Several weeks after the deal was made with the treacherous Carsen, the dust seems to settle and the tension in the house becomes a new normal. Cedric gathers Lord Theordore and the small council, myself included, and insists we come to see something he found.
We all hike deep into the woods to the coast, to see a man laying what would be face down on a rock but…without a head. He’s wearing the furs and cloaks of the mountain clansmen and the rock is absolutely covered in blood. The cut on his neck is clean,but has clearly been festering a couple days. Teddy pokes around the man with his sword until he pulls out a paid of piercing blue eyeballs while Ser Darron announces that the weapon used for an attack like this must’ve been castle forged or even Valyrian steel.
We make a quick attempt at tracking the attacker’s footsteps, but neither Clank, nor Gregoriy, nor August make much headway. Theodore looks to me, and after a moment of panic remembering the brutal way my raven companion was killed, I look to the skies for a new feathered friend to warg into. Fortunately, I find a seagull and with only a little difficulty, am able to inhabit it quickly.
I spy a couple miles to the west a group of mountain clansmen, 10 of them, lumbering through the valley. A few are struggling to keep up and they’re travelling light. Some even seen to be leaning on each other for support. I return to the group to see a dumbfounded Clink and Clank confused as to the events of the past few moments, and I smile, embarrassed, promising to fill them in later once we’ve made a plan.
Darron proposes we parley with the clansmen, as we’re better prepared than they and may gather some information, much to the apparent disappointment of Clink and Clank who are ready to fight.
When the clansmen arrive, the look defeated and ragged, and share that a group they call “the singers” have killed some of their fellow party members. For the lives of us, we cannot figure out who they’re referring to, even when they share that they howl like wolves during attacks. I suggest we bring the oddities of the day to Bethlazar, the town witch, to she if she’s ever heard of such a thing when we return and all are in agreement.
At Darron’s suggestion, we carry on a bit further west, and after an hour we notice a cave mouth that we venture into while Cedric stays back with the horses. With luck on our side, Darron is quick enough to notice a trip wire at the mouth of the cave we each carefully step over, deeper and deeper into the cave we venture, through crevasses and over cliffs, until we find a strange man, covered in mud, balled up in the fetal position. When he’s approached, he repeats “don’t…don’t…don’t…” over and over again in the most eerie way possible. He stutters and stammers about “riders from the west” and “can’t escape”. Thoroughly creeped out, I suggest we help him out of the cave and to safety. My heart is warmed to see Clink offer a steadying hand to the man and we head out.