Dances with Wolves

The latest leg of our journey started auspiciously enough: Barrin rescued, the artifact secured, and sundry mercenaries and Nothrogs dispatched, defeated, or debriefed. To make a long story short, we've agreed to accompany Barrin back to the Dwarven underlands to return the artifact to a more secure hiding place. To make a long journey longer, we're headed to Deverania to locate the largest group of emerged dwarves that we've heard about.

We were fortunate to locate some interesting magical items carried by our defeated foes. Less fortunately, we may have acquired a powerful enemy in Nassiral Hate, united of the Nothrog tribes and conqueror of Baraxton. The mercenary captain Borka warned us of his immense powers of divination, and of his probable wrath at the death of his servant Garkar and one of his elite guards. I hope that we can escape his eye until we're safely out of reach of his hordes, and I'll sleep better when we've parted from Barrin and his mysterious artifact.

One more strange piece of information came our way at the monastery: when I tried to contact Cassandra (the second time -- that's another long story), I instead received a vision... a huge cavern, dim light glinting off stalagmites (those are the ones which come up from the floor, if I remember correctly), and then the ground shifting hazily, a great rift opening up in the floor...
I don't know what it means. I can only hope that it's a symbolic image; earth movement is terrifying enough above ground.

I knew the best way to Deverania would be theough Condor pass, with a stop in Denska to resupply and ask around for news. We headed out in good spirits; it's good to know and choose our destination after so long following tracks hither and thither.

After five uneventful days march across the broken plains, we came to the hamlet of Stonyvale, almost in the shadow of the woods. I'd read about Stonyvale in my studies but none of us had been here before. The town sits on a defensible outcropping of rock with only one easy approach, evidence of good planning. We met an eclectic mix of people in town. Thorm, self-appointed guardian of the way into town, was grumpy and suspicious. Jarba Stronghold, a merchant, was gregarious and eager to deal. It turns out that she's a wizard too, and I was able to trade a fancy dagger for a reasonable selection of basic spells. I never got to meet Alric Longseeker (too busy learning and recording spells) but I heard about his strange museum from the others, and I look forward to dropping if I get a chance before we leave town.

As it turns out, Jarba had a proposition for us: in exchange for 1000 gold apiece, she asked to investigate a supposed tribe of lycanthropes in the forest who were suspected of attacking the town. Apparently people have been disappearing recently, and others have been killed, mauled and raked as if with claws. Her cousin Jerrold the Bold was missing, along with his adventuring party, after leaving to investigate the attacks several weeks before.

And that's how everything got a little strange. Deep in the forest, as we approached a cave, we were ambushed by immensely strong, immensely fast wolves. Before we could react, they bit us and threw us to the ground, holding on with unnatural strength. Their leader emerged in hybrid form, and Malakar advised that we stop struggling. This leader then challenged Malakar to single combat (with no alternative save death for all of us), and Malakar accepted.

After strengthening himself with prayer, Malakar suddenly changed, shifting into a tremendous hybrid ursine form. Ili radiated shock, and I was caught completely by surprise -- it didn't appear to be a spell effect, and I had no idea Malakar had metamorphic capabilities. After Malakar's defeat (predictable with hindsight, but he hit hard for longer than I expected!), the leader had a human cohort named Alyssa heal Malakar, then brand the back of his with a crescent moon symbol. If I understand correctly, it's some kind of recognition mark for the Cult of Yscar, lycanthropes of uncertain motivation who oppose the insane and destructive Cult of Bascaron. It's a pretty fine distinction, but we did experience the relative mercifulness of these Yscarites. I hope that Malakar takes time soon to explain to us what and who he is. Especially to Ili, who seems ill-suited to adapt to this latest revelation. The Yscarites have some agenda of their own which I can only guess at; revealing and branding Malakar must have furthered their purposes, but to what end?

The Yscarites told us that, far from bedevilling the town, they actually protected it from incursion by Nothrogs and Hill Giants through the woods. Apparently lately the hill giants have been unusually active, coming down out of the mountains in record numbers. They had seen Jerrold's party headed in that direction, and released us to investigate. Although we tried to find evidence of the parties passage, we lost track of them near the foot of the mountain and had to return to town for supplies and more information.

On our return, we found that Jerrold the Bold had stumbled back out of the woods, raving and ranting about a Shadow which had killed and consumed his party. We were able to get a rough idea of where they encountered it, and our next step is to go identify and confront this monstrosity. Everybody (from the Duchess, through Barrin, to Jarba our temporary employer) seems to think that going after the Shadow is the highest priority. I'm concerned, however, at the implications if the Yscarites aren't responsible for the attacks on the city. It seems that the most likely hypothesis is an insider, some townsperson who is secretly a cultist of Bascaron, or some other faction masquerading as such to sow discord. Things here are almost certainly not what they seem.

Not even us. I think that's been some of the problem; even after weeks of travel and the bonding of battle, we're still guarded with each other, with good reason. I always assumed that Malakar's casual aloofness signalled his contempt for the rest of us (less strong, less dedicated or in Ili's case, less realistic); now I can see how the burden of his terrible secret might have created that distance. Borrow remains inscrutable to this day; I can't tell how much of his loyalty lies with us, with his people, or solely with himself. When he caught me trying to keep things simple (by omitting the fact that I only tried to contact Gaston, not Cassandra, for directions) his usual derision turned to approbation (though he may yet have been making fun of me, too subtly for me to detect). Ili may not hide grave secrets, but the extremity of her code might override the bonds of comradeship at any time.

An aloof and unworldly diviner, a gruff priest with a dark secret, an uncompromising holy amazon, and a cave-dwelling visitor of questionable motives... none of us inclined to follow, none of us called to lead, thrown into an unexpected and variegated quest in a time of war. It could be worse; at least we're not expected to ally with Elves or Nothrog!

I think Malakar wants to head out first thing in the morning. He reminded me to prepare for spectral opposition by preparing spells of pure magical force; I guess his church deals often with the incorporeal or shadowy. To date my studies have referenced the Inner Planes more than the Ethereal, Astral, or Shadow, a deficit I must repair at my earliest opportunity.

There's still a little time before sleep, so I'll read a bit more of this prayerbook I picked up at the Monastery of Kavara. Though my brief infatuation with flame ended with the searing pain dealt my by Her elemental, I'm grateful to have any reading material at all. Maybe there's something concretely useful here amidst these redundantly repeated exhortations.

[ Updates to Who's Who: Alric Longseeker, Christos "Stumpy", Jarba Stronghold, Nassiral Hate, Thorm ]