Current Games
Birthright Mhoried
Introduction | The Realm of Mhoried | Torien's Watch | Clans | Creating a Character | Characters | World Lore of Cerilia | Story Log of Game Play
The characters are leading clan members in the Duchy of Mhoried, in the county of Torien's Watch.
The game began with a summary of prior events and what brought together four members of different and rival clans to become close friends.
Four years before the current events, Mhoried was at war. The Baron of Ghoere was threatening the country of Roesone, who the Mhor had a defence agreement with. Mhor Archibald warned the Baron not to attack Roesone, but was ignored.
In response, the Mhor rallies his lords and their bannermen, declaring war on Ghoere. The clans of Torien’s Watch are mustered and march south, under the leadership of Count Torien.
This campaign is the first one for Samuel Allardice, Banquo FitzBaird, Malcolm Laphroaig and Logan MacRuaidhri. While they fight with their clan, the clans are part of Count Torien’s regiments. Banquo does not fight with his own clan, in case he is murdered. Instead he stays next to his friend Samuel, who is not that much of a fighter but is expected to be on the campaign.
The Mhor invades the Ghoere county of Conallier and strikes a line for Bhalaene, the capital. His only strategy though is to march south as fast as he can, to try to force a battle and settle the matter. Baron Tael of Ghoere is a skilled commander and has no intention of confronting the Mhor’s army directly, as the Mhorians have a reputation as tough fighters.
The Ghoereans retreat before the invaders, only standing fast at fortified strongholds. Mhor Archibald has no patience for sieges and marches on towards Bhalaene. As a result, Mhorian supply lines stretch out and wagon trains become stuck in the spring mud. The Baron harasses his supply lines with cavalry.
As they approach Bhalaene, Archibald sees that it cannot be taken without a long siege. His army is exposed and far from home. He turns back to shorten his supply lines, just as unusually heavy rains begin.
The resulting trudge back north is a nightmare of mud, rain and increasing raids by Ghoerean cavalry. When the Mhor’s army approaches the river that marks the border with Mhoried, the Baron’s soldiers are blocking their way.
A horrible, blood and messy battle ensues. A lot of soldiers die on both sides and there is no clear victor. The Mhor is able to cut his way through and cross back into his own lands, but the casualties are terrible.
Confidence in the Mhor is badly shaken and he knows he can no longer sustain the war. Fortunately, his actions helped Roesone, who were able to defeat the weakened army of the Baron and force him to turn south. Facing a war on two fronts, Baron Tael soon sues for peace.
The battered survivors of the war return to their home counties and recover as best they can.
The young Companions Sam, Banquo, Malcolm and Logan are initially enthusiastic and excited at being young and at war, hoping for glory. This slowly gives way to disillusionment and despair as the campaign drags on and the situation deteriorates.
During the Battle of the Ford, they find themselves cut off from their regiment and surrounded by Ghoerean soldiers. They try hiding in a barn, but they are discovered and the barn is set on fire. Samuel attempts to use his magical skills to keep the fire at bay, but the flames are just too strong and slowly the fire spreads.
They resolve not to surrender and fight their way out, even though their chances of survival are slim. Then Malcolm tells them he has a special alternative. He gets them to gather around him in a shadowy corner of the barn.
He uses some sort of blood ability that allows him to step through the shadows into the Shadow Realm. He is able to bring his friends with him. They walk a short distance in the dark and eerie Shadow Realm, before Malcolm takes them via another shadow back into the real world.
When they emerge, they are outside the barn and behind the Ghoerean soldiers, who think they still have them trapped in the burning barn. They sneak away and are able to re-join their regiment.
The experience has a lasting effect on the Companions and they end up becoming friends, having shared adversity together. None of the others questions Malcolm too closely, out of gratitude that he was able to rescue them.
There are a number of key deaths during the campaign. The most important to Torien’s Watch is the death of Alistair Allardice, Samuel’s Father and powerful leader of the Allardice Clan. His oldest son, Cormac, Samuel’s older brother, takes over the clan.
Malcolm Laphroaig’s father Maghnus is very badly injured and is unable to continue to rule the clan, handing over to oldest son, Connaugh, Malcolm’s older brother.
Much to Banquo’s disappointment, Liddell and Mathers Baird-MacGregor both survive, as do Logan and his older brother Dougal.
That summer Count Connah Torien calls his County Council together. Samuel, Logan and Malcolm are all there as senior members of their clans and Samuel brings Banquo along.
The Count’s primary goal for the summer is to help those wounded and widowed by the war, aided by his senior advisor, County Minister Malcolm Greenwood. He finds himself relying more on Minister Greenwood’s advice, as he sees that most of the leaders of the clans are now young and inexperienced, apart from Liddell Baird-MacGregor, who he does not like.
Being the social type, Malcolm Laphroaig calls his three friends together for a reunion and celebration that they survived the terrible events of the war and the four Companions become firm friends. This reunion becomes a yearly event for them.
By spring of the following year, the county has begun to recover from the shock of the war. Count Torien now acts to help the MacRuaidhri Clan, who he has clearly felt sympathy for since they were defeated in the conflict with Clan Allardice.
He arranges for Clan MacRuaidhri to be relieved of their garrison in the Five Peaks village of Greenest. The village has been garrisoned since the Bandit Raids in 804IC, an obligation that Clan MacRuaidhri kept to even when they were battling the Allardices. Their watch is over and the Count hands over the responsibility to Clan Allardice, thus allowing the MacRuaidhri soldiers to come home and Allardice is forced to send some of its military strength away from home.
Count Torien also fills the role of Chief Forester, vacant since the death of the office holder in the war. He appoints Dougal MacRuaidhri to the position, raising his prestige but angering Cormac Allardice.
It soon becomes fairly clear during his first year as Clan Laird that Cormac Allardice is not a great leader. He tends to neglect “boring” administration tasks, preferring to hunt, fight and drink. His mother, Olivia, starts to take over the day to day running of the clan, encouraging her son to do things her way. He initially acquiesces to this as it relieves him of tedious duties, but when it comes back to him that he is thought of as a mummy’s boy, he begins to contradict his mother publically, in order to show he is his own man.
Count Torien chides him at the Council for the lawlessness in his clan lands, especially on the Great North Road and also in the lands that were taken from Clan MacRuaidhri.
Cormac returns home and leads a company of armed men into the former MacRuaidhri lands, arbitrarily arresting and hanging some known trouble makers. He then burns a few houses to teach the trouble makers a lesson and heads home for a feast. The whole thing is done rather clumsily and only makes the lawlessness worse.
The following year at the Summer County Council meeting, Chief Forester Dougal MacRuaidhri, trying diligently to do his job, reports, amongst other things, that the forests are not being looked after properly in Allardice lands.
Cormac Allardice explodes in rage at this. He accuses Dougal of trying to discredit him and brings back up old Clan grievances. Count Torien himself and his guards are forced to intervene in order to stop a fight breaking out in the Council chamber.
Count Torien resolves then to try to end this feud between the clans, though he is unsure how to do so.
There is a simmering tension between clans Allardice and MacRuaidhri for the following year. The Count insists that the clans behave and keeps a large number of soldiers on watch in Medinie to intervene if conflict breaks out.
At the Council meeting in the summer of 825IC, Count Torien suddenly proposes a marriage between the two clans to help settle the dispute. Initially, both clans are opposed to the idea. Cormac Allardice does not see why it is necessary, while most of the MacRuaidhri clan have too much hatred for the Allardices.
Dougal MacRuaidhri though is keen to see the conflict resolved and obey the Count, so he begins to work on his clan to accept the idea.
Count Torien approaches Olivia Allardice and asks her to work on her son to get him to come round, which after some uncertainly, she agrees to do.
After a lot of wrangling and negotiating behind the scenes, mainly handled by Count Minister Greenwood, both clans agree that Nairne MacRuaidhri, younger sister of Dougal and Logan MacRuaidhri, will marry Cormac Allardice himself.
Count Torien puts a lot of political capital into this wedding and calls in a lot of favours to get it to happen. He agrees to host it in his personal castle in Medinie and he will help pay for it.
Logan speaks with his younger sister, who was planning to join the Priesthood of Eric. She tells him that she does not like the idea of marrying an awful man like Cormac Allardice and would very much have preferred to become a Priestess. However, for the sake of the clan and because Dougal has asked her as Clan Laird to do this, she will go through with it.
Logan promises to protect her as best he can and will accept her decision either way.
Some in the MacRuaidhri clan are still very angry though, especially Fraser, Logan’s nephew.
During this time, Malcolm Laphroaig calls the yearly reunion of the four of them to celebrate surviving the war. During this meeting, they chat and talk about things, including the wedding. Logan mentions his reservations about the wedding and particularly the safety of his sister.
Logan promises to protect her as best he can and will accept her decision either way.
During the autumn, the first meeting between the betrothed is arranged, with Cormac visiting Nairne in the MacRuaidhri town of Leathen. Samuel, with Banquo in toe, accompanies his brother and tries to counsel him as best he can.
Cormac is initially determined to show he is going to be the man of the relationship, show the MacRuaidhris who is the boss and may be shag her at the first meeting. Samuel manages to talk him out of that and temper this just enough that the initial meeting goes quite well.
Nairne a little shy and Cormac a little nervous and full of bravardo. The groom-to-be soon relaxes when he sees how nice and charming Nairne is, with her laughing at some of his jokes. Cormac soon changes his approach completely, continually telling Samuel how beautiful she is and asking him how to behave.
Fraser MacRuaidhri soon becomes the voice of those in the clan who oppose the wedding and continue to hold grudges against the Allardices. At one point he insults Cormac and Dougal demands that he apologise, but Fraser refuses and instead storms out. Cormac, much to Samuel’s surprise, laughs it off.
Logan consults his mother, who is still alive but living in an enclave of Erik, the equivalent of a nunnery for nature followers. She only has simple advice for him.
The meeting goes well and it becomes clear to Samuel on the way home that his brother is smitten with Nairne. He immediately asks Samuel to help him write a love letter to her and assist him in buying a present for his fiancé.
Nairne is soon invited to Whinnyfold to see her new home and Cormac pulls out all the stops to make her welcome and have the place made clean and smart. He sternly tells his fellow clan members that they are to behave in the company of his beautiful wife-to-be and no insulting the MacRuaidhri clan.
Logan escorts his sister to Whinnyfold, along with Malcolm. The visit goes well too and the four Companions start to think the wedding may go well.
During the winter, preparations and arrangements for the wedding occupy much of the county. Dresses and outfits are made, presents are purchased, food ordered and invitations sent out.
Samuel is Cormac’s best man and finds himself very busy making arrangements for the wedding. Logan is closely involved in helping his sister, pledging to protect her.
Fraser MacRuaidhri continues to speak out against the wedding, but not in front of Dougal. Publically, Fraser says to Dougal he accepts the wedding is going to happen and he will do nothing to stop it. The MacRuaidhri Laird decides that is acceptable.
The day of the wedding comes and all the guests gather at Torien Keep. They are welcomed by the host, Count Torien. Guests include all important people in the county and Prince Edmund Galandil of Cariele. He is on his way to a pilgrimage in the Five Peaks. Prince Sean Mhoried, younger son of Mhor Archibald, who was invited but chose to send Sean to represent him.
Liddell and Mathers Baird-MacGregor turn up even though they are mostly despised. Banquo finds himself drawn into an exchange of back-handed compliments with them, which he loses thanks to his limited wit. He sticks near to his friend Samuel and is careful for his own safety.
The first few days of the wedding are taken up by traditional celebration and contest events, including tossing the caber, tug-of-war, melee, archery and jousting.
The tug-of-war between MacRuaidhri and Allardice is the most interesting event of the first day. It is a very close and muddy affair, in which Cormac Allardice and his determination to impress his new bride is the deciding factor is giving final victory to his clan.
Afterwards a dirty and exhausted Cormac hugs Dougal MacRuaidhri, saying it was a good contest and offers to get his brother-in-law a drink. Guests agree that relations between the clans are definitely improving.
Banquo signs up for the melee, to show off his fighting skills. He does well initially, then finds himself in a fight with his relation, Mathers Baird-MacGregor. Although Banquo is the better fighter, Mathers cheats, cutting Banquo with a hidden blade that weakens him. Only blunt weapons are supposed to be used in the melee.
Banquo manages to defeat Mathers purely though grit and determination, much to his pleasure. However, he is so exhausted that he loses, coming second, to the final winner of the contest, Fraser MacRuaidhri.
Banquo is frustrated that he is unable to reveal Mathers as a cheater, as Mathers has enough time to dispose of his knife. He is glad though that the blade was not poisoned.
Malcolm Laphroaig takes part in the archery, as that is his main weapon. He gets through to the quarter finals by coming second in qualifying groups, but is then defeated.
Banquo, despite his injuries in the melee, decide to still take part in the jousting as planned the next day. He does quite well, but his injury drags him down. After a few rounds, he falls off his horse and retires. The crowd though, and Count Torien, are impressed by his bravery and determination and give him a big round of applause. His Knight Guardian patron, Sir Simon Montrose, looks on with pride and congratulates him.
Samuel is kept busy with best man duties. The night before the wedding, he is tasked with looking after Cormac and making sure he does not get too drunk. Cormac then reveals a vulnerable side, admitting he knows he is a useless leader of the clan and he just wants to hunt and drink. He thinks Samuel could do a better job and finds it too easy to let mother do everything.
Cormac starts to drink heavily. He becomes maudlin and all his self-doubts come to the surface. He is frightened that he will be a terrible husband and worse father. He does not want to disappoint his bride and he so deeply loves her.
It takes all of Samuel’s charm and persuasion to stop his brother getting so drunk that it would ruin the wedding the next day. He is able to cheer Cormac up and get him to go to bed.
Samuel is exhausted but decides to sit in a chair by the fire in his brother’s room for a while to make sure he gets to sleep. As he gazes into the flames, the fire seems to die rather quickly. He then senses a disturbing premonition that the wedding may not go well the next day.
The day starts with Cormac in a bad mood due to a hangover when Samuel comes to wake him up. His mother Olivia comes in and makes a snide remark at Cormac. This provokes a blazing row between the two of them, which is only settled when she leaves the room.
Events are behind schedule by the time Samuel has got Cormac up and fully dressed in his clan regalia. In a disaster of mistiming, Cormac passes his bride in the corridor, which is a bad omen and has the superstitious house staff and guests muttering. Samuel presses on regardless and tries to make the best of things.
As the wedding ceremony is beginning, Fraser manages to get near to Nairne, much to Logan’s annoyance. They seem to chat for a few minutes, Nairne shakes her head and he leaves.
Nairne looks stunning in her wedding dress and although Cormac stumbles over his wedding vows, the ceremony is generally a success. After such a tense start, everyone is so pleased that things go well and there much happiness, relief and crying of women.
Samuel’s best man speech goes down well, despite public speaking not being his strong point. Count Torien, as the host, makes a small speech to give his blessing. He is not a great speaker either, but it is a good speech, probably written by his County Minister Malcolm Greenwood.
A huge feast then takes place following the ceremony. The food and drink are excellent and the Count’s servants provide good service. Malcolm Laphroaig sings songs and tells stories while playing the lute, which goes down well.
Logan is still a little nervous and stays near his sister as her designated protector. He also keeps an eye on his nephew Fraser, who does not look happy and constantly chats with his gang of like-minded friends.
Logan asks his sister when he gets a moment what Fraser said to her before the ceremony. She says he offered to take her away if she did not want to go ahead with the wedding. She told him she does want to get married and he left. Logan tells her he would have done the same, but the fact she has chosen to go through with it means he will back her all the way.
Samuel finally starts to relax as most of his duties are over. The only thing left is to make sure Cormac makes it to the bedroom sober enough to perform his “marital duties”. His moody younger brother, Gordon, who has not been a big fan of the wedding either, seems to finally relax and start taking part in the drinking. Sam remains haunted by the premonition he had last night in the fire.
Later on in the evening, when most of the food has been consumed, a drinking contest spontaneously breaks out between Allardice and MacRhaudhri. Samuel and Logan find themselves forced to take part, despite their reservations.
Clan Allardice has a reputation for taking their drink and Cormac's capacity for ale is huge. However, they are unable to drink the MacRhaudhris under the table, thanks to Logan managing to keep up with them. As the contest drags on and clan honour starts to become at stake, Count Torien intervenes to call it a draw. He reminds Cormac that he will need to keep his strength for the bed chamber. This goes down well with the crowd, disarming the tension and bringing the contest to an end.
Finally, Cormac takes his bride to bed, after a final drink with his brothers Samuel and Gordon. This brings an end to the evening and guests start to go to bed. Sean Mhoried heads home with his entourage, having said and done very little.
Now drunker than he planned, Logan finds a lady companion to take to his room for the night.
Samuel goes to bed hoping that he has worried over nothing and soon falls asleep, feeling tired but relieved. During the night though he wakes up, feeling groggy and confused, but sure that he heard something outside his room, which is opposite to Cormac’s room. He initially thinks this is Cormac consummating his marriage, but then he hears the door open.
He pulls himself out of bed in his long-johns and stumbles to the door, nodding. He sees the door to Cormac’s room open. Fighting his drowsiness, Sam staggers over to see what is going on.
He sees Nairne lying on the floor of the bedroom, covered in blood. Cormac is fast asleep on the bed.
In his room not far away from this, Logan is asleep with his female guest, Lilly. He vaguely wakes up when he hears someone opening the door to his room, but before he can do much more, someone stabs him in the arm. Logan makes out that his attacker appears to be one of the Allardice clan.
Lilly screams at this and gets up. The intruder cuts her down, but this gives Logan a chance to grab something to defend himself.
Samuel hears the screams and heads in that direction, while Malcolm and Banquo are both woken by the noise and go to investigate. They find a number of guests have been woken and are confused about what is going on, but the Companions head for the source of the noise.
Samuel arrives first and sees his younger brother, Gordon, wielding an odd-looking dagger and trying to kill Logan, who is using a candlestick to defend himself. He notices that Gordon’s fingers have gone white with the intensity with which he is holding the dagger.
Samuel plans to try to stop his brother, but is overwhelmed by a wave of unnatural tiredness and bumps into Gordon, passing out.
Gordon begins to shout abuse at the “MacRuaidhri scum” and attacks fiercely with his dagger, wounding Logan again. The cut seems to cause more pain that expected and Logan notices that the blade of the dagger appears to be clean despite cutting him twice. Gordon’s hand and arm, though, are covered in blood.
Banquo and Malcolm arrive and Banquo, who instinctively picked up his sword, attacks Gordon from behind. Logan takes this opportunity to belt his attacker around the head and knock him down. Logan then reaches down to disarm the Allardice man, but the dagger is still being gripped too fiercely. He instead reaches for his sword.
Banquo then wakes Samuel up, who immediately realises that Logan is going to cut his brother’s hand off. He cries out saying no, but Logan slashes down with his sword and severs Gordon’s hand from his arm in a single blow.
The dagger rolls out of Gordon’s hand. They see that it is ornate but odd weapon, with a screaming skull at its pommel. The metal blade has a multi-hued tint. Malcolm tells them he recognises it from legends as a cursed dagger, forged from dark steal.
Gordon Allardice is only semi-conscious and bleeding out from his wrist. Samuel attempts to stop the bleeding, but he does not know how. Instead, he uses his fire magic talents to encourage the embers of the fire in the room to glow hot, and then he pushes his brother’s stump in. Gordon screams out in pain, then passes out.
Logan is wounded and calls for a healer, while trying to bind out his wounds as best he can. There is also the body of Lilly lying on the floor. He then demands that Gordon is arrested and taken to the cells.
Banquo challenges anyone attempting to enter the room, holding them off with his sword and demanding to know who they are and what they want, including the guards. Logan has to tell him to let the guards in to take Gordon away.
Malcolm examines the strange dagger without touching it. The blade definitely looks unusual, of a strange kind of metal. He scoops it up into a bag within another bad and keeps hold of it.
Someone then shouts into the room that the bride has been killed. Logan immediately gets up and heads for Cormac’s room, leaving everything else.
Samuel tells the guards to take Gordon, including his hand, to the cells and get a medic for Lilly, then heads off after Logan, along with Banquo.
In Cormac’s room, Count Torien is there and Cormac is still asleep on his bed. Logan pushes past him and to the body of his sister on the floor. She has a hole in her chest, probably where her heart would be. It looks like a fatal wound, though there is a lot less blood than would be expected.
Logan does what he can for Nairne and then starts to tap into his magical talents to try to heal her. This will take several minutes.
There is a lot of shouting and people asking questions, which Count Torien is trying to deal with. The main confusion is that Cormac is not awake and even when the Count shakes him, he groggily says to be left alone.
When Fraser MacRuaidhri sees Nairne on the floor, he cries out in horror and forces his way into the room, disrupting Logan’s attempt to concentrate on his magic. He demands to know who killed her.
Logan slaps him and tells him to get out of his way, he is trying to save her. Fraser is so angry he punches Logan in the face, then gets up, draws his sword and moves to attack Cormac. Count Torien, who is still trying to get Cormac to wake up, tries to stop him.
Fraser barges Torien out of the way. Banquo realises what he intends to do and is able to pull him to the floor. He then holds his sword at Fraser’s throat and tells him not to move. Count Torien has the guards take him away to the cells.
Cormac finally wakes up and sees his wife on the floor. He rushes over in a fit of emotion and grabs his wife and holds her, distraught. In doing so, he knocks Logan out of the way, ending any chance of saving Nairne with magic.
There is an awkward pause as most people in the room look on as the brother and the husband of Nairne come to terms with her being dead.
Sir Simon Montrose asks Banquo to make sure Fraser MacRuaidhri is taken to the dungeons. He goes with the guards and during the journey down there they meet the guards taking Gordon Allardice to the cells.
Fraser asks what happened to him and Banquo tells him he went mad and tried to kill Logan. He then asks if Gordon was the one who killed Nairne, but Banquo gives a confusing response that does not help.
As they continue to the cells, a couple of younger MacRuaidhri clan members pass by and ask Fraser what is going on. Fraser tells them Nairne has been murdered by the Allardice and asks for their help to escape.
They attempt to free him, but Banquo helps the guards fight them off. During the fight, he cuts the throat of one of them in a good but unfortunate move. This ends the fight and the remaining MacRuaidhri calls for a healer.
Neither Samuel nor Malcolm can get into Cormac’s room to speak to Logan, so they have to wait outside. Sam goes to see his mother, Olivia, who is focused on keeping the clan safe and disowning Gordon’s actions. They talk about his behaviour during the wedding.
Olivia would normally keep him under control or have her monk advisor to tutor and look after him. She has been busy during the wedding and Gordon was unusually quiet, so was mostly ignored. She knew he was against the wedding, but he was always a whiny young man who is never happy about anything.
As the Best Man, Samuel kept Gordon on the fringes of the ceremony, but he was sat near his brothers at the feast. He remembers Gordon bringing some drinks for his older brothers for a toast before bed. Sam wonders if there was something in those drinks that made him and Cormac so sleepy.
After an hour or so, Cormac starts to ask who has killed his wife. He accuses Logan, but Count Torien tells him it was his brother Gordon. Cormac demands to know why and then goes back to wailing and holding Nairne.
The rest of the night passes with few people sleeping and everyone feeling tense and concerned. Neither Logan nor Cormac want Nairne’s body to be touched. Count Torien and Sir Simon Montrose just manage the situation as best they can.
Dougal MacRuaidhri finally persuades Logan to leave the room and return to his own. When they get there the body of Lilly is still lying on the floor. The brothers get some servants to finally remove her. They spend the next few hours talking about their sister and their memories of her.
In the morning, Sir Simon Montrose takes charge of an investigation in the murder. He asks Malcolm and Banquo what they saw and heard that night while arranging for the guards to be present and calls in more from the town to keep the peace.
Sir Simon also questions Banquo further about the death of the young Jamie MacRuaidhri. Banquo says he was stopping them from allowing the prisoner to escape. Simon accepts this, though he reminds him that Knights do not take life unnecessarily and he should be careful with his skills.
Cormac has stayed up all night and is reluctant to have the body of his wife removed. It takes a lot of work by Count Torien, Minster Malcolm Greenwood and Olivia Allardice to persuade him to let her go. He then collapses into despair.
The four Companions meet up for a late breakfast and discuss what has happened and what they will do next. They cannot be sure it was Gordon who murdered Nairne, but he certainly is the most likely suspect. The best way to find out would be to talk to Gordon directly.
Banquo suggests just hanging Gordon, but instead they head down to the dungeons to talk to the prisoner. Fraser is in a cell opposite Gordon and he chides Logan for not killing all the Allardices and even being friends with one. “The only good Allardice is a dead Allardice!” Logan tries to reason with him, but Fraser is just angry, calling his cousin a traitor and accusing him of causing his sister’s death.
Banquo opens asking Gordon why he did it. He says it’s about the clan’s honour. Logan asks him how murdering an innocent girl defend his clan’s honour? Gordon says she was MacRuaidhri scum, just like he is.
MacRuaidhris are heretics who worship the wrong gods and should be driven out of their lands. Cormac could have done a lot better for himself and he was simply doing his brother and the clan a favour.
Logan asks where he got the dagger. Gordon says it was a gift from Haelyn and he did his duty for his faith. Logan points out murder is against the teachings of Haelyn, but Gordon questions how a heathen knows anything of the true faith.
Gordon confesses that when he was young, he was the one who burned the sacred Tree of Erik, the event that caused the war between Allardice and MacRuaidhri. He was only five years old and but he knew what his duty was. It made the clan stronger.
Gordon exchanges barbs with Logan for a while and the Companions decide to leave. The conversation is overheard by Fraser, who shouts that he is looking forward to Gordon being hanged. He tells Logan if only Nairne had listened to him, he would have taken her away from the wedding before it happened.
As they leave, Sir Simon Montrose arrives with some guards. He is impressed that Banquo has taken a lead in investigating the murder and speaking to Gordon.
He tells them that the Liddell Baird-MacGregor and his family have all left unexpectedly. He does not understand why and is not sure if this behaviour is suspicious or just the old man being his usual dislikeable self.
Sir Simon asks, as the leading law officer in the county, for the Companions to start an investigation into this murder, with Banquo in charge. He wants them to determine if this was just an angry relative going on a murdering spree, or if there is anything more to this. He is going to be busy setting up the legal proceedings against Gordon. Banquo agrees to this.
Fraser begins to petition to be released. Simon asks Logan if he can vouch for his cousin, but Logan says it would be good for him to stew in a cell for a while.
Sam arranges to speak to Gordon alone, while the others listen from the corridor. He tells Gordon that he knows he did not kill Nairne, that another person involved and they know it was mother’s monk. Gordon denies this and tells him he killed Nairne.
Sam presses him that Brother Gregory has confessed he was involved, but Gordon denies this and says the monk is innocent. He stole the dagger from Gregory’s room and used it to kill Nairne. It is a magical weapon that is dangerous and the monk was looking after it.
Sam tells him he was revealed more than he realises and leaves.
While he is waiting, Malcolm bumps into Prince Edmund and he updates the Prince on events and some of the details of the feud between the Allardice and MacRuaidhri clans.
The Companions meet up again after Sam’s conversation with Gordon to discuss what they are going to do next. They focus on the dagger first, wondering its powers and origins. Samuel wonders about interrogating Brother Gregory and Malcolm agrees, so they set off for the monk’s room.
They find Brother Gregory is in his room. His room is sparsely decorated, apart from a holy symbol of Haelyn on the wall and the monk is kneeling on a mat in front of it, praying.
He rises to answer Logan’s questions, who asks about the dagger and that it was originally in his possession. The monk initially denies owning any weapons, until they explain further it was a special dagger. He then looks in a special box under his bed and discovers the dagger is missing.
Brother Gregory immediately realises that Gordon Allardice took the dagger. That is not good because it is cursed and he does not know fully what the nature of curse is. It was given to his monastery a long time ago for safe keeping and he has been working to try to understand its abilities and how to break the curse.
He mentioned it to Gordon Allardice because the boy accidentally found it and Brother Gregory has taken a policy of never lying to the boy or hiding anything from him. This is why Gordon trusts him, because he is the only one who treats him with respect and like an adult.
Gordon had sworn not to reveal any information about the dagger or to touch it. Banquo wonders why Gregory did not think that if someone had been stabbed it could have been with this dagger. The monk points out daggers are common place weapons and it is not common knowledge that a special dagger was involved.
They tell him that Gordon killed in the name of Haelyn and Brother Gregory points out that is contrary to everything he has taught him.
Banquo asks more about the history of the dagger, but Gregory says there is not much to tell. It was given to his monastery years ago, known to be cursed but little else. He has been talking to wise men and wizards to see if they can tell him more about it.
He does know that the curse gets into your mind and tries to influence you. He has touched the dagger before now and dark thoughts crossed his mind that do not normally do so. Putting the dagger down was harder than he thought it would be.
They tell him about Gordon being unable or unwilling to let go of the dagger, which was why his hand was cut off. He offers to go to speak to Gordon. They are uncertain about this and Banquo does not like the idea. They head outside to talk it through, while Brother Gregory carries on praying.
Sam tells his friends he recalls from his youth that the monk was a stern teacher who was quick to give a wrap on the knuckles, but only when deserved. He did not approve of magic though, so Sam did not have a good relationship with him.
Banquo does not like the idea of letting him talk to the prisoner. Logan wonders if he's as religious as he makes out and is suspicious of the monk. Malcolm suspects that Gordon was coerced into using the dagger to commit murder.
Malcolm proposes allowing the monk to speak to Gordon, but he will hide and listen into the conversation. They agree to this course of action. Malcolm heads down to the cells ahead of time to hide and then Sam takes Brother Gregory down to talk to cells, while Logan and Banquo will search the monk’s room.
When they get to the cells, Sam remembers that Fraser MacRuaidhri is still in his cell. He realises this lessens the chance that they will have a private conversation, but it’s too late and he leaves them to talk.
Malcolm overhears Brother Gregory talking quiet formally to Gordon, he has done something wicked and seems to be very disappointed with the boy. Gordon says he did it for the clan, but the monk points out that does not justify murder.
The conversation continues, with the monk telling Gordon he has violated everything he has taught the boy and that he has failed him. Gordon is apologetic and repentant.
The monk then gets Gordon to tell him what happened. The imprisoned boy says he killed “the MacRuaidhri whore”, but afterwards he could not let go of the dagger. He had to kill more, so he went to Logan’s room, but was overpowered by his friends and his hand was cut off.
Gregory tells him he has made a lot of mistakes and he will not be able to do much to help the boy. He must atone for his sins. It is likely that he will hang for this.
The conversation ends there and Brother Gregory leaves. Malcolm leaves the cells shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, Logan and Banquo enter Brother Gregory’s room and search it. There is very little of interest in the room. There is a religious book that the monk is in the middle of reading. He has also been recording on a scroll the hours of meditation he does every day, but otherwise there is nothing of note.
They check the box that the dagger came in and see it is quite a posh box with a velvet lining and a polished wood exterior. Banquo suggests taking it as evidence, but Logan persuaded him it has no value and will only make the monk suspicious.
Logan and Banquo move onto Gordon’s room, where they find a guard on the door, but he allows Banquo to enter because he is member of the Guardians. The room is a bit of a teenagers mess, though there is a Haelyn holy symbol on the wall, similar to the one in Brother Gregory’s room. A lot of his clan regalia clothing is strewn about.
They do find his hand-written invitation to the wedding, on which Nairne’s name has been cut through several times.
They leave and meet back up to exchange details of what they have found. They conclude that they have a lot of suspicions but almost no hard evidence, much to their frustration.
Samuel is still suspicious of the monk and wonders about his monastery and whether it would be worth going there to check out his story. As it is in the county of Belaldruor though, it would require a day to travel there and back, so they decide not to do that right now.
Their discussion dries up as they have run out of leads for now. They decide to go their separate ways for the rest of the evening and think about what to do next and meet up again in the morning.
Sir Simon Montrose catches up with Banquo to ask further about why he thinks his relation Liddell had decided to leave. Banquo can only suggest that he is a thoughtless prick who does not care about anyone else.
He then asks Banquo about the investigation and Banquo tells him about their suspicions about Brother Gregory, but they have no evidence. They don’t really know what to do next, so they end up splitting up and doing separate things for the rest of the afternoon.
That evening, Count Torien calls a meeting of all the senior nobles present, including the Companions. The Baird-MacGregors are not there, nor is Cormac. He laments the death of Nairne and Simon Montrose is leading an investigation. He stresses he needs everyone to pull together and keep the peace.
He confirms there will be a trial for Gordon Allardice and that Fraser MacRuaidhri will not be released until he cools down.
During the meeting, Logan watches Minister Malcolm Greenwood. He wonders if he was the idea behind the wedding and if he made a mistake or planned all along for things to become worse.
That evening, the Companions are about their own business. Malcolm happens to be seducing a nice serving maid that he has had his eye on, outside the main building.
Suddenly there is a commotion nearby at the stables and suddenly he sees someone with only one hand taking a nice horse and moving away. The portcullis appears to be open and there are no guards are duty.
Malcolm recovers from his surprise and heads over to where the stables are, seeing that Prince Edmund from Cariere is there, having been attacked. The young Prince says he saw Gordon going for his horse and tried to stop him, but Gordon hit him and took the horse.
Gordon has opened the gate and is riding off. Malcolm heads back and sees Simon Montrose, telling him what happens. Simon tells him to get Banquo and follow Gordon.
The Companions are mustered and they get what horses are ready to follow. Prince Edmund insists on coming with them, as he wants he horse back. He rides with Malcolm. Logan is last to get ready and has to follow as best he can.
Malcolm leads the chase but he is soon overtaken by Banquo, who is a very experienced rider. They are able track him enough to know he’s taking the Northern Road, partly thanks to some instinctive decisions by Banquo.
When the road splits north and west, Banquo has to stop to try to see which way Gordon went, but he struggles. The others catch up and Logan is able to use his tracking skills to discern that he is heading east.
They resume the pursuit. Banquo has a sinking feeling as they approach Castle Bridge and realises Gordon has headed into Baird lands. The gates to Castle Bridge are closed and they are forced to pull up and call for the guards.
The guards tell Banquo the gates are closed by order of the Laird. Banquo asks them if a rider has passed this way and they confirm that. Banquo points out the rider was an escaped fugitive.
Then Liddell Baird-MacGregor appears on the battlements above. He asks what Gordon has done and Banquo tells him he knows what he did – he was there. Liddell tells him that it is quite obvious that other parties are behind the murder and it was safer for him to get out.
Banquo says it makes him look suspicious, but Liddell laughs this off, point out he had no horse in that race. The Laird refuses to open the gates though, asking what’s in it for him and dismisses the “gratitude” of the Guardians.
Banquo tries threatening him and then asks him what he wants. Liddell has his swear on his honour as a Guardian that he will carry out a favour for him in return for opening the gates. Frustrated and desperate to continue the chase, Banquo so swears.
Before he opens the gates, the old man points out he knows where Gordon has gone, to Highpoint, in the mountains in the north of the Laphroaig lands. He also hints that he thinks that agents of the Gorgon himself is behind events at the wedding.
Despite the stunning suggestion by Banquo’s uncle, the Companions decide to not question him further as the gates are open and they resume their pursuit of Gordon.
Malcolm begins to realise that they will need a change of horses if they do not want to hurt their horses. He points out they can stop at Goe Keep in Laphroaig lands and he can arrange a change of horses. After a quick discussion while riding, they agree to do this after it becomes clear Logan’s horse is struggling.
They approach Goe Keep and the guards recognise Malcolm, which he uses to persuade them to give them fresh horses. The guards confirm a rider in a hurry went this way some 15 minutes ago.
Logan does some tracking while they are stopped and thinks from the hoof prints that Gordon is not pushing his horse so hard now and has slowed down.
Prince Edmund asks about the Old Man at the bridge and is shocked by his attitude. He says when he is King, he will not allow noblemen to behave that way. He also mentions the Guilds in Cariere are running amok in his country and his father does very little about them. He has spoken out and made very few friends amongst the Guilders. He wonders if some of the guards he is travelling with have been bribed. The Prince is given his own horse to avoid over-burdening Malcolm’s horse.
The guards take about 15 minutes to get the horses ready and the Companions set off again, following the road as it rises into the mountains. They continue up into the mountains, slowing down as their horses struggle with the elevation.
They approach an old, ruined keep to one side of the mountain road. It’s in darkness and they realise that only Malcolm has a torch. The ruined Keep looks creepy and unwelcoming.
Sam has them gather some wood from the bushes and uses his fire magic to ignite them into a light source. They approach the Keep. The walls are mostly intact, though crumbling. They find an entrance on the side, which has long since lost any door that was supposed to keep people out. They see into the keep and can see the buildings inside are falling down.
They can see a horse standing just inside the keep, eat grass. Prince Edmund recognises it has his horse and has the horse come over to him. He leads it out and ties it up with the others.
Banquo and Sam go in through the main entrance, while Logan, Malcolm go around the back of the keep to identify any alternative exits and cut off any possible escape.
Banquo and Sam see some stairs leading up to an old door and decide to head up there and check it. They hear someone behind them and spin round. It is Prince Edmund, returned from tying up his horse. He draws his sword and follows them up the stairs. They enter an old, empty room with rotting wooden table and chairs. They explore carefully, but there’s no sign of anything in the room. It does have another door leading further into the Keep.
Logan and Malcolm head round the Keep and the walls of a corner tower has crumbled down, as well as the curtain wall in two other places. Logan decides to enter into the tower that has a crumbled inner wall too. They enter the Keep this way.
Suddenly, they all hear a man cried out in horror. They all move swiftly towards the source of the noise. They converge in a hall in the middle of the Keep, to see Gordon under attack by a person who is clearly dead yet still moving around.
Gordon is struggling to draw his weapon with his left hand while the creature moves towards him. The site of the creature shocks a number of the Companions, especially Banquo who is stunned, shouting “that’s not right” at the idea of the dead walking. Prince Edmund screams in horror and stays at the back.
Logan does nothing as he is not that bothered if Gordon dies. Malcolm draws his bow and fires at the zombie, but the arrow appears to have little effect. Sam starts shouting to distract the creature, though he mainly distracts Gordon, allowing the dead person to grab him and drag him to the ground.
Banquo snaps out of this stupor and steps forward, slashing the zombie across the back of the head, but it does not seem that bothered about it. The zombie then bites Gordon in the arm.
Sam grabs the zombie by the leg and tries to pull it off from Gordon. Banquo slashes it again, but Malcolm, after drawing his mace, swings badly and hits Gordon by mistake.
Banquo finally cuts the zombie’s head off and it slumps to the floor, thrashing around for a while until it finally stops. Sam pulls Gordon out from under it. Banquo says to burn the fowl thing. Logan agrees, making a joke that they can then dispose of the zombie, reminding them that Gordon killed his sister.
Malcolm gives his torch to Banquo to burn the dead body, while he attempts to treat Gordon’s wounds. Banquo attempts to burn the body, but he lacks oil or wood. He kicks the zombie and abandons the idea.
Logan proposes staying in the Keep overnight, as they have ridden through the night and they are all too tired. Sam suggests exploring some of the ruins first to make sure there are no other surprises.
Suddenly a female-like figure with a horrible double mouth lined with pointed teeth jumps down from the rafters and lands on a table near them. She has long, clawed fingers, tiny points of white shine from her eyes and makes a hideous shriek that echoes around the ruins. The horrified Companions back away, while Malcolm is caught off guard and runs away, screaming in horror as he can feel its evil from the Shadow Realm, followed by Prince Edmund.
Banquo has to summon all his courage to step forward and attack the creature. He slashes, but the creature ducks out of the way and slashes at him, but he blocks her. He attempts to feint her and kick the table out from under her, but she leaps back up to the rafters in response, shrieking at him again.
Banquo decides it is time for a tactical withdrawal, as the creature appears to be very fast and powerful. She watches from the rafters as the Companions retreat, then jumps down and attacks the helpless Gordon on the floor. He screams in terror as she does so.
The Companions and Prince Edmund rush back to their horses and flee. They ride back in silence until they approach Goe Keep, where they pull up, exhausted. They realise they need to rest and return to Medenie in the morning.
Prince Edmund is in shock and can’t help asking various questions about what happened that the Companions are not sure about themselves. He nervously apologises for running away.
Malcolm again uses his influence to get them lodgings at Goe Keep for the night. They fall asleep quickly, though they are haunted by visions of the female monster.
They wake up around midday and eat. Sam wonders if they want to go back to the Keep in the daylight, but Logan says he’d be happy to never go there again.
Malcolm wonders if there is a portal to the Shadow Realm in the Keep. He thinks it is likely that it will be safer during the day but is it worth the risk?
Banquo is keen to return to Simon Montrose and report back. They consider whether to mention the monster or not. They decide to use the story of wolves attacking and killing Gordon, but will tell the truth to Count Torien.
Logan wonders if the monster was there to kill Gordon. Prince Edmund suddenly wonders how Liddell Baird-MacGregor knew that Gordon was heading to the Keep. They are left with a number of unanswered questions.
They head back to Medenie in the afternoon. They ignore questions from some of the wedding guests and say nothing until they reach Sir Simon Montrose, Count Torien and Minister Greenwood. They tell them the truth and they resolved that Gordon being killed by a pack of wolves being the official story. Prince Edmund agrees to support this story as a witness.
Minister Greenwood wonders if Gordon is dead and points out there are fates worse than death where the Shadow Realm is involved.
Simon Montrose says a return to Highpoint Keep will be required in the near future to find out what is happening there and deal with the monster.
Count Torien thanks them for their help and welcomes the site of the clans working together, especially Allardice and MacRuaidhri. He asks them to go back to their clans, sooth their concerns and support the story of Gordon being a crazy, lone murderer.
Later that day, while the wedding guests are starting to go home, Cormac asks Sam and his friends what happened to Gordon and they tell him most of the truth, but they found signs of Gordon but did not catch him. They decide to put some emphasis about Liddell Baird-MacGregor holding them up, but they decide not to mention the cursed knife or Brother Gregory, just imply that Gordon was behaving strangely.
Cormac is disappointed as he wanted to hang Gordon himself. He asks Logan when Nairne’s funeral will be. Logan points out the ceremony will be in the tradition of the clan, which he is fine with. He wants to be there.
Sam also finds himself collared by his mother, Olivia, and tells her the same story without the dagger, but mentioned that Gordon stole books from Brother Gregory and read them in secret. She says at some point she would like to have him back, but not at the moment.
She also mentions to Sam that Cormac is having a bad time and he will need to help her to advise him in the right direction. She points out the Clan is vulnerable and needs protecting right now.
Logan discusses with Dougal his older brother about what happened to Gordon, including the monster that they encountered. Dougal says that although Fraser has been released, he has been taken back to clan lands under house arrest.
They discuss the funeral. Dougal points out she was legally married and Cormac could arrange the funeral if he wanted to, but he is happy to arrange it in the ways of Erik and the Clan. He thinks this will help sooth feelings, although Logan points out Cormac and some Allardice people will come to the wedding.
Malcolm updates his brother Connaugh with events. He is relieved that the clan has not been involved and that their secret in the mountains remains safe.
While Banquo has no clan members to talk to, he does have a personal meeting with Sir Simon Montrose, who is impressed with his actions and says this will help his progress towards Knighthood.
Prince Edmund meets with the Companions again before he leaves. He thanks them for the adventure and he remains shocked by the terrible, shrieking creature that they encountered. He is shamed by his running away, but pledges to show more courage in the future.
He tells them he is heading for the Shrine of Nevron in the Five Peaks, as part of a pilgrimage that it is traditional for the first born son of the Baron of Cariele to take. He wants to follow the tradition, as he feels too many traditions have been trodden on in his country already.
He invites them to come to Caerlinien, the capital of Cariele sometime, when he is back from his pilgrimage. They escort him and his men to Leathen, the last town in Mhoried before the Five Peaks.
As they do, they notice that Edmund’s guards are not that great at their job. They are slow, lazy and do not seem to have much respect for the Prince. Logan suggests in private he should take a firmer stance with his men.
The events of the wedding are finally over. Guests go home and the Companions return to their clans. Logan is busy with Dougal arranging Nairne’s funeral.
Back in Whinnyfold, Cormac does not seem to want to perform his duties as clan leader. Olivia his mother effectively takes over, as Sam decides he does not want to step into his brother’s shoes at this stage.
A week later, the funeral goes ahead with little incident. All the important clan leaders are there, including the Baird-MacGregors. Fraser MacRuaidhri swears on his honour to behave and is allowed to attend. Apart from a few unfriendly glances at the Allardices, he keeps his word.
The Companions meet after the funeral and catch up. They discuss about the creature in the Keep and Logan in particular is keen to return there at some point and find out what is going on.
Before the Companions are able to arrange a return to the Keep, news comes from the north that the Baron Halfred of Cariele has died suddenly, in what was apparently a hunting accident. A couple of days after that, each of the Companions is summoned to Medenie, county town of Torien’s Watch, by Count Torien urgently on a diplomatic matter.
They all ride off and meet up, to find that Chancellor Hollend of Cariere has come to visit the Count and asked for the Companions, as Prince now Baron Edmund had written to him, talking of friends he had made in Torien’s Watch.
Chancellor Hollend tells them that he suspects the death of Edmund’s father was not an accident but murderer, although he has no proof. He thinks Edmund’s uncle Edrin, in league with Guild Leader Maeve Thistlewaite, arranged his death and he fears they are also after Edmund.
Edmund should become Baron, but he cannot be found, as he was in the middle of his pilgrimage. Lord Edrin is demanding to be made regent until the boy can be found, but Hollend has so far been able to resist this. However, all his resources are taken up keeping Edrin in check and he has no spare men to find Edmund.
He reads out some of the nice things that Edmund said about the Companions in his letter and begs them to help him find the young Baron before his enemies do.
Banquo questions his availability because of his duties as a Guardian Squire and Count Torien says he is sure that Simon Montrose would be happy to release him for this important, diplomatic mission.
Chancellor Hollend says he cannot offer them much of a reward, as the Baron’s Council is in conflict with Lord Edrin and all funds are frozen. He also points out Baron Edmund would likely be very grateful for them rescuing him. Logan reassures him money is not as issue.
Hollend says he can trust almost no one, he needs them to bring the Baron straight to him and have him travel incognito. They should bring Edmund to him only. If he can’t make it, he will send a message using the word “lavender” to prove the message comes from him.
The Guilds have so much influence in Cariele and they have bought the loyalty of a lot of men that could otherwise be used to find the missing Baron. The Chancellor has opposed the Guilds for a while now and they have been trying to remove him.
The Companions agree to help and Hollend is very relieved. He tells them time is off the essence and warns they will not be the only group out looking for Edmund. He thanks them again and leaves.
Count Torien adds that it would be very good if the Companions can find the missing Prince. Logan also suggests that Cariele Guilds will move south if they have a compliant leader in place. Minister Greenwood tells them they have already started to do so and it will likely get worse.
The Companions discuss what to do next and where the Shrine is. Banquo wonders if Brother Gregory would know where the Shrine is, as it is his religion. They decide to head for Whinnyfold and ask him.
They find Brother Gregory, who has resumed his duties as advisor to Olivia Allardice. He tells them he has been there a number of years back. He tries to show them on the map, but Banquo says he should come with them.
The monk says he cannot, he is serving Lady Allardice. Sam steps in that this stage and goes to talk to his mother, persuading her the influence they will gain from rescuing the Baron of Cariele outweighs any disadvantage to losing her advisor. Olivia agrees and Brother Gregory, much to his surprise, becomes their guide.
They speak to Simon Montrose and he mentions Greenest, the village in the Five Peaks that is guarded by men from Mhoried, currently Allardice men. They decide to make for their first and see if they can pick up Edmund’s trail.
They draw up equipment and supplies then head for Leathen, the capital of MacRuaidhri’s lands, as their last stop over before they cross into the Five Peaks.
When they arrive at Leathen, Logan’s brother Dougal catches up with him to find out why he was summoned to Medenie and immediately supports the rescue mission.
They discuss what MacRuaidhri people to take with them. Dougal suggests taking Fraser, as he is a good fighter and it would be good to give him something to do. They agree that if he betrays them he can be executed.
Fraser clearly does not like the idea, but he is not able to weasel out of it in front of Dougal and Logan. He asks if the “Allardice bastard” coming with them. Logan says that Sam is coming with them and he will have to cope with that.
They take with them a couple of spare horses, Logan’s personal household servant, Fraser and three other MacRuaidhri men and head into the Five Peaks. One of the men has travelled to Greenest before and helps guide them there.
They travel the whole day into the Five Peaks. They soon become surrounded by trees and see very little of the local area, though they can see mountains in the distance. They occasionally encounter people on the path, but these people hide and watch them from a distance, as they are larger armed band.
They make camp for the night in a defendable area and organise watches in case of attack, but the night is quiet. Logan makes sure the watch is in pairs, in part to avoid people like Fraser trying anything.
They continue the next day towards Greenest, following the path as best they can and when it becomes unclear they follow a generally northern and western direction, following the instincts of the clansman who has come this way before.
By the afternoon they start to approach the village, which is in a cleared around and surrounded by farmland. They can see there is a small keep in the middle of the village, as well as a church, a mill and a granary.
They are spotted and a number of armed Allardice men assemble to block their path, concerned by the approach of MacRuaidhri clan. Sam pushes his way to the front and announces himself, asking for their leader.
A burly, bearded man steps forward, wanting to know what they are doing here. Sam recognises him Blair Allardice, a clansman who Cormac did not like and sent him to command the Greenest garrison to get rid of him.
He initially does not recognise Sam, but he is soon set to rights. Blair wonders why he is associating with MacRuaidhri, but Sam tells him about the wedding and peace between the clans. Logan is the brother of Cormac’s deceased wife.
Blair has his men stand down. A skinny, bald, oddly-dressed, tattooed local man whispers in Blair’s ear and Sam wonders if he is a sorcerer. Blair asks why they are here and if they have come to relieve them of their duty.
Sam breaks the bad news that they are only visiting and are on a quest. He does offer to put in a good word with his brother if Blair helps them.
They are invited back to the keep and as they pass through the village they see a number of poorly dressed and miserable-looking peasant locals going about their work. They also see one of the houses in the village burnt down and there is a naked man strung up in some stocks in the centre of the village.
The Companions mummer amongst themselves about the state of affairs in the village.
They enter the keep and head over to the main tower. They enter a common room with a large table, where the Blair and some of the Allardice men sit down. Sam and Logan are invited to sit, but the rest are left to stand as the room is not that big.
Fraser seems offended by not being offered a seat, but Logan gives him a stern stare. Sam offers him his seat, but Fraser then backs down and says he is happy to stand.
Blair rudely demands the servants bring them food and drink faster and then asks for news and what happened at the wedding. Logan is reluctant to go into detail as it is a sore subject, but briefly bring him up to date.
Blair then asks again about why they are here. They are quiet for a moment, unsure what to say, then Logan tells him about their mission to find Edmund of Cariele, who travelled this way a few weeks ago, with a small group of guards.
The bald local leans in and whispers in his ear. Blair then remembers that young man, barely old enough to shave, came this way. He clearly did not gain a high opinion of the boy.
Logan realises Blair can tell they are holding back something and admits the boy is a Prince and it is important that he is found. Sam suggests helping them in their mission would result in him giving a favourable report back to Cormac.
Blair says he has no idea where the boy has gone and he cannot really help them. When Banquo asks what direction Edmund took, the bald man reminds Blair he stopped to see Brother William, their local Haelyn priest.
Blair then points out he has been here for three years and he asks Sam if he knows of any plans to relieve him and his men. Sam offers to remind Cormac about their fate.
After an awkward silence, Logan asks him about the issues encountered in this area. Blair tells him the locals cannot be trusted, they are slow, lazy and liars. People from outside the village pass back and forth without their knowledge, including with known local brigands and trouble makers.
When he has caught locals doing this, he has punished them, including the man strung up in the village centre. They found odd things in his house.
It’s his job here to stop the local trouble makers associating together again. When Logan suggests befriending the locals, he says that may be the lily-hands ways of the MacRuaidhris, but Clan Allardice takes a firm hand with outlaws.
After another awkward silence, Brother Gregory asks the Companions if they are planning to speak to Brother William. This prompts them to leave the Keep and are shown to the house where William lives.
William is old, white-haired, with a friendly face and rich, deep voice. He welcomes them and asks what brings them here. He then recognises Brother Gregory and they chat. Brother William is here to convert this community to the light of Haelyn. Although the locals and the Allardice people call him father, he is no priest, just a monk.
Sam asks about Prince Edmund and he recalls he was a devout young man, on a spiritual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Navron. William gave him simple pilgrim robes to wear, rather than his expensive clothing. He also advised to describe himself only as a pilgrim and look humble.
He tells them there is a settlement, more of a camp site really, some miles north of here and he thinks Edmund went in that direction.
William also tells them about a secret cult, that the locals do not like to talk about, is operating in the area. It has a religious element but he knows little about it. They have a red, flame based mark, sometimes on their forehead, sometimes elsewhere. It is similar to the Allardice symbol, but the flame goes sideways rather than up.
Logan asks why it is a cult and William does not know, but he suspects some local did something that looked like a miracle and people have started to follow him. The cult is secretive and you do not find out what it is about until you join.
William hints that the harsh treatment of the locals by Blair and his men makes his job more difficult.
Sam asks about the bald local who whispers advice to Blair. Williams thinks he is a dark sorcerer of some kind and not to be trusted. His name is Gulnar and his eyes are mesmerising. They can make men fear him - the Evil Eye. When the MacRuaidhris were here, they did not trust him, but Blair has made him his advisor over time.
Brother Gregory then gets some advice from William as to the best way to get to the Shrine of Navron, the same advice that was given to Prince Edmund. They thank him and leave.
Once outside and alone, Logan proposes that they free the man from the stocks and take him with them, hoping he will be a source of information about the area and the cult.
They discuss this and the implications of upsetting Blair. Sam decides to go to see Blair. He takes Banquo with him, using his authority as a Guardian. Sam tells Blair he is impressed with his work in Greenest and will pass on a positive report back to his brother, Cormac.
Sam says the most important thing now though is to destroy this new cult. He therefore plans to take the man in the stocks as part of their plan to infiltrate and destroy the cult.
Blair seems inclined to agree, but Gulnar then whispers something into his ear. Sam demands to know what is going on. Blair tells him that he is his advisor and he has reminded him that he needs to show a firm hand and not be seen to go soft on them. It would be better if the man is publically executed.
Blair reluctantly agrees after Sam emphasises he has the ear of this brother. They shake hands on it and Sam leaves.
Logan and Malcolm move closer to the man strung up in the village centre. He is naked and shows sign of abuse and torture. He begs for water, but Logan does not want to do anything in public.
Sam and Banquo return from their talk with Blair. It is just starting to get dark by then and the Companions give the man water, free him and put him into some pilgrim robes that Brother William gave them.
As they leave the village, heading north, Sam looks back and sees someone watching them. He notices in the twilight that the man watching them has piercing eyes and is bald.
The Companions head off north in the dark, following an obvious trail. They walk their horses carefully as the terrain is unfamiliar, with Fraser MacRuaidhri taking point. Brother Gregory looks after the man from the village, giving him small amounts of water to help him recover.
Logan is concerned that they are exposed in strange lands. After an hour or so, he arranges for them to set camp in a decent area. He asks if they should get a fire and Banquo says yes, they are not going to be able to hide their location.
They have a single gazebo to cover their bed area, with the horses tied off nearby. The fire is set on the edge.
Logan and Lachlan MacRuaidhri take the first watch, during which Logan starts to notice movement outside the camp. He takes a burning torch to investigate, but he seems nothing.
It then starts to rain and the wind picks up. The horses then seem to become very jittery. Logan attempts to calm them down, but despite his experience in handling animals, they become more agitated and pull at their ropes.
Lochlann MacRuaidhri suddenly starts saying he can see snakes all around him, but Logan can see nothing. Then Logan is gripped with fear that the ground is opening up below him and trying to drag him under. He falls over and grabs a tree to stop this from happening.
Malcolm is woken up by the disturbance and is confused to see Logan holding onto a tree for dear life for no reason. Malcolm approaches carefully and asks him what is going on. Logan says he is falling off the edge of the world but Malcolm manages to convince him to snap out of it.
Logan is left confused and embarrassed, but does not have much time to recover before the horse panic increases and Malcolm’s horse pulls free and bolts. Logan focuses on this event and goes after the horse.
Malcolm wakes the rest of the camp up, as it’s clear they are under attack. He tries to calm Lochlann down, but the MacRuaidhri man is lighting a torch to burn the snakes.
Sam emerges from a bad dream and announces that some sort of magic is happening, though he does not know much more.
Logan keeps whistling and trying to calm down Malcolm’s horse, after it runs into a tree and stuns itself. He manages to use his animal handling skills to take hold of its harness and take back control.
Suddenly, an armed man walks out of the trees and attacks Logan with an axe. He is big built wearing furs and a wooden mask, though a red symbol on his forehead is visible. Logan quickly mounts the horse and rides back to the camp, knocking aside his attacker as he does.
When he gets back to the camp, Logan tells them what has happened. He thinks they will attack the camp any moment, although everything falls quiet. Even the rain stops. They wait and watch, but nothing happens.
Logan says to wake the man they rescued from the village. Brother Gregory suggests waiting until the morning, but Logan insists. Gregory gives the man some water and something to eat, then tells them his name is Tomas.
Logan tells him they have been attacked by the cult. He would like to talk to the cult, but Tomas tells him they only talk to members of the cult and are hostile to strangers. Logan tries to talk further but Tomas is very weak and unengaging.
Suddenly Fraser and Banquo are surprised by attackers coming out of the darkness. The camp comes under attack from several cultists.
The MacRuaidhri Clansmen, Fraser, Eóghan, Ruairí and Lochlann step up to defend the camp, along with Banquo, Logan and Malcolm. Sam, Baldrick and Brother Gregory stay back, though Sam does use his crossbow.
Banquo sees the bald-headed man from the village, shaking some sort of staff with a skull head on the end at him. The skull seems to be alive and wants to draw his soul out, causing Banquo have an intense anxiety attack and become distracted. The two cultists attacking him are able to wound him a few times, but his armour helps to reduce the damage. Banquo is able to hold his hand up to block the skull from his line of vision, but it makes the fight very difficult for him.
The cultist attacking Fraser gets some lucky hits on him and he collapses. Logan ends up coming to his aid.
It takes a while before the Companions eventually manage to turn the tide against the cultists and cut them down, with four of their attackers dead and the last one fled. When Banquo looks up to go after the bald man, but there is no sign of him.
Logan immediately tries to help Fraser and keep him alive. He is forced to use some nature magic to heal him enough to stop him from dying. Brother Gregory then takes over his care and suggests creating a stretcher that could hang off the back of a horse, which Logan ones.
Banquo considers that under Guardian rules, cultists are little better than bandits and deserve summary execution. He finishes off any of their wounded who are not yet dead. Their bodies are then moved to a ditch nearby.
Sam talks further with Tomas, who tells them the bald man from the village is called Gulnar, who hates him. Gulnar and told the Lord (Blair Allardice) that Tomas was a cultist, which got him arrested and tortured.
Tomas says he is a member of the cult, but he did not force his son to join the cult when Gulnar ordered him to. The bald man did not like being defied and so had Tomas punished as an example.
A lot of people in the village are members. The Lord does not know that Gulnar is actually a member of the cult and thinks he is a friend and trusted advisor.
The cult promise that one day they will make the foreigners pay and more are coming over to their side. There is a camp to the north that is the main base of the cult, where other local commanders have the power of Fire, the power of the Dragon. While Gulnar has magical power, he lacks the power of the Dragon, so is not so well respected. The leaders of the cult though live higher up in the mountains.
Tomas says he would not tell them this, but Gulnar came for his family. He wants to go back to Greenest to save them from Gulnar’s retribution.
Logan now wonders whether they should continue on their mission, or go back and deal with Gulnar and free Greenest. The others consider if this is a good idea.
In the morning, the Companions discuss whether to go back. Banquo is concerned that Gulnar is manipulating the Allardice clan. Brother Gregory points out Fraser MacRuaidhri is quite badly injured and it would be better if he went back.
Logan says he does not like the idea of Gulnar being behind them, threatening to ambush them at any time. They decide to return to the village and deal with that problem first.
They pack up camp and head back to Greenest, following the trail and their own tracks back to the village. This time the Allardice men do not notice their approach until they are in village centre.
They head for the Keep and head for the main hall to talk to Blair. When they arrive, they see Blair sat at the far end of the table, flanked on both sides by a number of armed Allardice men.
Blair asks then why they have come back. Logan tells them they were attacked by cultists in the wood, led by Blair’s advisor, Gulnar. Blair is sceptical about this and Gulnar steps out from behind his chair, saying that Logan is lying. He then questions if the Companions are who they calm to be. Is that really Samuel Allardice, or that they all MacRuaidhri spies, come to kill them all.
Blair stands up and says that is a serious allegation. His Allardice men begin to close in on them. Logan attempts to talk Blair around, but he is refuses. Blair tells them to drop their weapons, they are under arrest.
Banquo tells them he is a Guardian and they had better back down, or there will be less of them at breakfast tomorrow. Some of the soldiers are unsure when they see his tabard, but Blair tells them it must have been stolen. He tells his men to cut them down.
Malcolm realises there are some guards behind them, who they passed on the way in and has Brother Gregory and Baldrick, Logan’s servant, try to bar the door.
Banquo and Ruairi end up facing five Allardice men on one side of the table, while Logan, Eóghan and Lochlann face another five on the other side. Sam and Malcolm stay further back using crossbows.
Sam tells everyone to aim at Gulnar, then he begins to conjure some fire magic, causing a small flame to begin to burn in his hand. When Gulnar sees this, he is aghast. When Sam then causes the fire place to flare up and burn one of the Allardice men, Gulnar cringes and hides behind Blair’s chair.
Banquo struggles against two attackers, getting further injured following his wounds from the previous night. His superior combat skills eventually turn the tide, cutting down one of his attackers, but it’s closer than he would have liked. He is aided by Malcolm firing crossbow bolts at one of his attackers.
Logan is able to cut down one of the Allardice men quickly and on his right Eóghan is able to hold his own, but Lochlann is badly injured and goes down. Logan is then forced to tackle the two man who took Lochlann down.
The three Allardice men attacking Ruairi are cautious, but are eventually able to corner him and mortally wound him. Banquo then has to take the three men of them.
Blair has until now stood at the end of the table, but now he draws his sword and rushes towards Sam. Sam causes the fireplace to flare up again and wound Blair, but he is able to shake it off and continue advancing. Both Sam and Malcolm then turn their crossbows on him, injuring him badly.
Blair manages to reach Sam and hit him, but he has been badly wounded and collapses before he can put much power behind the blow and Sam is not badly wounded.
Eóghan’s fortunes take a bad turn and he is wounded, collapsing from the pain. Logan continues to fight well, cutting down another Allardice man and hold the rest off.
Gregory and Baldrick struggle to keep the remaining two guards from entering the room and Baldrick is badly injured in the arm.
With Blair being down, the Allardice men stop attacking and start to back off. Sam points his crossbow at Blair’s head and tells them to surrender.
Logan checks Lochlann and realises there is nothing to do to save him. He quietly puts him out of his misery.
Sam attempts to give Blair first aid, but Malcolm’s crossbow bolt hit him in his heart. He dies in Sam’s arms.
Logan tells the remaining Allardice men to put down their weapons. Their remaining leader considers then puts his sword into his scabbard, then goes to help his injured friends.
Banquo goes around the Allardice men and tells them they are guilty of supporting cultists and must face justice. They mutter something about following orders.
Ruairi is crying from his wounds and sobbing. Malcolm tries to help him, but realises he is going to die soon and helps him pass on, slightly reluctantly.
The guards who were trying to get into the door look angry when they see Blair dead. When they look like they are about to re-start the fight, Brother Gregory tells them they have betrayed their clan and attacked the brother of the Clan Laird. Sam tells them they are all under arrest.
Logan then turns to Eóghan, who is wounded in the leg and patches up the wound as best he can.
Sam asks Banquo to get Gulnar for him. When Banquo approaches, Gulnar jumps up, shouting and trying to spook him and run. Banquo instinctively swings his sword and cuts his leg off as he tries to pass by. Banquo tells him he has cast his last spell and executes him, cutting his head off.
Sam now tells the remaining Allardice men they must down their weapons and submit to his authority, which they reluctantly do. Some of them pointi out they were following the orders of their commander.
Sam then announces that Eóghan is going to be in charge in this village from now on. He tells the Allardice men they have lost their chance to be in charge, which Logan agrees with, but recommends Eóghan works with Tomas.
Brother Gregory points out that Baldrick is badly wounded and will need to stay behind and heal, along with Fraser.
Banquo is not pleased about giving Tomas any authority, pointing out he was a cultist and needs to be punished. Logan disagrees and says Tomas has repented. Banquo is not pleased and says he will report this to Simon Montrose.
Eóghan would rather go with them to the north, but Logan points out he needs him to look after Baldrick and he needs a man he can trust to keep this place safe and protect their backs. Eóghan agrees to do whatever Logan wants.
Sam retrieves the skull staff from the body of Gulnar.
The remaining Allardice men remain in fear of Sam, due to his magical powers over fire. They look at the burnt body of Blair’s second in command and grimace. Sam’s face is also covered in the blood of Blair Allardice, which only adds to his formidable appearance.
Baldrick has been injured badly in the right arm, but Brother Gregory is tending to him. The Allardice people put to rest a couple of their people who are mortally injured, leaving seven of them left.
Logan suggests that Baldrick be given the armour of one of the deceased Allardice people.
The local villagers who served Blair come in now and ask what they should do now. Sam says they don’t need to tidy up, the traitors from his clan can do the work. Sam also announces that they have been stripped of their titles and privileges and they will have to help the villages rebuild.
Logan suggests that the Allardice men will simply take over again. He suggests getting their new friend Tomas to take over the village and work with Eóghan, who is staying behind. Banquo says as traitors they should all be beheaded.
Sam remembers that Blair wanted to go home and the remaining men would probably willingly go home. Logan suggests Sam write a sealed letter to his brother, telling him what happened and they should be tried and hanged. They agree to do this.
Tomas enters the hall. He is pleased that Gulnar is dead, but points out other members of the Cult are still in the village and they have his wife and son. Logan suggests that he become Eóghan’s right hand man and effective leader of the village.
LoTomas thinks about this. He was not expecting to take up such a role, but if it will save his family and keep them safe from the Cult, he will. He asks for their help to rescue his family from the Cult members and they agree to go with him.
Sam stays behind to supervise things, but Logan, Malcolm and Banquo accompany Tomas to the house in the village where the Cult are holding his wife and son. As they walk there, Banquo tells Tomas that he is lucky that he is not being executed for being a Cultist. Logan says that can wait for another day.
The Cultist house, where Gulnar lived, is a big house on the edge of the village centre, where Tomas was tied up originally. A crowd of villagers has begun to gather in the open area. A few villagers with simple weapons are outside the Cultist house.
Tomas starts to talk to the villagers. They talk in a dialect that has such a thick accent that the Companions cannot understand them. They do get the impression, though, that the non-Cult members in the village are not sure what is going on.
The discussion goes on for a while and the Companions just wait, showing their support for Tomas. It is clear that the villagers now know the Blair and the Allardices have been overthrown and the MacRuaidhris are back. Some are happy about this, others would prefer all foreigners to go home.
Tomas is not the most popular member of the village, but they have some sympathy for how he was treated by Blair and that his family has been taken.
The Cultists around the house talk against Tomas but many are undecided still. One of the Cultists brings out Tomas’s wife and son, threatening to kill them if Tomas does not submit to them, which begins to turn the villagers against them.
Banquo orders them to release the woman and child. They are already in enough trouble. The Cultist leader who was Gulnar’s deputy steps forward and says to Banquo it is time for foreigners to go home and the Cult of the Dragon will destroy them.
Logan tells them Tomas has overthrown the Allardice and the MacRuaidhris will give the village its freedom. The Cultist does not have much further to say except saying the Cult will destroy all its enemies. Slowly the villagers are turning against them.
Seeing this, the Cult leader tells them he will kill Tomas’s family if anyone approaches. Logan tells the other members of the Cult to get their leader under control or they will all face execution.
Tomas then talks Connah, to the Cultist holding his family, telling him they used to be friends, does he really want to kill innocents. Connah looks ashamed. He releases the hostages and they across to Tomas.
The Cult leader is furious at this and stabs Connah in the chest, seriously injuring him. Then a mob of Villagers surges forward and Banquo pushes forward to attack the Cult leader, slashing his sword through his face and then beheading him. Most the remaining Cultists run, the rest surrender.
After reuniting with his wife and son for a while, Tomas then makes a speech to unite the village under his leadership, which goes down fairly well. Logan announces that Tomas has the title of Trusted Man, the senior man in the village under the protection of Clan MacRuaidhri.
Banquo hands over the remaining Cultists to the village for their justice. Tomas promises to do this.
The Allardice, under Sam’s supervision, are preparing to depart in the morning. After surrendering their weapons, one of them asks Sam if they can have some weapons to protect themselves. He agrees to this, as long as they leave promptly, which they do that night.
That evening, Brother Gregory comes to see Logan, saying the Fraser is asking for him in the makeshift hospital and he and Brother William have set up. Logan goes with him.
Fraser immediately asks when he seems him, “did she tell you?” Logan asks him to explain. Fraser is fevered and delirious, but admits that he told Nairne on her wedding day that he had always loved her, even though she is his niece and offered to rescue her from her marriage with the Allardices. She turned him down due to loyalty to the Clan.
He loved her and wanted to protect her and he can never forgive the Allardices for killing her. He wanted Logan to know this before he dies.
Logan forgives him and listens. Fraser says he respects him more than his older brother and will do what he says, then falls unconscious.
Brother Gregory gives him the milk of the poppy and says to Logan that he will sleep better now he has got that off his chest.
Logan has Brother Gregory write a letter for him to his brother Dougal, telling him what happened and requesting MacRuaidhri reinforcements to secure the village, to help Eóghan.
Sam writes a letter for his brother, telling him of events and the traitorous behaviour of Blair and his men. Both of these letters will be delivered by Baldrick once he is better.
In the morning, the Companions and Brother Gregory prepare to leave the village and head north to resume their search for Prince Edmund. Tomas sees them off, thanking them for their help and pledging to work with Eóghan. He will work on hunting down and driving out the remaining Cult members in Greenest.
He also tells them there is a main camp of the Cultists in the north and those that escaped will have gone there, meaning the Cult will know what has happened.
Logan leads the way north, using his tracking skills to identify a trail that leads north. They follow the trail all day and see no one, passing their previous camp site.
That evening, just as they are considering where to camp for the night, they see that the trail splits and heads in two different, northern directions. Logan takes a long time checking out these two possibilities, but he only able to discern that the North West trail looks more used that the North East trail.
Brother Gregory does not remember which trail he took, he just knows they need to go north.
Malcolm senses something odd in the area, but can’t put his finger on what it is. He does spot something in a tree by the North West trail and there is some sort of wooden totem hanging there, painted red and looking a lot like a Cult of the Dragon symbol.
They decide to camp for the night away from the trail, but within sight of the fork in the trail. Logan says no fire as they do not want anyone to spot them during the night. Fortunately it is not that cold.
They set watches. During Banquo’s watch, he sees figures carrying burning torches moving on the trail towards Greenest. Banquo wakes up Logan, who gets up and they both go to see what is going on.
There are five figures with torches moving south. It is not obvious from which northern trail they came from.
Concerned that the village is not very well defended at the moment, they wake the others and run after them. They soon catch up as the torch holders are not moving that fast, but some Companions are quicker and quieter than others, with Banquo moving fast and quietly, while Logan stumbles on brambles and falls behind.
The torch holders stop and turn around. They discuss amongst themselves about whether the noise is something to worry about or not. Then one of them calls out “Who’s there? We can see you, show yourself!”
Banquo throws a stone in another direction to distract them, which works, then shouts to them to identify themselves. The Cultists raise their clubs and staffs, demanding to know who they are and what they are doing.
The Companions muster together forming a line. Three of the Cultists rush forward to attack them, while two others run further south. A brief fight breaks out, in which Malcolm and Sam shoot their bows, while Logan and Banquo attack with their swords.
The two Cultists are soon taken down. Banquo smashes the kneecap of one, who screams in agony. Logan finishes him off. Another has an arrow through his arm and Banquo finishes him off. The third one changes his mind and turns around, fleeing south.
Three Cultists flee south. The Companions discuss whether to follow them, but decide returning to Greenest again would be a major distraction and return to their camp.
In the morning, the Companions decide that it would not be good to return again to Greenest and press on. At the junction, Logan does some tracking but can’t work out which way they went. However, the left hand trail looks more used, so they choose to go that way.
They ride along as a slower pace. This trail is definitely well trodden. There are side trails, but they are smaller and this is clearly the main path.
As they proceed along, Malcolm becomes aware of some sort of buzzing in his head that is of a magical nature. He’s not sure what it is but as they proceed along the trail it gets a little stronger.
Logan then spots a look-out high up in a tree watching the trail, partially camouflaged, who soon spots the Companions, mimics a bird call and then climbs down the tree. They ride forward. Logan, Sam and Malcolm opening fire with bows, but only Sam hits. The figure stumbles but runs into the undergrown, making it difficult to follow with horses.
They resolve to ignore him and carry on. They come to another branch in the main trail, with one trail heading west and another heading north. They can see smoke to the west, from some sort of settlement about a mile away.
Malcolm mentions the strange magic feeling buzzing in his head, which is definitely to the west, but no one else can feel it.
They resolve to investigate the settlement. They see ahead a small group of people, who scatter when they see the riders. Sam bemoans that they obviously know they are here.
As they move closer to the settlement, the trees thin out and they see a watch tower at the top of a cliff. The cliff is a horse shoe shaped, with the opening pointing away from them. The cliffs are about 20 feet high and at the bottom, in some sort of valley with cliffs on three sides, is a large encampment with tents and wooden buildings.
There must be hundreds of people living there, possibly more than 500. There are some ladders for climbing up the cliffs and a group of armed men are climbing up to confront the Companions. When they look closer, it seems some of those living in the valley and coming to attack them are goblins and not human.
They also spot a large cave in the side of one of the cliffs. It stands out because the stone around the entrance has been shaped into the large mouth of a dragon. They realise this is one of the main outposts for the Cult of the Dragon.
Facing around 20 armed men approaching, the Companions turn back and head back down the trail at a gallop. When they reach the fork in the trail, they turn north and head that way for a few hours. They eventually slow down and stop to rest.
While they do, they see a small group of people coming from the north. These travellers are cautious and stop, bows ready. Logan stands up and introduces himself. The travellers comment that he is from Mhoried. Logan says they are heading to a Shrine in the north. Brother Gregory backs him up, saying they are pilgrims and he is guiding them to the Shrine of Navron.
The travellers warn them about bears and flooding on the trail and then pass through cautiously.
The Companions continue north for a few days, making progress and passing small settlements and farmsteads. They encounter the occasional travellers on the trail, but they keep their distance.
The encounter another village, surrounded by fields. They are spotted by a watchtower and a group of villagers muster to protect their homes. A middle-aged man in armour, looking a little like a retired knight or adventurer, steps forward. He is clearly in charge and challenges the Companions in an Anuirean accent.
They introduce themselves and again give the story that they are pilgrims heading north. They are given the option of travelling around the village, or trading. They resolve to trade and enter the village, buying food and supplies from the villagers, then press on to the north.
The Companions press on and the land begins to rise towards the mountains. The terrain becomes more broken, with cliffs and valleys. At one point, having to move the long way around a valley, they notice further down the mountainside that a group of about 20 people are following them, a number of whom are Goblins. They realise that the Cult has been pursuing them and are about half a day behind them.
Logan considers laying traps for them when the opportunity presents itself. The Cult members are on foot, so they resolve to use their horses to get further ahead of them. He sets a few, but they are fairly basic and unlikely to hold the Cult up for long.
Brother Gregory guides them towards the place where one of the Five Peaks actually has three different peaks, which is where the Shrine lies. As they get nearer, they see a tall, black column of smoke rising from the peaks.
Eventually, they reach a place where two cliff sides come close together, but there is a narrow gorge between them that can be traversed. Brother Gregory leads them through it.
On the other side, they emerge on a plateau high up in the mountains. There is small lake, around which are a number of crop fields. On one side is a cave mount, with a stream running into the lake. On the other side is a large Abbey or Monastery building that has very recently been burnt down.
In front of the burnt building are the bodies of a number of people wearing monk’s robes. They move forward to investigate, weapons drawn. The Monks are dead, but they did not die in the fire. They were killed by swords, arrows and maces. Logan sees a number of tracks around, suggesting there has been a lot going on.
The outer stone structure of the Abbey is still standing, but the inner wooden parks are smouldering ash. There are more bodies in the ruins, burnt to cinder. As they explore the burnt ruins, they wonder who has done this and if the Cult of the Dragon was involved.
Behind a burnt door that looks like it was barricaded, they find more bodies in a room spared the fire. The monks have not been burnt but may have died from the smoke, with black soot on their faces.
Logan manages to notice that one of the senior monks is still breathing, just. Brother Gregory helps him move the body out of the room and brings the man around with smelling salts and gives him some water.
They check more bodies, but the rest of the monks are all dead. There is a library, but almost all the books have burnt.
A few hours later they leave the ruins, bringing out the only monk survivor in Brother Gregory’s care. When the monk is feeling stronger, they ask what happened.
He tells them brigands from Cariele came, after a pilgrim who was a Prince. The Prince escaped and the brigands started to kill the monks, including Patriarch Benedict, who they drew and quartered. A few of the surviving monks fled and barricaded themselves in room, but the brigands burnt down the Abbey.
Logan checks again for tracks and determines the brigands were using horses and there were over a dozen of them, as they wear boots, unlike the monks who wear simple sandals. They left through the gorge, meaning the Companions horses have ruins the tracks that way.
The attention of the Companions soon turns to the impending arrival of the group of Cultists who are following them. Their only was into the plateau is via the gorge, so Banquo proposes building a barricade at this end using stones from the Abbey.
Logan suggests moving smaller stones to the top of the gorge to throw down on the Cultists once they are trapped at the bottom of the gorge, blocked by the barricade.
They set to work on their plans, but the work is hard because the stones are heavy and the sides of the gorge are steep.
Sam, less accustomed to manual labour, tires before the rest of them and takes a break. His attention is drawn to the small cave and decides to investigate it, drawn by the slight magical buzz that resonates across the plateau.
He lights a torch and enters. There walls have crystals in them that reflect the light and give the place a mystical appearance. There is a small pool, into which a trickle of water is constantly falling from some source in the mountain, the flows out into the lake in the plateau. At the back of the pool is a large, colourful rock crystal that has been shaped into the fist of Haelyn.
The surface of the pool is surprisingly clear and smooth despite having water trickling into it. Sam keeps seeing things in the surface of the pool from the corner of his eye. He touches the Fist of Haelyn and feels a rush go up his arm and he sees his reflection looking strangely at him from the water.
Driven by some sort of instinct, he starts to undress and puts first his hand, then his foot, then his entire body into the pool. He then ducks under the surface and feels like he goes down and down. When he looks up, he begins to see things in the top of the water, although he is having to hold his breath to do this.
Many visions appear in the surface, constantly changing. Sam wills them to slow down and they focus on Prince Edmund, arriving with his guards in his pilgrim garb. He is greeted by the monks and comes into the Shrine, putting his hand into the pool.
Prince Edmund stays at the Abbey for a while, listening and learning from the monks. Then one day a group of armed men on horseback arrive. Edmund has is guards prepare for a fight, but one of his guards betray him, holding a sword to his throat.
The armed men kill the rest of Edmund’s guards, but Edmund makes a run for it and climbs up a steep rise that horses cannot follow. The Prince is not very strong, but he is skinny and agile. He holds out there for a few days, refusing to come down despite the cold and having no food.
Sam becomes vaguely aware while the Prince is doing this, the Companions were delayed in their quest to find him by the activities of the Cult in Greenest.
The leader of the armed man, a tough and mean-looking man, starts to kill the monks, calling out to Edmund that if he does not surrender, he will kill them all and burn down the Abbey.
Eventually, cold, hunger and a desire to save the monks causes Prince Edmund to surrender to the men. However, the leader has the rest of the monks killed anyway, apart from a few who manage to barricade themselves in a room. So he sets fire to the Abbey anyway and takes Prince Edmund away.
While Edmund is sat, hands tied on a horse, he looks up and sees a dragon fly over the plateau.
Sam is then forced to surface from the water to breath.
Sam dries himself down and gets dressed, thinking on what he has seen and the powers of the pool. He notices the cold much more as he emerges from the cave, looking around for a dragon in the sky, but none is there.
The others have been continuing to work on their ambush for the approaching cultists. Sam heads over and tells them what he saw. They appreciate the break from the hard work, but they are a little sceptical as to how much help it was to them. Logan suggests he spends more time helping them, but Sam first heads over to the Monastery to speak to the surviving monk, who is being looked after by Brother Gregory.
Gregory tells him when he was young he went into the shrine and had a vision. They are very rare but can be life changing. He wonders if Haelyn is angry at this holy place being defiled and wants to help them. He suggests that the Companions have been chosen by Haelyn to save Prince Edmund now and he recommends that they embrace this holy quest.
Sam then asks the injured monk about dragon sightings. He tells Sam that high up in the Five Peaks dragon sightings are not unusual, sometimes a few times a year. Occasionally they have seen two flying together. One of the other monks made records of the sightings and the colour of the dragons. He reckoned that there were at least five different dragons in the area, based on the differences in size, shape and hue of their scales.
Sam asks if the sightings are documented. The monk gestures towards an area of the library, but there are a lot of scrolls and they are covered in soot, so there is not much hope of finding the records quickly. He decides to leave it for now.
As he goes to leave, Sam is asked by Brother Gregory if he needs his help with the defences. Sam decides to let him stay there, they will call him if they need him. Sam then heads back to the others and updates them further.
In the meantime, Logan, Banquo and Malcolm have built a barricade at the end of the narrow ravine using stone from the burned down monastery. Then they drag a number of rocks up to the top of the cliff edge, in order to throw down onto the cultists.
Banquo suggests setting up the main ambush area not immediately in front of the barricade, but at the point when the barricade comes into view. The others agree with this and move the rocks to a strategic nook. A large rock further down to block their escape would also help, but they are not sure if they have enough time.
Malcolm suggest using fire and they realise that the monks make alcohol. Some of the wine they make was taken by the bandits, but there is still some left, including brandy, which is more flammable. They put piles of flammable wood in the ambush area, with brandy hidden underneath.
After that they need to rest, the work has been exhausting. Logan uses his magical abilities to heal some of Banquo’s lingering wounds. He perceives that there is something about the plateau that actually gave his magic an extra boost.
Banquo feels this too and decides to investigate the shrine with its pool. He decides to drink some of the water in the pool. It gives him a funny feeling, putting him more in tune with the magic in the plateau and without his realising, it speeds up the healing of his remaining wounds.
Night falls and they decide it’s very unlikely that the cultists will arrive before dawn. They are very tired, but as they start to doze off Brother Gregory warns them they should post a watch, which they do. The night passes though without incident.
In the morning they add to the rocks and wood in the ambush point as best they can. Banquo prepares a lot of smaller rocks to cause a landslide, with help from Malcolm.
Banquo takes the northern cliff top, along with Sam, who will ignite the fire traps. Malcolm takes the southern cliff top, with his crossbow. Logan mans the barricade with his spear. They watch and wait. The whole morning and midday passes uneventfully. In the afternoon, they are suffering from watch fatigue and almost miss that the cultist have arrived.
Banquo spots them and then tries to signal Malcolm, but Malcolm is answering a call of nature. Eventually, he is able to get his attention, without drawing the attention of those below. Logan and Sam are still in the valley but Logan spots Malcolm’s signal quickly and they get into position behind the barricade.
The first cultist is a scout, who is well ahead of the rest, who are walking single file through the ravine. Just when the scout should have spotted the barricade, he instead takes an interest in the piles of wood, with the brandy underneath. This annoys Banquo a lot but he realises it’s too soon to start the attack.
The scout doesn’t really understand what the wood is therefore, but decides to carry on. He then spots the barricade and stops again.
Sam realises he needs to be the one to light the fire traps and suddenly runs up to the cliff side. It will take a few minutes for him to get there. He initially forgets to keep his head down, but remembers to do before any of the cultists spot him.
Meanwhile, the line of cultists beings to come into view. Banquo sees that there are about 20 of them. At the front are two men in heavy armour, then half a dozen humans in robes, then a well-dressed, bald-headed man in robes who could be their leader, followed by about 6 goblins with a well-armoured goblin leader. They are strung out along the narrow ravine in a line.
The two armoured men stop at a signal from the scout, just ahead of Banquo’s ambush area. Behind him, the robed men begin to bunch up, trying to find out what is going on. They are in a good position for Banquo to spring the trap, but he waits when he sees Sam is still getting into position.
The cultists dither. The scout begins to approach the barricade while the rest of them wait. Logan prepares to attack him.
Once Sam arrives, he uses his fire magic to ignite a torch Banquo has, who then throws it down into one of the piles of wood. It starts to burn and Sam follows up, using his fire magic to make the flames suddenly flare up. The flames injure about half a dozen of the nearby cultists, most of whom are only wearing light armour.
The scout turns his back to see what is happening and Logan takes the opportunity to stab him in the back, injuring him. He continues to attack the scout and eventually manages to kill him.
Panic breaks out amongst the cultists, which Malcolm helps by hitting the lead cultist in the head and causing him to collapse. Behind him are the two heavily armoured Elite Guards, who are only mildly affected by the flames. Behind the Guards, around have a dozen lightly armoured cultists have been badly burnt and some killed.
The Cult Leader and the Goblins further back are unaffected, but they are trying to work out what is happening.
Sam continues to use his fire magic to get the rest of the flammable material to explode in flames. He comes aware that the robed Cult Leader appears to have some fire magic of his own and is trying to dampen the flames. Their magic power clashes, but Sam is more successful and he is able to cause a further explosion, using up the rest of the flammable material.
Four of the lightly-armoured cultists behind the Elite Guards have been killed by flames and a fifth badly injured.
The goblins behind the Cult Leader start to retreat but as they do they fire up at Banquo with their short bows, but none hit. Banquo sees that one of the goblins is much bigger and better armed and armoured. He assumes he is the Goblin Leader.
Banquo then starts to roll rocks into the midst of the goblins, injuring one of them. Malcolm fires at the heavily-armoured men.
The Cult Leader now turns his attention directly to Sam, looking angry and vengeful. They attack each other with fire magic. Sam decides to rely on his ability to resist fire to put up no defences and go all-out attack on him, while the Leader chooses a balanced attack. Sam is just about able to overcome the Cultist Leader’s magic and cause his robes to set on fire, but it’s not much of a flame.
The Leader is unable to affect Sam in return and he begins to fear Sam’s power. He begins to retreat.
The Elite Guards are on the other side of the area that was affected by the flames. They have been reluctant to retreat in case there are further explosions, but realise they have no alternative and fall back. Malcolm harasses them with crossbow bolts as they do.
Total: 18
Logan climbs over the barricade and starts to head after the retreating Cultists. Malcolm follows along the top of the cliff. The two Elite Guards are walking backwards with their shields up to protect against missile fire, with one robed cultist behind them guiding them. Malcolm decides not to fire but follows and keeps an eye open for opportunities. Sam fires his crossbow at the robed cultist, but misses.
Banquo has no missile weapons, so he focuses on following them along and hoping to find something big to throw down at them.
A pursuit then ensues as the cultists attempt to escape the valley, while the Companions follow them and attempt to attack them.
Sam manages to hit the Cultist Leader and wound him, but he continues to retreat and mingles in with the goblins to become a harder target. The Goblin Leader pushes his men forward to hurry as they stumble and keep trying to fire bows, which the Leader realises is a waste of time and discourages them.
The cultists form into two groups, with the two Elite Guards and the wounded Cultist at the back, while the Goblins with the Cult Leader and a single robed cultists mingled together into a second group further along the valley. The Companions mostly struggle to keep up, with only Banquo able to get ahead of the main group.
The Elite Guards are moving slower because the Cultist they are protecting is wounded, so Logan, Malcolm and Sam are able to keep up with them. Stopping to fire though causes them to fall back, so they mostly focus on the pursuit as everyone is running.
Eventually, the wounded cultist falls behind the two Elite Guards and they abandon trying to protect him, instead turning and moving as fast as they can. Logan stabs his spear through the leg of the wounded Cultist at the back then finishes off with his dagger. However, this delays him and the Elite Guards move further away from him.
Malcolm tries shooting a few times at the Elite Guards, but fails to hit them at all.
Banquo manages to get ahead of the main Cultist group and looks around for a big rock to throw down at them. He is able to find one that’s fairly large, not enough to block the valley, but would likely cause a lot of injuries. It is heavy though, so when he gets it to roll over the edge, it hits the main group of goblins.
The rock lands directly on the Goblin Leader and crushes him. It also crushes the arm and pins another goblin, while injuring a number of the others. The Cultist Leader and the last robed Cultist are able to able to avoid damage. They give the goblins no more than a brief glance and then continue to run.
Logan gets into a fight with two injured goblins, finishing them off. Malcolm finally gets a good shot on the last remaining robed cultist, killing him outright.
There are now just three goblins, two Elite Guards and in the lead the Cultist Leader. Throwing the rock and finishing off the goblins slows the Companions and these six remaining cultists are able to escape from the valley and start to run on the open plain.
The Companions stop to rest and recover, deciding not to try to go after these last few, as they have thinned their numbers enough and are no longer at an advantage.
They return to the plateau. They rest, eat and drink some of the wine made by the monks, while telling Brother Gregory how things developed. Brother Gregory warns them about getting too drunk, in case the cultists come back. The Companions mock him for his religious stoicism but they do not drink too much. Brother John insists keeping a watch out for the cultists anyway. The Companions eventually fall asleep as the sun goes down.
In the morning, Brother Gregory suggests that he stays behind to look after Brother John, the only surviving member of the Monastery. His job was primarily to guide them to the Monastery, which he has done. They agree, suggesting he head back to Greenest as best he can.
The Companions pack up and head out themselves, following the trail of the group at took Prince Edmund. As they pass through the ravine leading to the plateau, they see all the dead bodies of the cultists. They ignore Brother Gregory’s suggestion that they should be given a proper Haelynic burial.
Once they leave the ravine, Brother Gregory heads south and they consider which way to go. They know that Prince Edmund is most likely being taken back to his home country of Cariele, which lies North East of here. Also, there are some tracks left by the group of riders that can be followed. Logan sets about following their trail, which head in the direction of Cariele, but they appear to be around five days ahead of them.
As they head back down the mountainside, the cold and snow gives way to thick forest, which covers most of the Five Peaks area.
Logan decides that he would rather be sure of the tracks than rush forward to catch them up. He is careful and is able to keep on their trail, but he starts to realise they are several days ahead still. To try to make up time, they keep riding as long as there is light. The days are long as it is June, so they travel a long way. Banquo has them set up a camp and post watches once they do stop.
Several days pass as they move down out of the mountains and into the lower forest lands of the Five Peaks. As they do, they enter more populated lands. They pass farms and small settlements, all of which are fortified in some way. Travellers go back and forth on the roads, but they are all armed and tend to give the Companions a wide birth when they can.
They are occasionally hailed for news by passers-by, asking about the road, the weather and any news. The Companions are a little suspicious at first, but after it happens a few times, they realise it’s fairly common in this area. They learn there are also rumours of renewed goblin raids.
They give an old beggar some money and food, then ask about mounted men going this way. He did hear that a group of a dozen or so riders came this way about a week ago. Logan is a little disappointed that it was so long ago.
They proceed onwards. One afternoon, Malcolm spots smoke behind the trees. More smoke than just from a cooking fire. As the bandits have been known to set things on fire, they decide to leave the main trail. The most direct route will be to go through some heavier undergrowth.
When they emerge from the undergrowth, they see a small farmstead. One of the buildings is on fire and some of the farmers lie dead near it, along with smaller creatures – goblins. Then they see a number of goblins are tying up a woman and two children to a long rope. Due to the direction they have come from, none of the goblins have spotted them yet.
The Companions look at each other and spur their horses on, charging towards the goblin. Some of them, such as Malcolm, struggle a little because they are not experienced in mounted combat. Banquo has some training and Logan is a strong rider, so they naturally end up in the lead, with Sam and Malcolm behind them.
They ride towards two goblins who are going through the pockets of some of the dead farmers. Banquo is able to behead one, but Logan is only able to wound the other. The rest of the goblins who are tying up the survivors spot the attackers. They draw their weapons and form a line, but they only have short weapons, nothing that useful against cavalry. Two other wolf riders with spears retreat.
Logan and Banquo lead another charge against this line, with Banquo injuring one and Logan throwing a spear that impales another goblin in the abdomen, killing him. Malcolm miscalculates the charge and is not in position to attack, while Sam hits the goblin Banquo wounded and finishes it off.
The goblins are inexperienced against mounted opponents, but one is able to wound Malcolm. The rest are unable to respond or are killed before they can. They scatter in panic.
Malcolm and Sam decide to give up on mounted combat and use their crossbows. The two wolf riders who initially backed off now turn and use their short bows. Banquo and Logan continue fighting from horseback. The surviving goblins on foot try to run. Logan also notices a well-armed goblin (leader) and some sort of shaman, both on wolves, further back, who are now closing to support their companions.
Banquo rides after a goblin who runs into the fields and cuts him down, badly wounding him. Logan makes a mess of his riding manoeuvre and the goblin he planned to attack dodges out of his way. Sam manages to shoot that goblin in the leg, but Malcolm misses.
One of the wolf riders hits Logan with an arrow and the other shoots at Malcolm, but misses.
The goblin that Sam shot runs past the burning building and Sam using his magic to have the flames flare up and set him on fire. Banquo is now out of position as he rode into the field, so he turns and rides back towards the rest of the goblins. Logan has more problems directing his horse again.
The Goblin Leader charges, but Malcolm shoots him in the leg and that causes his wolf to veer to the right, ruining the charge.
The Shaman waves his wolf-head staff at Logan and suddenly Logan gets something in both his eyes and is unable to see. The Leader
The two Wolf riders fire again at Logan and Malcolm but both miss.
Logan’s eyes still sting, so decides to use his Animal Affinity ability to influence the wolves to throw their riders. That is something he does not need to see to be able to do. He is able to influence the Leader’s wolf and one of the other wolves to throw their mounts.
Malcolm fires at the Leader but misses. Sam decides not to turn his fire magic on the Shaman and instead just fire his crossbow at him, hitting him in the leg. Banquo charges at the Leader, just as the Leader is thrown from his wolf and is able to wound him in the arm.
The wolf riders fire and miss. The Shaman decides to turn and flee.
Logan’s sight begins to recover and he is able to get one of the wolves who threw his rider to then attack that rider, allowing Logan, Malcolm and Sam to finish him off. The other wolf rider and the Shaman are able to ride off and escape.
The Leader stands his ground and wounds Banquo significantly in the arm. Banquo then kills him with a blow to the abdomen.
Banquo, Logan and Malcolm treat their own wounds.
Sam has to concentrate to gear down his fire magic and then goes to help the survivors who are tied up. He unties the woman, the older boy and the younger girl. They run over to where an older man is lying badly injured on the floor, clearly the woman’s husband and the children’s father.
Logan then decides to go over and try to save his life with his nature magic, but the man dies in his arms. The survivors are distraught at this, wailing uncontrollably.
Sam notices a big-built young man, hovering on the edge of the field, watching what is happening. Sam invites him over, but the man seems reluctant to get too near. He seems to be nervous about the dead farmer and the woman and her children. The widowed woman calls him Rowan and chastises him for running away when the goblins attacked.
Logan suggests it is time they moved on. Rowan suddenly pipes up and asks if he can come with them.
The Companions consider this. He has no weapons and everything except his clothes, as his possessions were in the farm house that is burning down. Rowan says he was scared and ran away, but he would like to learn how to stand and fight. Banquo bemoans his lack of horse and tells him hard luck.
Slowly though the Companions change their mind, deciding they could use someone to do jobs. He would have to ride with Malcolm, who agrees to take him. Rowan is very pleased and promises to do whatever they ask. Banquo gives him the sword and the helmet of the Goblin Leader. He also advises the farm hand to keep quiet and do what he is told.
Rowan gets on the back of Malcolm’s horse and the Companions leave the farm. As they head back to the main road, they encounter a group of local farmers who are rushing to aide their neighbour. They challenge the Companions, thinking they are the attackers. Rowan helps the Companions persuade the men that they were responsible for driving off the goblins.
Banquo tells them they are going after the goblins and invites them to join the hunt, but they do not have horses to keep up. Logan gives Banquo an odd look, as this is clearly not what they are planning to do. The men head onto the farm and the Companions head back to the main road.
On the main road, Logan finds the tracks of the bandits who have Prince Edmund and they resume the pursuit. The road has a lot of tracks and following them is not easy, but Logan has got used to what their tracks look like. There is a horse with a twisted horse shoe, which helps him be sure it is the right group he is tracking.
Further along they come to a village that the road goes through. The locals are defensive of riders on horseback and question the Companions, but they soon allow them to ride on.
Later that day, Logan realises he was lost track of the bandits. He cannot find their tracks anywhere. They are forced to go back down the road to find them. Fortunately, he is able to determine that they turned off the main road onto a side trail.
The trail is difficult to follow and overgrown. The direction is also much more north, which could mean it leads into the Goblin Kingdom of Thurazur. As they travel, Rowan asks Malcolm where they are going, but Malcolm does not give him any useful answers.
After a while they cross a stream and emerge in a less wooded area, which has signs that a previous camp has been here. As it is getting late, Logan decides this would be a good place to set up camp.
They quickly set Rowan tasks such as collecting fire wood and preparing some food. After he has done his work, Banquo agrees to start teaching him how to use a sword and gives him brief information about their quest to rescue Prince Edmund.
Logan spends a bit of time examining the remains of the previous camp, trying to learn more about this group of bandits.
Once a fire is lit, Sam decides to use his fire magic to divine some information from the flames of the fire. He is able to cause the fire to show him what the camp looked like when the bandits lit their camp fire. He can see there are around a dozen of them and they have Prince Edmund with them, tied up and gagged.
Sam notices that a grizzled, older man, probably an ex-soldier, is the leader of the group. He also has a skinny, long, red-haired man with a nasty face who is his right-hand man, who Sam had seen in his vision in the Pool of Navron cut the throats of some of the monks. There is also a very large man who bashed the head in of at least one monk and a woman with a bow. They are the most noticeable members of the bandit group, the rest are fairly non-descript.
The group also seems rather sullen, considering they have achieved their goal of capturing the Prince. Sam seems them ungag Edmund and give him food, while they appear to mock the Prince. There is no sound, just a vision, but Sam gets some clues from their faces.
Sam lets everyone know about the lead members of the bandits he has identified from his visions. The lines up with some of the observations of the tracks made by Logan
Sam then goes to where Prince Edmund was left tied up. He notices that the Prince has drawn the Coat of Arms of the Royal House of Cariele in the ground. They remember it from the tabard Edmund wore at the wedding, before he changed into the pilgrims robes that Brother William gave him in Greenest.
Their camp overnight is uneventful. Rowan stays up with one of them to do a watch. In the morning, they resume their journey along this trail.
Further along the trail, it begins to rise into some hills. They come across a skeleton hanging in a cage, which stands before an eerie, abandoned village. There are only a few houses, but the tracks of the bandits go right through it.
They stop to investigate the village briefly. What little is left in the buildings is rotten and useless. Logan finds an old, defiled tree to Eric. Rowan is very spooked by the village, but manages to keep his nerve.
They leave the village, which is high up in the hills and the trail heads back down eastwards and they cross a stream. The trail then follows the stream north and leads between two hills into a valley.
Logan then spots a building, what looks like an old, abandoned keep in the valley ahead that is mostly surrounded by hills. The other end of the valley ends in a lake. The stream runs down the middle of the valley and flows into the lake. There is a narrow waterway leading between two hills at the other end of the valley. There is also the ruins of a farm on the opposite side of the stream from the Keep.
It seems like the Keep can only be reached by following the trail, as it is not visible outside the valley.
They cautiously follow the trail along the side of the hill. They can see smoke coming from a chimney, suggesting someone is living in the Keep.
When they round a corner they are in full view of the Keep. They stop and back off around the corner to avoid being seen.
They discuss what to do next. Banquo proposes that he take Rowan and scout the place out, but Malcolm says he can slip into the Shadow Realm and investigate without being seen. They decide that would be a better idea.
Malcolm sneaks ahead then uses his special ability to step into a shadow in this world and tries into the Shadow Realm, but he has not done this for a while and finds it difficult to get into the right mental state to make it happen. Eventually though he makes it.
In the Shadow Realm, he sees that the Keep exists there too. There is a tall tower, with a disturbing, fell light that seems to pulsate in the top room of the tower, which is odd because he usually finds the Realm empty. The whole atmosphere is much more disturbing and some sort of large bird caws loudly in the sky, making him jump.
Composing himself, Malcolm moves towards the tower and tries to work out how to emerge next to the Keep but not inside it. However, the Shadow Realm is dark and disorientating and he struggles to find a shadow to step through. When he finally doesfind one to step through, he finds himself indoors – in the Keep.
It is dark, but there is a burning torch at the end of the corridor. He soon realises he is in a dungeon and there are cells, mostly rotted and empty. He checks the cells as he moves towards the torch. As he reaches the end of the corridor, there are some stairs going up by the burning torch. In the cell next to the stairs is someone asleep, who is wearing pilgrim’s robes. It is almost certainly Prince Edmund.
Malcolm decides not to disturb him for now. He heads up the stairs and finds a guard room, in which a big, burly man is sat. He is awake but has not noticed anything yet. Malcolm realises the man will see him if he crosses the room, but realises he has no choice. The man shouts out and begins to chase him.
Malcolm then runs through the Keep, relying on his instincts to take the right turns. He is lucky and finds a way out. They see him emerge from the Keep, being chased by a large, angry-looking man and another man.