as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 15 Abadius

Kali, ever the accountant of our group, quietly told each of us that as a result of selling acquired but unneeded equipment, we were each 9616.43 copper pieces richer.

That evening, as I sat listening, somewhat contentedly, to the rest of the group talk about various things, I heard/felt/sensed a clearing of a throat.  Internally, I rolled my eyes, because I knew what this meant.  There was no clearing, and really, there was no throat.  And only I could hear it.  But this is the way it began every time:  the fabled sword Suishen was about to bless me with some pearl of his wisdom.

Since I’ve become his human caretaker, I’ve come to recognize his method of introducing himself.  There is a noticeable lessening of outside noise, as if I’d just lightly covered my ears.  Then there is a sound which, for all the world, sounds like a briefly clearing throat, followed by that voice that seems to always have a tinge of superiority somehow infused in it. “You know,” it may say, “you’d get more power from your swing if you drew your arm back further.”  Or “Not bad, for a standard-bearer with no formal training.”  Or “It’s hard to believe that of all the swordsmen in the world, I chanced upon one that wields a sword much like a halfling housewife might wield a flyswatter, but with half the skill and a quarter of the charisma.”

Sometimes I have a clever response, and sometimes I don’t, but it always ends with my realizing my companions are staring at me, because I’ve stopped what I was doing, sometimes in mid-sentence, and my eyes have taken on an unfocused gaze almost as though I was scanning a distant horizon.  It is sufficient at this point for me to shake my head lightly, grimace, and mutter “Suishen” and my friends nod knowledgably but look away, as if they’ve been witness to something they’d rather not, and clear their throats, quickly resuming the conversation with “soooooo, anyways …”.

And this time, my face must have looked different; perhaps my eyebrows raised in surprise. Because this time, for the first time I can remember, Suishen said nothing critical.  He said, slowly, “I am impressed with your battle with the oni.”  He paused. “I feel compelled to tell you I have more capability to assist you than I have previously revealed.  Should you find it useful, three times a day I can grant you protection from energy, and additionally, on exceptional hits, I can create a burst of flame that will do additional damage. While you need ask for the first, the second is granted unconditionally.”

I realized my companions were staring at me at the same moment that I realized my jaw had dropped perceptibly.  “Suishen?” Qatana asked consolingly.  I nodded my head slightly, almost as if to break a trance. “Uh, um, yes,” I replied. “But he just revealed to me he has more power than he’d previously let on.”  Qatana looked mildly interested. “Oh?”

“He, uh, he …” I said, still a little stunned.

And then the old Suishen echoed in my head: “Quit stammering like an imbecile. You’re about as comprehensible as an ogre with a mouthful of tree sap.”

I shook my head again and glared at … at a mental vision of me beating Suishen against a rock.  And Qatana said, “sooooooo, anyways …”

Sunday, Abadius 20

We have reached Jaagiin, with no additional notable events – notable in itself.

Jaagiin is the “capital” of the loose confederations of tribes which live on and near the high ice.  Perhaps because of the greater mix of heritage and culture, Ulf says they are more welcoming of outsiders here than some of the previous places we have stopped.  Having arrived after midday, we decided to stay the remainder of this day plus one more, which should give us adequate opportunity to reprovision, rest a bit, and perhaps pick up some more news of what lay ahead on our path.  To that end, Ameiko announced she would go shopping, looking directly at me. I sighed and announced I would do the same. In the end, the two of us plus Shalelu and Qatana went into town.

We heard a number of things both in conversations we had and in conversations we passed near to, but the most interesting things were that a white dragon had been killed over in Iqaliat (“imagine that!”) and that storms had been stronger than usual this winter (“do tell!”) and that storms in Altan Zuud, the route we intended to take, seemed to be getting worse even as the winter and storms started to ebb everywhere else (“wait, what?”).

That evening, Ameiko again looked me in the eye and announced she wanted to take her lute and visit all the pubs in town.  I swear, that woman .. but of course I went along. Keeping her safe is what I do these days.  Fortunately I am not alone in this … the entire party spontaneously decided to do the same.

And nothing happened.  Maybe we overthink this.

Oathday, Abadius 24

We have been out of Jaagiin now for three days, and it’s been uneventful.  Well, the weather has been formidable, but after all the time we spent on the high ice it’s barely noteworthy.

We saw a cabin, today, with (apparently) some trappers in it. They came out and waved, but we waved back and kept going.  We may have to weather a storm or two while in the pass so we don’t really have any time to spare.

Fireday, Abadius 25

Today it was a pile of frozen, and arguably mutilated, animal corpses that we came across.  Is this connected to the trappers?

Sunday, Abadius 27

We are now in the shadow of the mountains surrounding the pass. The storm has not abated; if anything it’s gotten worse since we approached.  Aside from the dark clouds and fierce winds, there is thunder echoing from the waves of blowing snow. Worse, Kali has heard the same mocking laugh we heard on the high ice at Dead Man’s Dome. I’m 90% certain this is not a natural storm, but I’m not sure what to do about it.

We will hope for better weather tomorrow.

Moonday, Abadius 28

It is not better. We can now hear rockfalls in the distance.  It’s not just the weather and the cold anymore; now there are physical dangers that would be difficult to defend against.  We discussed our options, but according to Ulf and Sandru, there really aren’t any.  This pass is the way through the mountains, and it’s far too dangerous to attempt to negotiate it. Going around the mountains is hundreds if not a thousand miles out of the way, and would take months – and even then we’d have to try to rejoin the main path at some point by forging our own path through the mountains and surrounding highlands.  We are stymied.

(later)
Kali, with Koya’s guidance, did a harrowing.  We were hoping the gods might give us a clue, but they mock us as much as the wind.

Toilday, Abadius 29

The cards did not give us any clue, but Koya claims that in her dreams, the gods did provide one after all.   She says the cards made her remember a story about how a traveller once took a path that went through the mountains (literally, as in a tunnel or cave). Desna is sometimes known as the Queen of the North, and legend has it that the tunnel was created so that faithful from the south could make the trek to the north – Desna – in relative safety.

Supposedly it is marked on the north side by two statues of Desna. No telling how large or obvious these statues may be, so I hope they are not buried under snow and only visible in summer.

Kali sent Nehali out to search; she can do it faster than any of us could.  Marching to the west, we began to parallel the mountain range.

Behind us, it almost seems that the storm has erupted from the pass, and is now following us.

(later)
Nehali did find a statue, and it was only about 5 miles away.  We can hear the wind building behind us, and the skies are darkening. This is no natural storm; it now pursues us.

But the statue did mark the entrance to a tunnel into the mountain.  A second statue, it appears, used to stand here but has fallen over and pieces lie broken on the ground.  The tunnel is large enough to accommodate our wagons, if we string them out single file.  Glancing at the sky, we have little choice.  The storm is perhaps ten miles away and is inexplicably moving west towards us.  We enter the tunnel, and shortly after we hear the storm howling furiously and helplessly outside the tunnel entrance.

However, the legend foretold there would be statues praising Desna in the tunnel, and while there were statues, these were no longer focused on Desna. It would seem they had been mutilated by followers of Fumioshi, and now each stately figure bore the visage of a red, demonic face.

We did not make it far into the tunnel before we decided to stop for the night. But the mutilated statues told us we would definitely want guards for the evening. And were those footprints in the dust fresh, or did the lack of wind here in the cave allow old things to look new?

Fireday, Abadius 30

Last night, or this morning, to be perfectly accurate, as we feared, we were attacked.

Four shambling, headless figures headed for our camp, and Sparna raised the alarm. I awoke, and ran to join him.

While I was ready to fight and defend, something about the creatures froze me in my tracks.  We had no idea of what these creatures may be capable, and there was only the two of us.  The rest would be coming, of course, but these things were evil, I could sense it. They might be capable of horrific acts.  Should I move forward, or drop back to protect Ameiko? What if I failed in my mission to protect her?

And while I considered this, my legs unthinkingly locked into place.  Fire erupted around the figures and it appeared to affect each of them differently. Some tried to escape. Some plowed through. Some simply stood still and started smoldering.

It wasn’t until the last one was a smoldering corpse (instead of just a corpse) that I found myself free to move and realized I had been locked in place the entire time. Sparna came to the same realization at about the same time, and we glanced at each other guiltily.

At least, I suppose, we physically blocked their advancement.

Travelling this day, and being more interested in our surroundings, we did see many footprints around.  It would not be unexpected to have more visitors.

Starday, Abadius 31

We are standing at the entrance to what appears to be an underground city.  Koya grimly tells us that the legend did speak of a necropolis where the dead could rest before finishing their journey to Desna. Fantastic. A whole city of shambling headless figures.  But it lies directly in our path, and it’s not like we can skirt it.  We’ll just have to be smart about it.