The group’s put Nodden-Torr behind them, heading east. Gustav and Ca’armine say they’re close to where they’ll camp for the next few weeks. Alexis digs into the saddlebag and pulls out Tarkus Vell’s very fine tunic. He turns it over in his hands, then holds it out to Ethelred.
“Have you studied Ontic Instantiation within those scrolls? Summoning things that aren’t from around here?” He shakes the tunic slightly. “Would this help?”
A week into their time in the hills east of Nodden-Torr, the group gathers for a meal. Some look sharp, invigorated. Others are worn down. Alexis pulls his hat off, sets it beside him, and leans forward on his elbows looking at Gustav and Ethelred.
“Follow-up to what I said before. We should brew potions before heading back in.” He glances at Gustav. “Takes you more effort, Gus, but brewing’s still quick work.”
He shifts his boots under him, turning to address both Ethelred and Gustav jointly again.
“Let’s inventory what we’ve got for vessels. Flasks, vials, jars we can reuse. We’ve got Hadonis’ evil stuff, and I still have that resistance vial from the Emoi mage.” He pulls the vial out, turns it in his fingers and the Collegium ring catching firelight as he does. “These need thorough cleaning. Any trace of Hadonis’ god or the Emoi has to go. I can handle that. Just get me fresh moss.”
“The vessels for Hadonis’ oils and perfumes, the mundane stuff, we can be less careful with. But still clean.”
He looks between them. “Two questions. What other containers do we have? And what can you make that’ll actually help us down there?”
As the blood-sweet-rot dimension collapses in on itself, Alexis turns to Ca’armine and Ethelred, pulling his hat back into place.
“Everything summoned we’ve seen so far has been evil. Can we summon something good? Angels exist in the stories.” He adjusts his belt and his shirt. “What about something that makes you forget nightmares like that?”
“And how do we prepare for the next time we meet something like that? What lessons can we take away from this time? That… thing fought Raiden’s magic hard. For a second, I thought it was going to shake it off.”
As Gustav is inspecting the room for tracks and to understand the story of the bugbears, Alexis is standing in the back of the room with Ethelred, leaning against the wall playing with a coin across his knuckles.
“Hey. Thanks for knocking out the bugbear back there. You’re hands-down my best man for taking someone to meet the lord of sleep in one shot. Rask gets it done, but it’s not as clean.”
Alexis flicks the coin in the air and catches it. “Thanks.” Alexis nods his head slightly towards Ethelred in thanks.
During the rest period after the group has gotten the first key of Nodden-Torr, Alexis addresses the group.
“We’ve been talking about the ‘reset rooms’. Maybe they reset when the four-part key goes in the door. That’d explain the bugbear bodies still being there when we came back.”
He pulls his whip off his belt, coiling it loosely in his hands.
“But if Hadonis came back after getting thrown out, there should’ve been dead bugbears from his fight. Blood. Something. Maybe the portals let you skip the room entirely; teleportation. Would’ve been a lot more hospitable if the dwarves put that bypass before the summoning chamber.”
He shakes his head, half a grin. Then he looks up at the others, settles on Ethelred.
As the group files out of the sarcophagus room, first key in hand, Alexis falls in beside Ethelred.
“Had a thought. You still haven’t made me that new focus… I’m working with whatever I can scrape together.” He pulls the coin from his pocket, the one they used on Hadonis’ demon. The one that cracked its prison. “When you carve me something for Raiden, work this into it. Seems fitting.”
After the battle with the 36 bugbears Alexis fixes his hat, dusts off his sleeve and turns to Ethelred.
“Red.”
“A creature passed over the enchanted threshold 8 times. But there were 36 bugbears. How do you figure they did the math?”
Alexis ponders for a moment, working out some possible numbers on his fingers.
“If we hadn’t pushed the hyena-beast through 3 times, would there have been 15 bugbears in here?” Alexis gestures around “If we had pushed the gnoll-monstrosity through one more time would there have been 45 bugbears?”
“And if we walk through the threshold again, what will the number be? One? Nine? 37?”
The first day after the group has stayed in the Monastery of the Eagles and the group went to get food for the expedition into Mount Llanos Gustav brings Ethelred some mushrooms back as well.
“Hey Red. What are the mushrooms for? The don’t look edible.”
After tending to the horses on the groups’ first return to the to top of the stairwell, Rask approaches the rest of the group:
“This,” he gestures all around them, “what… I’m not even sure where to start…”
“Hadonis… those giants… this… that five-eyed thing…” he gestures downward, and looks to Alexis, Ethelred and Gustav.
“You’ve explored dwarven ruins before, right? How are they different or the same? Were they this infested with magic? What do you make of all this? Anything Ca’armine and I should know?”
It’s the morning after the group camped at “Ty-Lynn’s Garden”. Morning settles soft over the camp, the mist clinging low to the bedrolls and the blackened stones of the fire. A crow mutters somewhere in the trees. Alexis stands near what’s left of the coals, warming his hands more out of habit than need.
“Since Warder Yule,” he says, eyes on the faint embers, “and especially after what happened last night, I’ve been thinking about where my magic comes from.” He straightens a little, turning his hat absently in his hands as he speaks. “Avv’s realm has its uses—finding what’s hidden, drawing the unseen to light. But I’m not her servant. Never was. And since we left Ghanil, treasure-hunting hasn’t been high on the list.”
He looks up then, toward Ca’armine, but his voice carries to all of them. “The name of Avv… tends to make people uneasy. You’ve felt it. Yule certainly did.” He gives a small, crooked smile—more acknowledgment than humor.
“I trained with the Collegium,” he goes on. “They teach you to touch where you choose, not a servant any one realm. And I’d like to be in greater harmony with you; my Raidenites.”
Turning to face them fully, the mist curls around his boots, “Are you willing to help me make the shift?”