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<- giraine:summary-365|The Horses of Ridalstead ^ giraine:summaries-2024|Summaries 2024 ^ giraine:summary-367| ->
====== Summary 366: Tomb of Ornovar One-Foot; and the King-Who-Walks (2024-11-15) ======
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You survey the scene after defeating the incursion of the five horse-monsters into the long hall. You decide to barricade the main entrance, using those bodies and surrounding debris, so you so that, leaving a narrow channel through it to get in and out. Then, after some discussion, Shrett stays to watch with bow and arrow ready from atop the mezzanine, while the others head for the three remaining cottar’s huts. They are coming near when five horse-monsters rush in from the storm. But those are cut down swiftly, although two more soon join them, forming a ring of monsters and increasing numbers of corpses around you, and they too are slain; still without you taking a scratch. It was all over in twenty seconds. Bog takes tropies of horse-tails for later usage, and triumphantly eats a heart. Back at the long-hall, Shrett has only heard the hint of something happening, then silence.
 
Boamund knocks on the door of the nearest hut, gets a meek reply of “Help!” and then some uncertainty from the woman therein as he explains who he is and what he’s doing. She throws her lot in with him with desperate hope, bringing her two children, and soon, visiting the two other huts, you have a frightened little entourage of three women and seven children. You keep them away from the pile of dead horses and tell them to close their eyes, forming a hand-to-hand  chain, as they enter the long hall. The people waiting within greet them with cheers and tears and relief. There is a touching reunion between Keorlan the cottar and his family; he’d been telling Shrett how he worried about their fate. And Shrett had been having a talk, of nothing small or big in particular, but to distract everyone while they waited in the long hall. It turns out that Adessa Reed-Voice is not just the thane’s wife but also a leader and a competent warrior, as many Galanini women are in their egalitarian, matriarchal society. As the general reunion continues, people avoid the tender topic of the death of so many treasured horses. The human story is more pressing. 
 
Your story is another matter. You think over options. You could rest the night or just head out to Dwarf Cap; you opt for the latter. Adessa has noted that it might be reachable before nightfall. She and Keorlan give Boamund and Shrett detailed directions. The people of Ridalstead return to the mezzanine but don’t fit into the thane’s room anymore, so they are spread out on the perimeter, with children in the thane’s son Hendulf’s room. And you reach Dwarf Cap indeed before nightfall. Boamund is doing a stellar job of leading you through the snows. 
 
“Dwarf Cap” is about 5 km (a 3-hours walk considering the snow) from Ridalstead, where a high grassy mound stands. The structure is about 50 metres in diameter. At the top, a narrow shaft ensures that the mound would look like a Fire Rune if seen from above, you later see, but right now it is hard to see much due to the snowfall. It is surrounded by a very wide ditch filled with water fed by a small stream, but this is frozen over and covered by snow. That too, you don’t see until you get very close to it, and you’re glad you didn’t accidentally walk onto it. In front of the tumulus, eighteen standing stones create a circular space centred by a [sacrificial] well, the whole structure again shaped as a Fire Rune. An alley bordered by similar stones leads to a narrow passage entering into the mound. You can see two of the horse-monsters standing by the passage. They seem to blaze brighter than the others did. 
 
Furthermore, on the left side of the circle of stones, the wrecked remains of a camp can be noticed under the snow cover; crows are feasting on various [human] body parts sticking out of the pristine white shroud…
 
You approach. Bog and Shrett head off to each side of the standing stones, trying to use the snowfall to aid their stealthy approach, while Boamund and Fraud go head-on. The creatures await you, shrieking and roaring in defiance. And then you launch your attack, and things get messy!
 
Bog closes on his foe but it sees him coming and parries. It then, beginning a series of unpleasant surprises, unleashes a screaming gout of flame that Bog dives clear of, keeping his feet (IIRC). Shrett’s enemy however is caught unaware and wounded, and Shrett tries to outmanouvre it but it shows remarkable aplomb at avoiding this during its vigilant guard. It instead turns its head to Boamund and Fraud and blasts them. Boamund avoids this but Fraud opts to let his armour protect him. It saves his life, that is for sure, but he still is wickedly burned all over. Bog kills his foe. But then three more come galloping in—two from Bog’s side and one from the others’. And it gets really ugly. All of them blast the area where the four of you are fighting. You have to dive and roll and take cover as much as you can, but it’s a deadly dance that plays out with all but Boamund bearing nasty wounds.
 
They then charge into battle and one grabs Bog around one side of his waist, injuring him and holding on, continuing to shake him later. Another engages Fraud, and the third to Boamund. The original one on that side has been taken down. But now Boamund, too, is grabbed by the serrated beak of the horse-monster, which hurts his left leg, and it keeps savaging him. Bog throws a Shield spell to save his life and it does. Gradually you fight from the ground and then stand up again and, in moments, it’s over. You cut them down with vengeance—Bog in particular is gripped by bloodlust and ensures his foes are dead, then rushes toward the tumulus’s entrance, ignoring calls to make further exploration such as the camp. You follow, although Fraud is limping behind and feeling very vulnerable. Bog casts Suppress Aether to ward himself and fend off more Fire rune enemies.
 
No enemies greet you as you venture inward. There is no door and may never have been one. On entry to the narrow passage leading inside the tumulus, you see discover walls painted with faded frescos depicting battles between horsemen. Further inside the tumulus, the burial chamber is quite plain. A frieze of faded painted dandelions runs along the upper part of the wall, are piled along the walls on benches. In the centre of the funeral chamber, a warrior’s skeleton still standing on their horse: [the flesh of both human and mount has been boiled and then burnt, and the bones subsequently tied to bronze rods in order to keep both human and horse upright, you later learn]; a skeletal rider. The warrior bears a full panoply of bronze spear, broadsword, round shield and plate armour, but it looks badly aged.
 
Bog and Shrett slink around the sides of the skeletons and Shrett sees two figures trying to hide just past them, against the wall. He nods to Bog about this but Bog can only see the general area. He casts Detect Enemy and his burning mace doesn’t point to anything. Hmm. 
 
Shrett addresses them as Boamund and Fraud come inside. They step forward slowly, hands outstretched in peaceful gestures, with no weapons drawn. One is dressed like a wizard, in tall hat and robes and Law runes and such. He has a smarmy grin and does a lot of talking. The other is a Ralian barbarian; a warrior with a broadsword at his side. Bog comes up to speak to him while Shrett speaks to the other. You learn that the Wizard-Sage is called Idotus the Polymath and the warrior is Baraldes the Sure. They come from Sentanos County, which you knew. Idotus at first speaks very slowly to “barbarians” with a condescending smile, but you change his tune soon enough. He offers to pay you to help them escape but you want answers. Baraldes just wants to escape alive and Bog + Shrett soon figure out that he’s fed up with his employer Idotus and doesn’t care about him. Itodus remains obsessed with finishing what they started here, as he eventually explains. He starts off:
 
They came in Dark Season because they knew the Fire magics here would be weaker. They overcame wards [Idotus shows you this later]. They searched and documented the place, returning what they inspected. Most notably, they discovered a magical chamfron—a golden piece of armour covering the nose of the horse-skeleton. But soon, during their studies, they learned that someone (not with their party; all accounted for) had stolen the chamfron and then a snowstorm hit. The sages took refuge at the camp, although some came in and out of the tomb when they felt safe enough. At the next noon, sunlight (which even in the winter shines a bit brighter in here) entered the tomb through the shaft piercing the top of the dome. With the chamfron gone, the sunlight struck the forehead of the stallion. A sage was there and saw magical sparkling, but thought little of it at the time. Yet it was enough impetus to seek what had happened to that chamfron. As the initial snowstorm subsided, the Sages sent two guards with Sage Jeonmon Singsong to Ridalstead, in search of the missing chamfron. They have not returned. Idotus wonders where Jeonmon got to. He also says something about the Sages having some other documentation. That evening, the horse-monsters arrived at the tumulus where the two remaining Wizard-Sages and three guards were working on rebuilding the camp, which the storm had wrecked, and saving valuables therein. Only Idotus and Baraldes survived, realising that the monsters could or would not enter the space enclosed by the standing stones. They’ve been hiding out here, freezing and hungry, for days.
 
But Idotus says that their reason for coming here was that they were looking into myths that seemed to relate to this place. And that sets Bog off. He rushes at the sage, his flaming mace swinging for a killing blow as he curses the man for continuing Godlearner atrocities that Bog had fought so hard against in the Second Age. Idotus is fortunate to be able to roll across the floor and survive the blow. As he begins to stand, Boamund is almost speechless in shock, Shrett is with Baraldes just watching with interest but no direct involvement, and Fraud rushes in, grabbing Bog’s mace to stop the murder. They push and pull against each other but Fraud remains firm. Bog relents. Boamund insists that Idotus must explain more about what’s going on here, and Fraud is there looking menacing, so Idotus loses his smile entirely, shifting to pleading for mercy and offering information for his life.
 
He tells this, which the Wizard-Sages had learned and which drew them to this place:
An Enerali (pre-Galanini ancestors; “primitive” Godtime horse people of Ralios) Hero named Ornovar One-Foot proved himself mightily in battle against Arkat in the First Age, near Hrelar Amali; beheading the leader of an East Ralian Sun Domer cavalry unit. The horses of the defeated were buried there. But soon Arkat’s forces ralied and defeated the alliance at Hrelar Amali. Ornovar’s fate is unknown. That skeleton might be him, or a proxy. The Wizard-Sages found, via trading networks, a First Age magical shield with inscriptions that attributed it to Ornovar One-Foot, and called upon the “ancient alliance with the King-Who-Walks”. In their studies, they learned that the Sharic clan has a strong bloodline leading back to Ornovar. They kept investigating this for several seasons until clues led them to Ridalstead, said to be close to Ornovar’s tomb, where they hoped to find the secret of this King-Who-Walks. They did so under the auspices of Erengazor (Archon of Sentanos; and who was one of the big players in the struggle to prove Arkat ancestry and power; but fallen on hard times) herself, who became very interested in the project, probably hoping to gain new magic for Sentanos County. 
 
> A question that the Sages sought answers to, and Idotus still is passionate about, is who this King-Who-Walks truly was. This becomes clearer later but is the horse Ornovar’s magic horse or something, or just a horse?
 
Bog stomps out of the tumulus; he’s had enough and remarks to Fraud that if Ornovar was an Arkat foe, maybe this place should be ruined. Many Solar/Sky/Fire/Light peoples and those linked to them, like elves, had joined Nysalor’s armies in the First Age. Some animal-people/Hykimi, too. Anyway, outside, Bog focuses on eating a dead foe’s heart as victory. Shrett soon follows. But Fraud and Boamund ponder the situation. Ornovar is  an ancestor of the Sharic clan and thus Ridalstead, and thus some Galanini, and you’ve been sent here by those people, from Estali City. Furthermore, while Ornovar was a foe of Arkat, the Enerali eventually changed sides and joined Arkat’s forces against Gbaji. Idotus asks if Fraud and Boamund have a scholarly bent; perhaps he can interest them in a tour of the tomb and information on what the Wizard-Sages found? He doesn’t seem very convinced that they are scholars, but he plays along with it, probably still afraid for his life.
 
At the entry frescoes, he shows that of two armies fighting, one side is riding horses whose faces seem to be protected by a helmet ending in some sort of beak. This is a rational interpretation, while in fact these are depictions of the horse-monsters that Ornovar’s warriors rode against the Arkat in the First Age, he says. There were intricate warding glyphs inserted in the frescoes as decorative patterns on the horsemen’s shields. Their magic has been neutralized by the Sages.
 
Around the walls, offerings – old weapons, antique Galanini amphorae, jewellery and such – are near or on burial benches supporting skeletons of Ornovar’s boon-companions who chose to die with him. Most of the objects bear the symbols visible outside on the standing stones (symbols of the Sharic clan; you didn’t notice these, but the Sages studied them and confirmed the linkage between Ornovar and the Sharic ancestors with these). It is clear that all the objects have been recently handled but put back in their original position after manipulation. The strangest find is a withered leather sandal decorated with small wings made with very brittle gold leaves, which Idotus warily notes to Fraud, gingerly hands to him to inspect, and then returns it to it spot. 
 
The mounted warrior’s gear consists of artful, old, weathered copies of little market value but still of sacred value. Around the warrior’s neck is tied a strange necklace made of a gold chain. [I may have said something about gold tablets being attached here, but no- you learned that they were supposed to be there, but were gone—see below]  Around the horse, various weapons and jewellery are piled up, every piece ruined by time or folded up and hammered into ruins as offerings. The only exceptions are thin, tarnished bronze chain links marked with Galana Runes which lie amongst the hammered goods just under the horse’s skull. It is obvious that they have been broken recently. Upon close examination, one can notice various Runes carved into the forehead of the horse skull: Spirit, Beast and Death. Furthermore, verdigris streaks [from the thin bronze chains now broken] stain the lower part of the horse skull’s “cheeks”.  Until a few days ago, the bronze chains tied the gold chamfron that protected the skull of Ornovar’s horse, Idotus explains. You now see that, oh dear, that theft unleashed deadly spirits who went out and possessed all 20 horses of the Ridalsteaders, turning them into murderous monsters to seek revenge. And maybe the chamfron itself?
 
Baraldes, Idotus, Fraud and Boamund leave the tomb, joining the others. Shrett has been struggling to dig out the camp. He’s found the main tent, and clarified the bodies (one of whom Idotus identifies by name as a sage as below; Baraldes takes on a darker mood, musing that he is riven by survivors’ guilt. His companions are all dead because of this stupid job. You wonder how long it is before Baraldes’s sword ends up in Idotus’s chest.
 
You learn more things by digging and talking with Idotus:
The circle of stones is a place of worship for the (forgotten) tiny hero cult of Ornovar One-Foot. On close inspection, each of the stones in the alleyway reveals a carved frontal horsehead, flanked on either side by stylized talons, alternating with dandelions. Runes and other symbols of Ehilm and Galana predominate in long friezes, largely worn-out, running around the stones. 
 
The wrecked camp is searched, obvious traces of violence abound; the various body parts belong to three corpses terribly mutilated. One victim is clearly a Wizard-Sage (Kadan Silver-Calamus), while the others are typical Ralian barbarians. Under the wreck of the main tent are three things (two of them in one container): 
 
A set of ten stone tablets engraved with the annals of the old Sharic clan in old Theyalan (Ralian) script. They are folded in oiled cloth along with a papyrus. Idotus says they are the genealogy connecting the Sharics to Ornovar; and the shield that the Sages had found, too.
 
Boamund soon reads: the papyrus bears the legend of the King-Who-Walks—
THE KING-WHO-WALKS ENTERS THE STEAD: In the Darkness, a new beast came to Ehilm’s court, wounded and suffering. None of the thanes present knew what it was. Eurmal laughed at its funny spindly legs, saying they would break too easily to be of use. Odayla offered to hunt it to feed the hungry members of the tula but said that he did not think the meat would taste good. Humath said it was close to death and he should kill it and put it out of its suffering. Orlanth  said they should scare it off before it ate all the food and made everyone hungry. The farmers wanted him to pull their plow but thought he might be too small. Only Galana recognised King Hippogriff, its wings clipped off, its claws cut from its legs and its fangs torn from its mouth. Galana approached the beast and whispered in its ear: "I will make you the noblest of beasts, I will forbid people to eat your flesh or use you as a beast of burden, I will protect you and your kin from those who might seek to harm you, and I will feed you in winter if you will bear me on your back when I ride on patrol around our lands, and pull my chariot to war.” The beast accepted the deal and Galana healed him, built him a stable and gave him his new name, Horse.

> The King-Who-Walks then is a horse, but more than this probably, and that is where the Sages’ insights end. They had hoped to learn more, and some of that connection is in another item.

> **[well known to some of you: the preceding Hippogriff myth, which goes something like this: Hippogriff underwent a series of painful and humiliating experiences during the War of the Gods and the Greater Darkness. First she met Valind in raging battle and her proud fangs were broken out of her mouth so she could no longer bite. In a fight with Humath, Hippogriff’s legs were broken and her bronze claws were ripped from her feet, but Ehilm was able to replace her feet with hooves. The greatest loss was when Zorak Zoran tore off her golden wings, laughing as he robbed her of ever returning to the sky. In some myths, the final ignominy is that Hippogriff is saddled and made a servant by mankind. Others see it differently, as the King-Who-Walks myth goes.]**
 
Under the stone tablets, a small wooden diptych holds very thin vellum leaves; 17 smaller pieces of vellum have been cut out and used to make some rubbings of some strange, engraved script (from the golden tablets that the Wizard-Sages had found through various excursions and connections before coming here, and studied but not collected). Around the rubbings, marginal notes document the work (and perplexities) of one of the Wizard-Sages, you later see, on close inspection. This documentation will take quite some time to go through. It (and the other stuff) likely is of much interest to the Galanini/Estali rulers, who want to know what these Sages were up to.
 
The question remains, where is the gold chamfron? You have the missing information that Idotus lacks. The thane’s son Hengulf had followed the Sages’ party here, covertly, and then returned to Ridalstead that night, and then the snowstorm hit, and the monsters came, and eventually he died in defense of Ridalstead. So he is the likely thief, which should place the chamfron’s location somewhere at Ridalstead.
 
You work hard to pile horse corpses against the tomb’s entrance to discourage interlopers.
 
You finish your work here and everyone goes to Ridalstead. Baraldes is still moping. He doesn’t bundle himself up as much as he should. He mutters to Shrett that he should suffer. But he’s not suicidal, he keeps clothed enougn to avoid dying from exposure over the 3 hour trip, but he shivers and shakes and groans, uttering prayers to Orlanth now and then. 
 
Nothing has changed at Ridalstead. The threat from the monsters seems over—for now? Adessa greets you with interest and  you explain some of what you learn, but quickly turn the subject to the chamfron. Shrett handles this with increasing clumsiness/excessive forthrightness. He wants to know where Hengulf’s body is. Adessa will let him search Hengul’s room, then she will consider the matter further. She doesn’t like the request. Shrett goes in the room, from which the children are cleared, and soon finds the lovely old gold chamfron hidden in a cache behind the wooden walls and thatch. The mystery is solved!
 
You speak to Adessa, and Shrett’s words turn her attitude further against him. He urges that Hengulf is to blame for stealing the chamfron and bringing the curse upon Ridalstead that has brought it to ruin. She turns away with some sharp words and engages with her people. Fraud curses at Shrett for his inept handling but the damage is done, and if it wasn’t blindingly obvious before that the chamfron theft was a bad thing, to anyone listening it must now be so. You’re exhausted from the day’s efforts and you rest, departing Ridalstead in the morning. You return the golden chamfron to its rightful place, with Shrett making words of peace to the horse-skeleton as he does so, and he is not sure if there is a reaction or not. But you feel like you’ve done what you can here. 
 
Adessa says that she and her people will wait out the storm; they have enough food and the monster threat seems over, so their chances are better. Once they are more able, they will reach out to their neighbouring steads seeking aid. The fate of Ridalstead is unclear. Its fame in horsebreeding is over though; it must find a new way. Maybe they will stay here, maybe they will join another clan; it is unsure. Baraldes and Idotus remain here for now; they’ve had enough drama. But they’re not very welcome so they go isolate themselves in the stables.

A question remains, what happened to the one Sage and two guards that had left? One might have been the dead man in the tree you first met. Maybe he has something of importance left? You start going back that way.
 
Very soon, a vicious blizzard hits. This is the kind of storm you’ve been warned of. It’s lashing winds and near-blinding snows. Visibility drops to maybe two metres. Boamund looks for cover. You pass along a hillside and Boamund thinks that it might provide some shelter so you head that way and prepare to make a hasty camp. But there are loud rumbling noises like thunder around here, and also the smell of smoke and something like sulphur, whipped up by the winds. All of these are growing stronger and wilder. 
 
The earth itself shakes and a loud eruption of ash bursts from the hillside nearby, turning the ice and snows to hissing steam. A trench of scarred earth is exposed, leading to a jagged, hissing, ember-hued crater. Warmth hits you. The snows are pushed back away from the trench and crater.
 
Angry red-skinned men, twice the height of a man, with long hair and multicoloured wings, stand in the middle of the crater, some distance from you. Smoke and fumes blossom as their breath. They carry burning spears and flaming stones, and are clad head-to-toes in red-gold plates of metal. A sizeable salamander accompanies them, having gushed out of cracks in the ground. Bog puzzles over what these beings are, of Earth/Hell or Sky? They have the look of both perhaps. Yet you have no time to puzzle further—the beings immediately launch into violence!
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