SESSION SIX

Weeks after their excursion to the lost Imperial villa, Mara, Reynhild, Cathal, and Dolan are safe in Castle Fulcairn. A caravan of workers and soldiers, led by Finn, have been sent to the villa to retrieve the artifacts within it. Cathal and his counsellors meet in the great hall to discuss further business.

A messenger arrives in the hall, bearing a large, fragrant bundle and sets it upon the main table. Cathal uncovers it, to find the head of Reynhild’s ranger, Adair, who had been investigating the Duene family. The head is impaled upon a new-forged blade bearing Duene markings, and is caked in herbs to hide the sent of its decay. Merrec, caught in an uncharacteristic wave of vitriol, launches into a tirade against Cathal, telling him he has failed Wilder’s Gorge and is destroying his house. Cathal is confused, and attempts to calm the seneschal, but Merrec’s furor continues unabated. Overwhelmed by the stress of his anger, Merrec’s heart gives out, and he collapses. Cathal rushes to his side, but to no avail. The ancient, loyal servant has died. Seeing her master’s demise, the scribe Medwyn decries House Fulcairn as lost, and chooses to leave.

Mara and Reynhild go to search the seneschal’s rooms, and those of his scribe, to see if they can uncover any evidence as to what triggered the outburst. Cathal asks Dolan to move Merrec’s body to the family catacombs, and prepare a place of honour for him there. He then summons the healer, Leech, to inspect Adair’s severed head. Alone in the hall, Cathal removes the Duene blade from the ranger’s head to reveal a dark, viscous substance on the blade and within Adair's skull. He rushes to find Mara to see if the mage, with her arcane knowledge, can identify it.

Mara and Reynhild can find nothing to give evidence of why Merrec turned on Cathal. When Cathal arrives with the blade, Mara tries to identify the substance, but can discover nothing. Cathal shows it to Leech when he arrives, but the healer knows little more than the wizard. Cathal and Dolan rush to find Medwyn, to ask her of Merrec’s state of mind. She is still angry, and offers little help. On their way back to the Castle, Cathal and Dolan are stopped when one of the Fulcairn soldiers who was at the villa is brought to them, heavily wounded. He tells Cathal that Finn’s party has been ambushed by orogs, and Finn has been killed. Cathal, growing suspicious of the drear turn all things have taken, rushes to find Mara and Reynhild again.

Upon arrival, Mara reveals that she is having much the same suspicions, and believes that the magic at the Imperial Villa has somehow ensorcelled them into some dark reality. Mara moves to the family catacombs, where she had once dreamed the tendrils of golden magical energy, to see if she can use the power there to counteract the enchantment.

Unable to access the mysterious power while waking, Mara returns to her chambers to replicate the conditions of her original exposure to it. Guarded closely by Reynhild, Cathal, and a very confused Dolan, Mara falls fast asleep…

… and awakes alone in her chamber, utterly alone, but for the spectre of Harald Khorien, projected from the Mara’s enchanted amulet. Khorien asks Mara for her report, and Mara informs him of the veins of divine energy coursing through Wilder’s Gorge, and her use of it to protect Cathal and his soldiers. Khorien is furious, and declares that Mara does not have the wisdom to use the energy properly. He orders her to relinquish her control of it, and begins to take it upon himself.

Cathal himself awakes in a space devoid of all light, having only the feeling of old, mortared stone under his boots. He gropes in the dark to find a wall, and his hands close on the cold stone face of one of Fulcairn’s ancient lords. Cathal spends what feels like hours in the dark, making a map with his hands and memory, and then starts moving toward what he can only guess is an exit.

Mara, the power of the golden web being drained from her, tries to speak with Khorien, to reason with him. She says she has only ever used the power to carry out her duty, and that in taking it from her, Khorien is jeopardizing the safety of Taeghas, perhaps Anuire itself. Khorien is unphased. He berates her again for her senseless pursuit of power, and tells her she would have been nothing without his patronage and tutelage. Mara finally has enough, and chooses to defend herself. She taps into the energy of the land once again, and prepares to strike at her master.

Reynhild awakes in the past. She is in the bed she and Corrac once shared, the figure of her late husband filling the frame of their chamber window. Corrac speaks to Reynhild tenderly, but pointedly, asking her why she has not fulfilled the promises she made to him while he still lived. He says she promised to be happy, and to be faithful to the house. She has done neither, he says, and his calm, tender visage quickly twists to scorn…

Cathal ascends a series of stairs and comes to an empty, torch lit chamber, surrounded by the dead faces of his ancestors. In the midst of the room stands the apparition of his father, Cullen Fulcairn. Cathal is put on his back foot when, much like his isolated companions, the ghost of his past begins chastising him for his missteps, first accusing Cathal of petty bitterness for speaking ill of his father’s decisions. Cathal attempts to assuage Cullen, embracing him, and reassuring him that he understands and respects the decisions his father chose to make.

Cullen is relentless though, and accuses his son of being reckless, and risking the destruction of not just their house, but the lives of all their people. Cathal loses his temper, and responds in kind, saying his father’s anemic rule led to the slow decay of their land. Cathal tells him to rot in his grave and long for the past, while Cathal and his comrades build a future for the living. Cullen’s ghost disappears with a last, limp snarl of derision, and Cathal moves into the light beyond the Catacombs.

Meanwhile, Corrac attacks Reynhild, accusing her for the feelings she bears for Cathal, of her being unfaithful to him and his memory. Reynhild, knowing that this is not the Corrac she loved, and overwhelmed by her guilt and yearning for happiness, lashes out at Corrac. Her blade finds his chest, but does him no harm. His face becomes monstrous, and he moves to attack her. Reynhild flees as swiftly as she can, running through the halls of the keep and out into the yard. She is stopped there by a mysterious knight, who opens his visor to show an unfamiliar face. The knight sees Corrac rushing after and urges her to flee, moving to engage the fiend. Reynhild, her instincts taking hold, turns and flees, and does not look back.

Mara unleashes her magic on Khorien, weathering a mental assault from him to smash into his defenses with vicious, eldritch rays. To her surprise, she has her master on the back foot. A dark voice urges her to channel more of the great stream of energy beneath Fulcairn Keep. She embraces it, and fashions it into seeking tendrils of death that shatter Khorien’s barriers and rend the master diviner to his very soul. Mara releases the energy and collapses in exhaustion, though a tinge of something dark remains.

All four, including Dolan, come to on their feet in the ballroom of the villa’s first floor. They been transported by the Villa’s magic into the Shadow Realm, a dark mirror to the waking world of Aebrynys. They search for an exit, but find none, and are drawn to the top the floor by an eerie singing. Cathal draws his sword and leads the group back up the villa’s stairs to come face to face with the ghastly form of Magda. Once young and vibrant, the swordswoman’s colour has drained, her hair dry and stringy. Reynhild alone is unstricken by her appearance, but determined to suffer no further harm from this place, she nocks and loses an arrow into the undead creature. Magda wails in pain, her voice tearing at the souls of her once companions. The shriek jars Cathal from his paralysis, and he waves Reynhild back. The Lord of Fulcairn drops his blade and moves toward Magda, imploring her to recognize him, to come back to herself. He clasps her arms, gently, and asks her to rest. Magda’s features soften, and her wispy form dissipates into nothing. Cathal, having touched Magda’s necrotic form, is drained unto the brink of death, and collapses to the floor. Reynhild rushes to Cathal’s side and revives him, and the four descend from the second-floor balcony to escape the villa.

On their return to Castle Fulcairn, they are overjoyed to see Merrec alive and well, if not spry, and Medwyn close by his side. They celebrate their return with solemn joy, each of them completely exhausted. Late that night, when the keep is quiet, Lady Reynhild goes to Cathal in his chamber, and opens up to him, telling him that her biggest fear, having lost everything and everyone else in her life, is that she may lose him. Cathal consoles her, saying that no matter what happens, he will always be with her. They kiss, and fall to slumber in each other’s arms.