It is said that you can measure the fortune of the coming year by the magic that spills out of Bosch during the spring. Few unnatural beasts and occurrences, and Chronotopia will be prosperous; strange disasters and misshapen hulks wandering the countryside portend a grave year for the empire. This spring melt has been the worst in memory, and many of the Landsknechts hope this superstition proves false.

One such knight startles awake from a disturbing dream – one of an invisible ball of twisted magic, rolling down the mountain and leaving a warped trail of altered beasts and plants behind it. Outside it is dark, his is room cold and still, and something is wrong. The keep is too quiet.

Rumo shakily rises from his bed; the silence is very unsettling. He glances out the window as he crosses the room to where his armor and weapons lay.

A chill breeze comes in through the window, and starlight. The shadows in the room shift and sway, as if branches were waving and blocking the light. There are no trees outside to cause this, and the other possibility, that the stars are moving … is too much to consider.

The Cervani shakes the chill of the air from his coat and quickly dons his armor, intending to find out what exactly has happened while he slept.

The Landsknecht is finally fully armoured with his chitin kit and overcloak, protected from some of the cold, and hopefully any danger he might meet. As he dresses, the Keep remains unsettlingly quiet, except for a faint squeaking, coming from downstairs.

Rumo shoulders his axe and slowly opens the door to his chambers; he quietly creeps out and heads downstairs, wincing at every noise his armor makes to give him away.

The stairway is dark, but soon a faint light is seen from the torches that still burn. The space is tight, and would be awkward to fight in, but a few more steps down and the spiral staircase opens onto the mess, where the other knights usually gather to relax. Faint sounds of metal clinking, and an insane giggling can be heard, just around the corner. Noises that go silent with Rumo's approach.

Gritting his teeth, the Cervani slowly draws his bladed weapon. He leans against the wall leading around the source of the noise and waits quietly for a few moments. Perhaps they'll think that his movements were just the wind … or a figment of the imagination…

The room remains silent, then there is a dragging thump, towards the stairs. The creature that is making the noise rounds the corner, and the sight of it sends a chill through Rumo. He knows it! Before him is Blia, one of the other Landsknechts in the keep, but twisted and barely recognizable. He is shrunken, in some limbs, and normal in others; a three foot tall version of his former friend, with unsymmetrical proportions. He giggles at Rumo in a high pitched voice, "Join us, JOIN Us!", stabbing at him with his spear.

The stag leaps to the side as the spear flails towards him. He slams his axe downwards towards his opponent's weapon.

Blia stabs gleefully up the stairs at his brother in arms, wailing in horror as Rumo's axe easily smashes through the spear and opens a gash on its forearm. The blow staggers the twisted deer backwards, and down the steps.

Rumo roars at the twisted Cervani. "Go back to your grave, monster!" He lowers his head and rushes the thing that was once Blia. His antlers impact… and bury themselves into the Cervani's chest. Rumo continues charging down the stairs, gouging out flesh and shattering bone as he goes. As he charges from the last step, Blia falls from his horns… nothing more than a lifeless bloody mess. Rumo clutches his axe as his wild angry eyes scan the room for more creatures. Blia's blood drips from his horns.

The walls seem to be flowing, as if they were candles, melting slowly.

In the flickering torches of the mess hall are two more of Rumo's former friends. Turk, and Kern. Both of them are hacking up their chitin armour, also shrunken and deformed like Blia was. Kern screams, "You DID THIS! You dreamed it all!" and grabs his spear, diving towards Rumo. Turk just chuckles, "One of us… one of us," also advancing.

The Cervani knight neatly sidesteps the charging Turk, and makes sure that instead of his body meeting him… his weapon does. Rumo's axe slices through the creature's flesh, severing muscle and bone. The once Cervani knight falls to the ground, cut in half by Rumo's axe. The stag hefts his weapon again, glaring at Kern. "Dream? You can't dream a nightmare into reality! You can't be Kern… You're some magical obscenity sent here to masquerade as him. What happened to all the knights, filth?"

The once-knight on the ground bubbles, flopping around before becoming still. Its blood spreads in a pool, pursuing Rumo with a life of its own. Kern just grins back at the uncorrupted deer, laughing, "Poke, poke, poke," and jabbing with his spear. His blows are not even coming close to landing, and he hangs back, afraid of the axe.

"Ryaaaaah!" the stag roars. He leaps over the growing pool of blood and wildly swipes at Kern with his axe, grazing him. "Answer me, beast! Where have you hidden the knights?"

The twisted imp of a Cervani backs up, twirling and snapping his spear back and forth, trying to hold off the huge axe. Kern always was a little weak in spirit, so perhaps the thing is telling the truth when it says, "Here … and not here! The Captain! Beware the Captain." He jabs at Rumo's foot, a halfhearted blow that doesn't even come close.

Rumo snarls at the imp. His axe shatters though Kern's spear and buries itself in his chest. "The Captain should beware of me as well."

The last little deer clutches at the axe as he sinks down to the ground. There is an unsettling warmth to the haft of the weapon, as if it was somehow alive. The sensation fades as the deer slips off the edge and collapses.

The stag exhales and clutches his weapon nervously. He retreats from the quickly forming pools of blood, fearing that whatever evil magic exists in them may sink into him as well.

Rumo's armour didn't feel like it was breathing with him, for a second, did it? It couldn't have. His twisted comrades never landed a blow. At least, not one of substance… The stairway is his best option, leading up to everyone's quarters and the roof, or else down. Keep #5 is silent again, except for the crackling of the torches.

Taking extra care to avoid as many of the puddles of blood as he can, Rumo returns to the staircase … heading downwards.

The stairway leads down, around, one more level. A closed door that opens on the storage room. It should be full of just supplies, but is there something more now? Lower down the steps, the strange squeaking is much louder and punctuated with a loud THUMP now and then.

Rumo's knuckles begin to ache from his tight grasp upon the axe. His breath comes out in ragged bursts from his nose as his fear reaches a pitch where he forgets to breathe for a few moments. The Cervani murmurs a prayer to the Star under his breath and cautiously approaches the supply room door.

Silence; there is nothing beyond the door. Rumo listens, then pushes it open, letting it swing wide. His shadow keeps the room in darkness … but … someTHING moves, leaping at him. Its claws slash the air in front of the knight. It lands, preparing to charge again.

The Cervani instinctively lowers his head, so that his antlers are poised to meet the oncoming attacker. He charges as well, impacting the beast.

The beast's hindclaws scrape the stone floor with an earsplitting screech as it rams against the Cervani's antlers. Its long bony talons slash at Rumo's head, but his points keep the wicked attacks at bay. The scrape of them though, across his antlers, echos straight down into his skull.

The Cervani focuses his strength up into his shoulder and neck and slams the creature into the wall, adding more blood to his antlers. Quickly, Rumo slashes at the monster with his axe before it can rise to its feet. His blade strikes home yet again and the beast doesn't move.

The beast lies in a broken heap as Rumo scans the rest of the storage room. Nothing out of place, nothing else moving. He listens to the quiet dripping of blood from his horns onto his thick overcloak. The creaking and banging can still be heard from downstairs, and one new sound: the door to the roof slamming shut, several levels above.

The Cervani's brow furrows; he has yet to see a friendly face in the whole outpost. They're probably all dead or … twisted. Cringing at the thought, Rumo quietly exits the storage room, intent on continuing the rest of the way down. Perhaps there's a Dromodon outside he can ride to warn the rest of Chronotopia … or at least report what has happened before he succumbs as well.

The stairs spiral down, one more level, to the ground floor where the animals are kept. The door to the stables, always closed, now swings freely, creaking and banging in the wind. Peering in, the stag can see the Dromodons asleep in their stalls, and the main gate of Auchslander Keep #5 unbarred and open.

His ears swiveling at the slightest noise, Rumo keeps his tight grip on his axe as he approaches the Dromodon stalls. He nervously reaches out and unlatches the pen to one of the more swift animals and approaches it cautiously.

The animal is sleeping peacefully, lying on its side and covered with a dark blanket. A step closer, and the Cervani realizes his mistake: the Dromodon is not lying asleep, but lying dead, its throat slashed and its blood covering it hide.

Rumo curses under his breath. He inspects the other riding animals as well; although he already knows what he's going to find.

The other stalls also contain Dromodons enjoying the sleep of the dead, each one efficiently cut down where it stood. Rumo has checked all but the last three, when he hears the small scrape of armour on stone.

There is a quiet chuckle some distance behind the knight, in the open area of the stable.

The Landsknecht growls. "Another creature… " he murmurs to himself and holds his axe out in front of him as he tries to get out of the stall. He looks around for the source of the sound.

Standing between Rumo and the main gate is another of the keep guard, Petra. He stands his normal height, and is wiping blood from his sword. He smiles, the hand holding the cloth is a hand no more, but a tightly formed hoof, joined to a very thin and elongated left arm that attaches oddly to the other Cervani's shoulder. "Who's dreaming now?" he asks, "Or are you just killing us in our sleep?" Petra slips sideways into a fencing stance, still managing to hold his stretched left arm in a useful way behind him.

Rumo lowers his head and holds his axe tightly in front of him. "If I am asleep … then this is the most realistic dream I have ever had. If you are the sleeper … you should wake up and go away before you get any more hideous."

Petra advances, twirling his blade, "The question is, will dying make you wake up, or make sure you never do?" He lunges, thrusting out his sword.

The deformed Cervani's thrust strikes the centre of Rumo's chest, slicing through his overcloak, but not through his armour. As the blade slips along his front, he swings his axe low towards Petra's knee. Rumo's blow catches and staggers his opponent, and he delivers a second axe slash to the inside, upsetting him even more, though neither attack manages to breach the armour. Petra's blade flashes down against Rumo's wrist, slamming against the chitin protection. The other deer manages to hook the edge of his axe under the armour behind the knee, and rips upwards, tearing the armour clear of Petra's knee and slicing open the inner thigh.

The Landsknecht swings at Petra's arm, hoping to jar his weapon away … instead he sees Petra's own blade slice into his helmet, narrowly missing his eye. Rumo's arm jerks as the blade slicks by and disrupts his swing. The Cervani's sword slices cleanly through thin air.

Petra hobbles defensively, his body awkwardly twisted so he can support his weight with his remaining good leg. He shuffles back away from Rumo, blocking, twisting. The first Cervani concentrates on the wounded one's weapon arm, trying to disable just that, but even though he lands blow after blow with his axe, Petra's armour holds, or the blade deflects, or the sword absorbs just enough force, that Rumo can't damage the arm.

Dodging Petra's swing that threatens to slice his face off, Rumo begins hacking at his attacker's leg. Once… twice… and on the third swing the knight goes down. "You were always faster than I, Petra… but strength wins out in the end, especially once your speed is taken from you!"

Petra moans weakly on the ground, his collapsed knee twisting his leg so that it almost matches his elongated left arm. Flopping on his back, he holds both arms and his sword over his body protectively, but his strength is fading, and his eyes starting to glaze over.

Rumo bellows and hammers at Petra's faceplate with his axe. The only thing that saves the fallen warrior is his helmet. "That can NOT be my dream!" he bellows, bringing his axe down again and again. "I dream of rooms full of does, and hot meals… and anything except freaks like you! So maybe this is YOUR dream… and I can end it by killing you." The final words hiss out of his gritted teeth. The Cervani knight raises his axe high above his head … and then slams it downwards with all of his strength. The axe shatters through Petra's chitin blade, slices past the arm that was holding it… and buries itself into his head. Rumo gasps as the blow lands and wrenches his weapon free.

The swinging door on the spiral staircase closes with a thump and the snap of the latch. There is the barely audible hiss of chitin against leather as a sword is drawn. The Captain's voice is a deep bass through the grill of his metal helmet. "It's time for you to wake up, Rumo." He raises his shield and advances.

The Cervani snarls in response. He takes a nervous step backwards and allows his eyes to dart around, sizing up the terrain and his opponent.

The Captain advances a few more steps with his shield raised, then drops it, and with a bellow charges Rumo. Instinctively the other Cervani lowers his antlers and the two clash. The stable echoes as points snap and helmets clash together. The Captain staggers, pushed off into one of the stables as Rumo also reels from the blow, his chitin helmet split against the metal one of his opponent.

The Cervani knight screams in pain as the shockwaves from the impact echo through his bones. He raises his axe and begins swinging wildly, blindly. Each swing is neatly intercepted by the Captain. "Sleep, Rumo… " the Captain says. "Join the others." The last thing Rumo sees before his world explodes into a haze of red is his captain's sword smashing down on his unarmored skull. Pain. Red. And then nothing…

…

…

A large funeral pyre was needed to burn all the dead. The captain's report to his superiors failed to provide any reason for the Landsknecht's rampage through Auchslander Keep #5. He had his suspicions, a poisoned drink, a weak mind, or simply being stationned too long at the edge of the madness that was Bosch. He didn't report suspicions, just facts: five dead knights, one dead prisoner, and seven dead Dromodons. All killed by the fifth knight which he dispatched himself. It was not a good report to send at any time of year. If the superstitions held true, it would not be good for the empire to get that report this spring.