Adventure Summaries Sessions 1 to 8

Federigo speaks to his apprentices and chooses Luxian as the one to go on his quest and wear the thousand leagues boots. Farrukh congratulates Luxian warmly, Imilia less so, and Espin is angry that he was not chosen.

The other adventurers arrive and join Federigo and his apprentice for a dinner party: Zeno is accompanied by his uncle, Phocas. Farrukh is fascinated by Amaryllos, who he is convinced has been cursed to have black fur. Jack falls in love with Theresa at first sight.

After dinner, Federigo dismisses his other apprentices and speaks to the adventurers (and Phocas) about the quest and his expectations of each of them, setting Zeno as the fellowship's banker, Theresa as their treasurer, Hermione as Luxian's bodyguard, and Jack and Amaryllos as their experts in southern and Coradian lands respectively. Federigo and Phocas leave the adventurers to talk together, going to his observatory and to talk with Espin respectively.

When they finish talking, the adventurers retire for the night. Hermione sleeps inside Luxian's room, blocking the doorway with her body. Jack sneaks out of his assigned room and slips into the room next to Theresa's room so he can sleep, separated from her only by a single wall. Amaryllos climbs out the window of his room to sleep on the roof of the dining hall.

The adventurers prepare to depart. Luxian dons the thousand league boots, and takes the letters and other objects Federigo wishes him to deliver during the journey. Federigo gives Theresa the initial funds for the fellowship, and gives Zeno three letters obligatory for them to obtain more funds from the Company of Elea during the journey.

The adventurers leave Kaxos, accompanied by Luxian's earth elemental Grund, and begin the journey of a thousand leagues. Throughout their first day of travel, Jack is focussed entirely on Theresa and her happiness, though he is briefly put off by her warning that her master will "cut off his bits" if he tries to become too familiar with her. In the evening, Jack loses interest in Theresa, and becomes dispirited.

At the inn, the adventurers settle on their sleeping arrangements. Hermione, Luxian and Theresa share a private room to economise on costs and increase their profits from the journey. Jack (who doesn't care) and Zeno also share a private room, while Amaryllos stays in the common room, where he sleeps by the fire until he grows restless and climbs on the roof of the inn to sleep.

Jack remains dispirited throughout the day and evening. Theresa is furious with Jack when he shows no interest in eating the lunch she has made and claims he'll just chew on some sticks as they'll taste just the same to him, because her food is far superior to some sticks. Theresa's fey presence compels Jack to grovel before her and apologise. Afterwards, Jack is as dispirited as before, and Hermoine warns Theresa not to do that again.

The adventurers follow the road into the mountain pass to Kevland. They stop for lunch at a market village, and learn that they are a day late for the weekly market, which took place yesterday.

Late in the afternoon, a young centaur named Freducchio gallops down the road towards them and stops to appeal for their help. As they go forward with Freducchio, he explains that bandits attacked him, his father and his sister as they led their wagon back from the market village.

In time, the adventurers come across a group of lightly armed men and women trying to fix a broken wheel on a wagon, with a "dead horse" lying in the ditch by the side of the road, covered by a tarpaulin. The adventurers don't even give the bandits time to try and claim that they could use some help fixing their wagon before attacking. The bandits are quickly routed: Zeno kills three, including their leader, Hermione kills another, and Theresa strikes down one as he flees up the ridgeline with two of his compatriots, causing him to fall and break his neck. The last bandit surrenders, clasping Hermione's knees in supplication, much to her confusion. Zeno accepts the man's surrender.

Freducchio's father Adolfino is still alive, and quickly revitalised by Amaryllos' druidic magic and Zeno's healing touch. The captured bandit explains that their leader, Peronella, took most of their bandit company back to their camp with Freducchio's sister Fiorina, leaving them to repair the wagon and bring back the unsold produce the centaurs took to market. Fiorina was apparently taken prisoner because Peronella's ally, a cyclops, has a taste for horse-meat.

Adolfino and Freducchio plead with the adventurers to rescue Fiorina. They strip the bandit of his arms and armour before setting him free to flee for his life, which he does, running down the ridgeline and away from the bandit camp. The adventurers set out for the camp, guided by Hermoine as she follows the tracks of the bandits and their prisoner in the deepening gloom of evening.

The adventurers follow the tracks to the bandit camp, where the bandits are waiting for their fellows to return with the wagon of food to bolster their celebrations. The path and Fiorina's hoof prints continue past the camp further into the mountains. The adventurers take advantage of the lax watch and storm the camp, overrunning the first campfire and chasing the survivors back to the second campfire. While Theresa makes it sound as if a giant has come to eat the survivors, Peronella rallies the bandits at the second campfire, hastily marshalling four to form a shield wall and protect their archers. Amaryllos quickly flanks one side of the wall while Grund emerges from the ground on the other flank.

The adventurers call on the bandits to surrender unconditionally, which Peronella refuses. Under attack from a variety of strange and fell creatures, apparently in service to a giant, the other bandits quickly break and run when Theresa gives everyone except Peronella the option of running away if they don't want to die. Alone and outnumbered, Peronella prays as she fights until she is knocked unconscious. The adventures briefly consider looting the bandit camp, but decide rescuing Fiorina is a higher priority, and return to following her trail after tying up Peronella and the other unconscious bandits.

Hermione guides the others to a cave, which has been sealed shut from the inside with a giant boulder. Luxian uses magic to shape the ground under the boulder to make it easier for Zeno to pull the boulder away, and sends Grund inside to push from the other side. Inside the cave, Grund trips a rope tied across the cave entrance at chest height, dropping an enormous net over Grund.

With Grund's assistance, Zeno pulls the boulder out of the way. With the cave mouth no longer blocked, the cyclops' giant goats start walking outside, treading over the net. Concerned that his flock is escaping, the cyclops leaves his simmering cauldron, tells Fiorina to stay where she is if she knows what's good for her, and goes outside in pursuit of his giant goats while the adventurers hide. After the cyclops leaves, Amaryllos, Hermione and Jack go into the cave and rescue Fiorina. Jack falls in love with Fiorina at first sight.

Forewarned by the return of the giant goats, the adventurers and Fiorina flee, pursued by the cyclops. Luxian sends Grund to provide a distraction on the other side of the mountain path, but the cyclops isn't fooled and continues to pursue the larger group. At the bandit camp, they find a local hunter named Zilio has killed all the unconscious bandits except for Peronella. Zilio came to rescue Fiorina after discovering why she and her father were late returning from the market village, and looks with disapproval on Jack's obvious affection for Fiorina. The adventures, Fiorina and Zilio flee carrying Peronella's unconscious body. The cyclops gives up on the pursuit and takes a dead bandit back to his cave for his dinner.

Adolfino and Freducchio are delighted to see Fiorina safely returned to the village of Sovano, and put up the adventurers in their home as honoured guests, while Peronella is locked up in a warehouse and kept under guard, to be hanged on Moon-Day. Hermione takes Luxian aside and lectures him on following her instructions and staying safe while she's his bodyguard, or else there may be issues when the journey ends. At the end of the lecture, Hermione checks if Luxian is going to act sensibly and cautiously from now on. Luxian: "I'm going to be fully honest with you - I'm probably going to do the stupid thing." Luxian agrees to do exactly what Hermione asks if she uses a code phrase. Hermione lets Luxian choose the code phrase, and he picks "Luxian, I love you, but".

Grund tries to find its way back to Luxian, without success, and eventually sets out to return to Kaxos.

Jack and Zeno go to church with the villagers while the others watch from a distance. Afterwards, Zeno talks with the priest about how he feels conflicted that Peronella perceived him and his allies as pagan monsters. She is concerned about why he's associating with pagans and "strange creatures" like Amaryllos and Luxian, and encourages Zeno to consider how to better exemplify devotion and righteousness in his actions so he can show them the right way to the True Faith.

Jack spends the day focussed entirely on Fiorina and her happiness. Without telling the other adventurers, Jack proposes to Fiorina, who accepts. In the evening, Jack loses interest in Fiorina, and flees Adolfino's house to avoid her. Jack leaves a note behind for the others that reads, "I’ve gone to handle some business around town, I’ll see you when we leave", puts on a disguise to change his appearance, and goes to the inn in his new identity to stay there for the night.

When she learns that Jack is missing, Fiorina goes in search of her fiance, but doesn't find him at the inn. Fiorina raises a hue and cry to try and find Jack, and "the stranger" who "just arrived in town" joins in the unsuccessful search. Hermione takes Adolfino aside to warn him that Jack won't go through with the engagement, but doesn't have any easy way to make the situation right.

Still in disguise, Jack leaves the village of Sovano as soon as the gates open. He stops a mile down the road and waits for the others.

As the group prepares to leave, Luxian uses magic to change his appearance so that he looks like Jack, then goes to the village square. "Jack" loudly and publicly disparages himself as a worthless, untrustworthy youth, undeserving of Fiorina's affections, then drops his trousers and shamefully trudges out of the village in his underwear. The other adventurers hastily follow "Jack" and leave Sovano.

When the adventurers are reunited, Jack is asked why he is such a cad, and explains that he suffers under a curse that makes him fall in love with women, then abandon them.

At lunch, Luxian dismisses Grund, then summons him again to his location by turning over soil with a bronze spade and pouring a libation of oily water into the hole in the ground.

The adventurers are being questioned by Captain Matteo Baletti about their travel papers when Hermione is recognised by her previous travelling companion, Lord Wesley Orlamond. Wesley and his servant, Armand of Fere, are travelling to the nearby village of Embrun to examine a magic kingstone as the final piece of information he needs to finish his thesis. Over a meal, Wesley explains that the kingstone was brought back as a trophy of war centuries ago from what is now Vestad by the Selentine military commander Centurion Lucius Aemelius Longinus, who used it as a cornerstone for a pagan temple to victory that was subsequently converted to a church of the True Faith. Wesley invites Hermione to go with him to Embrun, and Luxian agrees that the group can go with Wesley because he's interested in magic stones and the detour doesn't take them significantly out of their way.

Theresa and Luxian encourage Hermione to spend the evening in Wesley's room if she wishes, but Hermione demurs. Jack takes advantage of Wesley's generosity and purchases an expensive bottle of wine on his account.

The adventurers, Wesley and Armand travel to the village of Embrun, arriving as the sun is setting. The villagers are hurrying into their church, and warn the adventurers to get inside before "he" arrives. Theresa and Luxian are fearful of stepping onto consecrated ground, but eventually Luxian leads the way and to their surprise neither of them burst into flames. Once inside, Wesley sets about looking for the magic kingstone. One of the villagers named Cragis arrives at the church after the doors are barred, and before Zeno and the villagers can open the doors a headless revenant on a skeletal warhorse rides past and decapitates Cragis. The village priest leads most of the villagers in songs of prayer while the headless revenant rides around the church, looking for a way to get in, until he gives up in apparent frustration and rides off into the night.

Wesley is unable to find the magic kingstone anywhere in the walls of the church, and the villagers explain that the village relocated after a great earthquake two centuries ago that changed the course of the river, and the church that was a former pagan temple which they are looking for is in the old village, an hour's walk away. The headless revenant has been stalking the villagers every night for the past week, ever since he pursued a traveller to the village but retreated at the coming of dawn.

Hermione and Theresa talk with the traveller, Florin Hernault, who explains that he and his brother are "recovery specialists" who were retrieving artefacts from the crypts at the old village when they disturbed something that killed his brother and pursued him to the new village. Florin shows them the items he "recovered", an unblemished Selentine centurion's helmet with the centurion's skull still inside, and asks for their help in recovering his brother's remains for burial. Hermione and Theresa call Wesley and Armand over to examine the helmet: Wesley doesn't buy the helmet from Florin in case it transfers the curse to him, but does agree to take the helmet from Florin to return to the crypt when they visit the old village tomorrow and gives Florin a gratuity in sympathy for his brother's death.

The adventurers, Wesley and Armand sleep in the church with the villagers.

In the morning, Cragis' head is still outside the church, but his body is missing. After breakfast, the adventurers, Wesley and Armand walk to the old village of Embrun, where they find the church with the kingstone embedded in a wall as a cornerstone. Wesley draws arcane patterns with chalk on the cracked pavement around the centurion's helmet, which when finished confirm that it's empowered with pagan magic. Luxian uses his sorcery to extract the kingstone from the wall, and Wesley begins drawing more intricate and complex patterns on the pavement around the kingstone.

While this is going on, Zeno explores the graveyard and find the older, pagan crypts Florin mentioned the night before. Outside one crypt is Cragis' headless body, raised as a revenant in the service of the headless rider. Zeno quickly destroys the revenant of Cragis, but is attacked by a swarm of skeletal warriors. Jack and Theresa come to Zeno's aid, while Amaryllos and Luxian stay to watch Wesley as he works, and Armand and Hermione stay to guard their masters. After destroying the skeletal warriors, Jack, Theresa and Zeno return to the others.

Wesley finishes drawing the patterns around the kingstone, and confirms that it is the Kingstone of the Eadgils, which would if the true king stood on the stone as the sun rose on the first day of the year, ensure that the people’s crops would be fertile and change the king’s skin to be like bark and their hair like leaves until the trees lost their leaves with the coming of winter. Wesley and Armand return to the new village with plans to return with villagers and a wagon to take the Kingstone away, while the adventurers decide to take the centurion's helmet and skull and return to the crypts to return them to their rightful place. Theresa: "We should return the skull because people will be helped and people help each other." Luxian (thoughtfully): "Yessss."

Inside the crypts, the adventurers are attacked by the revenants of long-dead pagans, who emerge from their sarcophagi to confront the intruders. The adventurers destroy most of the revenants, but the last three cease to attack and return to their sarcophagi when Theresa explains in High Bacchile that they've come to return the stolen helmet. The adventurers continue deeper into the crypts until the meet the ghost of Etienne Hernault, who helpfully gives them directions to the centurion's sarcophagus and to the location where he was killed by the headless revenant of the centurion. The adventurers return the helmet and skull to the headless centurion, who settles back down in his sarcophagus and closes the lid. The adventurers leave a note on the sarcophagus in High Bacchile and Low Bacchile that reads, "Do not disturb. Vengeful spirits."

The adventurers retrieve Etienne Hernault's body and take it back to the church to wait for Wesley and Armand's return. Zeno leads the group in reinterring the remains of the pagan revenants they destroyed, and is discomforted to discover the remaining revenants watching them as they work.

Wesley and Armand arrive with a wagon and some of the villagers, who help load the Kingstone onto the wagon along with the bodies of Etienne Hernault and Cragis the villager. Everyone returns to the new village, where Florin is deeply moved by the messages of love and affection Etienne's ghost asked the adventurers to relay to his brother. The adventurers blame the disturbance at the old village on "archaeologists", successfully concealing Florin and Etienne's responsibility for what has transpired.

Etienne and Cragis are buried in the graveyard of the church at the new village of Embrun. Zeno realises from Theresa's questions that she knows extremely little about the True Faith or about human society and customs. Florin slips away and leaves the village during the communal lunch after the ceremony.

While they eat, Wesley talks about his plans to take the Kingstone of the Eadgils back to their ancestral lands in Vestad to see if the magic of the Kingstone can still be activated in some way. He invites Hermione to leave the adventurers and go with him, but she declines and tells him she gave her word.

Wesley and Armand leave after lunch with the wagon containing the Kingstone and begin their journey back to the Barony of Orlamond.

Zeno talks with Theresa about the True Faith, and loans her a Bible to read.

The adventurers arrive at Navyn in the morning. They deliver Federigo's letter to Gitano Mirandola, who reads the letter and advises them that he is sure Senator Federigo Tieopolo will accept Federigo's offer of 100 pounds and the object will be ready for collection in two days' time. While deciding where to stay for the next two days, Roberta Mazzarro finds Jack and his travelling companions, and goes with them to the Velvet Stag for a lunchtime reunion with the man whose love convinced her the life of a nun was not for her.

Roberta explains that she knew Jack was coming to Navyn because she overheard one of her sister's allies reporting that he was to arrive shortly. Roberta warns Jack that her sister Giovanna is still very angry at him and wants to do him great harm, but Roberta is confident Jack will be physically safe once they're married and he's part of the family. Roberta is still keen to elope with Jack, and knows a priest who's willing to marry them today without her sister's blessing.

Jack tells Roberta about his curse, and insists that he never truly loved her, but agrees to go with her to meet the priest and find out if he can remove the curse. Roberta leads the adventurers through back alleys and the church's graveyard to the church's back door, where a deacon lets them in to meet with Father Luca Casagrande. Jack tells Father Casagrande that he has suffered enough from the curse, but Father Casagrande tells Jack that he needs to change and be contrite and repentant for his past sins before the True God will lift the burden from his shoulders. Jack reiterates to Roberta that he never truly loved her and doesn't wish to marry her. Father Casagrande comforts Roberta, who describes her heart as "burning" in her distress.

The adventurers leave Roberta with Father Casagrande, who promises to make sure she gets home safely. Jack splits off from the others to don an unconvincing disguise in a public urinal, and trails them at a distance as they collect their belongings from the Velvet Stag to the Rampant Bear. Jack stays in disguise in the common room, lurking in close proximity to the others without interacting with them.

In the evening, Giovanna Mazzarro and her brother Piero Mazzarro come into the common room with two dozen men-at-arms and a street urchin, who points out Jack before leaving along with the other patrons of the inn. Giovanna and Piero confront Jack and demand to know what he's done with their sister Roberta, who left home this morning and has not returned. Giovanna threatens to make sure they don't get the object they're waiting to collect from Senator Tieopolo. Concerned at these developments, the adventurers offer to find and return Roberta. Giovanna agrees to give Jack until dawn to return Roberta, safe and unharmed, and leaves eight of her men-at-arms to keep an eye on the adventurers in case they try and flee the city.

The adventurers return to the church, trailed by the men-at-arms, and discover that it is unlit and closed for the night. A homeless man explains that the church is closed on this evening every year so the priest can visit his wife's grave on the anniversary of her death. The adventurers try to force their way in the main door, but it is locked and barred from the inside. They go to the back door, which is also locked and barred, and force their way in. One of the crypts has been opened, revealing that it is actually the concealed top of a shaft leading underground with a rope ladder dangling against one wall.

Before going down the shaft, the adventurers search the church for clues. In the parish registry of births and deaths they find the listing for Father Casagrande's wife, written in a distinctive purple ink. Looking through the register, they find a woman's name in each subsequent year in the same ink, on or shortly before the anniversary of her death. The adventurers climb down the shaft to rescue Roberta before she is added to the list.

The adventurers sneak up on and defeat the deacon and a dozen other cultists, then continue on to confront Father Casagrande. They find him standing over Roberta, who is sleeping on a stone altar with an uneven pair of scales next to her head. The adventurers attack and rescue Roberta, who is carried to safety by Jack. Theresa is scorched by flames when she attacks Father Casagrande, and rescued by Hermione. Luxian hurls a bolt of flame that knocks the scales off the altar, causing Father Casagrande to panic and search about for an invisible object that was on the scales. Father Casagrande stops searching and tells Zeno, "My heart burns", before his chest bursts into flames and his burning heart hurtles past Luxian and into the hand of a winged woman.

The winged woman puts an invisible object back into one of her wings while the burning heart turns to ash in her hand. She notices Luxian, and comments that he's one of "The Five". When Luxian asks, the woman says her name is Dormita. Luxian collapses to his knees in shock after Dormita turns and disappears into the World of Spirits.

The adventurers escort Roberta back to the church and her family's men-at-arms, and secure the surviving cultists for the local authorities before escorting Roberta home. Giovanna and Piero are relieved to have their sister back, safe and sound. Giovanna gives Jack until sundown in two days' time to leave Navyn, while Piero has servants fetch new clothing to replace Theresa's burned dress.

The adventurers spend the day in Navyn. Zeno visits the Company of Elea, and learns that his uncle Phocas recently visited and met with several of the Company's clients.

Roberta sends Jack messages letting him know that she will be relocated to their country estate the day after he leaves, and tries to make plans for Jack to elope with her when she's out from under her sister's watchful gaze, but Jack insists that he has to leave with the other adventurers and can't rescue her at this time.

The adventurers go to deliver Federigo's letter and the scroll to Professor Marcus Redgrave at his town house. They meet his housekeeper, an elf named Yara, and Jack falls in love with her at first sight. Yara explains that Professor Redgrave is currently out of the country: she can read Qemor hieroglyphs, and notes that the scroll is written in an older script.

Gwendolyn arrives from Threehills Manor to pass on an invitation that Lady Mara Garan received from the Count and Countess of Argenon to attend their masked ball that evening. Jack insists on taking Yara to the ball, and Theresa is also keen to attend. The adventurers go to the Company of Elea, where Zeno persuades Simonella to loan him and his friends fine suits to wear. Jack is unable to persuade Simonella and Zeno to loan him money so he can buy a more splendid outfit. Theresa is interested in having Gwendolyn's friend Paulette make her a more splendid dress, so the adventurers seek her out and learn that she's busy tending to her dying sister-in-law. Zeno heals the sister-in-law's illness, and she pledges to go on a pilgrimage to Navyn in gratitude for the miracle, while Paulette agrees to make Theresa's outfit if Theresa supplies the fabrics.

The adventurers go to Alauddin's, a haberdashery run by a kattar family, and purchase the fabrics. One of the older tailors comments that his grandfather told him about meeting someone with black fur when he was young, and gives Amaryllos an obsidian amulet carved to look like a kattar god when the adventurers leave. The adventurers take the fabrics to Paulette, who uses her magic scissors and thimble (gifts from her fairy godparents) to make Theresa's dress before the sun sets.

The adventurers and Yara go to the Count and Countess of Argenon's palatial mansion in Lady Garan's carriage, arriving well after sunset and fashionably late. Jack escorts Yara, while Zeno escorts Theresa. They choose to attend incognito and be introduced as "strangers", as Yara is concerned about getting in trouble if she's caught publicly attending the ball.

The Countess of Argenon meets them on their arrival and introduces them to her god-daughter, Theresa Mantienne. While Zeno is explaining how they recently travelled through Kevland and Navyn to Merin, a servant quietly reports to the Countess that Prince Hugh is apparently at the ball incognito. The Countess is delighted, and gives Zeno a sly smile as the musicians stop playing, then start the Royal Fanfare. Everyone at the ball stops what they are doing, stands to attention, and looks at the entrance hall, where the Countess is standing with a remarkable group of exotic strangers and beautiful women who are accompanying a single young man (Zeno).

When the Royal Fanfare ends, the Countess asks Zeno to dance the first dance with her god-daughter Theresa. Unaware that everyone now believes he is Prince Hugh incognito, Zeno leaves Theresa with the others to dance with Theresa. Zeno's intention to return to Theresa straightaway is foiled by Marissa Poussin, who quickly intercepts "the Prince" and monopolises his time. Jack dances with Yara while Theresa dances with other men, including a shy and tongue-tied man who seems taken with her beauty. Amaryllos scouts the mansion in search of potential trouble, and is asked by another man for help in locating someone he needs to meet in private. Luxian, accompanied by Hermione, falls into conversation with a man who has no shadow named Bretwald, and his companion, Professor Mendy Bader. When Jack and Yara join them, Professor Bader recognises Yara as Professor Redgrave's servant.

The man with Amaryllos recognises the shy man who danced with Theresa as the one he needs to meet, and asks Amaryllos to persuade the man to go to the western balcony alone for a private meeting. Amaryllos is hesitant, even when the man assures him it's a matter of national importance, and seeks out Theresa to ask her advice. Theresa: "Avoid the oysters, the smoked salmon's good." Professor Bader and Bretwald take Jack to meet their friend Sturt Tarrin, as they believe he may be able to help Jack with his curse: Sturt is willing to investigate the matter, but can't do so at the ball.

Zeno notices a man holding Theresa Mantienne by the arm and talking harshly with her, and goes to interfere. He overhears Lord Clarion threatening to foreclose on her father's farm and ruin what remains of her family's reputation unless she marries him. Zeno confronts Lord Clarion, who insists on duelling Zeno at once. Marissa and Theresa both try to persuade "the prince" not to duel: Marissa is offended that Zeno refuses to listen to her ahead of a woman of such inferior prospects, and goes off in a huff. Touched by his chivalrous behaviour, Theresa tells Zeno that Lord Clarion has a weak left leg that he must take advantage of in the duel.

Lord Clarion and Zeno go to the eastern balcony for their duel. The shy man lends Zeno his rapier while Luxian places a subtle protective spell on Zeno. Zeno prays while the crowd places bets, mostly against him. Zeno and Lord Clarion have a fierce duel, with each man seriously wounding the other before Zeno skewers Lord Clarion through the lung. During the duel, Amaryllos tries to learn more from the masked man about why he needs to meet the shy man alone on the western balcony, but the masked man only repeats that it's a matter of national importance.

After the duel, Lord Clarion is carried off to be tended to by the surgeon while Theresa Mantienne and Amaryllos escort Zeno away to have his wounds bandaged. Theresa is grateful and humbled by "the prince's" chivalrous behaviour, whose wounds turn out to be not as bad as they first appeared after he and his kattar manservant have checked them in private and healed them with magic and prayer.

While dancing with Luxian under Hermione's watchful gaze, Theresa notices the shy man slipping out to the western balcony on his own. Concerned by what Amaryllos told her earlier and suspecting that the shy man may be the prince incognito, Theresa leads the others after him to observe. Luxian notices the masked man standing in the shadows with a pistol aimed at the shy man, and calls out a warning before staggering the masked assassin with a magic orb. The assassin gets his shot off, shooting the shy man in the back and dropping him to the ground, then vaults over the balcony railing and starts running away through the grounds. Theresa drops the assassin with an eldritch bolt, then tends to the shy man, reviving him with a delicious cookie.

On another balcony, Zeno takes Theresa Mantienne's face in his hands and is about to reveal his identity to her when he notices the distinctive crackle and green glow of Theresa's arcane power. Instantly distracted, Zeno leaps down to the ground and starts running across the grounds to the western balcony. Amaryllos swiftly overtakes Zeno and checks on the dying assassin, who expires after Theresa calls out a mocking insult.

Theresa stays with the shy man when he is escorted to a private room to recuperate. She is surprised, but still pleased, to learn that he is not the prince, but is instead the Duke of Dunharrow. Zeno goes in search of Theresa Mantienne, and discovers too late that her father is leaving the party and taking her with him. Theresa Mantienne drops her handkerchief at the door for Zeno to collect, which he does. Zeno runs out to the carriages, but can only watch as their wagon trundles away into the night.

Theresa and the Duke of Dunharrow rejoin the party after an hour, and the Duke points out the actual prince, who is currently playing cards and danced with Theresa and Yara earlier in the evening. Zeno seeks Theresa out to apologise for not dancing with her earlier, and she accepts his apology before turning on her heel and going back to dance with the Duke. Jack is increasingly maudlin as the evening progresses because nothing he says or does can convince Yara to leave her role as a household servant and be with him instead.

The adventurers leave before midnight, when everyone will unmask for the second half of the party. During the carriage ride back to their accommodation, Amaryllos uses magic to mend Zeno's torn and punctured suit. After dropping them off at their inn, Yara thanks them again for a memorable evening and leaves in the carriage for Professor Redgrave's townhouse.

The adventurers cross the border and enter Wesland.

Amaryllos tells the other adventurers that he wishes to apologise for trying to poison Jack. The others understandably want to know when Amaryllos did such a thing, and Theresa warns Amaryllos that nobody poisons her cooking. Amaryllos explains that he considered trying to administer a soporific to Jack when he was infatuated with Yara, and now regrets contemplating such a course of action because he should have asked Jack if he wants help mitigating the impact of his curse. Jack is willing to be drugged if he is causing a problem, and Zeno tells Jack he shouldn’t avoid responsibility by getting other people to take care of the problem for him.

Amaryllos also tells the others adventurers about the pagan monastery where he was raised as a foundling and his personal quest to acquire new knowledge to take back and share with his fellow monks, even though some of them seemed opposed to his quest because of their isolationist views. Jack: “I’m sorry, but I know some unprincipled people, and sometimes people want you to do things because they hope you will die.”

The adventurers speculate on why Amaryllos' parents may have abandoned him at the monastery. Hermione: “They don’t have enough people to do human sacrifice, not unless they’re bringing them in from outside.” Zeno: (shocked) “Gatanades!” Theresa: “Shame on you, you said not to mock that name!” Zeno awkwardly dances around why Amaryllos' parents may not be dead, and instead have abandoned him, until Hermione says what they're all thinking. Hermione: “It’s probably because he’s black.”

Like Theresa and Luxian, Amaryllos knows little about the True Faith, so Theresa passes on to him the Bible Zeno loaned to her a month ago. Theresa hopes to find her mother someday. Jack: “And kill her?” Theresa: (insincerely) “No, of course not, that would be wrong.”

Amaryllos leads the others in sharing the reasons why they are on their quest. Jack looks forward to being freed from the curse placed upon him by Meredith, many years earlier. Luxian is pleased to serve his master Federigo, describing him as the closest person he has to a father. Luxian: "But I wouldn't call him that - his skin is too smooth, it’s weird." For Hermione, the quest is a job, organised for her by Wesley's mother shortly after their arrival at his family home; for Theresa, it is the second of three quests she owes her master; for Zeno, it is an opportunity to travel to lands his predecessors used to journey through as escorts for pilgrims travelling north to the holy sites around the Coradian Sea, including the nearby Cathedral of Leuken, a famous assembly point for parties of pilgrims in times past.

The adventurers reach Leuken, now a small village with an old and poorly-maintained Cathedral. Father Berend, the Bishop of Leuken, recognises Zeno's name when introduced, as the Bishop-Emeritus, Saint Merel, has been waiting for him all her life. Father Berend leads the adventurers to the cottage in the Cathedral grounds where Saint Merel lives in monastic discipline.

Saint Merel recognises Zeno from the visions granted to her by the True God, as she has been waiting since her youth to meet another paladin of the Order of Saint Cornelius. Saint Merel gives Zeno advice about living a righteous life and being an example to others, and warns him to be careful of the deceptions and plots of others. When asked if she could intercede and free Jack from his curse, Saint Merel instead counsels Jack that he must first change, be truly repentant, and seek forgiveness for his past sins. Amaryllos questions whether the followers of the True Faith who leave the Cycle of Arda are really better off than the pagans who are reborn again and again, and Saint Merel tells Amaryllos he should ask an elf for their thoughts on the cycle of suffering. Theresa asks what Saint Merel sees in her future, and is told "When you meet your mother, be the better person."

As a parting gift, Saint Merel gives Zeno a phylactery containing a woven lock of her hair that she prepared for him decades ago, and counsels Zeno to help the person he will meet who asks him about the languages he speaks.

Zeno and Theresa both put some coins in the Cathedral poor box. Zeno asks Father Berend if there's anything else he can do to support the Cathedral, and Father Berend mentions that the lead roof of the Cathedral needs extensive repairs. Zeno writes a letter to send back to Phocas in Peronnia and asks Luxian if Grund can take it to him. Luxian claims that he can only use the magic to send to Grund to Peronnia and back again intermittently, so Zeno holds on to the letter and plans to pass it on to the Company of Elea for delivery at the next chapter house they visit.

Father Berend lets the adventurers stay the night in the Cathedral, and Zeno spends the night kneeling in prayer before the altar.

The adventurers have breakfast with Father Berend before leaving Leuken. Luxian asks Zeno what languages he speaks, but Zeno refuses to answer.

The adventurers reach the village of Cullford around lunchtime, where a raven watches them from the roof of a trading post. The owner of the trading post, Carel Rudd, hopefully asks Zeno if he knows the language of birds, as the raven belongs to his missing friend, Aleida the Hardy. Amaryllos offers to translate, as he knows the language of birds, but Theresa insists that it's Zeno's quest, and Amaryllos graciously steps aside. Zeno prays to the True God for guidance, and is blessed with the ability to speak with Wake the raven.

Wake tells Zeno (and Amaryllos) that Aleida is dead, and her heart is missing. Carel is saddened but not surprised by the news, and asks Zeno to recover Aleida's body so she can be buried at the church, as she would have wanted. Wake guides the adventurers to Aleida's cottage on the moors, where he is captured in a net by two giants, Goll and Irgoll. The giants argue about who captured the bird: Goll insists he captured the bird, while Irgoll insists they captured the bird together. The adventurers side with Goll in the argument, and Goll smugly enjoys his triumph while Irgoll petulantly complains about his misfortune.

Theresa distracts Goll and Irgoll by cooking a meal for them using the raw haunch of venison they were planning to eat, giving the others time to search Aleida's cottage for clues, such as a map of the moors with "LL" noted in one part, and a corner torn out. The giants are very impressed by Theresa's cooking, and attempt to abduct her to be their wife. Luxian enlarges Theresa with a spell to help her break free of their grasp, but being closer to the giants in size only increases her lustre in their eyes.

The adventurers kill Goll and Irgoll, and search Aleida's cottage more thoroughly, finding a hidden cache of money and searching through her books and sketchbook. They follow the tracks of a woman, coming and going from the cottage, towards the part of the moors labelled "LL". The tracks lead to a cave, with hollow bone chimes hanging like a curtain across the entrance. Inside, they meet with Lonni Longshanks, a wizened crone wearing a container carved with strange runes and dripping with blood from a cord around her neck. Luxian is very polite to Lonni, who gives him an earthenware pot filled with arcane liquid from her bubbling cauldron in exchange for a human skull he took from the cyclops' cave in Peronnia.

Prompted by Wake, the adventurers ask Lonni about the necklace, and she tells them it contains Aleida's heart, which Lonni ripped from her cold, dead body at the old barrow. When asked where that is, Lonni throws the adventurers the crumpled torn-off corner of Aleida's map, with the location clearly marked. Lonni intends to use the grisly token to impersonate Aleida and take her place in the local community. Hermione argues passionately with Lonni about her plans, but Lonni is implacably committed to her chosen method of taking revenge on her dead adversary and the people of Cullford.

As the quarrel continues, Amaryllos prepares to cast a spell, provoking violence. Assuming the time for talking is over, Theresa, Hermione and Jack all attack Lonni, while Luxian flees, apologising to Lonni as he does. Lonni turns invisible, and is shocked to discover that Zeno can still see her, thanks to the blessings of the True God. Overwhelmed with fear, Lonni gives up the container with Aleida's still-beating heart, and the rest of the adventurers quickly join Luxian outside.

The adventurers swiftly leave Lonni behind as she wails in her cave, and begin the trek across the moor to the old barrow. They arrive several hours later, close to the middle of the night. An unkindness of ravens watches them from the summit of the barrow as they scout the environment, finding a wagon with two horses near a recently killed man, pinned to the ground face-down by a small cairn of stones that has been raised over him. Inside the barrow, they find Aleida's dead body, disembowelled and with her heart ripped out, locked in a cage in a small alcove. When they place Aleida's beating heart inside the cavity in her chest, it stops beating and she revives as a revenant that Jack falls in love with at first sight.

Aleida quickly explains that she was captured by pagan cultists from Dirkholme and killed herself to stop them sacrificing her in a ritual to raise the long-dead elf lord Durindar, who was buried in this barrow, but she cannot rest until she has stopped the cultists once and for all. Aleida and the adventurers continue into the barrow, where they capture Sten, a cultist who wasn't allowed to attend the ritual, then interrupt the others partway through the ritual, where several of them are voluntarily sacrificing their lives in their attempt to revive Durindar. When the last of the cultists is killed, Durindar's corpse turns to dust in Zeno's hands. With her mission fulfilled, Aleida's soul leaves her dead body, and Jack cradles her corpse in his despair.

The adventurers bind Sten hand and foot, then load him, Aleida's body, and the bodies of the dead cultists into the wagon, which they lead back to Cullford. Carel is saddened, but not surprised, to have Aleida's death confirmed. The adventurers give him Aleida's cache of money, which Carel uses to pay the priest for Aleida's last rites. The others keep Jack away from Aleida's funeral mass and burial in the graveyard next to her parents, so that he doesn't cause a scene.

Sten claims to be very remorseful for his past sins, and the adventurers give him into the custody of the villagers. The other cultists are buried outside the graveyard.

Hermione apologises to Luxian for placing him in danger by arguing with Lonni Longshanks. Luxian accepts her apology, and warns her to be cautious "when meddling with ancient arcane beings. They may have powers that everyone else has forgotten. Curses that have no more cures left."