Recap

Previously, Luca remained at the Careless Wanderer while Falka shared her research on Epidemius, revealing that forcing the fallen angel to heal or create could cause dissonance and allow his entropy to be turned against him. The other heroes escorted Chakuq through the Old Gate, only to be ambushed by the Cult of the Dark Queen, who demanded the acorn from Geolgothis. Chakuq attempted to flee with the acorn but was blocked by mind-controlled street urchins, while Neamhan, Emrys, and Quentin fought off the attackers.

Tenth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)

The bells struck twice when the final cultist fell and the sorcery that allowed the cultists to dominate and control the children dissipated. Some of the children ran, some of them cried, while others fell into a state of catatonia. While lamps were being lit in the houses around where the fight had taken place, Chakuq quickly took the jeweled dagger from the cultist that had been attacking him throughout the fight and stuck it in his belt. When he tried to take Walor back to Careless Wanderer, Quentin intervened and took control of the horse.

In the meantime, Neamhan, concerned about the noise and the lamps being lit, hid in an alley between two buildings to keep from being spotted. She was worried that the custodians would have seen her call lightning down from the sky during the fight and that they would find her, but instead, she found one of the children hiding in the same alleyway, frightened and cold.

Emrys tried to gather together some of the remaining children in order to provide them shelter and get them cared for. His thought was to bring them to the Careless Wanderer for the night, and then find shelter for them at the Grimsdown orphanage. He managed to gather three children; Martha, Edmund, and Wulf.

Emrys tried to convince a fourth child, who appeared to be somewhat catatonic, but eventually began to speak. When the child spoke it was immediately clear to Emrys who he was speaking to. What Emrys first mistook for shock were the symptoms of Epidemius’ possession. Epidemius restated that he was cut off from Pazuzu’s dreamweb, which left him with few options to parley with the heroes, the posession of children being one of them. He restated that he wanted to prevent further escalation, but that the return of his Book of Woe was not negotiable. Any delay of the reunification with the book would lead to more innocent people suffering. He accentuated that point by grotesquely twisting the child’s body with unseen force and snapping its neck.

As the heroes hurry to leave the scene of the fight and take the three children to shelter, Neamhan looked back to spot three sinister figures, wearing robes and masks shaped like birds, stalking up to the dead bodies and carrying some of them off. She asked Luca about it, but he could not say who they were or what they were doing. He speculated that it might be opportunistic scavengers.

When the heroes arrived back at the Careless Wanderer, Luca used the key he was granted by Durham to let everyone in. Chakuq handed the fruit of Geolgothis to Neamhan, the warmth the acorn provided immediately leaving his body, and went to take care of Walor, who was stalled in one of the two stables in the alley next to the inn.

It was decided that Luca would stay in Chakuq’s room, while Astrid, who had started taking care of the children, would stay in Luca’s room with them. It became clear that Astrid’s new roommate, the fugl, was not fond of children, or any other guest. From the marks on Astrid’s arms and face, it was pretty clear that the fugl was also not that fond of Astrid.

When Neamhan was in her room, ready to settle into a reverie, she decided to reach out to Wynn, who appeared somewhere along the rafters as two yellow, menacing eyes in the dark. Neamhan took some time to explain what had happened that evening, including the acorn they were gifted by Geolgothis, and the task to “plant it in the heart of summer”. Neamhan asked whether Wynn knew where, or what, the heart of summer was. It was clear he knew something, but was playing coy after Neamhan had rejected his offer of minding the acorn. He wanted to bargain, but had a hard time coming up with a suitable payment for that knowledge.

As Neamhan fell asleep, she cradled the acorn against her tummy, letting the warmth of the fruit spread through her body. In doing so she felt content, and fell into reverie. He dreams were plagued by Virulencia and her fiendish child. Several hours went by before she woke from her reverie, still bothered by Virulencia’s intrusions.

Several hours after Neamhan woke up, the others woke up. They found that Astrid had made it downstairs with the three children, had provided them with breakfast, and was readying them to go out. Wulf would go to his mother in Lewisham, and Martha and Edmund would be brought to the orphanage in Grimsdown. Before departure, Astrid requested that Neamhan feed the fugl in her room and told her to be careful. Neamhan is a little uncertain, but ultimately agrees.

When Astrid and the children had departed, the heroes, including Falka, decided to have a private conversation and retreated to Emrys’ luxurious room. Neamhan took the opportunity provide healing magic for all in attendance. Before the conversation good and well started, there was a knock on the door, and a man familiar to Emrys stood at the top of the stairs, in front of his door; Berhard Brenninckmeyer. This was the craftsman who was commissioned by Lady Annabella Waxley to create a lute case for Emrys several rides before. It appeared that the Lady of Evenshade Hall had once again commissioned a gift; this time a beautiful leather lute strap.

When the craftsman had departed, Luca encouraged Falka to share the results of her research into Epidemius. In short, she had gained access to the Library of Ioun, a place of worship in Kingsport that housed an impressive library. This was the same library that the heroes had been having trouble gaining access to, and a source of much information that Falka did not have access to herself when she wrote her dissertation on the Battle of Three Forces, which was the event that made Epidemius lose his Book of Woe.

She found that the celestial that Epidemius had once been was an Ofanim, an angel of pure motion, but that with his fall, he had turned into one of the Calabim, an agent of destruction. All that motion had turned into entropic stillness which would inevitably unravel the order of things around him. In various quasi-religious, quasi-scientific texts, she had found that one of the ways in which the entropy of a calabite could be turned against itself was to make it perform something that was dissonant to its own nature, by making it create, mend, or heal something.

Emrys, who had been listening to the conversation while holding the new lute strap, found a hidden note, much like the one he had found in the lute case. This one read;

The candle gutters, but does not go out. Find me before the wax runs cold.

Neamhan rejected the idea of changing tactics and deviating from their approach of binding Epidemius. Luca assured her that the plan remained unchanged, but that it was always good to learn more about their enemy. Everyone agreed that some of what Falka had uncovered would need validation, and Saint Benedict was mentioned as a reliable source. Luca said he knew of another source of information they could try. When the others asked him to reveal who the source was, they were all getting tunnel vision as they looked at the young warlock, their periphery going dark and tendrils of inky blackness closing in on their sight.

Luca explained as the heroes listened with great focus, that he had long ago struck a bargain with what he thought was a devil, which turned out to be a celestial being. That upon this revelation Luca’s magic changed, and he learned how to heal. When the heroes asked him what was happening and where the darkness was coming from, Luca explained that when Aurion, his patron, was close, that it was the way in which he manifested himself. The shadow that Luca cast grew taller on the wall behind him and took the shape of a tall, hooded being, with dark wings sprouting from his shoulders, and two dangerous sickles hanging from each hip, framing a slender, almost wasp-like waste.

A warm voice spoke out for all to hear;

“I am Aurion. Luca, why don’t you introduce me to your friends?”

Previously, the heroes had visited Jan the custodian at the Tomb of Saint Catherine and he confirmed that Prior Benedict was in Kingsport and could be found just outside of the city. Neamhan and Chakuq travelled to the Seat of Friendship to secure the support for the binding circle from Geolgothis. The tree offered its fruit; an exceptionally large acorn which carried its power. It could be used to power the circle, and in return the heroes would plant it “in the heart of summer” once they had made use of it. On their arrival back at Kingsport they met up with the other heroes and were ambushed by the Cult of the Dark Queen, who sought to take the fruit they carried.

Tenth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)

Luca had stayed behind in the Careless Wanderer when the others went with Neamhan to help Chakuq pass into the city through the Old Gate. He sat with Falka at one of the the hearths in the tavern as she explained what she had discovered at the Library of Ioun. Falka had previously explained that while she wrote her dissertation on the Battle of Three Force, in which Epidemius lost his Liber Bubonicus, she did not have access to the famed library in Kingsport, and so she was keen to explore what she may have missed.

She had found two books that mentioned interesting facts, not just about Epidemius, but also his nature, as a fiend, and as a fallen angel, which she believed could be exploited. She had gotten the instruction to find information about Epidemius which could be exploited by the heroes, which was not mythical or religious in nature, simply because it would not be as reliable as a battle tactic if it was. Sadly, she felt that she was unsuccessful, since most new information she could find about Epidemius was somewhat steeped in myth.

She shared the follwing with Luca;

Epidemael was once an ofanim, one of the radiant wheels, whose blazing revolutions traced joy across the firmament, his motion so swift it sang. He delighted in the harmony of creation, a living orbit of exuberance and virtue, forever in flight and never at rest. But in time, his boundless curiosity bent toward forbidden knowledge, and in seeking to understand decay as deeply as life, he unraveled. Cast down, his perfect rotations shattered into jagged purpose; he became a calabim, a spirit of ruin. Where once he danced among the stars, he now drifts through the unseen margins of the world, meticulously cataloguing plagues and diseases; each illness a grim echo of the order he once embodied, each record a quiet, obsessive attempt to map the beauty he lost into the language of corruption.

Angelarium, on All Angels, Including the Fallen, by Gustav Davidson, Imperial Researcher to the Adelheim Throne, 1018.

Before the fall, Epidemael was among the most resplendent of the Ofanim; a wheel of living light that spun through the upper heavens with such velocity that lesser angels could only perceive him as a streak of gold across the firmament. He was joy made motion, the embodiment of virtuous flight, forever tracing ecstatic orbits around the Throne and crying out with each revolution in a voice like a struck bell. But pride crept into his spinning, as it so often does, and where he once flew in service, he began to fly in exhibition; his speed no longer an act of devotion but of dominion. When he fell, the light did not leave him so much as curdle. He struck the earth and became Epidemael the Calabim, and the exuberance that once sang through his revolutions curdled into something restless and ruinous. He catalogues plagues now with the same meticulous fervor he once gave to celestial orbits, scribing the names of fevers, wasting sicknesses, and creeping pestilences into a black ledger that grows heavier with every age, finding in destruction the same terrible momentum he could no longer find in grace.

The Gyring Testament of Malachiel Sorn: Being a True and Sorrowful Account of Those Who Turned From the Wheel, Unknown Author, 974.

Falka had found that “Malach” was an archaic title for “messenger”, which suggested that Malachiel Sorn was a prophet of sorts. Their writing had been cited in several other sources, and it was likely a tragic figure whose vision was surpressed by the orthodox authorities and whose works circulated among infernalist, demonologists, and angelologists with equal parts reverence and suspicion.

Falka focussed on the Ofanim and Calabim information and found the following:

The resonance of an Ofanim is motion. They are abrasively insistent on action. They are manic, and fleeting, and tensed for action, and forged from the stuff of speed and manic swiftness. Once set in motion, they implacable, and unstopable forces of action.

When an Ofanim falls, they are said to become Calabim, devils more cautiously avoided than any other. They serve no purpose except wanton destruction. They are surrounded by an invisible field of entropy that can break down the integrity of any ordered structure within its reach. At will, the Calabim may impose their whirling entropic energies upon their physical surroundings.

Angelarium, on All Angels, Including the Fallen, by Gustav Davidson, Imperial Researcher to the Adelheim Throne, 1018.

Know then the Ofanim, whom the uninitiated call the Wheels, for they are indeed wheels in their truest essence; rings of fire and living light, eyes set within eyes, spinning without ceasing in their adoration of the divine. They are the angels of motion, and stillness is to them a kind of death; they must move as the river must flow, as the flame must consume, for their very holiness is expressed through velocity and change. They are restless by sacred design, carrying the Word of the Almighty to the far corners of creation with a swiftness that makes the wind seem leaden. To look upon an Ofanim in full revelation is to see a thing that cannot be contained by mortal perception; a burning circuit of divine will, here and then elsewhere before the eye has finished its seeing. They are not reckless, though they may appear so; their speed is purposeful, their motion ordained, and in their ceaseless turning they reflect the eternal dynamism of creation itself.

But know also that there exist among the Fallen those who were once of this choir and are so no longer; those whom the adversary has claimed and corrupted into the Calabim, whom we may rightly call the Destroyers. As the Ofanim are the angels of motion and becoming, so the Calabim are the devils of unmaking and entropy. Where the Wheels sang in their spinning and brought life and light in their passage, the Destroyers leave ruin in theirs. They are drawn to that which is whole so that they may make it broken; they are compelled toward the sound of shattering as their former selves were compelled toward the sound of the divine Name. Their touch weakens the foundations of things, of walls, of bodies, of covenants, of minds, and they take in this destruction a satisfaction that is the darkest mirror of the joy their former selves knew in flight. They do not hate what they destroy, and this is perhaps the most terrible thing that can be said of them; they unmake with the same impersonal ardor that a wheel has for the road beneath it.

Thus are the mighty brought low, and thus does holy fire become consuming flame when it is turned from its proper end.

Here ends the third chapter. Let the reader who has eyes, see.

The Gyring Testament of Malachiel Sorn, Chapter Three: On the Nature of the Wheels and the Destroyers, Unknown Author, 974.

She concluded that the natural entropy of a calabite could be used against it if it could be force to preserve, heal, or create something. This would cause dissonance, which would turn inward and attack the calabite itself. Luca took it in, and had to think about how that learning could be applied.

Later that evening, the other heroes – Chakuq, Emrys, Neamhan, and Quentin – made their way through the Old Gate, and up the Street of King Augustine only to be clumsily ambushed by a group of shadowy figures garbed in dark robes. The leader of the group demanded the heroes had over the fruit which they received from Geolgothis. Naturally, the heroes had no interested in complying.

Chakuq, who still held the acorn, decided to use his exceptional speed to head to the Careless Wanderer, confident that he could outpace the cultists. Despite having only minutes ago berated Chakuq for taking his horse to ride to the Seat of Friendship, Quentin slapped the rump of the golden stallion, sending it into action, intending for it to carry Chakuq away from the cultists. Before Walor could reach Chakuq, the hunter smashed into a group of street urchins that seemingly came out of nowhere. The children were looked frightened, some were crying, but they were actively grabbing and clinging on to Chakuq, frustrating his departure. It soon became clear that the children were under the control of the cultists. Hindered and unwilling to harm the children, Chakuq attempted to climb the side of one of the buildings to escape, while Neamhan used the storm to call lightning down on the cultists, Emrys used Toruviel and his sorcery, and Quentin attempted to keep the cultists from attacking others.

Previously, the heroes discovered that Kingsport’s ramparts may form an enormous binding circle, hinting at hidden purpose. Seeking answers, they learned the excommunicated prior Benedict was somewhere in Kingsport, and a fevered Jan, plagued by dark visions, confirmed his location. Meanwhile, Neamhan and Chakuq communed with the ancient oak Geolgothis, which granted them a powerful acorn to fuel their circle, on the condition it be planted in the realm of faerie afterwards, sealing what became known as the Acorn Covenant.

Ninth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)

Quentin, Luca, and Emrys departed the Tomb of St. Catherine after having spoken to Jan, the custodian they rescued from the hands of an abberant lord and who helped them confront and defeat Xarrombus. In that fight he lost his arm to one of the devastating eye beams, an injury that he has had trouble recovering from due to the curse Epidemius laid over all of Kingsport to force the city to return to him the Liber Bubonicus, the dreaded Book of Woe.

Jan had told the heroes that the rumours were true and that Prior Benedict was in the Kingsport area, having made camp in a small forest just outside of the city. The heroes wanted to go and talk to him, but wanted to wait until Chakuq and Neamhan returned from their visit to the Seat of Friendship. Emrys suggested that they could join up with Esmeralda and talk to Réonan, which Quentin did not consider wise but agreed he would come along. Quentin voiced his concern for Astrid walking off the way she did, and Luca suggested that perhaps she spotted James, or some of his associates. They were close for a long time, and perhaps Astrid missed James.

Once back at the Careless Wanderer, the heroes found the tavern room quiet. Falka walked through the front door after almost a bell, covered in snow, having come back from the Library of Ioun to do research on Epidemius. She was carrying two big books that she said had some promising information in it that she would have to analyse. She was very excited because when she was writing her dissertation, which covered Epidemius and the Book of Woe, she did not have access to the library. She did lament that she wished she could do her research back in the vault, where she felt she was able to research much faster.

At the Seat of Friendship, Chakuq and Neamhan climbed down from Geolgothis and prepared themselves for departure with the fruit. Neamhan arranged for carrots for Walor after speaking with the stallion to ask what would make his trip back to the city easier. Chakuq managed to share his instinct for better dark vision with the stallion, but was unable to share his instinct for a faster pace. The stallion was simply too strong-willed to allow such a thing. Perhaps if Chakuq and the stallion grew more familiar with one another.

Ciarán walked the pair to the Silesian road because he was keen to witness Neamhan’s transfiguration into a griffon, which he did after Chakuq and Walor had already departed. Neamhan easily caught up with the two and once Chakuq got over the terror of thundering down the road in the dark he became more synchronised with the horse, easing the travel.

The door to tavern room of the Careless Wanderer opened and Astrid stepped inside carrying a large sack. She put it on the ground at the bar as she discussed getting a private room for herself. The sack at her feet wriggled and she braced it against the bar with her powerful legs. She reasoned with Durham that she would require some privacy, and that the common room she had been sleeping in would no longer suit her. She got a key to one of the last remaining single rooms and she carried the sack upstairs, but not before giving a half-hearted explanation that she had made a friend, a fugl, or bird, according to Falka’s translation.

It became clear to Neamhan and Chakuq that they would arrive at Kingsport well past the gates being closed and the curfew being in place. Neamhan decided to fly ahead so she could arrange for Chakuq’s passage by the time he would arrive. Two griffon riders quick set an intercept course soon after she flew over Kingsport, and rather than try to dodge the veteran patrols in her newly discovered shape, she dove into an alleyway over the ward of Eastminster and transfigured into a cat, continuing her way to the Careless Wanderer further on foot. Once there, she snuck into the kitchen through a door leading into the alley behind the inn, and transfigured to her trueshape once she was upstairs. She came downstairs and explained the situation to the others. Everyone agreed to go upstairs so that Emrys could use his sorcery to allow each of them flight, which would aid them into getting to the gates of the city in time for Chakuq’s arrival.

A man emerged from the common room wearing a simple night gown. He walked over to one of the private rooms and banged on the door yelling through the door to keep the noise down and that people were trying to sleep. The ruckus coming from that room turned out to be Astrid, as she continued to struggle with whatever she brought into the Wanderer in that sack.

Emrys completed the complicated intuition which granted the others flight, he struggled to keep control of the magic that welled up inside of him. It felt as if he had sprung a leak, and his magic was pouring out of him, and the others noticed that from his cuffs, collar, and the hem of his trousers a dense fog started to appear. All of them quickly left through the balcony in Emrys’ room which gave them access to stables and the alleyway north of the inn. They took to the air, but remained low to the rooftops to avoid detection by the griffon riders. This was quite successful due to the fog that Emrys continued to spread.

Their destination was the Old Gate, which was the entrance into the city that Chakuq would take. They went south, to the bay, and circled the Bastion of Illumination and headed north to the gate. When they arrived they saw that Chakuq had already made it to the gate and was talking to two guards. Chakuq had tried to gain entry by saying that he was part of the Heroes of the White Eye, but the guards were reluctant to grant him passage. When the others arrived, Quentin appeared to be quite angry that Chakuq had taken his horse without his permission, and Neamhan had dispelled the fog that was emerging from below Emrys’ clothes so that he would not stand out so much.

Emrys used his sorcery to distract the guards with a pattern of scintillating colours, and the heroes hurried through the gate, intending to make their way down the Street of King Augustine. Chakuq held out the fruit of Geolgothis out in both hands as he passed through the gate, symbolising that the gate presented the leyline of Geolgothis’ power into the binding circle.

Tenth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)

As the heroes made their way down the Street of King Augustine the passed the Tomb of St. Catherine which some of them had only just visited. Some of the heroes noticed that they were being shadowed. Emrys decided to confront the pursuers and told them that they could reveal themselves, which they did.

Eight cultists in dark robes, each wearing a bejeweled dagger that some of the heroes recognised as the Teeth of Thalasis, appeared from different alleyways and stood still at a short distance. Emrys demanded to know their intention, and one of them said that “the Dark Queen wants the fruit!”

Previously, the heroes had just discovered that the binding circle they had been designing was an unintentional copy of the ramparts around Kingsport, which they found to have copper running all along the base, ostensibly turning the ramparts, gates, and bastions into an enormous binding circle. This revelation sparked questions on the Senhadrim, the vaults, the ramparts, and the defences of Kingsport, whose answers the heroes felt could only be found with those who had lived through the Age of Fear.

Ninth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)

It was at forth bell after noon that Quentin, Emrys, Luca, and Astrid departed the Careless Wanderer and set out to find prior Benedict. Their instinct was to talk to crier Goodman to see if any of the rumours about the prior being sighted around Kingsport were true. They found Goodman in his usual spot at the eastern end of Queensbridge. He had taken refuge from the bad weather in a szygani vardo underneath the wheels of which a small family of feral dogs had made their home. Smoke rose up from a small chimney pipe, and when the heroes came closer they could smell the scent of sausages being cooked on a small stove. The scent explained the dogs. Goodman emerged from the wagon and spoke with the heroes.

Ultimately, Goodman was able to confirm that prior Benedict was indeed somewhere in or around Kingsport, but he could not say where. He had heard that the prior had been turned away at the cathedral, and reitterated that the prior had been excommunicated after his firebrand sermon at the Cathedral of the Platinum Father, and coming very close to be declared a heretic in the eyes of the church because of his challenge to the doctrine. Goodman believed that there was only one group fanatical enough to support prior Benedict; the Custodians.

When Quentin recognised that the heroes had exhausted Goodman’s knowledge, or his willingness to share it, he paid the crier with a gold crown, and asked him to make sure to pay some of the children he used as informants. Goodman assured him that they were all well taken care of, especially since their friend Brandomiir had started concerning himself with the safety of the children at the orphanage in Grimsdown. He was also able to share that Ramona, the Lady of the Raft, had been making donations to the orphanage, despite her banishment from the city. Before departure, Goodman tried to get the heroes to share what they knew of the gravekeeper, but Quentin prevented Luca from sharing any information, but inadvertently let slip more than they should during their bickering.

The heroes headed towards the Tomb of Saint Catherine, but lost Astrid along the way as she got distracted by something and saying goodbye to the others to head into Lewisham. The Quentin, Emrys, and Luca arrived at the gates of the monastary and smoothly talked their way past the two custodians who stood guard. This was mostly achieved by Quentin becoming “Lord Morvrayne” and striding past the two, barely acknowledging them and assuming their compliance. Quentin ultimately got one of them to escort the heroes to a small chapel where Jan was sitting in communion.

The church was warm and only lit by dozens of candles. Luca had spoken to Jan here before, and found that the custodian’s health had not improved since then. Afflicted by a terrible fever, the burly man was lost in prayer at the main altar, while his wife was praying in a different part of the church, hidden from view in an alcove dedicated to a particular saint. It was clear to all that the curse of Epidemius was taking a heavy toll on Jan and prevented him from healing from the wounds of his recently lost limb.

The conversation with Jan was confused at times. He claimed that the black fog that surrounded him was almost blocking out his sight and the accompanying voice was almost impossible to ignore. When Jan learned that the heroes were looking for prior Benedict he explained that the living saint was not with the custodians, but instead had made camp in the woods just east of the city. He was surprised that the heroes had not come to him for the celebration, but could not explain what he meant by that. He also offered that he had been able to convince the custodian justices to provide temporary amnesty to Neamhan for her witchcraft.

When the heroes departed the chapel, they noticed that Jan’s wife had been eavesdropping on their conversation, but Quentin decided it was not the right time to confront the woman.

A few hours later and four leagues east of Kingsport, Neamhan and Chakuq arrived at the Seat of Friendship. Despite the blizzard, they were surprised to see that there were quite a few travellers in the clearing underneath the canopy of Geolgothis, the enormous oak tree. Ciarán, Aiden, and Darragh, the three druids who were the caretakers of the tree, had welcomed almost a dozen travellers, who sit in three groups around campfires. Ciarán, the barrel-chested Kaedwyni who was the leader of the druids, came to greet Neamhan and Chakuq. Neamhan had recently been to the Seat of Friendship with Quentin, and had gotten to know Ciarán. Chakuq had stopped by the Seat of Friendship on his way to Kingsport but had not gotten a chance to get to know the druids well.

They were offered a place to rest at a fire next to a Daerlanian jongleur named Lukas, a young man with frost-covered, curly, brown hair playing the lute, and a Lyrian soldier named Hal who was part of the recently created royal army, coming back from Farcorner. Nearby, a Kaedwyni woman with a scarred face named Brukka was sitting near the edge of the shelter the tree provided, occasionally brushing snow from her shoulders. And there was Kael, a half-elven ranger who looked like he was very capable of surviving the storm by himself but decided to stop at the Seat of Friendship anyway.

Ciarán had taken an interest in Walor, and had given him a spot near a horse that belonged to Hal. Neamhan, who had connected to Walor so that she may speak with him, asked him how the ride had been. Walor seemed quite invigorated, and was concerned for Chakuq; while the Silesian was a good rider, the travel had likely taken a toll on him.

After some conversation with the jongleur and soldier, Chakuq convinced Neamhan to go and see Geolgothis, and thought it a good idea to climb the tree to get closer to it. Despite the enormous trunk of the tree, they were able to find a way into its lower branches. Neamhan felt elated as they climbed higher and higher, probably because the increasing strength in the wind the higher they went reminded her of home.

Eventually the two of them found a secured place among the branches to sit and connect to the tree. Neamhan managed to convey and resonate some of the trees intention to him and thus communicate what Geolgothis was saying to Neamhan.

As before, it was difficult to motivate Geolgothis; it neither cared about Kingsport, nor its inhabitants, and did not seem overly concerned about Epidemius or his diseases. Neamhan got he feeling that if the impact of an event could not be felt from one aeon to another, that the tree simply did not fully registered the event at all. Chakuq’s suggestion to plant part of Geolgothis so that it might spread its influence to Kingsport also seemed not to interest the ancient tree.

After some back and forth with Geolgothis the tree offered a compromise; Neamhan and Chakuq would be allowed to pick one of its fruits, a perfect acorn of enormous proportion, which they could take to fuel their ritual, after which they would plant it “in the heart of summer.” It was not immediately clear what Geolgothis meant by that, but after some back and forth between Chakuq and Neamhan they understood it to mean somewhere in the Feywild. Geolgothis said it would allow it to open a crossing that they could use to travel back and forth. Neamhan, excited by the prospect, explains that she had met flowers that were connected to the realm of faerie, and that she had named them all. Halfway through her story the tree seemed to have fallen asleep.

Chakuq and Neamhan climbed down from the tree and got ready to depart. Ciarán was keen to understand what they had done up in the branches of Geolgothis, and did not seem pleased when Chakuq explained, but made no move to reprimand them. They got ready to head back to Kingsport.

Previously, the heroes recovered the Chain of Forgotten Names by laying to rest the lingering spirits of three crownsguard that were out of time. The Raven Queen rewarded the heroes with her favour, and by having the Gravekeeper relinquish the chain for them to use it to power their binding circle.

Ninth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)

When Quentin and Esmeralda returned to the laboratory Quentin tried to explain to the others what they had uncovered; the ramparts around Kingsport, including walls, gates, and bastions, were all part of an enormous circle. The revelation first sparked disbelief, then questions of what it could mean for their endeavour to bind Epidemius, before it devolved into a wider discussion about plans to move their mission forward.

Quentin voiced his admiration for the Senhadrim’s ability to orchestrate the defenses of Kingsport on such a grand scale, while Esmeralda suggests that she wants to go and address her find with Réonan, whom she believes must know more about it. Quentin supports that endeavour, and Emrys corroborates that Réonan knew more as he recalled the conversation he had with them after the confrontation with Epidemius. He remembered hearing Réonan and Epidemius address one another on the battlefield. When Emrys recounted some of his experiences, including that of collapsing the portal that he and his forces had appeared through, he glibly avoided speaking about what he had seen on the other side of that gate, which some recognised to come from the unresolved trauma of what he witnessed.

“On the day you were born, the very forests on the slopes of Mount Celestia whispered the name… Epidemael.”
– Réonan

Briefly, Neamhan approached Esmeralda and asked her what kind of magic she specialised in. The answer, abjuration magic, was not something Neamhan knew what to do with, but she asked whether Esmeralda was able to detect whether her memory had been altered in some way. Esmeralda said that it was possible, but not without sacrifice, and to come and see her to discuss it when she was ready.

With some encouragement from Astrid, Neamhan manages to convince Chakuq to come and join her on a trip to the Seat of Friendship. Their goal; to convince Geolgothis to help power the binding circle. Neamhan, who had communed with the tree before, knew that convincing it was going to be hard, since it hardly cared for the plight of mortals, and felt itself impervious to war, plague, or any of the every day concerns of the people of Lyria.

Emrys, Quentin, and Luca all decide to follow up on a rumour that prior Benedict is in Kingsport, thinking that his experience in fighting with the Silver Crusade will be invaluable against Epidemius and his infernal hordes. Esmeralda assures Emrys that she is not ready to confront Réonan yet, and will wait for Emrys to return, focussing first on checking the integrity of the copper underneath the ramparts.

Chakuq and Neamhan departed the laboratory and discussed how they would travel to the Seat of Friendship. Neamhan offered to fly them both there, but Chakuq declined, saying that he’d rather travel along the Silesian road on horseback. After a failed attempt to get the stablehands at the Bridle to release Walor, Quentin’s golden stallion, to Chakuq’s care, he got the help of Wojciech who managed to convince the stablehands. The stallion was both strong of physique as well as personality, but Chakuq managed to quickly build a rapport with the animal, confirming to some the stereotype of a Silesian horse lord. Neamhan found a secluded spot in the woods outside of the city to transfigure herself into the shape of a griffon; a first for Neamhan, and not one that came to her easily. But once she established herself in the new shape by all that she had learned from her interactions with Frostfeather, she quickly got used to the biomechanics. She was overwhelmed by the primal instinct of this shape, and had to fight hard not to give in to the urge to hunt, to stalk, to prey, to chase, to catch, to kill, to rend, to tear, to consume.

The other heroes left the laboratory and intended to find prior Benedict, but stopped by the Careless Wanderer first, before trying the Cathedral of the Platinum Father, the Custodians, and other potential sources of information on the whereabouts of the living saint.

At the Careless Wanderer, Luca spoke to Falka about the circle, about how it overlayed onto a map of the city of Kingsport, and how it reminded them of the layout of some of the Senhadrim vaults they discovered. Falka was to think about what some of the empty sources in the binding circle could represent. While discussing this, Magda, the blind proprietor of the inn, overheard their conversation and offered that one of the circles in the design seemed to represent the Careless Wanderer, which she described as neutral territory in the “accords.” Her worry was that what the heroes had planned might jeopardise that neutrality. She would consider lending aid to stopping Epidemius’ attack, but she would not go any further but to defend Kingsport.