There were some strange omens abroad, a conjunction of the planets and stars that weighed heavily on the perim, and Jushur and Gunion were strict strangely silent.
Dirya, daughter of Roxyanna, left with Banuk the hunter and his dogs, she could perhaps get help to the wounded leather hunter in time, and pass on warnings on what they had seen so far on their travels.
With Juan to the fore, Dhran to the rear and Farshaad in charge of the beasts, the three tracked through the pass through the hills. The ground grew damper and squelchier as they got closer to the lake before a rocky rise gave them dry feet and false hope for a while then descended with a marshland stretched out before them, in the distance, skirting the edge of the true marsh, they could see a human woman, a human man and a Shevam man walking towards them. Farshaad did a little scouting aside as Juan hailed the newcomers.
The newcomers hailed them back, but the groups were interrupted by six Urtak, not shambling and clumsy, but in control of the idruja daeva, rotting corpses armed with weapons.
The groups did not have a chance to link up, but Juan skewered one Urtak hard, but subsequent melee caused Juan some wounds. Dhran picked away at a far Urtak who cast spells at him, two got through, one lowered his defences, the other jolted Dhran with fear, he spasmed and passed out briefly, coming to with stark white hair. Farshaad tried dual weapons, but later found that concentrating on one weapon was better for him, at the end Juan and he sliced the last fighting Urtak down. The Urtak were destroyed, and the newcomers proved to be from the village of Dalbeh.
After some discussion, the group followed the newcomers to the villages through a twisting but unmarked causeway through the swamp to the village on stilts. This seemed to be the way the guide dog wanted to go in any case. Around the central pool they were led to storeroom where the donkeys could be left, and the group were lead to Babsoryeh’s house. Of course, the woman in the group they met outside the swamp was Babsoryeh. She explained that it would be useless to take the donkeys on the way ahead, the way was too treacherous for the beasts.
Babsoryeh offered to care for the donkeys, for the price of being left one of them. The group didn’t bargain, so that was the price and they sealed the deal in ice wine, a fruity but very intoxicating beverage or, at least Farshaad did, Juan merely sipped and Dhran the White spilled his. Farshaad and Juan found it had healing properties or, at least, they were so drunk they didn’t care any more.
A guide took them to the other edge of the swamp, though the dog was leading them anyway, and they got to a brackish pool, there the dog resumed raven form, flew onto a branch, burst into flame and the ashes fell onto a clear part of the pond, possibly where a clear spring bubbled through.
This seemed to be where the petals, herbs and powders should be scattered, and this was done, the powders and herbs roiled and the perfume of the petals filled the air, as if from fresh flowers.
From the west came a beating of wings, a shape in the skies, a mere dragon, a king of lesser wavers, its tongue darting as it tasted the scent of the flowers. The group were puzzled, was this their sign? But then a group of silver and red metallic twinkling lights came a little from the north, but only a little. They swirled around, and Farshaad went closer to look at them. The lights went away from him and vanished, he found a crack in the rock, hidden by vegetation.
Meanwhile Juan approached the clear pool, where the mere dragon sniffed the water, getting closer and closer, trying to scoop some up in his water skin, the wyvern seized his arm and flinging Juan across the water, it went back to drink. Dhran the White banged on his cup, distracting the wyvern and running away to get the wyvern to follow him, it chased him until Dhran dived under a shelf of earth, into the water, hiding from the wyvern.
The lights reappeared, from the crack in the earth, the group sensed they were some sort of perim, spirits tied to this place, they sang as they left the crack, circled the clear pool a few times, singing and dancing, then returning to the crack in the earth as the wyvern returned drank deep from the pool, then flew off.
Looking at just the entrance, the rock floor is damp where it should be under water, there is a sense of protection about it, and where it leads is definitely dark.
And there we left it, until next time…