Campaign Log: Confessions of a Forked Tongue

[coronatiger]

5th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413 (continued)

Hypersensitive to the spirits in Arafos’s staff, Xipil asked me to continue keeping it for the next part of our journey. Your gifts allowed me to sense their presence, but I blessedly wasn’t forced to listen to the spirits’ mad whispers like Xipil was when he got too close to the staff.

Another concern our lizard man tracker had was whether we could find safe water along our path. He asked me to talk to the local hunters about it. I spotted the one I’d given a gold coin and walked over to him. I passed Olog and another couple of hunters on my way; they had followed us back to the village and were now studying our ship. Olog hurled a rude remark my way, which I ignored. The more companionable hunter informed me that water shouldn’t be too difficult to find, we just had to avoid stagnant water, or water with flying monkeys nearby.

We didn’t want the locals to witness Wolfram transforming, so we started walking east at a not too brisk pace. Xipil followed a distance behind the rest of us so he could watch to see if anyone followed. He caught up after about an hour and told us Olog had followed for a while, but he appeared to have turned back now. Xipil worried that Olog might decide to track us, but Wolfram assured him it wouldn’t be a problem. If Olog tried to cause trouble for us, Xipil could hide behind a tree while Grogg and he dealt with him, Wolfram suggested. That sounded like a good plan to me. I could safeguard Yana, Hylda and Groman while the fighters fought.

Xipil wasn’t entirely satisfied with Wolfram’s answer, but Wolfram put a stop to the discussion by transforming into the big bear. We loaded him up with luggage and passengers, and then we were off, moving much faster than before. Grogg ran along beside us, too heavy even for the six-legged bear to carry.

The forest soon thinned out, and we found ourselves on the savannah. Far to the north, we could see the first mesa. It was nothing like those back home. Those had been spires, as tall if not taller than they were wide. This mesa looked to be a couple hundred meters tall, but maybe as much as five kilometers wide. We turned north, heading straight for the mesa. Xipil and I agreed we could postpone the decision of whether to skirt the mesa on the west or the east side until Wolfram could speak again.

In the evening, we found a good campsite near a watering hole. While we ate, we considered tomorrow’s route. If we passed on the western side of the mesa, that would be shorter, but we would have to go through jungle. Xipil was still worried about Olog, who might have a much easier time of ambushing us there than on the open savannah. Going east, we could be certain we wouldn’t be slowed down by dense vegetation, so it shouldn’t take us much longer.

Hylda and Grogg would take watches before me, so I retreated to the tent I shared with Yana. Before I went to sleep, though, I meditated for an hour. Xipil’s interruption on the ship had left me with empty venom glands and a feeling of being naked and unarmed. I was surprised to see Yana watching me as I finished my prayer. She said she just wanted a good night kiss, but I sensed that she wanted to make sure I didn’t skip on sleep altogether.

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.


6th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413

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

I had nothing to report when I woke Yana after my watch, but at breakfast, Xipil informed everyone that he had spotted what appeared to be a large “apeoid” wearing a wolfskin disguise, around one kilometer south of our camp. This was likely Olog, I agreed, but he was probably just curious. If he became a nuisance, we could take action.

Continuing north, we agreed to steer Wolfram around the mesa at a safe distance, which we deemed to be an hour’s travel. These mesas were said to have Mogs living in or on them, and we would avoid them if we could. We are a capable company, but Mogs are powerful and we don’t know much about what they can do. If they don’t bother us, we have no reason to bother them either, and by keeping our distance, we signal that we don’t mean to interfere in their business.

Xipil kept watch all around, but he didn’t see Olog again. He reckoned Olog slept during the day and traveled at night.

In the afternoon, I noticed a larged, winged something soaring above the mesa. I pointed it out for Xipil, who cast a spell to magnify his vision. Even with his magic, Xipil couldn’t identify what it was, but he believed it was a living creature, not a bird, with a wing span of approximately fifteen meters. He thought we should keep watch tonight as well.

As we started to pass the mesa, we could see that it wasn’t as wide along the north-south axis as the east-west. We were almost due east when we decided to make camp. This site was partially concealed from the mesa, and there was a wellspring not too far away. Xipil reminded us to look out for flying beasts and sneaking orcs when we kept watch.

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.


7th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413

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

No threats emerged during the night, so talk around breakfast concerned whether we could reach the second mesa today. Xipil believed we could, at least if we didn’t waste time getting ready. We had accumulated enough experience over the last two months in setting up and dismantling our camp that Xipil couldn’t complain.

Yana sat in front of me today, so I leaned my head on her shoulder and whispered into her ear while we traveled. Yana whispered back to me, and while I thought I was paying attention to our surroundings, I suddenly discovered that time had flashed by and that we were entering the woods again. Xipil guided the runners and picked a path that avoided so dense vegetation that we would have to slow down.

In the evening, we found a good spot to camp. It was on a small hill with good view of the second mesa’s western wall. Xipil climbed a tree. It was to get an even better view, he said, but I thought he just wanted to climb. He likes being up in the trees, and he can even sleep there.

At sunset, a shadow appeared on the mesa wall. I thought it looked like the head and the front part of an elephant’s body. It was a bit up on the wall, so getting up there wouldn’t be too easy, but we should manage. There was a crack in the mesa wall that we wanted to search for an entrance to the Elephant Grotto, but that was a task for tomorrow.

Before turning in for the night, Xipil wanted to use his strangulation hood. It was supposed to help him commune with spirits, but I wasn’t sure he’d ever managed that. Since I knew how to stop him from killing himself with the hood, I told Xipil I would watch over him. He didn’t achieve a connection to any spirits, and then I brought him back from the brink.

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.


8th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413

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

Xipil might have failed to connect to any spirits that lingered nearby, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. On my watch, I saw plenty, but only at a distance, so I didn’t think it necessary to wake the others. Many spirits moved in and out of sight at the top of the mesa, but some were further down, on a ledge with a tree about halfway up the wall. It looked almost as if someone had decorated the tree with spirits.

[coronatiger]

8th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413 (continued)

When I got out this morning, I immediately checked on the spirits. Neither Yana, Xipil nor Wolfram had noticed anything during their watches, but they didn’t have Your gift. The spirits hanging around the tree on the ledge didn’t look to have moved, but the ones on top of the mesa had continued their trend of drifting into and out of sight. None of them had come any closer while I slept. Xipil was curious about the tree I had pointed out, but he couldn’t see what I had, yet he spent some time studying it.

We had already decided we should go looking for the Elephant Grotto today, but we had a short discussion about who should go and what gear we might leave behind. I wasn’t comfortable leaving anyone or anything behind. Not in the jungle, and not so close to where a Mog resided.

Wolfram transformed into the giant bear, and we loaded him up. Xipil ranged ahead to find the best route through the jungle, which grew dense as soon as we had descended from the hill where we had camped, and Grogg walked beside the six-legged mount, but everyone else rode. At least for the moment. If the jungle became too thick or the climb too steep, we might have to get off.

Xipil found a small brook trickling down from the mesa. He asked me to check out the water, so we took a short break before beginning our climb. I found no traces of poison nor of spirits, so I assumed the water was safe to drink, not that our water skins were running low.

We followed Xipil up along the brook until we found a small pond. After a short, flat stretch, we were descending again, deeper into the crack in the mesa wall. Wolfram and the riders went first, and Wolfram set off a small rockslide, but his six legs served him well and kept him upright. Groman was well secured with ropes, but Yana, Hylda and I had to cling on as best we could. We stopped to wait for Grogg and Xipil.

Xipil climbed faster than Grogg, and he was almost at the bottom when Grogg stumbled and set off a larger rockslide, with himself tumbling after the boulders. I had never really considered Wolfram’s immense size before, but he positioned himself to parry the oncoming rocks. Yana, Hylda and I jumped off and took cover behind him. Wolfram handled most of the stones coming his way, but one smashed into his hip and he roared angrily in Grogg’s direction. The rock didn’t seem to hurt him too badly, but I was pretty sure it could have killed me outright. Groman was lucky and escaped unharmed. Xipil hid inside a cave to wait for Grogg to come all the way down.

Suddenly came a roar from a ledge above us. “Grogg!” It was Olog. He threw down his giant wolf skin to Grogg, whom he presumed needed it more. Olog instructed Grogg to come back once he had hunted down a worthy prey. Grogg put it on and made barking noises at us. Olog grinned. “For Shorag!” he bellowed and retreated out of sight, perhaps into an unseen cave. Remnants of spirits lingered around the muzzle of Grogg’s new skin; I needed to keep an eye on it, but for the moment, I wasn’t concerned enough to mention what I’d seen.

There were three cave entrances nearby. I thought the largest looked the most promising, but I wanted to peek inside the others before we went exploring, just in case there were obvious signs of “This way to Samora.” Xipil came with me. Both smaller caves had a passage that went further into the mesa than we could see from near the opening, but in one, the passage was so small that Wolfram certainly couldn’t go as a bear, and both he and Grogg might have trouble squeezing through.

The largest cave was a dead end. Here, someone had camped perhaps last year or the year before. There were some logs clearly dragged in from the jungle and bits of rope. Xipil reckoned that someone had tried to splice the rope. He and Wolfram speculated on what those people had wanted to do with the logs. Making a raft was suggested, but I thought it more likely they needed a ladder or a bridge.

We went back outside, agreeing to attempt the smaller cave where Wolfram wouldn’t have to transform, at least not yet. I asked if anyone had thought to bring a source of light. Without that, only Yana and I could see once we left the last glimmers of sunlight behind. Xipil produced two daylight stones, the only ones from the raid at the Soft Pillow that still held energy. He said they should give light for three more days, and I thought that would be ample time to find Samora and return outside.

I suggested a marching order where Xipil and I went first since we had the sharpest senses. Then Wolfram should come, in case we ran into a foe too strong for Xipil and me to handle. Grogg should bring up the rear with Yana and Hylda. An ambush from behind might not be too likely, but if it happened, we needed someone who could protect Wolfram’s back side, for the tunnel might be too narrow for him to turn easily.

Above, a large hawk spiraled slowly down towards us. Birds don’t inhabit my domain of interest, but even I could tell this one didn’t behave naturally. “Perhaps it’s a shapeshifter,” I suggested. We watched the hawk land a short distance from us and turn into a man. His name was Arakos, and I guessed correctly that he belonged to Kanku’s group. Arakos warned us not to go inside, and his eyes confirmed which cave we’d find most promising. He had watched us for a while, but he wouldn’t approach us before the orc was gone; he wasn’t fit to hear the warning. Xipil told Arakos to give our regards to Kanku and to inform him we were going to deal with the fallen star being. Then the shapeshifter turned back into a hawk, climbing rapidly up and away.

Xipil and Hylda carried the two daylight stones, giving light both in front of and after Wolfram. The narrow tunnel sloped downward and had many twists and turns in the beginning. Then, after a sharp turn to the left, it straightened out for a while before a new set of bends preceded more descent.

We had walked for around ten minutes when the tunnel expanded to a large cavern. The floor sloped down towards an underground lake, but the ceiling was so low I wasn’t able to see to the other side, at least not from the entrance.

Xipil gave me his daylight stone so he could climb down to the lake and look around. He felt the water with his hand, and I detected a slight discomfort in him. Climbing back up, Xipil informed us he had seen the rear end of a boat behind some rocks, a fifty-meter swim away. He said the water seemed unnaturally dead, which prompted me to fall to my knees and pray. You blessed me with the sensation of emptiness.

I tied a rope around my waist and had Grogg lower me down to the water so I could shine daylight over the lake while Xipil swam to fetch the boat. Xipil’s camouflage and the eerie way the water fell still after his swimming strokes disturbed it made me lose track of him before he was even half-way across. After five minutes I called Xipil’s name, and when I didn’t get a reply, I bellowed at the top of my lungs. Still no response.

I left the daylight stone in a small crevice in case Xipil returned to his senses and wanted to come back. Then I asked Grogg to pull me back up. I said I was afraid we had lost Xipil. I had a strong suspicion that his curiosity had made him do something stupid, but what I told the others was that he must have slipped and hit his head against the rocks. I asked if I should swim after him and see if I could find out what had happened. Wolfram, having transformed back to his human shape to join the discussion, said he would come with me.

[coronatiger]

We undressed to prepare for the swim and I wrapped my dress around my shoes. The underground was chilly, and a wet dress might not help much, but Wolfram would be more comfortable around me if I wasn’t naked. The shoes I brought because it would be easier to move quickly with some protection between my feet and potentially sharp rocks. We both put our belts back on before climbing down to the water. Wolfram boasted that he had three knives with him, and when I pointed out that I had four strapped to my thighs, Hylda countered that Wolfram brought a club too. “Groan,” I signed to Yana.

I picked up the daylight stone again since Wolfram wouldn’t be able to see much once we rounded a corner, and then we began to swim. You told me that there was nothing in the water that should have been with You, and I was content despite the cold, unnaturally still water. Wolfram was a decent swimmer too, so we made it across in no time.

In addition to the rowboat I’d already seen, two rafts were pulled up on land here. They all looked old and not very sturdy, but they were not why we had come. There were no signs that Xipil had ever been here, at least not that I could see, but nobody would leave visible imprints on the hard cavern floor.

From the other side of the lake came the sound of laughter, and I discerned that it must have been Grogg telling a joke. It was clear the water didn’t hinder sound, so unless Xipil had hurried inside the only passage, he must have heard me call. He obviously wasn’t lying on the floor unconscious either, so I had probably been right to surmise that he had acted without thinking about consequences again.

I put on my dress again while calling out to Yana what we had found so far and that we were going to check out the passage. Yana answered that she heard and understood, so I tossed the daylight stone to Wolfram, who was still in his underwear. He looked from me to the daylight stone questioningly, so I explained that it might be best if he held on to it, just in case we were separated.

Wolfram saw no tracks either, not at the landing, nor in the passage. The passage curved to the right in a slight incline. Rounding a sharp bend, we saw the figure of a woman further ahead. Wolfram immediately raised his voice and asked if she had seen a lizard man, but she only replied with a smile. Wolfram asked me to translate his question to Arani. “She’s infested with spirits,” I warned, and Wolfram transformed into the spirit bear, dropping the daylight stone. I picked it up and put it in my open mouth, like I had done at the Soft Pillow. I wanted both hands free.

We approached the woman cautiously. “Welcome,” she greeted in Common, gesturing with her arms in a way that reminded me of home. I asked where our friend was, but the woman replied with a question of her own. “Do you know the Queen?” Wolfram growled, but I kept my mouth shut. Figuratively, so as not to bereave Wolfram of the ability to see.

The woman claimed we were the first people she’d seen today, and I sensed no deception in her, but I suspected that the woman employed magic to conceal her lying. Wolfram poked her with his snout, taking in her scent. “Such a fine bear! Maybe I can show you the way?” she asked.

The woman quickly began to repeat herself. It seemed like she had forgotten saying those words to us, just a few moments ago. Maybe all the spirits took turns controlling her, and maybe they didn’t communicate with each other? I got her to confirm that the queen in question was Samora. “She who watches over the ancestors and sees with five eyes,” according to the woman.

Wolfram indicated that he wanted the daylight stone, so I passed it to him, and he padded around the woman and continued a few steps along the passage. The woman warned him not to progress; that could be dangerous, but she could show one of us the way. The woman said she could only take one of us today. The other had to go outside and return in the morning.

I thought the woman was telling us that she could use magic to transport one of us to Samora, but that she only had enough energy to take one. Xipil must have met her before and accepted the offer. If she had teleported him away, that would explain why he hadn’t heard my call.

I asked Wolfram what we should do, and he came back and transformed into a human again. It didn’t seem likely that we would have to fight this woman and her spirits. Wolfram suggested that if a way back existed for Xipil, he would take it, otherwise we could force our way through later. We agreed to go back to the others and await Xipil there.

Grogg called, asking if we had found Xipil. Wolfram bellowed “No,” and I added that we were coming back. We looked closer at the boat and the two rafts. Only one of the rafts looked sturdy enough to still be worth using, but Wolfram suggested it might need some repairs before we put too much weight on it. He swam back while I took the raft.

I explained to Grogg, Yana and Hylda what we had found and what I suspected. I thought Grogg looked a little more distant than usual. I’ve trained my face not to give such things away, but Yana knew me too well, so she picked up on it anyway. She signed that she believed Grogg was influenced somehow by Olog’s wolfskin, which was now wrapped closer around the troll. As I changed into dry clothes, I kept an eye on Grogg, but I found no cause for alarm.

Grogg said he could smell Xipil’s tracks, an ability that clearly was conferred from the wolfskin. I wanted us to remain where Xipil had known us to be so he wouldn’t have trouble locating us on his return, but the party’s consensus was to move across the water and to try to track down Xipil.

While I took some rope from our packs and tried to make repairs to the raft, Wolfram swam back over to wait for us there. After I had done what I could, I started to load the raft with our luggage, and I discovered that the water rejected Arafos’s staff; trying to lift the staff over the water was no easier than to push it through a stone wall. I called out to Wolfram that we were changing our plans and that he should return. Our following experiments told me that the water acted as a barrier that hindered foreign spirits from encroaching into Samora’s domain.

Grogg wanted to look at the staff, so I climbed up to him with it. After I handed it over, Grogg just dropped it and sat down to slide down the slope. I caught the staff so it wouldn’t follow; anything could happen if it touched the water. Grogg asked Kraa to fly out over the water, but Kraa stopped in midair, hitting the invisible wall that the staff couldn’t pass either. Kraa panicked and flew away in the other direction, but Grogg managed to summon it back and let it take refuge inside him.

Grogg wanted me to take the wolfskin over to Wolfram and let him use it to track down Xipil. Since it too had spirit residues in it, it resisted our efforts to get it out over the water, but Grogg discovered that he was strong enough to push it through the barrier. He didn’t want to inflict any discomfort onto Kraa, though, so he wouldn’t go himself. I suggested that we did as I had originally proposed, which was to wait for Xipil right where we were.

We decided to give Xipil a few hours to get himself out of whatever situation he had blundered into. I sat down with Yana and Hylda to watch while Grogg and Wolfram continued experimenting. We discovered that Wolfram’s shield must have spirits inside it, for that was also pushed back by the invisible barrier. However, Grogg and Wolfram could force anything through, except Kraa, who was too loosely tethered to Grogg to get past the barrier. All other spirits were trapped inside physical objects, which anyone, if they were strong enough, could push across.

[coronatiger]

8th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413 (continued)

Grogg had an idea. Kraa could fly along the barrier, trying to find a hole in it while the rest of us pushed through and began to search for Xipil. I reminded him that there were Mogs around and asked if he really wanted to let Kraa out of his sight. Grogg suddenly decided that waiting was a much better idea.

It was almost time to have lunch, so we agreed that we could eat, then wait for Xipil for a few hours, and if he hadn’t returned by the time we finished dinner, we would start to worry. Grogg, Hylda, Yana and Wolfram moved Groman and our luggage up to where the passage flattened out while I kept a lookout for Xipil on the slope, far enough down that I could see over to the other side of the underground lake.

Yana helped Hylda prepare the meal, and then she brought food down to my lookout spot. I had placed one of the daylight stones in the crevice to light the way for Xipil, should he return. Grogg, Wolfram and Hylda had the other. Yana and I could see perfectly well without this magical aid, so she had no trouble finding her footing on the slope when she came with lunch.

I let Hope out of her pouch so she could share the meal with us, and afterwards, I held up a hand so she could weave through my fingers the way she loved to play. Yana and I delved into the topic of fashion differences between Anabel and the north, and it seemed almost no time had passed when Yana declared that she was going back up to help with dinner. I gave her hand a squeeze before I let it go, and then I turned so I could watch Yana’s backside retreat up the slope. Yana must have felt my eyes caressing her, for her fingers flashed a short message behind her back: “I love you too!”

When I could no longer see Yana, I turned back around and gazed over the still water. Only minutes later, a familiar figure stumbled into sight near the rotten rowboat. I waved at Xipil, and he seemed to snap out of his daze. He waved back and dove gracefully into the water. I called up to the others that Xipil was on his way, and Wolfram came down just in time before Xipil pulled himself out of the water. I could sense that the lizard man was tired, and even Wolfram noticed that something was wrong, asking if he was all right with concern tingeing his voice. Xipil said it was lovely to get away from all the spirits.

I assumed that Xipil hadn’t found any food during his solo adventure and invited him to join us for dinner, which should be ready shortly. Xipil told us he had accepted the spirit woman’s offer, and she brought him up to the tree we had seen on that ledge. Samora had sent him back with the message that she was queen over the spirits that had no other home. The proximity of all those spirits had weighed heavily on Xipil’s sensitive mind, but he had kept his wits enough to mark his path as he found his way back to us.

I asked if Xipil had told Samora why we had come, and he wasn’t sure. The spirits had really made it difficult for him to think straight. He did remember the spirits pestering him to acknowledge Samora as queen, but he couldn’t say how he responded, if he answered at all.

Since Xipil hadn’t been able to conduct any of our business with Samora, we needed to go back up to her. We could follow his tracks, but I asked what Grogg wanted to do about Kraa. I could give the spirit raven a physical form, but this was a process that had always turned out fatal for the spirits in the past, although that could have something to do with us smashing, cutting or stabbing the manifested spirits. I said Grogg needed to decide. He let Kraa weigh in, and he interpreted the inane chattering to mean that he should try to push himself through the barrier with Kraa inside him.

We had a load of luggage to ferry across the underground lake, so Xipil checked on my raft repairs and acknowledged that it was sufficient. He offered to maneuver the raft, while Wolfram and I went on the first trip to secure the landing on the other side; Grogg took responsibility as rear guard and for shoving everything through the barrier. We heard no call for aid, so the pleased grin on Grogg’s face as he came over on the last trip wasn’t needed to tell us he had managed to get Kraa through.

I asked Xipil if he could recall whether the passage was large enough for Wolfram’s biggest shape. Xipil wasn’t sure, but he said he preferred if Wolfram took on the spirit bear shape. That way, he could help me with any troublesome spirits without having to unload the baggage and transforming first. We didn’t have so much luggage that we needed Wolfram in his carrier form; it would only go slower.

Xipil, Wolfram and I took the lead, with Hylda, Grogg and Yana right behind. The spirit-infested woman was a little farther back than where Wolfram and I had met her earlier. Those of us who still were capable of speech had a short discussion of her nature, and it was clear we all perceived her differently.

We approached the woman, who was standing in an intersection where one passage went off to the side. Xipil indicated that we should proceed along the main corridor, and Wolfram stopped to pile up some rocks at the beginning of the continuing corridor. I suggested it might be useful to have a sign that tells us where the exit is, too, so we made a small pile to indicate the passage we were taking in case we circled back to this place, and a larger pile so we’d find the way out when we were done.

The spirit woman stood there smiling at us as we made our signs, and she asked several of us if she should show the way. Grogg and Hylda displayed some curiosity towards the woman, but the rest of us ignored her. Her smile vanished when we started moving again, and she warned us of the danger of proceeding unescorted. When nobody even acknowledged the warning, the woman said there were better ways of impressing the queen, but she made no move to stop us.

It didn’t take long before Xipil found the first sign he had left to mark his path. This was at another intersection, so I rearranged the stones to make the signs we had agreed to use. As we continued our path through the tunnels, I lost all sense of directions, what with all the twists and turns. All I could say was that we generally ascended. Every time we came to a fork in the path, we marked where we came from and where we went, but it did not seem like we ever looped around to a place we’d already been.

The higher we climbed, the more uncertain Xipil became, and some places he couldn’t remember at all. Luckily, Grogg and Wolfram could smell where he had gone. We had to stop completely in several intersections to sniff around for tracks.

After taking off to the right off what seemed a main corridor, we had a long, steep ascent. In some places, I almost had to use my hands to help with the climbing. I noticed no real side passages off this long tunnel, only cracks in the wall here and there, although some were large enough that we might traverse them. The ascent gradually flattened out, and we began to pass plant life. I saw that the little plants had fragments of spirits bound to them and I could tell Xipil was affected. I sensed his mind slowing down. He wasn’t pleased to hear where those spirits were.

Soon, we saw light ahead. As we approached the daylight, the size of the plants around us grew, and so did the spirits. Outside was the plateau with the spirit tree, and dense bushes grew around it, making it hard to go straight to the tree.

We stopped just inside the cave entrance, and not just because of the swarm of spirits lingering about the tree. Rain poured down from dark clouds above, and in the distance a bolt of lightning flashed towards the ground. I had heard what seemed like thunder while we waited for Xipil, but I hadn’t said what I thought I heard because I didn’t want to frighten Grogg.

Xipil was so affected by all the spirits that he had to cling to Wolfram’s fur to steady himself. We regarded the tree for a moment – and I studied the spirits – but we perceived no hostility. Instead, I heard a whisper in the air. It was almost drowned out by the deluge, but Xipil asked if we too heard the voices of the spirits, and I nodded. Grogg merely grunted, but Wolfram gave a nod along with an obvious attempt to say “yes,” which couldn’t be easy with a bear’s tongue.

[coronatiger]

I raised my voice and gave the standard greeting in Arani. The spirit tree shuddered in response, but the spirits themselves only continued their faint whisper, so I asked my friends if they thought we should approach the tree. Xipil said we should follow his tracks.

We left Groman and the luggage in Yana’s and Hylda’s care and stepped into the rain. I was drenched to the skin in an instant. Moving carefully forward, or in Grogg’s case, crashing through the bushes, the whispers grew louder and it became possible to discern individual voices in the madness.

We entered a clearing before the tree, and the spirits were so excited, it felt like we were on the verge of an attack. My hands itched to draw my steel fangs, but I forced them to stillness. “Can you hear me, Samora?” I asked. One of the voices said my soul wasn’t coming here when I died, and I replied that I was aware of that fact.

Wolfram transformed back to his human shape, and my companions held their own conferences with the spirit voices, much to my chagrin. It would be hard to intercept dangerous questions when I didn’t know which voices Grogg, Xipil and Wolfram were listening to. I would just have to conduct my own negotiations and hope they didn’t mess things up. Grogg was polite though, and he even bowed towards the tree. He summoned Kraa to appear on his shoulder, but the spirit raven was intimidated by all the strange spirits and quickly fled inside him again.

I told the spirits my name and said I brought a sick friend; if Samora could heal him, I had a gift for her. Like with the woman below, it didn’t seem like the spirits communicated well between themselves, for I kept hearing questions of who I was and why I had come.

The spirits also asked what the gift was and whether I would respect Samora’s rule. Wolfram must also have heard that last question, for he offered to “clean up the place,” but only if it was desired. Revealing the staff Arafos had made, I claimed I would respect Samora’s wishes. “Mighty container,” was the spirits’ opinion on the staff, and they asked on top of each other where it was from, who made it, where I got it, from whom I stole it and so on.

I explained that the staff was a gift from Arafos of Anabel, and the spirits (or Samora) recognized the name, for I was asked why the queen of Anabel required the aid of Queen Samora. I said that as we were helping Queen Makeda, she was helping us. Now we needed healing for our friend. Again, the spirits asked if I would honor Samora’s authority and her right to use her powers in this place. Again, I said I would. The voices wished us welcome and good luck going forward. They recommended that we found a guide if we thought we needed one.

A lightning strike far to the north, followed seconds later by the deep rumbling of thunder, prompted Grogg to suggest we went back inside the cave after exclaiming about Palo’s rear end. When I turned around, Yana had her hand fixed in our sign for “question,” and her look said she didn’t know what was happening. She and Hylda stood so far back that they couldn’t discern the spirits’ voices, so they had only heard half the conversations. I signed that we had talked to the spirits of the tree and they had welcomed us.

Xipil said he had an idea about where we should go. It would be a tight fit for our bigger companions, so he wanted to explore a bit before taking the rest of us along. We walked back to where the vegetation was thinning out, and Xipil vanished into a crack in the wall after promising not to be gone for more than half an hour. I wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep that promise, not with the nearby spirits making him a retard, so I sent a prayer to You. The rest of us set up camp. It was getting so late we probably wouldn’t have time to exit the mesa before sunset, even if finding Samora didn’t prove troublesome. You must have helped Xipil keep a cool head, for he returned more or less on time.

[coronatiger]

8th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413 (continued)

Since Xipil hadn’t found Samora yet, he wanted to continue exploring. There were places he couldn’t reach safely without rope, so he suggested Wolfram accompanied him to secure the other end of it. Wolfram readily agreed. I asked how long they thought they’d be gone, and Xipil said he needed no more than half an hour. I decided to give them a full hour instead, to give Xipil time to do more than just trace his own footsteps.

I sat down to pray. I’ve been restless lately, sensing an urgency to get on with my quest to find Your brother. We meant to go to the lost city in the eastern mountains of Arland to look for clues, but one event after the other has led us astray. Each step of the way seemed so logical at the time. Were these detours by Your design? Did we need Groman to help us decipher the clues in the lost city? Can Samora heal him? As much as I longed to hear Your voice, feel the soft caress as You wrapped my mind in Your coils, I received no response to my prayer. I took that to mean that You trusted me to do what was right in Your eyes, a bolstering thought indeed.

I felt Yana’s presence behind me, or rather, I sensed emotions that could only be hers. She was an ever-flowing chalice of love, and while I knew she wanted to speak to me, I took a moment to savor the warmth of that river as it washed over me. A slight feeling of worry or concern, polluting the pure waters, had me on my feet in an instant. I took Yana’s hands and looked into her eyes. “I know you sometimes lose track of time when you pray,” she said, “and it’s been more than an hour since …” Her voice trailed off, and the worry vanished. We smiled at each other, and I gave her hand a gentle squeeze before turning around. “Hello Xipil, Wolfram. Did you find Samora?”

They had not found the spirit queen. Xipil had climbed vertical shafts and swum through water-filled passages, exploring as far as forty meters of rope allowed from where Wolfram had been able to go. It was clear that this was not the way Samora used to get to the spirit tree. Xipil said we should explore other passages. He had been so confident that he could find Samora without a guide, but now he confessed that it might be better to get help.

We knew of one guide already, the spirit-infested woman down by the lake that had shown Xipil to the spirit tree on the ledge just outside the cave from where we were camping. The spirits around the tree had indicated that there were more guides elsewhere, so going down to the lake might be a detour, and Xipil proposed we ask at the tree. Xipil had been in a daze while being escorted, and it wasn’t just his weakness to spirits that had clouded his mind. I had an idea about how to get around that issue, but that was a concern for tomorrow. Despite the nagging sense of urgency I was feeling, I thought it would be better to take an early evening than starting something now that could potentially take the whole night.

Xipil wanted to use his strangulation hood to talk to the spirits. I sighed and said I would watch over him and revive him before he entered Your realm. Wolfram pointed out that everyone could hear the spirits out by the tree, so he didn’t understand what the hood might achieve. Xipil said he could hear a person earlier. The way he emphasized that word, it was almost as if he was saying there was only one person among the multitude of voices. I assumed he wanted to try to contact this one individual, whoever they might be, and that he thought that would be easier with the hood.

Xipil put on the hood and tightened the belt-like part around his neck. He slumped to the ground almost instantly. I put a hand on Yana’s chest and started counting her heartbeats. After two minutes, I loosened the hood and slipped it off the lizard man’s head. Xipil’s eyes blinked open shortly after.

I asked if he had discovered anything. Xipil said the spirit in the nearby bush was afraid of us and wanted us to go away. I walked over to the bush to study the spirit. Like the other plants around here, this bush was a poor vessel for the spirit it housed. Bits and pieces of the spirit stuck out here and there, but not enough in one spot for me to gain any knowledge about who the spirit was, or even what they looked like. Xipil decided to move the bush, and he uprooted it carefully and found a new home for it further along the corridor.

Hylda had our evening meal ready. After we’d eaten, I got out my toothbrush. I wanted another look at the spirit tree, but I said I was going to check on the weather while I brushed my teeth. We weren’t so far inside the mesa that we couldn’t hear the deluge outside continuing unabatedly, but I hadn’t heard thunder in a while.

I walked to the cave opening, working the toothbrush methodically. Had the rain lightened a little since we went out to the tree a few hours ago? The downpour was still so heavy that I didn’t feel like going out into it, not unless I had to. I couldn’t see the tree very well from where I stood, but that was all right. I let my mind drift. Strangely, I felt at peace here, despite all the spirits that ought to have been sent on to You. It was as if my assertion to accept Samora’s dominion over the spirits had taken away any hostility the spirits felt towards me. I meant to honor my word, for we couldn’t afford to antagonize Samora before she healed Groman. If anyone was capable of that feat, it would be her.

Yana was standing outside the camp area like a guard, clearly waiting for my return. “Still raining?” she asked, her voice light and unconcerned, but I could see the relief on her face. I swept my eyes over the camp but saw nothing that required my attention. Grogg was chuckling over something Hylda had said. The grin on Wolfram’s face told me he had found it funny, too. Xipil was meditating, or perhaps just deep in thought.

I hadn’t been gone very long, and while I had felt completely safe, it wrung my heart that Yana thought I was in danger. I smiled reassuringly. “Yeah, still raining,” I said, but my fingers flashed with another message. “We are safe. Ashtar watches over us.”

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.


9th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413

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

Feeling of safety or not, I had considered asking Hope to keep watch during the night, but I discarded the idea. A threat here would come from Samora’s spirits, and Hope wouldn’t notice them before it was too late. I could have told her to wake me if You warned her of danger, but if You decided to intervene, You could just as easily inform me directly.

You have blessed me with heightened senses, so I woke when someone moved through the camp. I felt no emotions indicating stealth, treachery or hostility, so I was fairly certain there was no danger even before I opened one eye to see Wolfram standing nearby, doing his morning stretches. I had known it would be him, Grogg or Hylda. Xipil wouldn’t have made as much noise, and Yana was nestled in my embrace. I closed my eye and returned to sleep.

After breakfast, we packed up and walked out towards the spirit tree. I walked the last stretch alone. I had been surprised with how easy it was to convince the others to let me take care of this. I had worried someone would insist on getting a chance to put their foot in their mouth again. My argument that only one of us should be close enough to the guide to be put under their spell worked wonders. If that were to happen to me, my backpack was heavy enough that I wouldn’t be able to outrun the others, even when they brought Groman and all the luggage; it wasn’t certain we’d ever return to the spot where we’d camped.

I asked the spirits hovering around the tree if one of them could be my guide and show the way to Queen Samora. I picked out one voice in the multitude that said I must have passed the guide on my way to the tree. I went back to the others and said there apparently was only one guide, and that it was the woman we’d met down by the underground lake.

Xipil didn’t think she was bound to the lake, and that she might have come here now. We walked around to the cave entrance, but she wasn’t there, so I returned to the tree and asked if the spirits there could summon her.

A bubble-shaped spirit appeared up in the tree. It could have been there all along, concealed by the other spirits, but this was the first time I laid my eyes on it. “Can you see me?” it asked, sounding slightly surprised. I replied that I could, and it whooshed away, past my friends. “Follow me!” it called.

[coronatiger]

The bubble flew much faster than I could move, but it stopped to wait, allowing me to catch up. Of course, Yana and the others hurried after me. When we passed the place where we had camped, Xipil asked if I could see the guide. He thought the spirit woman from below might be there, visible only to my blessed sight, so I explained to everyone about the bubble.

At first, we backtracked the path we had taken, climbing up to the tree, but if the bubble was leading us to Samora, we would take off from that path sooner or later. I warned Xipil to make new signs when necessary so we could find our way out on our own, later.

While my first request to the tree spirits was for one to take us to their queen, the bubble had focused on my last. They couldn’t summon the guide, but they could take us to her. After walking new passages for a while, we suddenly found ourselves at one of our trail signs, coming at it from a side passage. From there, it was only a short distance to where the spirit woman stood.

The spirit bubble was nowhere to be seen, but it had often disappeared from sight, only to appear again, waiting around a corner or at a crossroads. I didn’t think it had really vanished, but something urged me to ask the spirit woman if she had seen it. She hadn’t. The bubble must have considered its task complete. Part of me began to suspect that the spirit woman might be Samora herself, but if she was, she was playing with us, or perhaps this was a test. I said nothing about my suspicion, and instead said we had been shown the way to her and asked if she could take us to Queen Samora.

The guide began her spiel about only taking one of us, but I insisted that my friends were coming too. Behind me, Xipil cast a spell. Similar to yesterday’s talk to the tree spirits, my friends couldn’t hear what the guide said to me, so they only heard my part of the conversation. Xipil’s spell must be related to that.

Everyone coming along was against the rules, the guide informed me. If she were to break the rules for us, she would also give us a challenge. I told her I accepted the challenge gladly. “Very well, then,” the guide replied. She looked deep in thought when she started to walk. “Come along,” I told my friends, uncertain whether they could see the guide moving or not. The guide offered to do something to make sure I didn’t lose track of her, and she emphasized that it was me she could do this for, not everyone. I said no thank you.

As we walked along the underground passages, I noticed something about the guide. Occasionally, she came close to touching a wall, but instead of her clothing brushing against the stone, it passed right through it. Scrutinizing this phenomenon, I concluded that only the parts of the woman that would have been hindered by the stone turned ethereal; I believed the woman herself was physically present, or at least most of her was, most of the time. Xipil eventually asked what the woman had said to me during our conversation, so I filled everyone in as we continued through the unfamiliar passages.

We followed a broad and fairly straight passage for a while. When this passage split in two, the guide took the left path and told me to ignore “them.” Mushrooms and plants grew along the sides of the road, with spirits bound to them, so I assumed those spirits might not have our best interest at heart. Behind me, the others began to whisper about seeing faces in the growths, twisted faces and contorted figures. “Doesn’t that branch look like an arm?” Hylda asked. I followed the guide’s instruction and ignored the chatter.

“Nuur-Karif!” Xipil called, and I turned around. The others were falling behind, distracted by the figures they thought they could see. I told them to hurry up. I glanced at the nearby plants. There were spirits bound to them, all right, but I couldn't make out the faces everyone else seemed to see. Your protection was most welcome, and while it would have benefited my friends to have it extended to them, that wasn’t necessary, not while I was around.

We continued along the road, and my friends were able to ignore the faces in the plants, at least to a degree that allowed them to keep up with me and the guide. There were still plants and mushrooms around, and no features that indicated that this wasn’t just another bit of road when the guide stopped. She wouldn’t go further. It wasn’t safe for her, nor for us, she said. There were “atamakeses” up ahead. She pointed forward along the road, and now I could see that the plants were thinning out ahead. “One atamakese is named Bamba,” the guide informed me. “If you prank her, I’ll take you to Samora.”

I asked the guide what an atamakese was, then turned to my companions. “There is a spirit up ahead. Her name is Bamba, and she is an atamakese; they are nasty spirits that according to the guide we don’t really want to encounter, but I told her we were up for the challenge. Maybe Bamba is a wraith, or something similar. We’ve dealt with those before, and I’m confident we can deal with this Bamba too.”

Wolfram said he wanted more information before we plunged ahead, and he and Xipil started interrogating the nearby spirits, those bound to the plants and mushrooms along the road. I stayed with the guide since she had told me to ignore those spirits, but I could hear the conversations. The first spirit claimed to be tired, and Wolfram offered a lullaby, sung by Hylda, for information about Bamba. The spirit knew that name, and I quickly began to suspect that all the spirits around here were afraid of the atamakese. Yana joined in on the lullaby, and her melodious voice soon rocked the tired spirit to sleep.

The next spirit claimed that Bamba had taken their body and stuffed them inside the twisted tree Wolfram and Xipil stood near. I asked if it was time to go; we could leave Yana and Hylda with the guide while the rest of us went on ahead. Wolfram wasn’t yet satisfied with the meagre information he had gathered so far, so he and Xipil continued their roundtrip of questioning spirits.

I had a question for the guide. Was it all right if we destroyed Bamba, or were we merely meant to prank her? Oddly, the guide replied that we shouldn’t break the law any more than we already had. I took that to mean that Samora valued even spirits that tormented the others, and that we were meant to pull our punches, if it came to a fight at all.

Suddenly, the guide stared at me and asked if I was a spirit devourer. I replied that I had never heard that term, but I was empowered to do things to spirits that others couldn’t. My response frightened the guide to such a degree that she almost disintegrated. The spirits bound to her almost broke free from their tethers, wailing and screaming as they whirled around us in terror. I felt the fear in Yana as she took cover behind me, and Wolfram and Xipil came running.

The guide collected herself for just long enough to ask who among us was the spirit devourer. I raised my voice and spoke forcefully. “I am Ashtar’s envoy. I do not eat spirits. I send them on to Her so they can find the eternal rest.” My short speech seemed to calm the guide a little, but I could tell she would need some time to gather up the frantic spirits tearing at their bonds.

Wolfram had an idea that we could try to scare Bamba by convincing her we were spirit devourers. I didn’t think any of my friends could pull that off unless we cleared out all the nearby spirits so we could show her we’d already eaten them. The guide was desperately opposed to that idea, and it would be such an insult to Samora that it might be very difficult indeed to get her to heal Groman after that.

A better idea might be to force Bamba into a physical form and give her a beating. According to the guide, Bamba already had the ability to turn physical, but even if she didn’t make it easy for us and do it herself, I could use Your blessings. Other spirits I had turned with my fangs had been surprised to find themselves manifested into a physical body, and I thought this might startle Bamba too. Then maybe even just the threat of violence might be enough to subdue her.

We agreed that I should sneak forward and see what I could learn. It felt a little strange to take Xipil’s place as the scout, but he couldn’t see spirits, and while his dark vision was excellent, he would need some light to find his way.

I moved cautiously, on silent feet. It took me ten minutes to reach a large cavern at the end of the road. Peeking inside, I saw that the cavern had been the site of a battle, long ago. The corpses had rotted away, leaving not much more than skeletons.

There were plenty of spirits in the cavern, and while most were bound to bushes and trees, some floated around freely. Most of them were on the other side of the cavern, but when one started moving towards me, I decided it was time to retreat and report. I didn’t think the spirit spotted me as I slipped away. At least it didn’t follow me all the way back to the others.

[coronatiger]

9th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413 (continued)

After I had reported what I’d seen in the cavern up ahead, we planned and prepared for battle. I suggested Grogg and Wolfram took the two daylight stones since they were the ones most in need of good lighting. Xipil cast a spell to improve his already impressive night vision. I had Your gift, so I wouldn’t need any light at all.

According to the guide, there were guardians between us and the atamakeses. To keep Bamba and her ilk contained, the guardians had to be almost as terrible. The guide assumed that they would take physical form to hinder us, and she said we could destroy those if we wanted to, for their spirit forms wouldn’t take lasting damage from anything we did to the physical forms.

Wolfram was still of the opinion that we should try to convince Bamba that some of us were spirit devourers; his spirit bear shape should prove most menacing, he believed. That form could do irreparable harm even to spirits, so perhaps he should use the spiked bear form instead. I persuaded my companions to allow me to talk our way past the guardians. Xipil thought Wolfram should remain in his human form for now, since he could change in a couple of seconds when I called for it.

As we made our way towards the cavern, I reminded Grogg and Wolfram how I had held a daylight stone in my mouth during our assault on the Moon Shadows’ hideout under the Soft Pillow. That trick had left my hands free to use my knives, and when Grogg plopped his stone into his mouth, I assumed Wolfram had taken the clue too, although he kept the daylight stone in his hand for the moment, not wanting to have his speech hindered.

Arriving at the cavern, I saw three spirits hovering around the back. That was of course in addition to all the spirits bound to various objects, but those hardly seemed threatening. The three unfettered spirits had the appearance of older men, but the vibe they gave off was that of teenage mischief. My friends couldn’t see the spirits, but Xipil noticed a shimmer in the air where the trio was.

It was clear to me the spirits had spotted us, but they didn’t know our greatest advantage against them, that I could see them just as clearly. I led the way in their general direction, but without looking directly at them. They were deep in conversation, but when we came near, one commanded us to stop and another darted off to the side.

The spirits all around the cavern began to whisper. “Nobody gets in, nobody gets out. It is Samora’s law!” I ignored the whispers and addressed the spirits ahead of us. “Be greeted,” I said in the Arani way. “Be greeted, alive ones. You don’t belong here!” was the reply.

I told the spirits that we had come to talk to Bamba. The whispers turned to curses; the spirits here were not too fond of that one. The guardian claimed that nobody could meet Bamba, for she would trick them and get out. I stated that Bamba wouldn’t be able to trick me, and the guardian challenged me to prove myself by tricking him. I told him I had no need to trick him, for Samora had sent us, and it was her desire that we met Bamba. Who was he to stand in the way of his queen’s will?

I almost had him, but he said Samora wouldn’t have sent us without a guide. He couldn’t see us bringing a gift either. I replied that the guide waited further back, for she hadn’t dared come all the way. The guardian didn’t think she’d be afraid of anything. Following Wolfram’s suggestion, I told him that she freaked out when we mentioned that we had spirit devourers among us. The guardian said he definitely couldn’t let us pass when there were spirit devourers around, and he turned and called for more guards. In a low voice, I said he was brave to turn away from spirit devourers. That had him spin back around, and I knew he believed me, but he didn’t think any of us that he could see was what I claimed.

Wolfram whispered in my ear to ask if he should transform, and I nodded. “What’s this? Stop that creature!” the guardian yelled. “Are you afraid you’ll be devoured?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. “No animal can eat me. Just come and try!” he replied. All around the cavern, spirits animated corpses and other objects. We were about to be attacked, but I drew my knives slowly and as unthreatening as possible. With Wolfram in the spikey bear shape, I might be the only one of us who could truly harm the spirits, although they were unlikely to know that. Still, I was confident that Grogg and Wolfram could fend off the animated objects easily enough. Xipil wasn’t as certain, for he cast a spell to summon a star bolt, which hovered near his hand, ready to be released.

The guardian gave one last warning. “Leave this place if you know what’s good for you. I’m not afraid to use violence to stop you!” A sword came at Wolfram, and he swatted it, sending it flying and jolting the possessing spirit to release it and flee. I took a few steps towards the talkative guardian, thinking I might end this whole charade with one well-aimed thrust of Your holy fang. The guardians scattered, and I decided not to pursue any of them. If the fight went badly, it would be best if nobody had run off on their own.

[coronatiger]

Xipil asked, sounding almost bored to someone who didn’t know him better, if we really had to clean up all of this. He swept his hand around to indicate the approaching objects. I told him we could let our big friends beat the spirits out of whatever they animated and then take it from there.

A huge tree trunk stood up and telegraphed its intent to launch itself at Grogg, Xipil and Wolfram, who stood in a cluster a little behind me. Xipil acknowledged the threat by scuttling over to me, but he said he was impatient to get this all done. Grogg hefted his giant maul and when the tree came, he smashed it to the side, spraying rotting wood all over. That was two spirits dealt with, but I considered the possibility that they might possess other items.

Another tree readied itself to attack Grogg in the same way as the first had, just as Wolfram went to meet a disembodied hand, half a skeleton, and a suit of armor. I saw a free spirit nearby looking as if it was planning something, so I moved towards it and Xipil followed, but the spirit vanished into a huge sword that then floated up from a pile of rubbish.

A second suit of armor, this one armed with sword and shield, tried to rush Xipil, but it failed to connect. I hurried over to the nearest free spirit, but it vanished inside another sword before I could stab it. I noticed a moment of confusion after the spirit possessed the weapon; perhaps it needed a period of adjustment before it could properly control the sword.

Xipil fired his star bolt at the suit of armor, but it raised its shield in time to block the projectile. Distracted by the sword in front of him, Xipil allowed the larger sword to stab him. Grogg hurried over, demolishing a skeleton on his way, and asked if Xipil was all right. I ran over too, and in my rush to attack the large sword, I dropped one of my knives.

Xipil ran away. At first, I thought he was leaving the fighting to the rest of us, but then I saw what he had spotted. Wolfram had dropped his daylight stone, and a skeletal hand was picking it up. Xipil couldn’t get to it in time, and the hand flew off down a side passage. If Grogg lost his stone too, I would be the only one of us who could keep up the fight.

Grogg held the attention of Xipil’s former opponents, but the smaller sword came for me. With my free hand, I grabbed it by the hilt. I wasn’t strong enough to wrestle the sword away from the possessing spirit, and my attempts to smash the blade into the ground and to attack the shield-bearer didn’t do me much good. On the other hand, the spirit inside the weapon clearly grew frustrated when it couldn’t attack properly either, and after a few seconds it gave up and abandoned its hold on the sword.

The large sword continued its flight and went after Wolfram’s unprotected back. Wolfram didn’t look like he could easily vanquish his multitude of smaller foes, so when another tree rose near him, Grogg had to step back to take care of it.

That left me against the shield-bearer. I swung the sword at him, but my unfamiliarity with wielding such a large weapon let my opponent fend it off easily. When my opponent thought I was no threat, I struck with my knife, slipping it around the shield. The knife point barely scraped the armor, but the power of my attack lay not in the force of the blow. I focused my will and manifested the struck spirit.

The spirit screamed and fell to the ground. The armor didn’t fit him at all. Grogg returned to the scene, looking ready to silence the screamer forever, but he pulled up short, before I had time to yell for him to stop. The manifested spirit might be in terrible pain, but destroying its physical form would eradicate its existence forever. I assumed that if left alone, the spirit would eventually revert to its usual, intangible shape, but even if not, someone could help it out of the armor to relieve its pain.

The spirit that had inhabited the sword tried to flee, but I dropped the sword and rushed after him. As he passed through a rock, I struck with my knife and forced the spirit to take physical shape. Reminding me of the unfortunate incident with Haros, the spirit manifested partially inside the rock, and one of his legs were stuck, halting the flight instantly. A solid kick to the groin took him down, where he remained whimpering beside his companion. “Is this how you mean to eat me?” he asked, when he could talk again.

The talkative guardian, possessing a flaming sword, had been zooming around the outskirts of the fight for the last few seconds. At first, he had offered to let us flee if we promised never to return. It had looked dire at that point, I’ll admit, but nobody took him up on it, and Wolfram especially used the short reprieve when the spirits waited for our response to great effect.

Wolfram and Xipil were in need of healing, but the tide of the battle had turned, and the spirits knew it. They retreated. Wolfram trampled one last opponent, who hadn’t fled fast enough. I picked up my knife, wary of the fast-moving flaming sword, but the guardian knew we had won. “You’d better be gone when I return,” he shouted, flying off. Grogg ran after him. “Come back, you flaming coward!”

[coronatiger]

9th of Mitra’s First Month, year 413 (continued)

Grogg stopped to see if we followed. We didn’t. Both Xipil and Wolfram needed first aid, and I saw to Xipil first. While I cut a strip from the hem of my dress and put my knives away, the spirit stuck uncomfortably in the armor begged to be released. I ignored him. I intended to have someone cut off the armor, but for now, bandaging wounds was more important. Wolfram transformed back into his human shape and tried to tend his own injury, but as he had been stabbed in the back, it was difficult. Grogg running off with our only light source wasn’t helping.

“Did you see where he went?” we heard Grogg ask someone, obviously a spirit. Grogg would be easy to deceive without me there to interfere, if the spirit wanted to, but Grogg wasn’t going to listen if I called him back. Xipil and Wolfram both called to ask him not to go too far. After some running around and bellowing the word “coward,” Grogg returned to us. He said the flaming sword was over there and we had to come.

We had other matters to attend to. From the side came a scraping sound, and it looked like another wave of attackers was trying to sneak up on us. I alerted Wolfram to watch in that direction while I finished up Xipil’s bandages.

An ear-shattering blare resounded through the cavern. I couldn’t decide whether someone had blown a horn or if they had howled. The animated armor I had spotted fell to the floor as the inhabiting spirit released it and fled towards the back of the cavern.

Xipil perked up a little when I said he was good to go. He retrieved the staff he had dropped and suggested he and Grogg went to fetch the second daylight stone, the one the spirits had run off with. I said it was fine by me as long as Wolfram didn’t mind being left in the dark for a little while. The blare seemed to have called off the attack.

I cut off another strip from my dress and began to patch up Wolfram. I expected Grogg and Xipil to wander off, but Grogg pointed towards the entrance of the cavern. “Look, there’s the guy who helped me find the flaming sword!” I looked where he pointed. There were two spirits there, not just the one, and they looked in a hurry to get out. That would take them past Yana! “Xipil! Take over the bandaging!” I instructed, running after the spirits.

As I got to the cavern entrance, the two spirits had vanished around a corner, but two others came from the side, clearly intending to leave. One of them was suddenly yanked back by an unseen force, and I stabbed at the other to manifest it, but at a full run, I couldn’t connect.

The spirit suddenly turned on me and wanted to rush through me, but it must have seen me during the earlier fight, for it was afraid of my knives and aborted the attack when I interposed them. I made a feint with one knife, sweeping it towards the spirit’s face, and while my opponent was distracted, I stabbed them in the gut with the other knife. I willed the spirit to turn physical, which surprised it enough that it stumbled and hit its head against the wall.

Since this brief fight had taken place just out of sight but not out of hearing, Xipil called to ask if I was all right. I dashed off again, calling over my shoulder, “Two spirits are headed for Yana and the others!” Xipil replied that they were following as soon as Grogg finished Wolfram’s bandages. “Oh, and something magical is going on near the entrance!” he added. “I know!” I yelled back. It had to be the guardians restraining atamakeses.

If I was right, the guardians were fools for attacking us. We hadn’t even destroyed one of them, although I had neutralized two, at least for a time, and yet this allowed some of their charges to escape. I could just hope that Bamba wasn’t one of those who had fled. I ran as fast as I could, but I didn’t catch up to the fleeing spirits. The distance I had covered in ten minutes, sneaking, rushed by in a fraction of that time.

“It’s just Nuur-Karif,” I heard Yana tell Hylda before I turned the last corner. She sounded tense but relieved. Something had happened, I could tell, but they hadn’t been attacked. Yana and Hylda stood back-to-back, watching in every direction. The guide was gone.

“What happened?” I asked, hugging Yana. “Did you see a shimmer in the air just before I arrived?" Yana let Hylda answer. She explained that she suddenly got the urge to call for us to return, but she realized that someone had planted that thought in her head, so she only whispered about it to Yana. Then they had noticed shimmering in the air, but it had vanished before I came.

Grogg, Xipil and Wolfram came running and heard enough of Hylda’s story that they got the gist of what had occurred. I asked where the guide had gone. Yana and Hylda looked at each other. “She was just here,” Yana said. Wolfram wondered if our deal with her was broken by her flight, but then he spotted her where she was hiding. He and I went to talk to her.

The guide was afraid of the atamakeses, but she thought we were clever to release Bamba’s rivals. I told her that was the plan all along, and she nodded, eager to bring us away from this place. Xipil wanted to take a breather, but the guide was too scared to remain.

I had to look around corners to check for an ambush, but I saw no spirits other than those inhabiting the guide. We did see that the atamakeses were ahead of us, for they had tampered with the trail signs we had left at intersections. I wasn’t worried. Grogg’s nose could follow our tracks later.

The guide asked if we minded going through narrow passages. I told her as long as her chosen path was big enough to get Grogg through, it was all right. Xipil worried he might not keep up if we had to hurry and he asked Grogg if he could carry him, if it came to that. Xipil must have exhausted himself more than I thought. It truly didn’t go very fast with all the luggage we were hauling around. Both Grogg and Wolfram assured him they could carry a little extra if needed. Xipil isn’t very large.

We climbed up through the interior of the mesa, and I got the impression that we were moving in a spiral. The guide had me looking around corners every so often, but I never saw anything dangerous. Wolfram was concerned that the guide might be Bamba in disguise and that she was leading us into a trap. I looked at her and asked her name. The name she gave was the Arani word for one who shows the way, and it was an evasive answer, but I was certain she meant us no harm. Your gift would have warned me if that was her intent.

Suddenly, I noticed the guide was far less nervous. We passed through a shaft where a waterfall roared past us. The ledge here was slippery and the guide warned us to take care. I was confident You wouldn’t let me misstep, but I slowed down so the others could take the appropriate caution.

This was as far as the guide would take us, but before she turned around, she asked us not to reveal what we had just done, below. Wolfram decided this was a good time to get out pen and paper and start making a map of the labyrinthine passages. While You had instructed me not to waste time – I was on a holy quest after all – I decided to humor Wolfram. I wanted to change out of the cut-up dress to look as presentable as possible when we met Samora, so I took Yana with me around a bend where I could change out of sight of the others. I didn’t mind Yana looking, and I felt I needed to explain why I had cut away the bottom of the pretty dress she had bought for me, but she had already seen the vibrant bandages Wolfram and Xipil sported, of orange and blue. We were still discussing bandages and dresses when we returned to the others, and Wolfram offered to chip in for a new dress for me.

We continued along the corridor, and the others noticed that we weren’t the first to tread here. Both man and beast had been here, perhaps as little as ten days ago, according to Xipil. Soon we started to see plants along the walls, and not long after that we were outside.

It was raining, but not so heavily as yesterday. Yana and I put on our new cloaks of matching black and green as we looked around. We were in a ravine, and it would take us a few minutes to walk up to the top of the mesa. Xipil was in a hurry to explore, so I let him go on ahead. I was still not sure Samora wasn’t behind us, in one of the side passages we had passed after the waterfall, but I wasn’t so frail I couldn’t take a little rain to check out if we really were meant to go all the way to the top.

Xipil waited for us at the edge of a dense jungle, but a straight path cut right through it. The others couldn’t see all the spirits that infested the woods, but everyone noticed that Xipil had grown sluggish. Still, I believed him when he said that the path had mysteriously opened up before him when he reached the top.

After a few minutes of walking along the jungle path, we came to a large clearing. Seven huge bautas ringed the clearing, standing about ten meters tall. Xipil sensed magical energies, but we proceeded fearlessly. In the middle of the clearing was a giant tree stump, large enough to fit a small house inside. There was a door on the stump, a rather small and unassuming one. If it wasn’t for the density of spirits hovering around us, I would have assumed this was Samora’s gardener’s home, and not the domicile of the spirit queen herself.

Xipil began to cast a spell, and the spirits gathered around him. I told him what was happening, but Xipil finished the incantation of his mage sight spell. I got the feeling that the spirits of Samora’s mesa were just as numerous as those we had encountered in the desert. They could easily fill a city.