Adventure Summaries Sessions 17 to 24

The adventurers arrive at Cerradyn mid-afternoon. They visit the Company of Elea to cash the second of their letters obligatory. Coroletto of Elea tells Zeno and his companions off for running late, as he's had to keep their funds set aside for a week. Suitably chastened, the adventurers go to the Rose and Thorn Inn, where Hermione has stayed before when she and Wesley travelled through Vestad. The innkeeper, Rigley Sasson, is expecting Hermione, and takes her to the main suite. Wesley and his servant Armand are currently staying at the Inn, where Wesley has been receiving daily updates from Fierce about Hermione's imminent arrival. With them is Hermione's cousin, Sir Ainsley Ristol, and Jack falls in love with Ainsley at first sight.

Hermione's reunion with Wesley is warm and affectionate; her reunion with Ainsley, fraught with conflict and recriminations. Ainsley has travelled north from Duneld Across the Water to find Hermione, as Ainsley's father, Baron Ristol, has received a letter from the Goblin King Thraim demanding a ransom of 200 pounds for Hermione's father, who they all thought had died at the sack of Louten in 1395 AUC. Ainsley asks Hermione to verify if the letter is truly from her father, which it is: Jack notes that the words are oddly spaced, and Theresa realises that the first letter of each line forms an acrostic in Old Emphidian that reads, "Held at Rultinton". Hermione and Wesley both recognise Rultinton as the village in Old Duneld closest to Celduin Wood and Dunnston Mound.

Assured by their find that the ransom demand is genuine, Ainsley promises to go back to her father and let him know to start raising his brother's ransom, which will take several years. In response, Hermione announces her intention to go to Rultinton as soon as they have finished their journey of a thousand leagues and kill her way through the Goblin King's army to free her father. This causes more arguments with Ainsley, who approved of Theresa's suggestion that perhaps they could take a stealthier and more cunning approach instead.

The adventurers have dinner with Wesley, Armand, and Ainsley, whose attention is divided between sniping with Hermione about anything and everything (including that Hermione eloped with a nobleman and then didn't marry him) and enjoying Jack's ardent attention and flattery. The other adventurers make some efforts to discourage Ainsley from encouraging Jack, but aren't willing to reveal the secret of his curse, and their efforts fall short.

After dinner, the adventurers decide how to divide up the three remaining bedrooms in the suite between them. Ainsley to Hermione: "Are you going to sleep on the floor again, like a peasant?" Theresa: "No, Amaryllos sleeps on the floor like a peasant, he was abused by the people who raised him."

Hermione and Theresa share one room, Zeno takes on the responsibility of guarding Luxian in the second, and Amaryllos is left to watch over Jack in the third. Amaryllos tries to persuade Jack to drink some tea to help him sleep, but Jack cannot sleep while the object of his love is close by. Amaryllos goes to Zeno and Luxian's room for counsel, and Zeno refuses to let Luxian answer the door in case Hermione is testing how well he is serving as Luxian's bodyguard. The three of them discuss the situation, but see no socially acceptable way to restrain Jack, giving him free rein to visit Ainsley in her room and woo her with his charms. In the end, Amaryllos sleeps on his own while Jack enjoys a night of passion with Ainsley.

Hermione's 20th birthday. Theresa coaxes Hermione to "do something nice" with her hair, cleans her clothing with magic, and lends her the silver bracelet from Corwyn Silverfinder to wear.

The adventurers plan to buy birthday presents for Hermione, as well as presents for each other for Year's End. Jack promises Ainsley that he will bring her the best Year's End gift she has ever received. Ainsley: "I look forward to seeing it. Impress me - like you did last night." Amaryllos: "I’m going to need more tea."

Amaryllos, Jack and Zeno go to the markets to shop, while Wesley takes Hermione, Luxian and Theresa to meet Magister Albin Koszalin of the Tirynian Circle, who has been providing him with assistance in his efforts to locate the homeland of the Eadgils and who can provide the rare inks Theresa needs to transcribe arcane spells from Wesley's papers into her Book of Shadows.

Amaryllos and Zeno are unable to stop Jack spending all his money buying gifts for his new-found true love Ainsley, including a musket and half a dozen bags of gunpowder and shot, but Zeno talks him into giving Ainsley her gifts after dinner (when the infatuation phase of his curse will have ended). Jack doesn't have the money to buy presents for anyone else, but promises to give them their Year's End presents some other time.

Albin is pleased to be introduced to Luxian and Theresa, and recognises Master Eddas as a fellow Magister who he last met when Eddas was old and he was young. Albin tells the others off for their lack of respect towards Master Eddas, as he is their senior in the Tirynian Circle. Albin is willing to provide Theresa with the rare inks she needs to copy the arcane scrolls he provided to Wesley: Master Eddas tells Theresa to buy more inks, but Theresa refuses to draw in advance on the funds she holds that are for their upcoming salary payments.

When they return to the Rose and Thorn Inn, Jack sneaks into Ainsley's room to hide the presents he bought for her throughout her belongings. Zeno and Amaryllos bite the bullet and tell Ainsley about Jack's curse. Ainsley is very concerned for Jack's wellbeing, and refuses to have anything more to do with him, reducing him to frustrated tears. Jack: "These guys just ran in and shat in my mouth!" Wesley: "Really?" Armand: "I suspect it’s a metaphor, my lord." Theresa and Ainsley search her room for the presents Jack purchased, but he's hidden them too well.

Jack falls out of love with Ainsley, leaving him deeply dejected, and he continues to quietly weep bitter tears while the others give Hermione her birthday presents and settle down for dinner. Things go well throughout dinner, until ...

... the colourful candles decorating the inn gutter and dim, and the corner of the room is lifted up by a two-headed giant while a goblin warband shouts outside in Dakkandi. The adventurers quickly rally to confront the attackers, except for Jack, who bitterly complains that his heart burns before fleeing into his room, only to find himself elsewhere, in an underground catacomb with vaulted arches.

Theresa uses magic to befuddle the giant's heads, making them attack each other. Amaryllos transforms into a giant wolf and goes outside to confront the goblin warband, only to retreat when they stay in good order and fire volleys of arrows at him. Armand escorts Wesley into their bedroom for his safety, only for Hermione to find that they've disappeared when she follows after them. Hermione crashes through the window and goes to confront the goblin warband. She challenges their commander, only to be told, "I’m not here to challenge you, I’m here to enslave you like I enslaved your father." Hermione charges the warband, but is quickly overcome with many wounds.

Jack is joined by Dormita, who he falls in love with at first sight. Dormita tells Jack she can help him so that his heart doesn't burn any more, pulls something invisible from her wing, and offers it to him.

Luxian goes to the window of his bedroom to see into the courtyard, and is startled to come face to face with an animated cadaver formed from stitching the body parts of several dead men together. The cadaver crashes through the window and lumbers after Luxian, while a tentacled beast tries and fails to drag Theresa and Ainsley under the table. Luxian's spells are unable to stop the cadaver, but make the colourful candles dim briefly. Theresa realises something is awry when there are stairs in a corner where there were no stairs before. Ainsley and Theresa hear Hermione calling for help from up the stairs, and Ainsley tells Theresa she has to go save her cousin. Before Ainsley can go up the stairs, Luxian alerts Theresa that there is something strange about the candles, and Theresa picks one up and extinguishes it against the wall.

Everyone suddenly finds themselves sitting around the dining table, as they were before the giant attacked, except for Theresa, who is standing beside an extinguished candle. Dormita is standing beside Jack, and they can hear the sounds of moaning and crying from outside, as if many other people were trapped in a world of nightmares, as they had been. Dormita does not stay for long, floating away through a wall after telling Jack, "Your heart will burn," leaving the knife Hermione threw after her quivering in the wall.

The adventurers check the rest of the inn, finding Rigley Sasson and the other staff and guests all suffering in nightmares that end when the colourful candles Rigley purchased to celebrate Year's End are extinguished. Many other people in the neighbourhood also purchased the colourful candles, which were sold at the market by the candlemaker Edarad Prinn, who lives a few hours to the north of Cerradyn.

After helping bring a semblance of order to the neighbourhood, the adventurers discuss the situation. The colourful candles contain what appears to be a blackened feather as their wicks, and it seems clear that Edarad has some connection with Dormita. Edarad's home is near the great road that runs north to Ranimia, and not far out of their way, so they decide to go there in the morning and investigate further.

Jack remains smitten with Dormita, and cannot be persuaded to think badly of her. Hermione: "She burns people’s hearts." Jack: "Everybody has hobbies." Jack fetches Father Casagrande's scales, which he collected in Navyn when they rescued Roberta, and Luxian confiscates them "for safe-keeping". The others decide to keep Jack safe from Dormita by having him sleep wearing Zeno's relic of Saint Merel. Jack: "The necklace? But that was given to you by a ladyfriend! I can’t intrude on that relationship!" Theresa: “She was ninety! Zeno: “More importantly, she was a saint!” Jack sleeps soundly, untroubled by his dreams. Theresa stays up late transcribing arcane rituals from Wesley's papers into her book of shadows.

The adventurers, Wesley and Armand prepare to travel north with the wagon containing the Kingstone of the Eadgils. Ainsley returns Jack's presents to him before she leaves, travelling east towards Teran and Elmet.

While Armand is checking that the wagon is ready and the Kingstone is securely tied down, Wesley seeks out Hermione for a private conversation. Theresa and Jack buy them more time by distracting Armand with questions and flattery (on Theresa's part) and physically touching and interfering with the wagon (on Jack's part). Wesley is concerned that other people think they should be married and that Hermione thinks his mother doesn't approve of their friendship. He assures Hermione that they are good friends, and swears to help her rescue her father when the time comes.

The adventurers, Wesley and Armand travel together for several hours until the wagon reaches the point where the adventurers have to turn off the main road to go to Edarad Prinn's home. Armand stops the wagon, and Theresa leaves Master Eddas with Wesley so they can continue to talk while the adventurers take their detour.

As the adventurers travel west, they are warned by locals that the woods near Edarad's home have dangerously large bees. After entering the woods, the adventurers are confronted by several bees, each the size of a large dog. Hermione placates the giant bees and guides the others past them without incident.

The adventurers arrive at Edarad Prinn's house, a ramshackle wooden cottage that backs on to a small rocky outcrop. Inside, they find extensive stretches of wax in spartan rooms lacking furniture. A small hole in the back wall leads to a small cave in the ridge behind the cottage. The cave is a workshop, with wax covering the walls and splattered over the books on the work benches. The books are a diverse selection of tomes that cover beekeeping, candlemaking, and arcane theories of enchantment magic, the last of which Theresa takes with her.

Jack is keen to continue on to find his beloved Dormita, but is stopped before he steps on a pit in the corridor that is obscured by the wax over the floor. The adventurers make their way along a narrow ledge on one side of the corridor and into a cluster of hexagonal chambers that are partially lit by sunlight through openings in the cavern ceiling. One of the chambers contains a human-sized wax creature in the shape of a human that attacks the adventurers, who melt it with magic fire. The fire also melts the wax on the walls, revealing a stone door. Beyond the stone door, the adventurers find Edarad Prinn at work in his workshop, making more enchanted candles while guarded by another wax humanoid.

Edarad is uncooperative and clearly mentally unbalanced, setting his wax servant on the adventurers when they refuse to leave and buzzing in the language of bees to recall his other servants. Amaryllos uses his magic flame to set alight all the enchanted candles on the rig Edarad was hanging to dry, sending everyone except Zeno into a shared nightmare, including Edarad. When the candles are extinguished, Edarad is furious with Dormita. Edarad: "She said it wouldn't happen to me! How could she betray me?"

Now united with the adventurers against a common foe, Edarad willingly answers their questions, Edarad explains that Dormita gave him secret knowledge and let him use her feathers as the wicks to make enchanted candles, so that she could enjoy people's fear and despair as their hopes and dreams for the coming year turned to nightmares. Jack asks Edarad when Dormita will next visit, but Edarad recognises that he is under a curse and tells the others, "Take the poor fool away." Jack: "I'm not poor and I'm no fool." Zeno: "You spent it all on a gun." Edarad gives Luxian the enchanted candles he was going to use to summon Dormita, as he now wants nothing to do with her.

The adventurers warn Edarad that other people will come from the city to confront him once they work out what happened, and learn that he intends to leave now he cannot trust in Dormita's protection. Edarad goes to collect his books from the other room, and Theresa gives him back his arcane tome that she was "looking after and safe-keeping" for him. Edarad flies off with his giant bees, standing astride two of them as they buzz away over the treeline.

The adventurers return to the main road, where Wesley, Armand and Master Eddas are waiting for them. They all continue on together for the rest of the afternoon, before stopping at a traveller's inn for the night. As they are still days behind their schedule and the wagon moves more slowly than they do, the adventurers plan to leave the next morning at first light. Wesley asks Theresa if Master Eddas can stay with him, which Theresa allows despite Amaryllos' objections. Amaryllos: "Return to the river, dark skull!"

Jack falls out of love with Dormita during dinner, leaving him a pitiable, sobbing wreck. Theresa suggests Jack should let her manage his money so he doesn't spend it all while affected by his curse. Hermione takes Wesley to his room for a private conversation, without Armand, who waits outside the door instead. While they talk, the others quietly discuss their not-a-relationship. Amaryllos: "Just say it - 'I love you!'" Theresa: "I'm not sure she knows what to say to him, though." Jack (sobbing): "If people were just plain in their speech, people wouldn't get their hearts broken!" Hermione and Wesley plan to meet up again when she has finished the trek of a thousand leagues so they can go together to Old Duneld and rescue her father. Fierce, curled up on the pillow in a heart shape: "Now's when you kiss!" Instead, Wesley and Hermione awkwardly finish the conversation and return to the others in the dining room.

Master Eddas rewards Theresa for her past service by dictating an arcane secret to her that she carefully transcribes into her book of shadows.

The adventurers set out for northern Vestad, leaving Wesley, Armand and Master Eddas to follow their footsteps later in the day in the wagon.

The adventurers continue to travel, rather than stop for a day of rest. In the evening, Jack emerges from his funk and regains his usual self-confidence. He gives the relic of Saint Merel back to Zeno.

The adventurers reach Dorr, a major city at the southern end of the Dorr Pass through the Nenian Mountains to Ranimia. They learn that merchants, pilgrims and other travellers have been intermittently attacked and killed in the Dorr Pass, and as a result fewer people are travelling north and those who do are grouping together to travel in larger caravans, hoping for strength and safety in numbers. The adventurers split up into two groups to learn more, with Amaryllos, Jack and Zeno in one group and Hermione, Luxian and Theresa in the other.

Zeno finds to his surprise that the Company of Elea is viewed with hostility by the local merchants. They learn that the lyrist Philomena is also looking for people to travel north with for safety, and go to the tavern where she is performing to talk with her. Jack falls in love with Philomena at first sight, and talks with her after her performance under the watchful gaze of her bodyguard, Ector. Philomena tells Jack she would be delighted to talk over dinner, and takes them to an expensive restaurant. Amaryllos tries to scare Philomena away by hissing at her like a cat, convincing her that he's cursed in some way and leading her to offer to try and free him from his curse in the morning with a magic song.

Amaryllos (in an aside to Zeno): "It seems this woman wishes to sleep her way to a free guide across the pass. We should warn her that he loses interest after about a day." Zeno: "Hush! Where I am from that would be enough to strike you, or her man to challenge you." Amaryllos (sighs): "I wish he would."

They are joined at the restaurant by the other three, and Theresa is immediately hostile towards Philomena, who is puzzled by the strength of Theresa's animosity towards her. Theresa briefly steps away from the table to compose herself, and Philomena is for a little while surprisingly socially gauche, with an annoying laugh, until she regains her suave charm after a few minutes. Ector starts cautioning Philomena that it would be unwise to travel with the adventurers tomorrow.

Theresa insists that Jack isn't paying for everyone's dinner, or for the expensive wine Philomena orders, as she's the custodian of his money. Jack excuses himself "to go to the bathroom", and instead goes to search through Theresa's belongings for his purse. He finds his purse, but it only contains a note from Theresa telling him off for thinking she would be so foolish to leave his money there. Jack: "I wonder how much this purse would fetch?" Zeno and Theresa go to check on Jack, and catch him continuing to search for money. Zeno: "I remind you, you do not have coin, you have a rifle." Theresa uses her arcane arts to send Jack to sleep, then pats his hair. Theresa: "It's for the best, Jack."

The adventurers leave Philomena to deal with the restaurant staff and return to their accommodation for the evening. Theresa is pushed by the others to tell them what she knows about Philomena. Theresa: "Look. I know this woman. She trades people to the Elves for power. She’s a slaver. I don’t want Jack in her power, she’ll trade him for a magic flute or something." Amaryllos: "Friends don't let friends get enslaved by Elves."

When he wakes, Theresa tells Jack that Philomena is going to meet them on the road north tomorrow, and none of the others reveal that she is lying. Zeno gives the relic of Saint Merel back to Jack for him to wear, in the hope that it helps protect him from the curse or from Dormita's influence.

The adventurers leave Dorr in the morning for the Dorr Pass. Jack is keen to catch up with Philomena, and grows increasingly suspicious that she isn't ahead of them as Theresa claims the more they press on at a fast pace. Eventually, Jack decides Philomena must be behind them, and wants to turn back to find her. In response, Theresa once again uses her arcane arts to send Jack to sleep, and Hermione ties him on Paketos' back so he can't get free when he wakes up. The others continue on, despite Jack's protestations, for the rest of the day. They wait until Jack falls out of love with Philomena that evening to untie him, now dejected and miserable.

As they continue through the Dorr Pass, the adventurers hear distant cries for help. They leave the main pass to investigate, climbing up a steep hillside covered with deer tracks. The voices are coming from a cleft in the hill with a foul, rotting stench: when the adventurers advance, they find two hideous creatures with the legs of a deer, the body and neck of a lion, and the head of the badger. Luxian identifies them as Leucrotta, arcane creatures perhaps cursed by one of the Emphidian gods long ago.

The adventurers talk to the Leucrotta, who reply with snippets of words they have heard spoken by other people in the Dorr Pass. The snippets include calls for help, reminders that they're on a pilgrimage and will be safe, and orders to kneel before the servants of the Witch-King. Approaching the Leucrotta startles them into running, and they agilely climb up the sides of the cleft to escape from the adventurers.

The adventurers return to the main pass and continue on. In the afternoon they pass the mighty pillar, carved in an old Selentine style, that marks the border between Vestad and Ranimia. That evening they camp underneath an overhang for shelter, which hides them from a group of winged creatures that passes overhead twice in the night, too high for even Theresa to see in the dark sky.

As they continue through the Dorr Pass, the adventurers meet a small group of travellers returning to Vestad from Ranimia. Preben and his daughter Bogdana are returning home after a pilgrimage to Selentium, while Gosti is bringing his niece Tomila south from her family home to meet other relatives. All four are travelling with Ludmil, a man-at-arms, for protection on the road. The adventurers and travellers sit and share lunch together: Preben shows off his handkerchief, which was personally blessed by Pontiff Paola III, and his plan to return to Selentium for Holy-Month, as 1400 AUC has been declared a Jubilee year by the Pontiff.

After lunch, Zeno persuades the other adventurers to escort the travellers for the rest of the day and to keep them safe that night by luring the Goblin raiders into an ambush.

The adventurers return to where they camped the night before with the other travellers. They have the travellers hide underneath the overhang while they prepare a fake camp some distance away, borrowing their tents to do so. Ludmil offers to help Zeno against the goblins, and is offended when Zeno turns him down. Zeno tries to help Ludmil save face by explaining that he should stay with the non-combatants and guard them instead, but Theresa undermines Zeno's suggestion by insisting on going to hide near the fake camp with Zeno in wait for the goblins while Ludmil stays behind with the others.

Well after dark, a small group of winged creatures pass overhead and circle over the fake camp. Theresa hurls eldritch blasts into one of the creatures, making it plummet out of the sky while the others flee into the night sky. The adventurers investigate the fallen creature, and find that it's a large featherless beast with leathery wings. The goblin rider, who was hurled from the saddle and fell to his death, lies nearby. Amaryllos transforms into the beast, and discovers that he cannot resist the distant command of the Witch-King of Wyrd. Amaryllos waddles off to rejoin the other beasts at the goblins' base of operations high up on a nearby mountain, but is quickly stopped by the others and persuaded to transform back into a kattar by Zeno.

Rather than immediately set off in search of the goblins' base, the adventurers hide once again and wait to see if the goblins return to investigate further. Their patience is rewarded when over a dozen winged creatures return. One of the goblins hurls a ball of fire down into the fake camp, destroying the tents and ruining Zeno's cache of spears, before all but one of the other goblins fly down to investigate the devastated fake camp. The adventurers counterattack the goblins while Theresa uses her fey magic to turn the spellcasting goblin against the other goblin who stayed with them high in the sky. The spellcasting goblin attacks their companion's flying steed and flies away, and their companion pursues them away from the fake camp and retaliates in turn. Eventually, the spellcasting goblin fells the other goblin's flying steed, and they plummet down away from the camp. Bereft of leadership, the remaining goblins retreat into the night sky after the adventurers have dropped two of their flying beasts from the sky.

Guided by Amaryllos' impressions of the goblins' base and her familiarity with goblins, Hermione has a good sense of where they need to go to confront the goblins. The adventurers set out to do so, and on the way they find both the dead flying steed that was felled by goblin magic and its well-armoured rider, unconscious but alive. The adventurers strap him down on the back of Amaryllos the lion, bound and gagged, and continue around the mountain. While passing through a narrow pass between the mountainside and a dark mere, a large snake made of water rears up out of the mere and attacks the adventurers. The large snake eventually loses its surface tension and the water collapses back into the mere, leaving the adventurers and their now-conscious prisoner drenched.

The adventurers remove their prisoner's gag and question him. Sir Dupperda is a knight in the service of King Thraim the Lesser, the goblin king who holds Hermione's father for ransom. The adventurers agree to ransom Sir Dupperda for information about the goblins and their intentions. Sir Dupperda explains how the Witch-King commanded his subjects, the goblin kings, to provide vassals who had no fear of heights to raid the Dorr Pass on strange flying beasts and stop pilgrims travelling to Selentium for the Jubilee year. The assembled goblins are led on the raids by Sir Ganith at the direction of the sorcerer Tyglarior, an elf-like goblin in the Witch-King's service. Sir Dupperda also tells the adventurers about the postern gate inside a cave on the far side of the mountain that they can use to enter the goblin base without flying to the ledges high on the mountain like the goblins do on their flying beasts.

Satisfied with his information, Zeno paroles Sir Dupperda, who sets out on foot for Old Duneld. The adventurers discuss how to proceed, and decide to assault the postern gate, break the goblins' morale, and compel them to cease raiding and retreat to the south. Hermione leads them to the cave and the postern gate, where Zeno and Theresa slip through the arrowslits beside the stone door and into the guardroom, surprising four goblins guards who are dicing for pennies. Zeno lifts the heavy wooden bar and opens the door while Theresa terrifies the guards with her fey presence, sending them fleeing outside past the others.

Luxian and Grund stay in the cave to guard their retreat while the others press on, ordering two goblin blacksmiths to stay in their smithy, ignoring guard animals that scratch at the door to their pen, and quickly taking a flight of steps upwards. Turning to the left, the adventurers find their way to a door, which a goblin soldier opens when Amaryllos the cat scritches at it. Beyond the door is a large dormitory where Sir Ganith is rallying soldiers to investigate the commotion caused by the assault. The adventurers attack under the cover of pitch darkness, summoned by Theresa, that only Theresa can see through without impediment.

The soldiers inside the field of darkness are quickly demoralised, with some killed by Theresa's eldritch blasts and others hiding under their beds. Sir Ganith sends some of the soldiers outside the darkness away through a different door while the remaining soldiers form a shield wall to cover their withdrawal. Zeno, Jack and Amaryllos the lion attack the shield wall while Hermione hangs back to guard the stairs in case they need to retreat. Sir Ganith steps in as the shield wall starts to break apart and battles the three adventurers, buying the surviving soldiers time to retreat out of the room. Sir Ganith makes a fighting retreat after his soldiers, and briefly holds the door against the adventurers to give the servants time to retreat from the nearby kitchen.

Back at the stairs, Hermione hears goblin soldiers approaching from the other direction. Hermione slips away to join the others after hearing Tyglarior command the soldiers to push forward into the room and search for the enemy.

Luxian and Grund make their way up the stairs and join the others in the dormitory before the goblin soldiers can block the way. From around the corner at the end of the corridor, one of the goblin soldiers calls out to them in broken Low Bacchile, asking who they are and why they are attacking. Hermione soon takes over as the only one among the adventurers who can speak Dakkandi, and negotiates with the soldier, whose name is Lughin. Hermione explains that Sir Zeno is a Pilgrim Guard and they are set on stopping their attacks on pilgrims and other travellers through the Dorr Pass. Lughin confirms that the attacks are taking place at the behest of "the Great One" (the Witch-King of Wyrd), and their raiding parties are under the direction of Tyglarior, one of the Witch-King's lieutenants.

Lughin leaves and returns several times, ferrying messages back and forth between the adventurers and Tyglarior, and waiting patiently while the adventurers discuss among themselves in Old Emphidian what they should do. Jack, who does not speak Old Emphidian, smiles and nods at appropriate points in the discussions to conceal that from the others. The adventurers learn that Tyglarior has recently returned to life through the Cycle of Arda after his death at the famous Battle of Mantil over four hundred years ago, and is seeking to take revenge on the followers of the True Faith for that humiliating defeat. Tyglarior is keen to take revenge in person against the upstart Pilgrim Guard and his companions, and challenges them to face him in battle or surrender. Lughin asks Hermione if she will act alongside him as herald, and after some discussion in Old Emphidian the adventurers settle on nominating Luxian as their herald, so that if things go poorly for them he can leave unharmed and continue on the thousand leagues quest, even if alone. Luxian quietly tells Grund in Terran that he is to protect their friends.

With the negotiations completed, Lughin (who is almost as wide as he is tall) approaches holding a white cloth. Luxian joins Lughin in holding the cloth, and they lead the way for the adventurers to follow. Lughin leads them past the stairs down the way they came to the opposite corridor, right up another flight of stairs, and then left into a large natural cavern, illuminated with sickly green arcane lighting. At one end of the cavern there is a large stone altar, covered in a dark, viscous fluid. Behind the altar is a smouldering fire beneath a small natural fissure that draws the smoke outside. Goblin soldiers troop in behind the adventurers and stand against the right-hand wall to watch the battle. Sir Ganith, with his wounds hastily bandaged, is among them.

Two goblins in robes slowly enter the cavern, clashing cymbals together every four paces. Tyglarior follows them into the cavern, armed with his jagged black sword Anquirel and his equally jagged black longbow. Tyglarior is not at all perturbed by taunts about keeping his weapons when he is defeated, and is instead suspiciously enthusiastic when he encourages Zeno to take Anquirel as his own if he is victorious. Theresa makes sure to tell Tyglarior in Cabbandari that she is an elf-lord's servant and he would ransom her if defeated.

The adventurers battle Tyglarior while Luxian, Lughin, and the assembled goblins watch on. Tyglarior talks with Grund in Terran, and when Grund explains that he's there to protect his friends, bewitches Grund with his elf-like charm, leaving Grund paralysed with indecision about what to do when his friends are fighting. Tyglarior compels Zeno to drop Lord Morian's spear, and Theresa is delighted when she tricks Tyglarior into picking it up to use against Zeno and he is scorched by the fiery death curse. Furious, Tyglarior hurls the spear at Zeno, wounding him slightly and returning it to him. Fierce is fearful for Hermione and tells her to flee, but Hermione refuses to do so and asks Fierce to help Zeno, which he does. Tyglarior is infuriated with Jack's prattling and disrespectful banter, and pursues him across the cavern, disappearing and reappearing in clouds of smoke.

As the battle rages on, Tyglarior grows ever more wrathful, and his fearsome presence terrifies almost everyone in the cavern into fleeing, including the watching goblins. Zeno and Fierce are among the few who are not affected, drawing Tyglarior's attention. Tyglarior almost incapacitates Zeno with Anquirel, but with great effort Zeno strikes down Tyglarior first, crushing his temple with the butt of Lord Morian's spear.

The shaken goblins quickly depart to take word of the adventurers' victory back to Old Duneld and Krarth, leaving the adventurers with Tyglarior's body. Anyone who touches Anquirel or the jagged black longbow hears distant whispers from far away to the southwest, and the whispers only disappear when Zeno holds out Saint Merel's reliquary and calls on the True God to drive away the arcane. Fierce also flees from the reliquary, while the viscous fluid on the altar dissolves, the fire behind it flares and is extinguished, and Tyglarior's spirit flees from the cavern. Afterward, the magic lights shine like torchlight instead of the sickly green glow they had before.

The adventurers search through the goblin base, but find little of value left behind by the goblin raiders to claim as treasure. They find a crypt next to the cavern, carved with dwarven runes and decorations, and decide to place Tyglarior and his cursed weapons inside the crypt, then have Grund fill the crypt with rubble. Inside the crypt is the skeletal remains of a dwarf, buried in shining chain mail and holding a gleaming axe to his breast. When they reach out to take the axe, the skeleton rises up to defend its possession, and is quickly shattered into pieces by the Exemplars. Zeno decides to keep the chain mail, as his own is battered and in need of repair. Nobody wants to claim the axe, so the adventurers leave it with the skeletal remains at the bottom of the crypt, then put in Tyglarior and his cursed weapons. Theresa is tempted to keep his rings, but is concerned that the Witch-King often gives magic rings to people to make them become his servants, and decides to leave Tyglarior with his jewellery.

Grund fills the crypt with rubble, and the adventurers leave the base and return to the pilgrims, who are still waiting under the overhang beside the main pass. The pilgrims are delighted to hear that the goblin raiders have been driven away, and that the adventurers will camp with them for the rest of the night.

The adventurers and the pilgrims say their farewells and go their separate ways, with the pilgrims continuing south to Vestad and the adventurers resuming their journey north to Ranimia.

By the time they camp for the evening, Zeno is aware that the magic chain mail is slowly transforming him into a dwarf. He decides to continue to wear the armour anyway because he can protect others better while wearing it.