52 Meryn

After a rough sea return and a covert wolfback approach, Meryn’s group camps outside Linsfall. To minimize attention and preserve allies if captured, Meryn and Stark proceed alone, rifting themselves and their direwolves, Anassa and Cratos, under cover of night toward the city gates.

They wait hidden until a wagon arrives, then slip through with it. Inside, the city feels subdued. Passing memories of their earlier visit, they make for the square and the Faceless Goddess’s statue. Meryn senses warmth in the statue’s cupped hands and a warning hesitation, but sees no visible latch or opening.

As Meryn debates whether to damage the statue, Anassa detects an approach. A cloaked elder kneels to pray: the Mother Priestess. Meryn reveals herself and orders her to stop, suspecting Killian’s control. The priestess acknowledges Killian sent her, but her vacant affect makes Meryn hesitate between freeing or subduing her.

When Meryn pleads for her to resist, the Mother Priestess declares she serves Killian willingly, exalting him as a destined, godlike remaker of the world. Recognizing the Tear’s significance, she moves with sudden purpose, drawing a hammer.

Meryn scrambles onto Anassa to intervene, but the Mother Priestess swings first. The hammer blow lands with startling force, and the statue’s hands explode into fragments across the square, imperiling the Tear’s hiding place and forcing an imminent confrontation.