Author: Dennis

Previously, the heroes were approached by Epidemius in a dream. He came in the guise of father Devon and tried to convince the heroes to avoid conflict. The heroes felt more confident then ever that they should oppose Epidemius and prepared for the confrontation on Steward’s Square.

Fourth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waning, Darkmoon is in low sanction)

The portal which opened up in the middle of Steward’s Square was an enormous disk of pure darkness. A void so complete that even light could not escape its darkness, being torn away from reality and sucked into its depths, causing a bright corona which resembled the orange hue of many of the lyrium crystals the heroes had gathered.

The first creatures to emerge from the void of the portal were the familiar skaven plague priests, with their distinct white fur, strange horns, and their ragged robes, adorned with strange symbols. Each carried a bronze censor which spread an ominous smoke into the square.

Next came the hulking form of rat ogres, standing twice as tall as a man, with the weight and musculature of two, thoroughbred oxen. Not all of the heroes were familiar with these brutes, and to those who saw them for the first time, it seemed like their composition was just… wrong. None of their body parts seemed to belong together, but rather looked as if they were stitched together from spare parts by a deranged puppet master. No two rat ogres were alike; each had a unique set of jagged scars from where the parts had been fused together, had been lashed, or patched up. Some of them had limbs replaced with crude weapons or implements; a forearm replaced by a crude spike, or heavy maul, a leg replaced by a blunt peg. All of them were deliberately disfigured in a horrifying way. The rusty staples which held their limbs attached to their torso strained to contain a noxious vapour which was swelling up from inside of them, eager to escape through the cracks.

Each rat ogre had a beady-eyed skaven on its back, secured in a leather harness which allowed them to drive the ogre. They were armed with a simple crossbow, and a wicked whip with which they lashed the beast they rode into a frenzy. On occasion, the rat ogre would attempt to reach back and snatch the skaven in retaliation, but their crudely engineered bulk did not afford them the dexterity, keeping their task master safe in its harness.

Several figures flew out from the void into Steward’s Square and immediately took to the sky to harass the griffon riders. These were spoken of in sacred texts as Erinyes, and known to commoners and nobility as Furies. Their bodies were hard and muscled, clad in decorative armour that accentuated their wickedness. They flew on black wings, streaked with fire, and carried wicked weapons. They seemed a dark reflection of the celestial warriors who were often depicted in churches and cathedrals dedicated to the gods of the light, and whose statues adorned the halls of the Senhadrim that the heroes had discovered.

Following the flight of the Furies came a march of infernal shock troops known as Hamatulas. Their muscular frames stood over seven foot tall and their torso, shoulders, arms, and legs were covered by spiked, metallic carapace that looked a lot like the interlocking plates of traditional armour. The razor sharp spikes varied in sizes, ranging from half an inch to up to a foot in length, and the hamatulas moved in a way that left no doubt that they were able to weaponise the spikes to a frightening and lethal effect.

Finally, the buzzing of a thousand insects welled up inside the minds of the heroes and those who stood with them. A large, lumbering beast emerged from the gate, carrying the Lord of Decay in an elaborate saddle.

The beast was enormous and dense, built like a bison, but ten times the weight. Covered in thick, brown hide, with a mane of shaggy, reddish fur, it had chitinous plates running along its spine from its forehead to its blunt tail. Short and powerful legs ended in cleft hooves, and its broad, muscled torso dragged along the ground. Metal barding was added to its head, shoulders and hips. Sunken eyes sat beneath the barding, and a curved horn protruded from it. Long tusks jutted outward on either side of its jaw, and swept low to the ground like the handles of a wheelbarrow. The tips of the tusks were fitted with metal and a barbed chain ran between the tips. This beast was bred for war, but it was also clear from the mucus which dripped from its muzzle and the puss which had crusted around its thick, enflamed eyes that it was suffering from an awful malady. Its flesh was riddled with bloated pustules teeming with the undulating eggs of parasites that seemed ready to burst open.

The rider had a wiry torso, with long arms and slender fingers. He wore a ragged robe of scarlet, opened at the front to reveal his brittle skin, sickly pale, like the colour of spoilt milk. His belly was swollen, with a large, jagged gash across it, spilling his guts across his legs like links of sausages that are long past the point of consumption. His legs seemed to be of different sizes, one larger than the other, as if afflicted by a severe case of a gout, swollen to an almost almost grotesque size.

The skin on his bald head was the same sickly pale colour, and was so thin as to chap and crust around the beady eyes, hooked nose and bloodied mouth. The skin seemed stretched so tight, as if it was a flimsy mask which did not quite fit. A row of small, sharp horns pierced through the skin where hair should be, and the back of his head was a mess of strength growth that had the colour of spoilt meat.

Bony branches grew from somewhere at the top of his back which looked like the antlers of a stag, but more twisted and gnarled. Trinkets, talismans, and animal bones adorned the antlers.

Epidemius surveyed Steward’s Square briefly, before writing something down on a long piece of parchment with a dirty quill. The buzzing of insects grew louder. The skaven moved in from all sides of the square.

Before the Erinyes engaged the griffon riders above the city, Lady Commander Miranda signalled for the squadrons lead by Ser Roderick and Dame Madeline to secure Queensbridge and Tiverton Street, while Ser Uthred took his squadrons to protect the Elysian Street. The crownsguard and custodians guarded many of the smaller entrances to the square.

Just as Ser Roderick and Dame Madeline was about to engage a host of skaven moving south from Tiverton Street, arrows were being loosed from one of the rooftops, revealing that James and the Steady Hand had moved to join the fight. Quentin moved the Morvrayne riders into formation in order to charge the ranks of rat ogres and hamatulas, and Emrys summoned a collection of crude golems to keep the rat ogres from advancing.

Emma and her disciple Dagmær arrived at the square from Queensbridge and used their connection to Sedna to drown and freeze the skaven which were climbing up from the ancient waterways in sewage.

Chakuq had put himself into a position to take out one of the plague priests and was emboldened by the charges that Quentin and the Morvrayne riders had performed on Epidemius’ forces to get closer to another plague priest he had marked.

One of the rat ogres had been seriously injured by an onslaught of magic and the opposition from the golems, and to everyone’s surprised, the remaining rat ogres turned on it and bludgeoned it to death, only for it to writhe and explode in a cloud of noxious fumes. It was not immediately clear what the rat ogres gained from turning on one of their own.

Luca had felt frustrated throughout the fight. The impotence of being cut off from Aurion was getting to him. Finally, he called out to Aurion in an attempt to renegotiate his agreement of servitude. Emrys and Neamhan, who was standing nearby Réonan heard them gasp and stare at Luca in disbelief. “No, Luca, don’t do it…” they could be heard to say in shock.

Previously, Neamhan flew to the camp of the Beauclair delegation to deliver Quentin’s letter to Lord Dorian, to find that Highlord Gauthier was critically wounded, and Lord Dorian was suffering from burns sustained during an attack of the Cult of the Dark Queen. Epidemius reached out to the heroes through their dreams, arriving at the Careless Wanderer in the disguise of father Devon to persuade them not to seek out a confrontation with him.

Fourth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waning, Darkmoon is in low sanction)

Somewhere in the distance the bells rang five times as the heroes stood silently in the doorway of their respective rooms, looking out at each other through the dimly lit corridor. Astrid stood in the doorway of the common room she was staying at, wearing nothing but her small clothes and her new sword strapped to her back, seething with anger. Behind her several Morvrayne riders were snoring soundly, asleep in their cots, ignorant of what had just transpired for the Heroes of the White Eye.

Emrys quietly stepped into his luxurious room, leaving the door open, indicating that the rest were welcome to come inside to discuss their shared dream. Neamhan wanted to know who Pazuzu was, and Luca explained that it was a demon that was older than the Dark Queen herself. It was also the demon who slipped out of the abyss and freed Tharizdun from their chains. He explained it in a way that was supposed to mean something to Neamhan, but sadly she was as confused as before she had asked.

When Emrys mentioned that Epidemius would be a tougher opponent than Xamael, it was clear to some that Astrid was still deeply affected by the fight they had with the Dreadlord. Angry tears rolled down her cheeks. It was only when Quentin said it was important to check up on father Devon at the Temple of Pholtus that Astrid snapped out of her anger. Eager to focus on something else, she offered to accompany Quentin, and they got ready and made their way downstairs. They found that Lauryn was already awake and preparing the dimly lit tavern room for the coming day. She got a modest breakfast to take with them before they stepped out into the cold and quiet morning. They made their way to Steward’s Square while Kingsport lay under the tenaebrific blanket of a heavy darkness.

Meanwhile Emrys suggested that Neamhan make sure she got her rest, as she had not been back in Kingsport for more than two hours. They returned to their rooms to resume their rest. All except for Emrys, who had retired early and had enough sleep. Instead, he continued to commune with Toruviel to see if he could gain any insights into Epidemius.

Emrys learned that Epidemius, before his fall, was Epidemael, a messenger for Labolas Enoreth, an important Seldarine deity. He was charged with the protection of the realms in the astral sea, but like so many celestial warriors in that war, he became corrupted by his exposure to the abyssal forces. First he had been an agent of energy and movement, after his fall he became its opposite; an agent of entropy and decay.

Another thing that Emrys learned was that Toruviel was an aeromancer, and was used to flying, of soaring through the sky. This was the reason Toruviel felt a kinship to Epidemael. Emrys intimated that he feared falling to Epidemius, but Toruviel assured him that as long as he wielded the blade, he would never fall. “An aeromancer never falls,” the blade claimed. Toruviel took that moment to remind Emrys of an outstanding task of opposing a dark moonblade.

When Quentin and Astrid arrived at the clinic adjacent to the Temple of Light they found father Devon standing at the foot of the bed that Pip was laying in, her body broken and bruised. He explained that he had been roused by bad nightmares that evening, of burning rings of fire shooting across the sky. They spoke to him in a multitude of voices, and though he did not know what they were, or what they said, he knew that they frightened him.

Quentin explained that the heroes had dreams too, and explained what they had experienced and urged father Devon to leave the clinic and find shelter elsewhere. Reluctantly he agreed and planned to ask to rent a room at the Silver Cross.

Pip woke up and asked why Quentin had come. Quentin gave her a noncommittal answer, and asked what had happened to her. She explained that vandals had come to her shop to smash up its stock. She had tried to stop them, but was outnumbered. She claimed, wearily, that she had recognised one of the vandals, a young, handsome Daerlan lad who she had seen hanging around the butcher shop. She also claimed, but without much certainty, that they had brought some sort of monster to the shop. After inquiring after Céleste, who Quentin assured Pip was safe, Pip fell back sleep.

Back at the Careless Wanderer the smell of roasting boar came wafting through the tavern from the open kitchen door. It would not be ready in time for the heroes to depart, but should all go well it would be waiting for them when they would return. Emrys noticed that everyone was anxious in their own way.

When Quentin and Astrid returned, the Morvrayne riders greeted their lord with a Beauclair song of cheer, which Quentin felt somewhat uncomfortable with. He stoically accepted the greeting and joined the heroes. Emrys confessed his trust in the group’s ability to make it through the upcoming ordeal, and shared what he had learned about Epidemius.

Upon Quentin’s arrival, Neamhan showed the letter which his father had given to her. He shared the news about the attack with the Morvrayne riders, and a wave of consternation went through the group. Quentin assured them that they did the right thing in riding for Kingsport, and all but Dame Pauline felt more at ease.

Luca suggested that the group move to the Cathedral of the Platinum Father on Steward’s Square to await the arrival of Epidemius. Before departure, Neamhan took the time to write a letter to her loved ones back in the mountains of Ard Thoradun, updating them on her travels and progress. With the help of Wojciech, Quentin retrieved his horse in order to take his place among Dame Pauline and the Morvrayne riders.

At the square, the heroes found that Ser Roderick Corbray, a knight stationed out of the Correntine ward of Kingsport, and a man the heroes only had the occasional interaction with, had positioned himself, together with Dame Madeline of Ashenvale, a squadron of knights, and a squadron of armsmen, in front of the cathedral. Réonan was there, as was Lady Commander Miranda together with two other griffon riders, eight squadrons of crownsguard, and two dozen auxiliary custodians. Dame Madeline greeted Emrys and told him about her joy of the return of Ser Florian Ironwood to the Order of the Lance, considering the heroes as directly responsible for that fact. Ser Roderick put a stop to the casual conversation, the tension in his voice palpable.

The square was quiet despite the number of troops in and around it. At the eleventh bell Chakuq climbed up the side of the cathedral to get a vantage point, just in time to see the arrival of Ser Uthred Locke, standing at the head of eight squadrons of knights. Through an intricate system of clarion trumpet calls, Lady Commander Miranda directed the forces on the ground, to man the barricades that shut off the square, and to patrol the main thoroughfares leading to it.

Tension filled the air, and dark clouds began to form overhead. Nerves and anxiety was palpable among the defenders as the time was nearing of Epidemius’ arrival. Slowly, snow started falling from above. Astrid seemed to be the only one that became more relaxed as she witnessed the storm brewing, a stillness coming over her.

As the bells struck twelve, the tension could be cut with a knife, and the sound of rushing air could be heard as a large, oval rift opened up to a black void in the middle of the square. The void was so dark that it sucked in all the light around it, causing a corona of menacing light along its edges. Simultaneously, hundreds of pairs of glowing, red eyes opened up on rooftops, in alleyways, in windows, and from lifted drain covers. A trumpet from above, sent troops wheeling in different directions, responding to the orders of the Lady Commander.

Epidemius had arrived.

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.