Lucio Bermond and Luke are twin brothers, mercenaries in the service of the Abbot of Helix in the present cycle, who fled with a warlock after a demonic pact and were pardoned to the dungeon on their return.
| Type | Characters (twins) |
| Age | Thirty |
| Service | The Abbot of Helix |
| Status | Imprisoned in the church dungeon, pardoned |
| Spanish entry | Gemelos Inquisidores de Helix — Lucio Bermond y Luke |
Description
They are thirty and have fought together for fifteen years. They were once squires of a sacred order (not named) that fell into disgrace, and turned mercenary. They act like marshals of the church apparatus, half-inquisitors without formal investiture: “if they say he goes to prison, he goes; if they say set a stake and light it, they do it.”
Each recognizes the other by a clean knife cut on the ear, a chosen mark of brotherhood, before the face.
Their equipment on arriving at Helix:
- armor of beast leather under plates, a jerkin from several slain beasts;
- a shield;
- a double-faced axe, “one side axe and one side hammer”;
- warhorses for escort and pursuit.
History
The Abbot sent them to guard the imprisoned group. On a moonless night in the monastery, the demon Quasi tempted the first twin with escalating offers: armor, a terminal axe, riders (Barbulis), a castle, and ten thousand gold coins hidden near the mud. He gave in and opened the cell of the warlock Silas; the second twin followed. A tragoide (a subordinate homunculus) brought their horses, and they escorted Silas to the mud.
They returned to Helix at the edge of the skeletal siege, escorting Silas, who demanded the Tablet of Chaos from the altar. Humans in a corrupted state can cross the threshold of the consecrated church; the greater undead cannot. In the antechamber one twin slapped Silas “so they would be believed”; inside, both knelt and begged forgiveness of Vicar Otar: “I want to ask forgiveness. We don’t know why we did this.”
The vicar and the cleric Mortan together invoked the binding that holds men on the three intruders; none resisted, and all three were paralyzed. The vicar’s sentence differed:
- Silas: to the altar, skull split by a mace blow.
- The twins: to the dungeon, pardoned with quarantine; “they will have to be washed.”
Open questions
- Whether the Abbot, on his return, will ratify or moderate the vicar’s pardon.