Knightly Letter: Ileas 18

Ileas,
 
After a week of hunting bandits it’s good to pick up a pen again and write down my thoughts, though most of it happened in the last 24 hours. As you might remember from the last letter some of the mercenaries that attacked our keep last week ran off and Dadroz, Hayley and myself now spent a week hunting them. But in the end we managed to corner them a bit south of Keralon. Sadly we learned very little from them, just that they were hired by a mysterious man wearing fancy clothing and a fox mask, and that they were paid 100 gold each to attack the guards at the keep and run off when things got dire but were not privy to the priest and assassin that joined their attack. Since we could get nothing more from them we made them hand over what was left of their gold and took them to the city guards to be locked up. A part of me wanted to enlist them, make them pay off their crimes by working in the guards and show them a path to a better life, but the wounds were a bit too fresh for now.
 
Of course, this meant Liliana, Luke and Gael stayed at Wolf’s Rest. Not a lot seemed to have happened there but Lil and Luke locked themselves up, whispering to their sword and staff respectively, while Gael got a makeover and went blonde. And while I’m not a man of fashion, I'd say he's pulling it off.
 
But the morning after coming back, Gael woke me right before sunrise to point out there was a big fire near the Cathedral Hill in the city. Somehow I slept through the smell of sulfur and the loud ringing of the Cathedral bells but I immediately put on some pants, a shirt, went to grab my shield and sword and hop on Thorrin and join everyone rushing to the city to help. But when we arrived a lot of circumstances made us wonder if this was a distraction, for one the fires looked like they were lit by someone, not caused by an accident. We also saw some wounded guards that informed us they were attacked by zombies around the cathedral, they even pointed out a spot at the wall they saw the zombies scratching before engaging, and by the time they dealt with the zombies the fires were lit all around them. Another oddity was that the targeted buildings were warehouses and other uninhabited locations. Now before we had a chance to investigate further, Luke’s eyes were drawn to the Cathedral and he noted there were lights flickering inside, which all but confirmed this was all just a diversion for what’s going on in the cathedral.
 
When we opened the doors of the cathedral we were greeted by a harrowing view: a monstrous troll-lich standing at baptismal font at the other side of the cathedral, with Galiene unconscious on the floor at his feet. A mixture of affection, worry and regrets overcame me as I saw her, affection for the adventures we shared, scouring city streets and fighting side-by-side in damp and poorly lit basements and celebrations afterwards. But also my regrets, that as long as King Ulther rules my future and that of my family we’re better off staying apart, regardless of my sister’s prodding. But when the Troll kicked her a few feet down the stairs all it was worry that overtook me and one goal formed: to get to the other side of this hall. So as the others turned towards the undead that came rushing from the sides, I could only spare a swing for a particularly close ghast that was occupying Gael as I ran as fast as I could. In the end it was Hayley’s magic that whisked me next to Galiene and meant I could put one of Gael’s goodberry in her mouth, hoping she could take the newfound energy from the berry and get away as I started walking up to a mist that the Lich had conjured up and disappeared in.
 
I almost reached the mist as I felt a massive weight on my shoulders, Galiene quite literally jumped on my back and after speaking a few words of draconic whisked us away to a different room in the Cathedral. Now it took me longer than I’m proud to admit to learn that divine magic for healing does not require a kiss on the cheek, but I’m quite sure Galiene didn’t need to requisition a piggyback to get us a room over with magic. But I’m getting distracted, the room over we appeared in front a glass cabinet with a wooden lance in it, but also the Lich Troll and a few of his undead ogre minions approaching. Galiene yelled that they were after the lance and we had to keep it from them.
 
Hoping I could at least hold some of them off until the rest arrived I set myself up next to Galiene, like the days where Liliana was in the Feywild, and started trading blows with the undead, but without my armor and Galiene running on berry fumes we were in dire straits. When the Lich teleported behind us and started wrestling with Galiene for the Lance I managed to take it from him as Luke finally got near and erupted a wall of fire around us, and maybe for the better so less people had to witness me using a lance instead of a sword (Gideon and Liliana would be disgusted for one). But this lance was quite a formidable weapon, especially for being made out of wood, and I managed to land a powerful blow on the Lich. But it wasn’t enough, as he launched a new spell that knocked out both me and Galiene.
 
By the time I came to, the Lich-Troll had vanished with the lance and the rest were cleaning up what was left. I tried to see if he teleported to a place nearby but even Luke’s magic could not track him, we were the ones left standing but we lost anyhow. And it was clear it was me that had lost us the lance. The right thing to do was obvious: throwing the lance away when I had the chance could have bought the others more time to run off with the thing, but I was overconfident and now the cathedral is down an artifact. An artifact that Galiene informed us belonged to a knight that slayed a dragon with it, since the lance is particularly strong against dragons. So a bunch of undead with something against dragons, sounds like that cult from a few weeks ago that we fought, and now they’re armed with an artifact that’s strong against dragons. She filled us in that she had the early shift in the Cathedral and was ambushed by the Lich, last she heard is that they were after the lance before we got there.
 
Our first reflex was to report this to the Palace and circles, but Galiene insisted it should be reported by the Clergy and she needed to discuss this with her superiors at the Cathedral. Hopefully this will not reflect badly on her, especially since she did nothing wrong. But it was time to leave and go help with the fire that was still going strong, though Luke and Hayley would go investigate this Troll Lich.
 
Later that day we finally got back together, Luke and Hayley shared their findings: apparently Liches can temporarily transplant themselves onto trolls to gain some physical prowess in exchange for some losses in magical prowess. Once again, stealing someone else’s strength in a cheap way instead of focusing on improving yourself. We all thought to warn Ambassador Rachnar but this was quickly opposed by Gael, who thought the palace and circles should get the chance to go talk instead of their knights. And while I was still a bit downtrodden to really fight him on it, my sister, who is not a knight, didn’t feel stopped by it and went to the embassy and later came back with Rachnar in tow.
 
Rachnar thanked us for the news but came to tell us about a job he might have for us: around the draconic capital of Latebra Velora a knight clad in all black and riding a black horse showed up and started challenging warriors to duels to the death. Those that fought him were found beheaded. My sister and I shared a look since we were both thinking the same thing: this is the work of the Black Knight of the Knight Nemesis, the one our brother Gideon defeated a few years back only to be found beheaded in his bed a year after as the knight’s curse took him from us. A deep wound in our family that felt fresher than ever in that moment. Though it was strange he was sighted near Latebra Velora as his stronghold of Zwartkeep is far removed from there, perhaps he thinks it'd be easier for him to goad people into duels if they don’t know the legend of the Knight Nemesis. Or maybe he's willing to test his curse against dragons now.
 
But as someone who fought draconics at the Battle of the Northern Plains and the Draconic champion Drann alongside our friends, it does scare me that the Black Knight is easily dispatching them, seemingly on his own. Goes to show Gideon was no ordinary knight, and even now I can’t imagine being as good with a blade as he was, and once again lament what the Black Knight’s curse took from us.
 
So despite Rachnar claiming we owed them nothing and there was no rush, it seems we were all in agreement to have a look. It also gave us a chance to pass by the Ravensfield Ruins, hopefully contact Reynis and get him cured. Maybe even find out more about where this cult went after we dealt with Robert Talespinner and get clues on the lance. But before that we had to wait a few days to finally meet the Fey Lord that held court at the full moon in the ruined church near our keep. But we need time to prepare anyhow. We might march on the Black Knight, but without a way to permanently defeat him it could cost the life of one of us to halt his assault on the draconics.
 
Alistan