On the morning after the undead had been vanquished from the marketplace village, Cedric the Emerald Knight awoke in the quiet dawn. He alone heard a strange lure song from the woods. Without a word, he followed it, leaving behind time, reason, and his companions. Meanwhile, Veylan the Moss Knight joined the others, seeking the same purpose, as Cedric ventured deeper.
Cedric wandered all that day, the song always ahead, and slept among ancient, overgrown stones. The next morning, he pressed on and stumbled into a glade. There, he saw a tall mirror with an ornate wooden frame, standing upon an ancient stone platform. As Cedric approached, his reflection moved on its own and stepped forth: a darker-armored double wielding a spear.
They fought, mirroring every strike. Cedric pretended to strike the mirror, but his reflection mirrored the threat. Creating distance, Cedric laid down his weapon and shield to test it. The reflection did not follow suit. It drove its spear through him.
Cedric fell.
Yet he awoke unscathed, lying alone beside a now ordinary mirror, with his horse standing faithfully at his side. Only then did he remember that he had forgotten his friends.
After the wraith struck from the sky and slew the fallen seer, Veylan, Nikolaos, and Garth buried what little remained. They slept poorly, cloaked by the overturned boat. At dawn, they travelled northwest, finding a reed hut. Cedric’s horse stood outside.
Inside, they found Cedric and the Reed Seer.
Suspicion hung in the air. The Reed Seer explained that the fallen seer had been the traitor, killed by his own wraith. He spoke of the crystal rose and the wonder it would stir in the capital. He spoke, too, of a future king, and of a realm whose present ruler he did not hold in high regard. The rose, he said, would belong to one who might yet wear the crown.
Thus he urged them onward toward Crownsford.
As the knights rode northwest, they reached Aveline, a town straddling the forks of a great river. They arrived at dusk and saw that the eastern quarter had been burned. There too the dead had risen, and there too the land had suffered beneath the same dark signs.
They were welcomed to the castle and dined with Kari, the old noble blood of Aveline, who told them of the attack and of the fear now moving through the realm. Soon it would be Spiremass, when all vassals were expected to ride to Crownsford. The road of omen and duty had become the road of the realm itself.
So the company joined Kari’s riverboat and travelled north.
Near Crownsford, Nikolaos climbed atop the mast and saw the Reed Seer upon the riverbank. Above him loomed the shadow of a wraith. The company disembarked in haste. Nikolaos charged first, swift and brave, but the wraith struck down the Reed Seer and mortally wounded Nikolaos.
Then the knights came together.
Cedric, Veylan, Garth, and their companions fell upon the creature as one. Steel and courage met shadow and malice, and together they slew the wraith. By fortune, skill, or the mercy of powers unseen, both the Reed Seer and Nikolaos were saved from death.
Yet the victory carried a price.
The Reed Seer had crossed the forbidden river, and in doing so lost his sight-gift. The vision that had guided him was gone. The future, once glimpsed through signs and prophecy, became hidden even from him.
Thus ended the session: with Cedric returned from the mirror’s trial, with Veylan the Moss Knight standing beneath the sign of the crystal rose, with Nikolaos wounded but living, with the Reed Seer blinded to fate, and with Crownsford drawing near.
And here, perhaps, the chronicle rests.
The players have spoken of passing the mantle of storytelling, and so this may be the end, or only the pause, of our tale. The rose remains. The crown waits. The river has been crossed. And somewhere beyond the sight of seers, the next king may already be walking toward his throne.
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