shale rock are not rocks at all. They’re bones, millions of bones. You feel a sudden pressure in your head. You feel disoriented and nauseated. Part of your instinct is screaming for you to run.
The walls of the tunnel were made of a dense mist. This mist was new to Chakuq, but Emrys had seen it before. Upon closer inspection the heroes could see a red spiral running through the must like a vein running through marble, which Epidemius explained was the Seal of Divine Animus. Hidden in the mist, lay the realm of the Raven Queen on one side, and the realms of the Ladies of Flowers and Frost on the other side.
Chakuq felt out of his element and swiftly retreated back to Steward’s Square, while Epidemius eventually convinced Emrys not to withhold him from retreating back through the portal. Epidemius reiterated that he had no interest in causing unnecessary death, which his continued stay in the mortal realm against his will would cause. He had come, he reasoned, to put pressure on the Upright Man to return his book.
Emrys recognised that Epidemius had finalised his ritual, he worsened his stranglehold over Kingsport, and that the damage had already been done. He relented, and both he and Epidemius went their separate ways, back to their respective realms.
With the collapse of the portal, the remaining hamatulas and erinyes were cut off from their retreat. They put up a fierce fight. The skaven drove the knights, crownsguard, and custodians back to the square before cutting their losses and retreating back into the waterways.
Chakuq slew the cloven-hoofed mount of Epidemius, harvesting one of its teeth as a trophy. Chakuq recognised that the beast was not of the natural world, and that its hide was thick and durable, and had been used by the skaven to fashion armour. Luca remembered that they had encountered a set of armour made of similar hide at the Landsdowne auction house in Bournemouth, earlier that year.
There were hundreds of wounded. Lady commander Miranda, who had survived the aerial fight with the erinyes, had to put down one of the griffons due to it being grievously wounded. With tears on her face she put the majestic beast out of its misery, something which seemed to move Astrid deeply too.
Neamhan went around the wounded and used her connections to draw healing power from the land and skies. Quentin applied his dedications to as many wounded as he could help, and Luca showed his rekindled obedience to Aurion to help. Each found that despite their healing abilities, some wounds continued bleeding, while others showed persistent sigs of infection.
Soon, the silent sisters of the House of the Raven Queen appeared in the square and set to their grim task of tending to the dead. Cardinal Roark moved among them, and briefly spoke with Quentin to assure him that the Raven Queen were shepherding the fallen to the Other Side.
While the apothecaries of Pholtus cared for the wounded, joined by the clerics of the Platinum Father, Emrys and Réonan spoke together while overlooking the river at Queensbridge. Emrys shared what he saw while inside the portal. Réonan confirmed that the realm on the other end of the tunnel was Avernus, the eternal battlefield, and first of the Nine Hells.
The two agreed that it was troubling that the infernals were already able to pierce the seal. Réonan warned that the cycle seems to be speeding up, and that the ones who still remembered the Age of Fear did not remember enough and would be ill prepared to mobilise people. It appeared to Emrys that Réonan was, in part, referring to themselves. Before the two rejoined the others on the square, the archmage explained how important it was for Emrys to help and keep Luca on the right path.
Ser Benten, Lord Marcus, and Lord Destan came to join the heroes as they were about to head to the Careless Wanderer. Neamhan was amazed at the size of the trio, and noticed that Lord Jonathan, who had stayed behind with the Sheridan guard, was of an equal size. Fascinated, Neamhan developed a suspicion that these people might have giant blood running through their veins. The two Sheridan brothers decided to join the heroes at the Careless Wanderer.
In the short distance between the square and the inn, the heroes passed the dead, the dying, and the wounded. They passed barricades, and piles of dead skaven being carted off to the burn pits outside the city. When they entered the inn, there was a melange of warm aromas floating around the tavern room. The door to the kitchen was open, and the staff was walking in and out to bring food out. Tables were set and decorated, and the heroes were reminded that blind Magda had recently told the staff to switch to silver cutlery.
There were two large joints of roasted boar, basted, as promised, in ox fat, on a bed of baked apples and mushrooms. A leg of cured ham had been set up on the bar and Durham used a thin knife to cut long slices, rolling them up into salty rosettes. A large pan of beef-and-barley stew, with chunks of squash and red onions stood near the door to the kitchen and was refilled every time the bottom was reached.
Racks of the boar’s ribs were served on plates, glazed in sweet gravy, sitting on a bed of roasted leeks. Two wooden boards with rows of skewered pigeon, capsicum, and capon were set on either side of a bowl of mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves that had been placed in the middle of each table. And each table had a platter of large river trout from Blue Harbour, baked in a shell of salt, surrounded by chunks of deep-fried, beer-battered cod. Baskets of soft bread, richly buttered and dusted with salt and crushed peppercorn were placed strategically around the table.
At the top of each plate stood a small venison pie, chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, as well as a bowl of shredded crab mixed with a dressing of egg yolk, oil, and crushed garlic. The staff went around the room to serve flagons of hot, spiced wine, and chilled autumn ales. And for dessert, sugar wheels and honey cakes came out of the kitchen, as well as pears poached in strongwine.
During the feast, blind Magda walked around the tavern room talking to the guests. Eventually she disappeared for a moment, only to return carrying a distinct, wooden board. With Wojciech’s help she affixed the board to the wall near the bar while the dragonling and Wynn observed her nearby. The board read: Accorded Neutral Territory.
Andrew Selkirk found his way through the city to the Careless Wanderer and spend the evening playing music while listening to the stories being told. Chakuq regaled the tavern with the story of how he banished Epidemius with his sword. Astrid told Chakuq about the goddess Freya, who protects all children, and seemed grim as she did so.
All the while, despite the loss of Adrian and Clement, the Morvrayne riders were jubilant. Quentin, who felt the responsibility for the two fallen riders weight him down on him, intimated to Dame Pauline that he believed they got lucky. His bannerette advised him not to share his feelings with the riders for the benefit of morale. She advised him to focus instead on the arrival of his lord father. Quentin thanked Pauline for riding with him, and she told him it had been an honour.
Neamhan, not being able to contain her curiosity, managed to repulse Lord Marcus when he came to have a flirtatious chat with her. Instead, Neamhan asked Marcus whether he was giant kin, and where he was from. He seemed annoyed at the questions, and disengaged. When Lauryn pointed out to Neamhan that Marcus may have had a romantic interest in her, she scolded him and said that she had a husband. He asked her how long she had been afflicted by that problem, and walked back to his table and rejoined his brother.
