A few nights into the camp east of Nodden-Torr, as the group sits down to eat togehther.
“The Made feed on a wound. That is what makes the dead god weep. And the wound gets poisoned. Every day, with blood.”
“Drayek is the god of poison.”
Alexis’ hand grazes against the shield of Raiden that hangs at his neck..
“Drayek’s whose cult put its name to a pact with Shasherak, on that wall out in the Westlands. The terms can’t be read, but it’s clear someone was owed something.”
Alexis pauses, sitting with this. He’s been thinking about these things, but is still thinking.
“As I see it: three ways to read what Bandesingh is doing.”
“One. He raises Ath, and brings darkness on the world by bringing back the god of betrayal.”
“Two. He raises Shasherak and Ath was supposed to be the cost paid. When I gave Vorgoth the name Bandesingh, he answered that Shasherak has found another road. Perhaps this is a coincidence. But we know that Dauntless contained a piece of Ath, and Dauntless was created to battle blood magic. This is leading me to wonder if Ath is actually the god of treachery. Ath being the father of Drayek, feels like it plays into what’s going on, but I’m not sure how.”
“Three. Something else, but my gut says no.”
“Raiden and Avv want us to stop whatever darkness Bandesingh is trying to unleash on us all. We’ll be better prepared if we know what exactly Bandesingh is attempting.”
Alexis looks around the group to see if anyone else has anything to add.
“Alexis, you are a true historian. You have your mind set on the greater workings of our world.
You know best the lore. There is nothing of fact I can add here.
But what I would ask is… what could we do to gain the knowledge you seek? When I want to make something I come up with a plan, I test, I refined and test again.
We know agents of Bandesingh we could hunt down an interrogate. We have the crystal ball that could spy on people. We have the ring that can seek out the ‘weave’ as you put it. We have a God that can be beseeched for answers.
We are not without means to answers your questions. Rather than chase down a myriad of paths, let us focus on the path that leads as directly as possible to the defeat of our common enemy.”
“Fair.”
“The crystal ball’s dangerous to us until it’s clean, and it’s been tainted by powerful god magics. Maybe you can do it. Maybe Carm. In the meantime, if it’s important, we can risk the taint by having Carm sanctify a space and risk minimal taint.” Alexis shrugs and looks a little uncomforatable.
“Felsby is on our road anyway and it sits near his fortress. There are a lot of clues pointing us to possible information there.”
“The other one is Ilceros. He forged the alliance against Shasherak. Whatever that thing actually was, an account of it might have gone into the tomb with him. I tried the ring on that tomb once and got nothing, but I wasn’t the Spider then.”
“That one takes us off our line. Not far, but off it. So that’s for everyone.”
“To divert again off our path I would need more than a hope. I am sure with effort we could find the tomb. But would the tomb of a dead king be dedicated to his enemies?
My desire has been to continue north towards the goal of Bandesingh. We diverted to gain the Tear, and we accomplished that task. We have a clear direction and many details that there will be much to be gained in our mission by heading to Fjelsby.”
Alexis looks at Ethelred.
“Red. Fjelsby is also a diversion from Frostbite Pass.” He says it without any edge. “Everything between here and Bandesingh is a diversion from Bandesingh. Just how it is.”
He glances in the direction of the tomb.
“We know where it is. It’s close. Just over there.” Alexis points just behind a hill where the tomb is “And we found what we needed about Uldreyin Qinvalur’s enemies in his burial chamber.” A beat. “Tombs are where the answers are. Sometimes.”
“And we used to be treasure hunters.” He winks.
Rask nods in agreement with Ethelred.
“I am eager to know what y’all can glean with your magics. My gut says Sasherak, and your counsel and example keep me gnawing on it. The tattoo on Tarkus’ neck, two circles and a skull, one circle black… Shyeeni’s words about her boss trying to bring back someone who tried to become a god… the shadow we fought in the lightning room… what you told us Vorgoth said… perhaps I only see what I want and have already made my conclusion…”
Rask shrugs, and looks to Alexis and Ethelred. Then Ca’armine and Gustav.
“Whatever our enemy, I am proud to face it with all of you at my side. Praise Raiden!”
“Raiden gave me a vision, I think to reassure me that the where and when, in which we now stand, is the right time and place for what we are destined to do. Knowing that it is not our where, or our when, we can deduce that we will have to explore to understand the world where we now find ourselves.”
“What if Bandesingh does not exist in this world? What if he has already won?”
“Raiden did not choose to reveal to me, the nature of this world where we find ourselves. He did tell me, however– “Duty does not depend on chronology.” Where and when we are now, is where and when we are meant to be–we need to stay alert to the possibilities.”