Campaign Log: Confessions of a Forked Tongue

[coronatiger]

Xipil was allowed to study the notes Groman had made on the journey from the Kings’ Crypt. Groman had learned that there were some who presumably knew how to keep the spirits at bay indefinitely, and from his description, Xipil thought they were Haros’s people. They seemed our only chance, so I said we had to get Haros to take us to them. If we learned their secret in time, we could save Pak and Groman, and more importantly, not release the spirits. Wolfram wanted to call in his entire order. He was convinced they were numerous and powerful enough that they could banish all the spirits. I pointed out that Pak and Groman wouldn’t last long enough for us to go all the way to the Prince’s Cities and back.

We brought with us Pak and Groman’s empty water skins when we left, and Xipil went back to the raft with fresh water. There had been a spring in the cave where we found Haros, so I searched the area for another. Luck struck, and I was able to refill our containers.

We went up to the promontory to check the progress of the ship with black sails. I still couldn’t tell it was a ship, but Wolfram and Xipil said it was coming towards us. They estimated that it would arrive the morning after tomorrow. Focusing all their energy on the spirits, Pak and Groman were practically defenseless against mundane threats, so we decided we had to intercept the ship, or at least be on the raft when the ship arrived.

Grogg and Xipil hadn’t slept well last night, due to their drug abuse, so when we reached last night’s campsite, they called it a day. Wolfram and I continued on. We had to stop the others from getting too far away, since we needed Haros to take us to his people, and soon.

Wolfram devoured the distance, and in only two more hours, we reached Yana’s camp. Wolfram turned back into a human to tell Keri that we had found his friends. He also told him about the ship that we couldn’t ignore. It was a long time since sunset, so everyone else was asleep, but Keri said Haros hadn’t been feeling well, so Yana had to sing lullabies to get him to sleep.

I warned Keri that Wolfram and I had to leave as soon as the sun came back up, so whoever had the watch in the morning had to wake us. I saw that only the large tent was up, so Yana had to be in there. I thought I was quiet enough not to wake her when I slipped in under her blanket, but the hand that guided mine to her breast said otherwise.

O Ashtar! We surrender our lives to Your coils. Take us while we sleep, or grant us another day in Your service, as You will.


22nd of Tityra, year 412

O Ashtar, Mother of Snakes, Keeper of Death’s Door, hear my confession!

It was Hylda who woke us. Grabbing a quick bite to eat, I told Yana that Haros’s people might possess vital information, so if she got the chance, she should start to prepare him for the request to take us to them. I thought he was unstable enough that he might balk at showing us their secret vale if we asked out of the blue, even though he had seemed willing to bring us to visit, earlier.

Yana didn’t fail to notice the webbing between my fingers. “I thought it might be useful for the swim out to Pak and Groman’s raft, but I’m not sure if it helped. It certainly didn’t hurt, but… I don’t know…” I had no need for the webbing for a while, and it got in the way now and again. I put a hand inside my pouch and tried not to flinch when Hope, on my hissed instructions, bit my hand again. Yana noticed anyway. “Does it hurt?” she asked. “Not for long,” I replied. The pain went away almost as fast as the tingling in my skin.

Wolfram was getting ready to go, so I quickly emphasized to Yana our need to move quickly when we returned, if we were to learn the secret of Haros’s people in time to save Pak and Groman. I took the time to give Yana a half-decent goodbye hug before finding my seat on Wolfram’s back. He leaped into motion almost before I gave the signal.

We found Grogg and Xipil where we had left them, and Wolfram transformed back so he could participate in the planning. We agreed that we had to watch out for the ship with the black sails, but not much else.

When we got to the promontory, the ship had come closer, and I could just make out that it was in fact a ship, with a little imagination. The ship was sailing towards the raft, and Xipil and Wolfram’s guess that it would arrive tomorrow morning looked to be precise.

Xipil wanted to cast his Hawk Vision spell to get a better look at the ship, but I reminded him about the spirits. He had a hunch that it would be all right, so he still wanted to go ahead with the spellcasting. Since we had evaded the spirits easily yesterday, I didn’t stop him. His hunch proved to be right, for the spirits apparently ignored us.

Grogg wanted to test Wolfram’s ability to banish spirits, but since Wolfram gets his power from the moon, daylight would impede him and make the spell less potent. He also argued that he didn’t want to use a lot of energy to lure the spirits close enough for the banishment to work, but Xipil said he could catch the spirits’ attention.

“But what do we do about the ship?” I asked. Xipil was less sure today that the ship carried friends, and he was afraid that whoever it was, they might attack Pak and Groman. Wolfram and I thought we could handle them, although it was clear Wolfram was talking about combat, while I was not. If it was Odon on that ship, we’d be pleasantly surprised, but if it was one of his brothers, I was even more eager to get on board. From what we’ve heard, Odon’s brothers may know where Your brother is. When my friends pointed out that Odon and his brothers were all apparently immortal, I said I still could deal with them. Then I took out the spirit snake venom and converted some of it into that type of venom that could kill those who wouldn’t die. Of course, the venom was a last resort, as I didn’t want to kill anyone before learning what they knew.

Since we needed to be on the raft in the morning, but we couldn’t stay there through the night, I suggested we find a place where we could rest. We went far enough north to get clear of the spirit cloud and found a cave down by the water after a steep climb. We couldn’t see much from the cave, so we decided to have two guards, one in the cave and one atop the cliff to watch for spirit activity. I took the first watch in the cave while Xipil climbed back up the cliff.

After half an hour, Xipil called out that something was coming closer. I hurriedly woke Grogg and Wolfram and told them spirits were approaching. Ten minutes later, the spirits had dispersed, so I told my friends they could go back to sleep. Even if their sleep was broken up every half-hour, they should at least get a little bit of rest.

However, Xipil did not call the alarm again, and Wolfram woke on his own a couple of hours later. He said he was ready to keep watch, so I told him to climb up and relieve Xipil. Shortly afterwards, Xipil was sleeping soundly beside the troll. I woke Grogg when I estimated it was about two hours until sunset. I told him to wake us when the day died.

[coronatiger]

When Grogg woke us, Xipil was upset. He didn’t want to travel through the spirit cloud after dark, but he quickly realized there was nothing he could do about it and shut up. I thought he was just drowsy and spoke before he had thought it through. How we were expected to be on the raft at dawn without either staying there overnight or going through the spirit cloud during the hours of darkness was a conundrum indeed. I thought we had agreed not to risk Pak and Groman’s safety by staying with them at night, and that left us only one way of being with them at dawn.

We climbed up from the beach and traveled to our lookout point on the north side of the bay. The ship had come much closer since yesterday, but we still thought it wouldn’t reach the raft until after sunrise. Only Xipil and I saw the ship, of course; Xipil used his Night Vision spell and I had Your gift. What everyone could see was the raft. In the dark, the faint red glow of Groman’s stone lighted up the tent quite clearly.

In the north, a camel rider was racing towards us, paralleling the lakeshore. We found it most likely that Yana or one of the others was coming to find us. I didn’t think anyone but Yana would dare to ride so fast in the dark. There was a slight chance that it was someone we didn’t know, but friend or stranger, they were headed straight for the center of the spirit cloud, and even Yana didn’t know about our lookout point, so we had to move east to intercept them.

When the rider was close enough that I could identify them, I saw that it was Yana, so we moved towards her. She leaped off the camel and ran into my embrace. “Dark riders!” Yana exclaimed. She had been on watch duty and was just turning in when she spotted two dark-clad riders and immediately got a bad feeling. She had roused the camp and instructed them to pack up and follow as fast as they could. That wouldn’t be very fast, Yana admitted, with all the luggage that the giant bear had carried now divided only among one camel and one horse.

We loaded up on Wolfram, everyone and everything except Yana’s camel and Grogg, who had to run beside us. The camel had looked tired after Yana’s mad dash, but with only a saddle to carry, it kept up without problem. Yana was worried that we might be drawing the spirits after us, towards Haros, but the spirit cloud still seemed to ignore our presence.

We met Keri, Haros and Hylda one and a half hours later. Hylda was carrying Haros on her back, for he was so paralyzed with fear, he couldn’t have walked on his own. Some of us had to go on to investigate these dark riders, who almost certainly were Moon Shadows since rumor had spread that the desert wasn’t safe, but Haros wasn’t fit to travel, so we needed to find a safe place where he could rest, if not sleep. There were plenty of caves along the beach, it seemed, and Xipil thought the rock would give some insulation from the spirits. We went a little further north before locating a cave, just to be safe.

Grogg and Wolfram had been particularly bloodthirsty when Moon Shadows were first mentioned and spoke up to kill them immediately. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. When someone suggested leaving Grogg behind at the cave so Wolfram could run at full speed, not even Grogg protested. The way Hylda looked at him, I was glad I was leaving.

Yana warned me that Moon Shadows see well in the dark and would probably spot us before we caught sight of them. She gave me a quick kiss and was startled by her own audacity. Kissing in public! I would have chastised her – using sign language of course – but I was too stunned to move until Wolfram growled.

Xipil made sure Wolfram was able to follow the camel tracks. After half an hour, Xipil and I spotted three riders ahead of us, but it didn’t look like they had seen us yet. Xipil had Wolfram slow down and turn to the right, so we could come at them from behind or from the side. Since the moon was up, I opened my parasol and turned Xipil and myself invisible. As long as the parasol gave shade from some light source, its powers worked; it didn’t need the sun to function. If the riders saw us, they would only see Wolfram and the parasol, and they would hopefully not think too much about the thing sticking up from the giant bear’s back.

As Wolfram sneaked ahead, I decided to put down the parasol again. I would try talking to the riders before we attacked them. When the horses smelled Wolfram and alerted their riders that something was nearby, Wolfram and Xipil hid behind a sand dune while I proceeded on foot the last two hundred meters.

I had halved the distance before the riders saw me. Two of them withdrew a few meters while the third waited for me to approach. “Water! Do you have water?” I asked hoarsely. The rider took out a small, black waterskin and threw it towards me. I picked it up and drank thirstily. “It isn’t safe to travel here,” said the strange man.

Drawing inspiration from Haros, I wailed about having bad dreams lately. I related one such dream, where the moon shadows had distorted to haunt me. I paid close attention to the man’s face when I said “moon shadows”, and his faint, almost hidden reaction revealed that they were indeed Moon Shadows, Amrosh intelligence operatives.

The Moon Shadows wanted me to come with them to their camp, which they claimed was to the south. They would watch over me while I slept and use what happened to find a way to protect others. It was obvious that they were willing to sacrifice me, and only a madwoman would go with them. I said I’d come, I just had to find my lost pet. “It’s back there somewhere,” I postulated, waving in the general direction of Wolfram and Xipil.

The dark riders made no move to accompany me. “Pussevov, where are you?!” I called, walking back towards my friends. “Oh, there you are, little friend!” I exclaimed when I crested the dune. I informed Wolfram that I needed him to be my pet and warned Xipil to remain hidden while Wolfram and I went back to the Moon Shadows; if push came to shove, he could shoot at them from the dune. Wolfram acted like a good pet and stayed at my side.

The Moon Shadows glared at Wolfram while we came nearer. When we were too close for comfort, they wheeled their horses around and raced north. I climbed up on Wolfram’s back and told him to fetch Xipil before we pursued the Moon Shadows.

Wolfram roared, and then the chase was on. We knew Moon Shadows had exceptional horses, but Wolfram was faster, and he slowly began to catch up. I had no need to kill the Moon Shadows, now that they were properly scared, so when Wolfram decided to give up the chase, I was satisfied. We only needed the Moon Shadows to stay away while we dealt with the ship.

Traveling back towards Yana and the others, I repeated my conversation with the Moon Shadows to Wolfram and Xipil. We met Keri, who was on watch duty above the cliff, and he took us down to the cave where the rest were waiting.

[coronatiger]

22nd of Tityra, year 412 (continued)

Keri thought the cave was a good place to stay for a while. Haros had calmed down, but he still didn’t dare to sleep; Yana and Hylda had decided to take turns watching him, in case something happened.

Keri was a little worried about something he had seen out on the lake, but this turned out to be the ship we had known about for a while. From its location and apparent speed, we concluded we could rest for a few hours before leaving and still be on the raft well before the ship arrived. Xipil said he wanted to sleep, and Yana said that she would keep an eye on Haros if the rest of us wanted to get some sleep as well. I asked if I could borrow her lap. The cave floor wasn’t too pleasant to lie on, but Yana’s softness more than made up for it. I looked up at her and met her eyes. “Can you wake us in three hours, please?”

O Ashtar! We surrender our lives to Your coils. Take us while we sleep, or grant us another day in Your service, as You will.


23rd of Tityra, year 412

O Ashtar, Mother of Snakes, Keeper of Death’s Door, hear my confession!

Yana’s hand on my shoulder had me wide awake in an instant. “I think it’s been three hours now,” Yana whispered. It was still dark outside, but I sat up and called out that it was time to get up. Hylda was already awake and had prepared breakfast, and I helped her hand it out.

I put on my backpack and signed “Love” to Yana, receiving a smile in return. Leaving the cave, we were greeted by a pleasantly cool breeze from the south. At least, it would be pleasant once the sun heated up the desert. Keri was keeping watch from a lookout spot above, and he waved and came to meet us as Wolfram, Xipil, Grogg and I made our way up the cliff. He didn’t have anything important to report and soon continued towards the cave so he could have his breakfast, too.

We checked on the ship’s progress. Not all its sails were up and Xipil said its speed had slowed. I thought his comment was superfluous before I realized that Grogg and Wolfram couldn’t see the ship in the dark. The ship was still bearing towards Pak and Groman.

Xipil magically enhanced his sight and studied the ship. In the south, the spirit cloud started to stretch towards us. I notified the others. We started moving towards the east, expecting the spirits to search the spot where Xipil had done his magic and then disperse, but we took only a couple of steps before worry crept up on us. This spot was too close to Haros for comfort, so I called out to Keri and instructed him to get everyone moving.

They left most of the luggage in the cave, since they should be able to go back once the spirits went away. Hylda carried Haros. When she got close enough, Yana gave me a look that said she would like to know what was happening. I didn’t want to frighten Haros with talk of spirits, so I signed that “bad spirits” were approaching. Yana nodded to acknowledge that she had seen the miniscule gestures.

We all headed away from the cliff together. We estimated that it would take the spirits half an hour to reach the lookout spot where Xipil had cast his spell. Based on their earlier behavior, the spirits should disperse after a quick search of the area. Xipil informed Keri and the others that it should be safe to return to the cave in an hour.

After five minutes, the spirits were still too far off to say whether they were coming for us or if they were going to the lookout spot. Xipil asked Wolfram to keep his shield ready, but when we had walked five more minutes, it became clear that the spirits weren’t coming for us. I asked Xipil what kind of spell he had used that caught the spirits’ attention, but he explained that it was a harmless spell, Hawk Vision. However, the act of gathering energy for the spell from the surroundings, rather than providing it all himself, seemed to pique the spirits’ interest.

As we walked, the eastern sky grew brighter, but the sun was yet to be seen. Eventually, Xipil suggested that he, Grogg, Wolfram and I started the trek towards the south. He recommended that the others waited half an hour before starting the walk back towards the cave. I thought we should wait or at least leave the spirit-seeing ring, but Xipil pointed out that the lookout spot had been hidden from view for almost half an hour, so it would be impossible to see the spirits dispersing. I told Yana they should wait for full light before they returned to the cave. Wolfram bade Hylda take care of his shield. She had some training with it, so she might be able to use it to defend their group, he said.

Keri asked what they should do if they decided they had to leave; he was uncertain whether to leave tracking signs for us to follow. Xipil said he could find them with magic if he had some hair to create a sympathetic link. He got both hair and beard, but he also cautioned Keri that if he was indisposed, the rest of us needed some other way of knowing where they had gone. We agreed that they should go back north along the lake shore.

Wolfram transformed into the giant, six-legged bear, and Xipil and I climbed up on his back. Grogg ran alongside and we made good speed. The ship slowed even more down. The spirit activity behind us looked to be thinning out. I knew Yana would follow my instructions, but some of the spirits were lingering longer than I thought they would. I was tempted to turn around, but I decided to put my faith in You to keep Yana safe.

We stopped at the lookout point above the bay. Xipil saw something floating on the surface near the ship. There were several of them, but even Xipil couldn’t make out what it was. The ship had taken down all the sails and had stopped. Xipil estimated that he would need six hours to swim all the way out to the ship, but a prolonged submersion in the salty water would be bad for him.

Xipil asked me to keep an eye on the spirit cloud above us while he cast Mage Sight. He wanted to look for magic on the ship, and he found something, a glimmer on deck, and after about a minute, it started raining from a cloudless sky over the ship. I suggested they might need drinking water, but Wolfram said there were easier ways to produce drinkable water with magic. The rain spread out towards us. Pak had said something about the spirits being afraid of water; maybe this was an attempt to drive them off?

[coronatiger]

We decided to get out to the raft. We went to the same beach as before and deposited a few items into the crack in the cliff. Wolfram wanted to bring both his armor and his weapons out to the raft and said he’d take two trips. With the black-sailed ship keeping its distance, we weren’t in a hurry. Xipil swam with the rest of us, taking the occasional dive to get a feel for the underwater life.

Pak asked if it was a good or a bad sign that we returned. He seemed in a better mood than before. Our last visit had done him good, breaking the isolation and providing fresh food and water. If Pak’s sense of smell was as good as Grogg’s, me cleaning up the worst of their mess was probably also a great help.

Groman didn’t look as if he had moved since we last saw him. I wasn’t sure he even noticed our presence, but Pak wanted to talk somewhere he wouldn’t overhear, so we went to the edge of the raft.

Pak looked around and Xipil explained that the distant ship carried mages who made it rain. This unsettled Pak. Xipil thought we should keep Groman’s stone – the spirit prison – away from those on the ship, in case they had evil intent.

I suggested that Wolfram and I returned to the beach and retrieved what we had left there and then trekked over land to the cave where Yana and the others waited. Grogg and Xipil could help Pak get the raft up the coast, and we could meet up in a few hours. Then we could divide up the supplies and Wolfram could carry Groman out into the desert. With his speed and stamina, he should be able to outrun the spirits at least until the rest of us had visited Haros’s people and learned their secret. I didn’t mention it, but I sincerely hoped Xipil was right about them knowing how to deal with the spirits. We had no other hope to contain the menace.

After a short discussion, we started executing my plan. Wolfram and I left Xipil and Grogg on the raft and swam ashore. When we had gathered up our belongings and Wolfram had transformed, the rafters were still working on their sail. Wolfram climbed up to the desert and picked up speed. Even with the southern wind, I estimated that the rafters would take twice as long as us in reaching the cave.

Wolfram covered the distance in less than two hours and we climbed down towards the cave. It was suspiciously quiet and when I peeked inside, I didn’t see Yana and the others. A spirit whooshed around in the cave, and I pulled back quietly, so I wouldn’t be noticed.

I drew my knives and made sure Wolfram understood the gravity of the situation. He started transforming into the demon-afflicted spirit bear, but I didn’t wait for him before launching my attack. Just because it was quiet and I hadn’t seen Yana, didn’t mean she wasn’t lying unconscious in a corner, being drained by the spirits.

There were two spirits in the cave, and they seemed preoccupied with one of Grogg’s sacks and didn’t spot me before I struck. With my left hand, I put a knife into the closest spirit and willed it to manifest physically. With my right, I slashed the spirit and it started dissolving immediately.

The other spirit confusedly rushed past me. I turned and followed it, preparing to manifest it. The spirit whirled around and tried to surge through me, but I ducked aside. Wolfram had completed his transformation and performed a strange maneuver, dropping to the ground and swiping a paw up at the spirit, destroying it.

I looked around carefully in case there were more spirits hidden somewhere, but we had already taken care of all the enemies. A light emerged from Grogg’s sack, the one that had kept the spirits’ attention. Digging into the sack, I discovered that the light came from the moon stone. It was shining brighter than I had ever seen it shine before, and the small bag that was supposed to shut away the light was partially open. I was tempted to throw the stone into the lake, but I suspected Wolfram would just dive down and retrieve it. I did say to him that I believed the Moon Shadows had done something to it, to make it more visible while they searched for it.

At first glance, my own gear lay undisturbed where I had left it, and I started filling my backpack. I had to find Yana, and since I might not be returning, I didn’t want to leave anything behind. Yana and company had taken all the animals and some of the supplies, as well as all their personal belongings. Among my things, Yana had left a note. “Something is terribly wrong with Haros. We don’t know what, but we’re going north until it stops.”

I showed the note to Wolfram and told him he had to carry me north so we could catch up with Yana and the others. Then he had to return to the cave to meet Xipil, Grogg, Pak and Groman. If Wolfram was taking Groman out to the desert to run circles around the spirits, we couldn’t leave all the supplies in the cave. Our group needed more food and water, and I loaded it up on Wolfram once he finished writing a message to Xipil and turned into the giant bear again.

Yana and the others must have left almost immediately after returning to the cave, for it took Wolfram an hour and a half to get close enough that we could spot them. When she heard us, Yana turned around, but the others continued.

Yana informed us that Haros was still in bad shape. She thought he was in some kind of dream state, or perhaps nightmare was a more apt description. “Are you all right?” I asked, using hand signs despite standing so close to Yana that Wolfram wouldn’t have heard if I lowered my voice enough. Yana nodded.

Wolfram transformed into his human form so he could join the discussion and ask what we were to do. I didn’t think Xipil and Grogg had reached the cave yet, but unless they had a mishap on the raft, they would arrive before Wolfram, even if he turned around now. They might not wait for Wolfram to return, but that was a lesser worry. We had to do something about Haros. Despite it being the middle of the day, we decided that Wolfram had to pray to the moon goddess to exorcise the spirits that clearly haunted our desert-dwelling friend.

We shouted for Keri to stop and hurried to catch up. Haros was cold-sweating and shaking, and we had no time to lose. I quickly explained that Wolfram was going to set up his totem pole to help Haros. Wolfram recruited Hylda and me to help draw magic symbols around the staff since we had some skill at drawing.

As soon as the drawing was done, Wolfram began to chant, calling upon his goddess Tiri. He started to glow, so it became obvious that he had cast his aura-revealing spell. Yana and I carried Haros into the circle so Wolfram could study his aura. I frowned at him for taking the time to study Yana’s first, but he was too busy to notice.

“Do you think an evil spirit has possessed Haros,” I asked. Wolfram said he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t tell by just looking at the aura, apparently. I told him I could try to manifest such a spirit, but it would be safer not having to stick a knife in the patient.

[coronatiger]

Wolfram decided to cast his “kindest” spell, the one that allowed spirits that wished to move on to do so. A fine mist rose out of Haros’s body and evaporated, but Wolfram said there was more inside him. More mist emerged from Haros’s chest and mouth, but it wasn’t evaporating, so I asked Wolfram if I should attack it. He told me to go ahead.

I had stood outside the magic circle with Yana, but now I drew my knives and ran forward. I plunged one of the knives into the little cloud and focused my will. I had attacked too soon, for the spirit hadn’t completely left Haros, who arched his back as a rotting mass suddenly filled his mouth and throat. I slashed at the monstrosity with my other knife, but it dodged. Wolfram kicked at the rotting mass, spraying foul-smelling goo as his foot passed through the undead head.

Two more spirits flew away from Haros as the rotting mass collapsed on the ground. I dropped my knives and fell to my knees. “Wolfram! Keep those two away from us! Yana, help!” Haros’s jaw had shattered when there suddenly was a leg in his mouth, but that was the smallest problem. The undead mass was distending his neck and choked off the blood going up into his brain.

Yana came running and Hylda bellowed for Grogg so loudly my ears began to ring. Keri rushed towards us, but there wasn’t much he could do against two spirits. One tripped and fell in front of Wolfram – how it managed that in ethereal form was beyond me – but the other started to flee.

Wolfram, in human form, was unable to attack the spirits, but he could use magic. The spirit opposed this and tried to attack him. Pausing briefly from digging rot out of Haros’s mouth, I drew a throwing knife and hurled it at the spirit. The knife passed right through it, and I failed to manifest the spirit. The other spirit, now invisible to my friends, stopped a short distance away.

The closer spirit turned on me, but even kneeling, I managed an acrobatic dodge. Grabbing the knives from the ground, I stood. I ran up to the spirit and manifested it. This one’s physical form was far less twisted than the first one’s, but like all the spirits from the Kings’ Crypt, it was old and decaying. It was no threat anymore, not when Keri and Wolfram were around.

The last spirit knew I was the dangerous one and it tried to rush me. Unfortunately for it, it started the rush so far away, I had ample time to prepare. I stabbed and ducked aside, getting out of the way of the suddenly physical projectile.

Yana had continued my work, and when enough rotting flesh was removed from Haros’s mouth, he vomited up the rest, right into Hylda’s face. Already unsettled by all the violence, Yana lost her lunch at the sight. “Help Hylda; I’ll help Haros,” I told Wolfram, and immediately felt my stomach twist with shame that I hadn’t mentioned Yana. Wolfram stomped on the manifested spirits and concluded the skirmish.

I got out my medicine roll and pulled out bandages. Haros’s injury was unlike any I’d seen before, and stopping the bleeding was difficult, but I managed in the end. “Haros will have to live with only half a jaw, but he has every chance at a long life,” I declared.

When Hylda had washed her face, she climbed up on Wolfram’s back and rode towards Grogg. I told Keri to unpack the tent so we could make camp. We set up the tent and carried Haros inside. Keri offered to keep watch so I could continue Haros’s treatment, but first I apologized to Yana and made sure she was all right.

I learned some surgery skills from Ælios, but I quickly realized I didn’t know where to start if I should reconstruct Haros’s jaw. He would just have to live with the injury, as I had said. Still, I could monitor his recovery and possibly help it along. Haros was unconscious now, of course, and I hoped he would remain so until Grogg returned with his healing needle. I had magical healing salve in my kit, but I judged that the shock of it might kill my patient, so he had to wait for the gentler remedy.

I completely lost track of time while I watched over Haros, so I was surprised when Keri came inside the tent to inform me that our friends were returning. Keri also hadn’t slept very much lately, and he asked me to make arrangements so he could get some rest. Since he had volunteered to keep watch at night to guard Yana and the other non-combatants, I felt I owed him, and I promised that he could sleep soon.

Peeking outside the tent, I saw Xipil holding Groman steady while they rode into camp on Wolfram’s back. Grogg, Hylda and Pak ran beside the giant bear. Xipil didn’t take the time to greet us, and explained that we didn’t have much time. He briefly explained why, for the benefit of those who didn’t see the huge cloud of spirits following them.

Since he had to slow his pace to suit Grogg, Hylda and Pak, Wolfram hadn’t run as fast as he could have, but Xipil thought the spirits would keep up, even if he could run freely. The spirits were tethered to Groman’s stone, and would be dragged along after it. I broke in that Haros needed the healing needle, and Grogg obliged.

Our original plan to have Wolfram run around in the desert could still work. Someone light was needed to keep Groman steady and to keep watch while Wolfram slept. I wasn’t going to send Yana away, so it had to be Xipil or me. I didn’t trust anyone else to give Haros proper medical attention, nor to convince his people to relinquish their secret. Xipil had to go. He even knew his way around ropes, so he could tie himself and Groman to the harness so he could sleep while Wolfram ran.

The spirits would catch up to them in half an hour or so, however fast Wolfram ran, so he wouldn’t get much continuous sleep. I suggested that he took breaks whenever he grew tired, and that Xipil kept watch and got him running when the spirits came too close.

Keri gave us a better idea. He could put Groman on his horse and run beside it. However, he was too exhausted to leave quite yet, so Wolfram would have to run now. We decided that Wolfram and Keri should take turns leading the spirits in a twenty-four-hour circle. We could find a cave nearby where those not running could rest. This way, the runners didn’t have to bring more food and water than what they’d need for a day, so they wouldn’t be so heavily encumbered.

Yana came out of the tent and told me that Haros seemed much calmer, now that he had the needle. I followed her inside to check on the patient. Wolfram and Xipil left with Groman, and when I reemerged from the tent, the spirit cloud had changed course and was no longer coming towards us.

I didn’t see Hylda anywhere, but Grogg was standing outside the tent staring off into the distance. I hadn’t thought she would leave, so I asked Grogg where she were. Grogg said she was enjoying herself with Pak. This reminded me of the openness of their relationship. It seemed strange to me that they would want to share their partner with others, but I recalled that Grogg never seemed to mind when Hylda flirted with Wolfram. I feared that I wouldn’t react very nicely if someone started flirting with Yana.

Grogg looked tired, so I offered to stay awake so he could sleep. He glared suspiciously at me for a while before deciding to trust me not to kill him in his sleep. At least, I believed that was his thought. He said nothing, he just went inside the tent.

[coronatiger]

23rd of Tityra, year 412 (continued)

I walked in a circle around the camp. Threats could come from any direction, and I made sure my circuit climbed the nearby dunes so I could watch in all directions. I didn’t go so far away that I wouldn’t hear if something happened to Yana or Haros.

The day died after an hour or two, and I stopped my round to make the proper rituals as the sun fell below the horizon. When the last glimmer was gone, I continued walking. I didn’t go very fast, so it took a while before my feet tired.

Yana was shaken by recent events, and sleep hadn’t done her much good, apparently. She suggested I showed her the round I had walked on my watch, and I understood that she wanted my company for a little while before I went to bed. We talked of clothes and hair and makeup and I got a small laugh out of her when I asked how she thought Grogg and Wolfram would react if I took on their appearance.

As our round drew to a close, I reminded Yana that Keri really needed to catch up on his sleep, so she had to make sure the next night watches didn’t disturb him. Yana had already thought of this, of course. She gave me a long kiss outside the tent and wished me good night.

O Ashtar! We surrender our lives to Your coils. Take us while we sleep, or grant us another day in Your service, as You will.


24th of Tityra, year 412

O Ashtar, Mother of Snakes, Keeper of Death’s Door, hear my confession!

Some people would be annoyed at waking up whenever someone came near them while they slept. I am not one of them. Yana tried not to wake me when she crept in under the blanket, but Your gift alerted me to her presence and I was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling which made it easy to fall asleep again after wrapping my arms around Yana. When Hylda woke Grogg for his shift, I was aware of her calmness, so I knew we were all safe, and I quickly dozed off again.

The drumming of rain on the tent roof could have woken anyone. I opened my eyes, ascertained that everyone was present except for Grogg, and closed my eyes again. Wolfram, Xipil and Groman were not expected back until the evening, so I should take the chance to catch up on my sleep. When Yana stirred, I tightened my grip to let her know it wasn’t time to get up yet. Yana squirmed tantalizingly against me and muttered something about the rain.

Hylda decided to get up and make breakfast. Keri was more hungry than he was tired, so he got up as well. After they and Grogg had eaten, Grogg and Keri decided to go out to meet the runners. I kept my grip on Yana lest she get any ideas about getting out of bed. Like me, she had stayed up past her bedtime, and could do with a little more rest.

I thought Keri was just overeager, but after a while, I heard familiar voices calling from the distance. The voices lowered as Grogg and Keri approached our friends, and I couldn’t hear what they talked about, but I learned later that Xipil had estimated that Keri couldn’t outrun the spirits on foot. Thus, Keri came to tell Hylda that he was taking the camels.

Grogg, Xipil and Wolfram came into camp not long after Keri had left again, and Hylda offered breakfast. Xipil asked Hylda and Grogg to keep an eye out in case someone approached, but Hylda insisted that Grogg should lie down and sleep. Wolfram and Xipil found their blankets after a quick meal.

It wasn’t long before Hylda came running, agitatedly exclaiming that there were people on the beach. They had rafts and maybe some animals. Wolfram, Xipil and Grogg were all eager to investigate, so I decided to remain where I was.

I had barely shut my eyes when Wolfram returned to fetch me. Yana shrugged at my apologetic glance and watched me put on my belt, shoes and cloak. I stroked her cheek and suggested silently that she might want to get up and prepare herself if anything were to happen.

I wasn’t as eager to get out into the rain, but my cloak provided sufficient protection, at least for a while. Wolfram set a fast pace and we soon joined Grogg who told us that Xipil had gone all the way to the cliff to get a better look at the newcomers. Hylda had exaggerated the urgency, for not all of the strangers were on the beach. Just above the edge of the cliff, I could see a man apparently standing on the water. He was disappearing from sight as I watched, so he had to be standing on a raft.

Wolfram said we had to go to the beach and led the way towards a ravine where we could climb down to the water. Grogg was carrying Xipil’s staff and cloak, but the lizard man soon caught up with us. Xipil had seen three apes and eight crocodiles. The crocodiles had sacks and baskets which they pulled through the water, and Xipil believed the sacks contained apeoid bodies. They had to be corpses; nobody could survive being submerged for so long. The three men had staffs with large, white stones on the top. The magic rain camouflaged whether the staffs were magic.

Xipil hurried ahead so he could spy more on the “apes,” but he only learned that they had all come ashore before he turned around to stop us before we emerged on the beach where we could be seen. Xipil suggested he hid with his bow somewhere while the rest of us continued towards the strangers. I countered that we should remain where we were. If the strangers wanted to go anywhere, they needed to ascend the ravine, and we could gain a surprise advantage by not showing Grogg and Wolfram before we needed to fight. I could waltz around the corner when Xipil gave the word that the strangers were near and then talk to them to determine their intentions. Grogg had nothing against me going first into danger.

Xipil climbed up the rock to a place he could peek out and observe what the strangers were doing. He reported that one of them seemed to be the leader. He was one of the two with beards, and he wore finer clothes than the other two, who took their cues from him. I asked Xipil if he thought these were some of Odon’s brothers. Xipil said they looked nothing like him, but who else would come to this place, at this ominous time and in such a manner?

Odon’s brothers have no respect for women, or perhaps they just don’t trust them. In any case, if it wasn’t for Your recent gift, I would be at a disadvantage when we met. I opened my pouch and put my hand inside it, hissing for Hope to bite me. As her venom coursed through my veins, I fixed my own appearance in my mind, but with more masculine features. I didn’t think Wolfram would notice such a slight change, but the transformation was much more pronounced than I had expected, and the giant stared at me as I adjusted my belt.

[coronatiger]

Wolfram asked if I was going to talk to the strangers now, but I replied that I was going to wait until they came nearer. Xipil counted that they pulled twelve sacks out of the water, each one containing a body, by the looks of it. Wolfram thought it might be wise if I went to talk to them before they raised twelve more potential opponents, and I agreed.

I started walking, and Grogg and Wolfram followed. It was a few hundred meters along the beach to the strangers, and I could probably have stayed unnoticed for much of the distance, using large rocks for cover, but Grogg and Wolfram were so large, we were spotted almost immediately.

The strangers watched our progress. After a short discussion with his companions, the beardless man came to meet us, flanked by two crocodiles. I stopped, leaning against a rock and dug into my shoe with one finger, as if to extract an annoying pebble from it. When Grogg and Wolfram had passed me, I followed, keeping hidden behind Grogg while I drew my knives and applied venom to their tips. Then I sped up for a few paces, to get in front again.

When we met, the stranger signaled to the crocodiles, and they stayed behind him, presumably so they wouldn’t scare us. We stopped a few meters away from each other. I lifted my hand and greeted the stranger with a simple phrase, deepening my voice slightly. He concentrated for a moment, and then said something in a strange language. He spoke with a firm, clear voice, and my impression was that he had just intoned a formal greeting. I wished him welcome ashore, hoping that he understood, and that he had spoken his greeting in his own language because it was the most respectful words he knew. Behind me, Grogg whispered to Wolfram, “I bet one gold that he attacks her!”

The stranger asked a question in his own language and held out a hand, feeling the rain. He clearly didn’t speak or understand Common, so I switched to gestures and repeated my welcome. I could tell he got my meaning, so I tried to convey that we should join his friends so I could welcome them too. The stranger wasn’t used to communicating with his hands, but he managed to get across that we should follow him.

The stranger kept his eyes on us while he turned around. I started walking, so he did too. His crocodiles followed him, and I walked between their tails. I don’t think Yana would have dared to walk so close to these large reptiles, nor would most people, but I felt safe with You watching over me.

When we came closer to the two other strangers, the three of them had a short, shouted dialog, and then the last two moved a few steps closer to us. I couldn’t help but notice that they placed themselves between us and their twelve body bags. Like their companion had done, they struck the ground with their staffs. It had to be part of their greeting, not instructions for the crocodiles as I had first thought.

I spoke my own greeting again, and the first stranger translated to his friends. Then he turned around and gestured that we should take a few steps backwards. Apparently, five meters was too close for comfort. We complied, and he seemed satisfied.

The leader made gestures with one hand near the white stone that adorned the top of his staff; I believed he was doing magic, and my belief was confirmed when he pulled a spirit fragment out of the stone. Wolfram couldn’t see the spirit, but he said these people might have captured Odon. It was possible, quite plausible in fact, if these were Odon’s “brothers.” The one we had met first ran to grab the leader’s staff when he let go of it to seize the spirit fragment between his hands. The leader brought the spirit towards his face and inhaled it.

He turned his face upwards, closing his eyes, then reached out for his staff. He opened his eyes again, regarded us for a second or two, and said something that sounded like Arani. I guessed it was a greeting, but I don’t know Arani. Then he changed to Common. “I greet you from the other side,” he said. “It’s good that you speak our language,” I replied, but the stranger said, “Thank the spirits, who speak all tongues.” I thought his speech sounded weird, as if his words didn’t quite join together to make sentences.

I asked who the strangers were, and where they came from. “The herders we are. The herders we are,” the leader replied. “We traveled over water. We fetch what does not belong here.” When I asked what they were fetching, he said, “Those who do not like the rain; those who need herders.” Wolfram asked where they were taking them. “Home,” the man answered, and Wolfram asked if he meant the realm of death. The evasive answer was my first indication that everything was not right. Still, the three strangers gave off a vibe of sincerity. Maybe they thought they were doing the right thing, but that we were too primitive to understand their purpose?

The strangers weren’t interested in elaborating on how they would use the spirits. Their leader said that wasn’t important compared to the urgency of bringing the escaped herd home. Wolfram, of all people, whispered that we didn’t have any alternatives but to let them take the spirits away. I admitted that the strangers didn’t believe themselves to have evil intent, but I reminded him that we had a plan to deal with the spirits already.

Wolfram described Odon and asked if the strangers had seen this person. Their leader was clearly uncomfortable when he asked firmly what we knew about “the Masters”. Wolfram wisely wouldn’t answer before he got an answer of his own. “The Law says that the Masters must be honored; the Masters’ word is the Law,” the leader responded as if by rote.

Without giving any details of our dealings with Odon, I said we had met the person my companion described, and we had helped each other. Wolfram revealed Odon’s name, but the strangers didn’t recognize it. Odon used many different names, so this didn’t surprise me.

I asked how they planned to bring all the spirits with them, and they apparently didn’t know. They needed to figure out how to herd them, the leader said.

I turned to Wolfram and whispered that these men worked for Odon’s brothers, who we knew to be evil. Wolfram still said that as we had to go to the mountains, we had to leave the spirits to the herders. Wolfram didn’t think our existing plan had much likelihood of success. My eyebrows wanted to climb up and disappear from my face altogether. Wolfram was acting not at all like himself. Was he spellbound by the strangers?

Facing the strangers again, I announced that they had to turn around and go home. They were not allowed to take “the herd” with them. Somehow, I failed to get my message across, for the strangers believed I was bargaining. I remained adamant that they had to go, and when they tried to bargain with Wolfram instead, I just repeated that they had to leave.

Wolfram finally snapped out of the spell and whispered that we couldn’t let them leave this place alive. “In that case, I’ll walk over and attack them, and you’d better follow suit.” I cast a worried glance at Grogg, hoping he wasn’t spellbound too.

[coronatiger]

24th of Tityra, year 412 (continued)

I bent down to touch the ground. I wanted to ask Your permission to kill the three strange men, these “herders” as they called themselves. Normally, touching the ground to better establish a connection to You isn’t necessary, but the nearby spirit cloud had disrupted our communication of late.

Wolfram was eager to get to business and muttered just loudly enough for Grogg and me to hear, “On three! One …” The strangers stood ten meters down the beach and could probably not hear him, but I exclaimed “Wait!”

I couldn’t kill without permission, so I closed my eyes and prayed. You gave me a vision, that a wind blew over the beach; I could paint it with blood. That was a clearer message than I usually receive. Not only did I get Your permission, I had Your blessing.

Wolfram started his countdown again, but I interrupted once more. “I can take out one of them before they know what’s happening,” I whispered. Raising my voice, I pointed out over the water and asked the strangers if they could see the shimmer out there. Two of them turned to look. Of course, there was no shimmer there. I planned to go over to them so when I pointed again, they would try to align their line of sight with my finger, and when their attention was elsewhere, I’d draw a poisoned knife and strike. I wanted to take out the one Xipil had named leader, the one who used spirits to speak our language, since he seemed the most capable.

I had taken two steps forward when Grogg spoke, loudly enough to be heard even by Xipil, wherever he was hiding. “If you want to kill them, don’t do it like a coward,” he said. The leader immediately turned back to face us, and it was clear, at least to me, that not only had he heard, but he understood. I threw up my hands in exasperation and turned around. Had I misunderstood Your message? Was it Grogg You wanted me to kill?

My mind raced. If You wanted Grogg dead, why tell me now, when Your message could so easily be interpreted another way? No, I had been right. The strangers had to die, and Grogg was just being ornery. But why? Why would he sabotage our chances to win this fight? He had no protest when Wolfram and I agreed to attack the strangers. I needed to get inside Grogg’s head to find out why he had done what he did, but Grogg has proven most difficult to figure out, even for such a simpleminded brute.

Before I took my second step, Wolfram leaped into action. He drew a pair of knives and hurled them at the strangers. In the corner of my eye, an arrow shot towards our opponents. Grogg hefted his maul and charged.

I turned around. The strangers’ cloaks were whirling around them, clearly magical. Xipil’s arrow had stopped in flight and hovered right next to the leader, but Wolfram’s knife hilts stood out from the chest of the leftmost opponent, the one closest to the water, and the man was on his knees.

Grogg was running for the rightmost opponent, who made the ground open up under him, but Grogg leaped across the hole easily. Wolfram drew sword and katar while running up to the wounded opponent. He stabbed with the katar, keeping his sword ready for a parry, but his attack missed. One of the two crocodiles lunged at Wolfram, who parried, cutting deeply into the reptile’s face. The other crocodile slammed into Wolfram but didn’t manage to topple the giant human. Grogg’s opponent laughed maniacally and prepared his staff, but Grogg brought his maul down upon the man who then crashed to the ground.

After his betrayal, I wouldn’t lift a finger to help Grogg, but Wolfram was in dire straits, so I drew my knives and started moving towards him. I would have run faster, but I had to put my own safety first. If Grogg was willing to sacrifice Wolfram to put me in danger, I wasn’t going to make it easy for him, so I made sure I was ready to dodge an attack from any direction.

The opposing leader turned his back to us and cast a spell, and sand rose up to form a wave that carried him rapidly away. There was no way any of us could catch up with him, and I hoped Xipil could take him down before he got out of range. Even with his back turned, the mage knew when the arrow approached and tried to dodge, but the arrow struck him squarely in the chest. The man remained standing, and the wave continued to surge away from us.

Wolfram stabbed one of the crocodiles in the eye with his katar and chopped at the back of the other with his sword. The crocodile’s skin seemed too thick for me; I’d definitely go for the eyes, too. Grogg rushed in to help with the crocodiles, but Wolfram called for my aid. Was he also uncertain about Grogg’s intentions?

I have to give Grogg some credit. He finished both the crocodiles after Wolfram and I softened them. To be fair, I wasn’t very useful. I failed to hit the eye and just scratched the thick skin on the snout, and the crocodiles were so large my venom didn’t overcome them. Of course, these crocodiles were magical constructs, so perhaps they were simply immune to venom. No natural reptile dissolves into jelly upon death like these did.

The man with Wolfram’s knives in his chest bent his head to the ground as if worshipping his superior opponent. I don’t think he had met so formidable fighters before. Wolfram tried to lop off the man’s head with his sword, but he totally missed, and the follow-up with the katar only scratched the man’s scalp. I showed Wolfram how to hit the neck, thrusting with my long knife. My venom was lethal to an already severely wounded human.

The crocodiles further along the beach chomped down on the body bags as if to damage the corpses inside, except for two that lumbered towards us. Grogg ran to meet them. Those two crocodiles grew transparent as they ran, and when Grogg met them, they had turned into water. I put away my knives, perfectly willing to let Grogg deal with the water crocodiles on his own, but Wolfram hurried to assist.

[coronatiger]

While Grogg and Wolfram fought the water crocodiles, I looted the fallen mages. I took their cloaks which seemed conspicuously light. They also had two pouches each, and a fine knife that looked ceremonious. When I moved to the second mage, the first mage’s knife somehow fell through his cloak, which I had used to wrap up the loot. I caught the falling knife before it touched the ground.

Xipil shot the fleeing leader as he surfed out onto the lake. He fell into the water and remained under for several seconds before coming up for air, riding one of the crocodiles. Xipil shot him again, and again he fell into the water. The crocodiles lifted up the now presumably unconscious mage, and they were loudly displeased with Xipil for putting arrow after arrow into their master.

Grogg and Wolfram examined the body bags, but I don’t think they discovered anything unexpected, except perhaps for the bags themselves being of exceptional quality.

I noticed a shimmer over the two mages’ corpses. The accompanying bad feeling told me You disapproved. These spirits seemed closely tethered to the bodies, and when I drew a knife and manifested the first spirit, it was still half inside the original body, making for an ugly, distorted sight. I drew my other blade and skewered the new neck.

Xipil arrived before I could deal with the second spirit. “I’m angry with Grogg,” I said quite calmly, but I was seething inside. Xipil had heard what Grogg said.

I manifested the second spirit, and Xipil asked if we should interrogate it before I killed it, but I reminded him that it didn’t speak our language and drove my knife through its throat.

We started walking towards Grogg and Wolfram, but the bad feeling remained inside me, and I saw that the shimmer had returned over the distorted corpses. I found the vial of venom for those who won’t die and put some on my knife. Xipil was concerned that there wasn’t much more of the venom, but I told him I had enough. I plunged the knife through the spirit shimmer and into the corpse below, and the shimmer vanished along with some of the bad feeling I had.

With only one dose of the venom remaining, I sat down in the wet sand to make more. I made two more doses, nearly using up the spirit snake venom in the process.

While I was meditating, Grogg and Wolfram arrived, and Wolfram asked for first aid. He had been bitten by one of the crocodiles and was bleeding. As I was busy, Xipil stepped up and bandaged the wound. Grogg was concerned that Wolfram might not be fit to run from the spirit cloud tonight, but Wolfram said it’d be fine. I knew we still had the magical healing salve, so even if Wolfram had been in worse shape, we could have him restored by the time Keri returned from his run.

A thought struck me. I might be able to do what I was attempting without using the sacred venom. This was clearly a message from You, but I am ashamed that I couldn’t figure it out on my own. I asked Hope if she knew how I could send the recalcitrant spirit to You, but she didn’t seem to understand the question. I had two ideas, but they both were time-consuming, and I didn’t know if either would work. I could destroy the body, or I could repeatedly manifest the spirit, hoping that as the body grew, the tether weakened. I prayed for guidance, but Your opinion was apparently that I should figure it out on my own.

I used venom on the second mage’s spirit, feeling that there was something more urgent I needed to focus my mind to solve. Thinking about it, it definitely was in Grogg’s character to sabotage himself just to spite me. If it had been anyone else, I would have thought their action was due to the evil mages’ mind control, but not Grogg. Since You have commanded that he should be in my party, I have tolerated his insults and his lack of respect for You. However, Grogg’s warning nearly allowed one of the mages to escape. I might have let that slide if not for Your order to kill them all.

Your will is not that I kill Grogg. At least, You haven’t informed me that You have changed Your mind about that. There must be consequences, though. The trouble is, if I do anything overtly, which would be needed to tell Grogg that he is being punished, he’ll retaliate. It shouldn’t be too difficult to make his life miserable without him knowing I’m behind it. For example, I could easily play mind games on Hylda to make her hate him. She’s smarter than Grogg, but hardly a paragon of intelligence. But what would be the point? A miserable Grogg would only lash out more easily.

Someone must talk to Grogg and let him know how grievously he transgressed against You. Your patience is not infinite, and if he keeps on his current path, sooner or later, You will call him to You. I fear Grogg will scoff at it if this warning comes from me. As Ashtarites, Yana and Xipil will probably be seen as running my errand if they were to talk to him. It would be best if Wolfram and Hylda had a serious conversation with him. Yes. I will talk to them and explain the gravity of the situation.

Grogg mentioned using the healing needle for his injuries sustained today. That would give us the opportunity to talk without him listening in. Of course, his dependency and attachment to that needle provides an easy way of sending him to You, if and when the time comes.

[coronatiger]

24th of Tityra, year 412 (continued)

I asked Xipil to swim out and retrieve the leader’s body, so I could send him on to You, but Xipil had seen the crocodiles bring the corpse out to the ship. Wolfram thought that whoever was in charge out there would come after us for what we had done to the three mages. I wasn’t so sure, and wanted to make sure we dealt with them, but Grogg, Wolfram and Xipil were too exhausted or injured to go. Besides, our raft was so slow that the ship could easily avoid us if they so desired. The people on the ship didn’t know that I had sent two of the mages’ spirits to You, so they would be inclined to come ashore to retrieve them. If we hid the corpses, they would want to track us down to find them, I reasoned.

Xipil didn’t think the crocodiles had salvaged the staff belonging to the mage he had killed, and he swam out to find it. He searched for quite a while. Wolfram emptied a body bag and stuffed a crocodile tail in it. I had Hope bite my hand so I could return to my own form, and then I sat down to pray. I was still angry with Grogg for allowing one of the mages to escape with his spirit, if not with his life.

In my communion, You repeated that the acts of the three foreign mages were abominations, but the foreigners weren’t totally lost, for they were not trying to achieve true immortality. Opening my eyes, I saw that the two corpses, which earlier had looked like middle-aged men, now had grown old, with white hair and wrinkled skin. The corpses still looked like they had died within the last hour, though.

If I hadn’t known already that the rain was magical, I would have understood when it stopped. Like a veil being lifted, the droplets closest to the ground disappeared first, then the air dried higher and higher, until the desert sky was clear and blue again. I pulled back my hood so the sun could evaporate the wetness from my hair.

Wolfram looked through the pile of loot lying beside me. The two ceremonial daggers looked old and rusty. They had to be magically connected to their owners, who also had grown old after I sent their spirits to You. Perhaps I could have used the daggers to cut loose their spirits?

Xipil had given up the search for the magic staff; the currents had probably taken it away. When Wolfram reached for the pouches I had found, Xipil warned him that they were magical. Wolfram asked him to analyze them, but Xipil was too tired. Since no harm had come to me for moving the pouches earlier, it should be safe enough to take them back to camp. I asked Grogg to bring the two corpses, so we could hide them under the desert sand.

I could tell something was bothering Xipil, even before he asked if I saw any spirits nearby. I looked around, but saw none. Xipil said we had to get away from the beach. I mused that if I brought one of the body bags to Yana, she might convert it into armor for me. The bags were of very high quality, and Yana is a master with the needle, so I would at least ask if she thought it was possible to make better armor than the one I wore now. Xipil said we might as well bring all the bags, so we gathered them up, emptying them of the corpses they had contained. All except one; the crocodiles had mangled the corpses, but they had missed one of them, and for some reason, my companions thought it a good idea to take it back to camp.

When we returned to camp, Yana looked expectantly at me. She was afraid I’d been hurt. Wolfram and Grogg were clearly injured, so I might be too. Yana knew I disliked showing weakness, so if I was wounded, I might be hiding it. I flickered my fingers, telling Yana that I had missed her. Our secret sign language isn’t very complex yet, so what I actually said was, “You weren’t there.” Yana understood the meaning, though, and as relief washed over her face, she replied in kind. “You weren’t here.” She had missed me too! I couldn’t help but smile.

Xipil thought someone should keep watch. He and Wolfram were going out tonight, when Keri returned, so they needed to catch up on their sleep; they hadn’t slept at all last night. I offered to take guard duty. Grogg mumbled something about taking the needle, so I sent Yana to make sure he didn’t harm Haros.

My patient didn’t wake completely when Grogg removed the needle, but he tossed and turned as if he was having a nightmare. Yana sat down with him and seemed quite capable of tending him, so when Grogg had poked himself to sleep, I told Wolfram and Hylda I needed to talk to them. I invited Xipil to listen, too. He had already gone to bed, but he would probably try to listen anyway, and I didn’t want him to feel guilty about it.

I explained that I was worried about Grogg. He had grown increasingly hostile towards You, and since Your patience isn’t infinite, it wouldn’t end well for him if he continued on his current path. I asked Wolfram and Hylda to talk to him. I suggested that they tried to convince him to be friendlier and more considerate. If Grogg was stubborn, they could tell him that he should fake it and that I would never expect him to try to deceive me, so I wouldn’t even consider the possibility that he wasn’t sincere.

Wolfram agreed to talk to Grogg, but he also intimated that I could be more considerate myself. I asked him to recount an incident where I should have been more considerate, and Wolfram mentioned sitting down to pray right when we were about to attack the three foreigners earlier today, at the beach. I agreed that I could have warned them that I needed to commune with You, but I sensed that Wolfram’s concern was that he never knows how long I’m going to pray. Sometimes, I pray for hours on end, and that certainly wouldn’t do when someone’s about to be violent.

Wolfram also proposed that I tried to bribe Grogg to gain his good will. He thought a bottle of exquisite wine might do the trick. I explained that sadly, Grogg hadn’t reacted favorably towards me for sucking up to Kraa and pretending the spirit raven was my new best friend. Hylda warned me that Grogg was more complicated than the simpleton I portrayed him as, and that he had much on his mind already, but she would talk to him, too.

I started patrolling around the camp, and as I walked away, I heard Hylda’s voice inside the tent. She asked Yana if they were still friends. I didn’t hear Yana’s reply since she knows how to speak in a normal volume, but Hylda’s sigh of relief made it clear what she had said.

After a few circles around camp, I concluded that since Grogg, Wolfram and Xipil were asleep, I might as well keep watch all day and let Yana and Hylda take the night watches. To break up the monotony of walking and watching, I brought a shovel and found a suitable location for a grave. Whenever I passed that spot, I stopped for a few minutes to dig.

Yana came out of the tent when I fetched the shovel, asking if she should take over the guard duty. I told her my plan and complimented the way she watched over Haros. He should be her main responsibility, we agreed. I hoped Grogg would wake by evening, so Haros could have the needle again.

In the afternoon, I saw the spirit cloud approaching and estimated that Keri would return about an hour before sunset. I let Wolfram and Xipil sleep a little longer and prepared a meal for them. Wolfram took me aside after eating. He said these trips were wearing everyone down, and we couldn’t keep going forever. He wanted me to talk to Haros, to find out where his people lived. I told him I had already thought of that.