A few shadowthings invaded the cabins where we slumbered · Tolib tried to wake me but only succeeded for a few seconds ⸴ but he and jake and i were in a wing of the cabin left alone by the shadowthings as the pride drew their ire and slew them swiftly · I found out in the morning that the o·e·f came to check on us afterward as they had also been attacked ·
In fact i awoke to find that tolib had gone to the washhouse ⸴ and jake was waking at the same time as me · We spent a little while getting ourselves up and around ⸴ and casually getting to know each other ⸴ before deciding to head to the luckless dragon and see if tolib was there getting breakfast · He was ⸴ but breakfast wasn᾿t quite ready ⸴ so tolib and jake went off to do their own thing while i remained to talk with collette ⸴ lukas ⸴ and jotai in the kitchen · As is typical the adventurers slowly filtered into the tavern ⸴ and before long breakfast was ready and we all dug in heartily ·
Among those also attracted by the food was a young man who at first i took to be a selunari because he appeared to be wearing a šerogada like me ⸴ but when he turned in our direction (i was sitting with the members of the pride) i saw no sela gems ⸴ and realised the cloth on his head was a bandana · The pride noticed him as well ⸴ having nervously taken his food and sat in a dark corner of the tavern alone ⸴ and jotai decided to go and see if he was all right and would like to join us · Perhaps it was an unwise decision ⸴ since after she had already headed over lukas reminded us that the people of these islands were somewhat haunted by the ruins of the old armanthian ancient dryad society · But jotai has an innocent and kindly charm that few people can resist ⸴ and sure enough the young man was convinced to join us all ·
The man ⸴ benson ⸴ asked us for protection because he was part of a group he wanted to leave · With some slight prompting from jotai he pulled back his headband to reveal a tattoo that i did not recollect seeing before (other than it was obviously a stylised eye) ⸴ but lukas recognised it as the sign of the order of the opened eye (confirmed by benson) even if he knew very little about that order · Benson explained it was one of four related but separate orders with similar aims ⸴ but some of his friends had been sacrificed in order to bring about the shadows and he no longer wanted any part of it · We told him we could certainly get someone to get him safely to a sanctuary after he gave us all the information he had ⸴ and since o·e·f had dealt directly with the order of the opened eye during a previous visit to kalinthas ⸴ i took benson over to link and quinn and introduced him · They sat him down immediately and started asking questions ·
Looking out the window we saw more shadowthings - shocking to see during the day ⸴ but reasonable since the sun cast more shadows for them to phase in and out of - as simultaneously jake and tolib returned and jake yelled from outside that he also sensed more shadowthings · Most of us kept the tavern safe while another group comprised primarily of o·e·f went to find the newest shadow portals and dispel them all · Upon their return zane declared he was going to go back to one particular one ⸴ a portal that had been created on an ancient stump deep in the woods ⸴ and several of us (Some invited ⸴ some such as myself not) accompanied him on his return trip ·
The stump was now purged of any shadow magic or whatever it was the orders were using to summon the shadowthings ⸴ but zane still wanted dustie to examine it · She built a small circle out of branches that were already around the stump and began to reach out with what certainly resembled ritual magic · Zane confirmed that he actually wished to have several people ⸴ especially if they already communed with spirits ⸴ join dustie and ritually commune with the spirit of the ancient guardian of the forest · At first i stood back and said i would simply observe since my communion had been with the spirits of animals ⸴ but zane and i simultaneously seemed to realise that the craft i was learning might serve us well here ⸴ and he invited me to join the circle and gave me a crystal focus like the others ·
Even at zane᾿s directions ⸴ reaching out to the guardian᾿s spirit was far more difficult than communing with animal spirits · It felt to me almost as though i was not just reaching along space via the all-fauna connexion ⸴ but through time as well · Once i felt myself oriented solely on the crystal focus i moved my hand forward blindly and touched the trunk ⸴ feeling four other minds connecting it as well ⸴ and the sixth mind joined us not long after · The slow but inevitable thrum of the forest᾿s deepmind began to pervade all of my senses ⸴ and eventually we were able to discern an equally slow voice speaking with us ⸴ though none but zane actually responded - in my case ⸴ for fear of dividing my own focus · The ancient guardian seemed to search all of our minds and then declared us all pure of heart and said we were all welcome to come commune with it at any time ⸴ asking for our wishes for the land ·
As we began to withdraw our consciousnesses (consciousi፧) from the stump ⸴ another contract i had signed earlier that morning was activated - or perhaps had been activated while i was in trance ⸴ and could not rift everyone out until my mind was open to the contract magic · The end result was ⸴ as i returned to spatial awareness and fell backward realising my right leg had gone numb from my sitting position ⸴ my body was transported in an instant to a farm 15 miles south of crypt on isla primos · Even while blue and tolib helped me stand up ⸴ i recalled that the contract asked us to investigate rumours that the livestock was acting strange ·
Certainly the animals that were around us - some typical for farm livestock ⸴ and some more feral - looked diseased in ways that are difficult to put into words · There was an emaciated ⸴ almost haunted look to them ⸴ but i would not say that they looked malnourished necessarily · Additionally they were covered by webs of ichor-black veins and i could not tell if it was their own blood vessels or something external attached to them like parasites or mistletoe · I realised in short order that as much as i would have preferred to save the animals ⸴ these ones were too far gone to do much of anything except grant them a mercy killing · We set about doing so ⸴ interrupted occasionally by our reactions to some of the claw swipes ⸴ for instance anxiety and debilitating fear (twice in my case ⸴ but my companions covered me or distracted the beast while i got myself under control) ·
One of the beasts ⸴ a wildcat of some species unfamiliar to me ⸴ had merely been put to sleep by the spellcraft of one of my companions · It did give me the opportunity to inspect the creature ⸴ trying to determine the root cause of the strange behaviour ⸴ but i had very little success · The disease ⸴ if it was that ⸴ did not demonstrate typical symptoms of animal sickness ⸴ but i could not identify any magical causes either ·
At my request jake fetched my taming bag (left at a distance at the base of a tree) and i first pulled out a large coil of hemp rope to keep the cat bound in case it woke up before i was done treating it · I checked its heartbeat ⸴ its skin temperature ⸴ and looked for any signs of swollen neck glands or depressions in the skull or ribs · Then i pulled out some pressed grain cakes to attempt to get some food down its throat and gauge its reaction · No food made it into the cat᾿s mouth but it did stir uncomfortably in its sleep and scratch my arm ⸴ so i sat back defeated and suggested all we could do was eliminate the carcasses ·
With a heavy heart i set my sword to the cat᾿s chest and killed it ⸴ and my friends began piling the corpses together · I had firestarting swipes in my taming bag ⸴ but with all the blood and the oozing black veins all over the animals (and the dampness of the weather) we were uncertain if we could actually get a flame to catch to cremate all the bodies · But then i remembered that i also had a large quantity of old ⸴ dried cedar leaves from valbrough in the bottom of my taming bag as well ⸴ so the others grabbed the «driest» kindling they could find from the surrounding area while i used the cedar to start the flames ·
I had to step back a bit to take a breath from all of the exertions ⸴ and i asked jake to grab my dagger (the last thing that had been left by the tree ⸴ since i had my longsword in hand and my shortsword in its sheath and my taming bag over my shoulder) · Before he could grab it ⸴ however ⸴ the contract magic deactivated ፥ presumably we had solved the request ⸴ because we rifted back to bastion·by·the·water or wherever we had each been at the time the contract activated · In my case ⸴ that was the stump where zane had helped us reach the deepmind of the forest ·
My friends heard me swearing and yelling all the way back to the luckless dragon ·
I was desperate to get back to the location and recover dszeni ⸴ which is after all an heirloom in addition to one of my weapons ⸴ but all avenues seemed hopeless · I did not know where the professor who wrote our magic contracts was located ⸴ or how to contact him · No boats were travelling to isla primos that day · I would have spent the rest of the day moping if mathis hadn᾿t inquired as to the specific importance of the dagger to me ⸴ and thanks to a complete misunderstanding of selunari culture the conversation took a disturbing ⸴ though comical ⸴ turn ·
The boat back to dragonreach ⸴ however ⸴ was still scheduled to depart at the normal time ⸴ and unlike last time i felt a pang of sadness about leaving kalinthas · Not just because of my missing dagger (which i determined i would offer a reward for if anyone could find it) ⸴ but because thanks to my time communing with the deepmind and trying to care for the island nation᾿s citizens and creatures ⸴ i was developing a fondness for the region · Zane had ⸴ of course ⸴ been right all along · If i hadn᾿t confronted my fear of change ⸴ i would have not grown either ·
Damn it i want that dagger back though ·
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