Prophecies & Intrigue 12: Lore along the Way.

What a day! The friends head back down the overgrown path and back to the main road now accompanied by G, the dragonborn they saved from the ethereal spiders, and armed with information that may answer their questions. Sai and Hung notice that they don’t have to slow down as much as they had to before for Malkey, though they still have to pace themselves comparatively. The afternoon sun is high in the sky though obscured by the overcast sky and light rain. They’ve lost half a day of travel time but Malkey isn’t worried, he’s in no rush to find out what truly happened back in Hupperdook, why rush towards bad news. He’s going to focus on the here and now, and that’s this dragonborn that popped out of the ethereal realm, and whatever Sai and Hung find in those books.

"Ok, let's see, where were we," Sai starts, "Right here we are..." They all walk along and listen intently:

"Ghor Dranas?" Sai says in a confused tone, looking over at Hung "I've never heard that before." He shrugs his shoulders and doesn't seem to know it either.

"It's in draconic, it means 'gathering of shadows' and it's what Rosohna used to be called." Malkey informs, quite surprising himself that he knows draconic, but played along as if it was just normal.

"Did you study among the dragons?" Gee inquires suspiciously looking Malkey over, surprised her native tongue is coming out of this little gnome mouth.

"He did that to me too," Hung adds, "he also speaks orc."

"Yeah well, enough of that, keep going," Malkey waves his hand toward the book.

"Oh boy, I know that place, the Crispvale Thicket is up near my house in Hupperdook" Malkey sighs, "and I know that name; Irresor. That's the last name of the bitch that tried to off me!"

"Lady in cave?" Hung asks as Malkey nods confirmation.

"What lady in the cave? Did she abduct me?" G asks trying to see if there is any common interest with this person.

"Well, she abducted him," Sai says pointing to Malkey. "and it seems to be a hobby of hers, so maybe," she adds shrugging.

"Perhaps she is also looking for these weapons," Hung suggests.

"What's that have to do with me?" Malkey states exasperatedly.

"Do you know where any chosen ones are? ...the prophecied ...?" Sai asks him as they go over what they currently know about any prophecy. "Well, there were the goblins in the cave and they said that they were offered more treasure if they made an army to help stop the 'propesky', remember, that's why they were stealing the Carver's kitchen supplies for their weapons. The prophecy itself has to do with half-bloods. And then we saw Jenna in the cave and she even said that you're being hunted down for reasons of a prophecy of cross-breeds that they think you are a part of it, but I don't get it," she pauses then points to herself then Hung, then G "Half-elf, half-orc, half-dragon; and then there's you," she looks back to Malkey, "are you just a gnome?"

"Oh no, I'm not half dragon, I'm a dragonborn thank you very much," G corrects indignantly.

"No," Malkey replies standing up as tall as he can with his arms crossed, "I'm THE gnome; you gonna take me out or something?" he tries to joke. "Of course I'm a gnome, look at me!"

Sai moves on now looking at Hung's spear, "Maybe that's 'Ruin's Wake'?"

"There is something I have to tell you about spear. I saw it turn to lightning for a second when I threw it at spiders. I don't know why that was." Hung informs them.

"Can I see it?" Sai asks. He hands it to her, "It's got that missing spot for the gem...," she thinks aloud.

"You mean demon," Malkey states.

"It needs black sphere," Hung discloses.

"We should try to find these gems I think," Sai declares.

"Hung know two things, one to find parents, two; to find black sphere for spear." Hung looks at Malkey, "you haven't had vision, the two half-bloods have." He looks at G, "Have you been visited in your mind?"

"No sorry," G replies. "I'm still a little fuzzy about it," she says putting her hand to her head.

"Spear never sticks to anything, always falls to the ground," Hung adds. "Spears supposed to stick."

"Maybe it's not the right target," Sai muses off-handedly as she looks at it in her hands.

Hung thinks for a moment, "That’s a very good possibility," he gestures for his spear back and heads towards a nearby tree.

"How did his spear feel while holding?" Malkey asks Sai nervous about all this talk of entities being released from gems.

"Only average," Sai shrugs.

"So only hung in comparison," Malkey heckles. " … to a gnome anyway," he giggles.

G is shocked by this little quip. "Whoa, burn!" she cries.

Hung takes aim at the tree and throws his spear. This time everyone sees the lightning! The spear hits the wooden trunk with a thunk and sticks for a moment but then everyone watches as it wiggles out and falls to the ground.

"Hey Hung, did you do with this like you did with your bracers?" Malkey asks staring at the tree and spear in amazement.

"No, it puzzles me much, I haven't wanted to focus on it." Hung responds.

"Yeah, but have you tried?" Malkey urges.

"I can’t," Hung replies a bit frustrated.

Sai sensing the building tension quickly adds, "Maybe with a bit more experience."

"You don't feel anything when you hold it?" G inquires.

"It depends..." Hung trails off. confused and curious because more and more is happening the more he uses this spear.

"Performance may vary," Sai jokes under her breath.

Hung apologizes to the tree as the sun is setting, "We should make camp," he says as he looks around for a suitable location.

"Looks like it, I’ll take the first watch but first I'll try and find us some food," Sai remarks as she grabs her longbow. She first looks around for nearby tracks but sees nothing. She was about to go back to camp empty-handed when against the horizon, she sees the silhouette of a deer. She crouches down and sneakily stalks the animal. Taking careful aim, she lets an arrow fly, killing the beast instantly. Grateful for the meal, she picks it up and brings it to camp.

G, wanting to be helpful goes to find some firewood. There isn't much and whenever she reaches for a stick it pokes and scrapes her hands. She settles on just finding dry leaves and grasses on the ground as Sai approaches with the slain deer over her shoulder. She is impressed and admires the strength of this woman.

Sai sees the failed attempt and goes to gather some real wood but can't find any so she decides to chop down a nearby tree. She found it a lot more difficult than she had thought but she's no lumberjack. Tired she takes a rest when she hears Hung from behind her.

"I have idea," Hung says before grunting and squinting and springing ethereal arms into existence and eyes up a medium-sized tree. He lets out a strained growling sound as ethereal fists over half-orc fists push the entire thing down with a crash.

"That was cool," G commends.

"I loosened it up for you," Sai chimes in as Malkey fist bumps all 4 of Hung's fists before taking a seat on his bedroll and pulling out the ripped apart chain shirt from his pack. Sai begins digging up some potatoes, collecting wild scallions, and preparing cuts of Venison while Hung builds the fire and G looks at her book. Night sounds settle in and Malkey starts to get a bit paranoid again but is soon settled once his belly is full with another of Sai's savory meals.

Malkey finishes up the chain shirt and attempts to throw it over to Sai, but it falls about two feet short.

Sai looks at it, then him; confused, "Are you planning on wearing that, it looks a bit big."

"No, I did it for you!" Malkey declares.

"Oh," Sai leans and picks it up. "Thank you," she exclaims as she tries it on. It fits like a glove!

Everyone settles in and gets ready for sleep. Malkey sends Nutbag on a short scouting perimeter just in case, but he doesn't see anything. Sai sends up her dancing lights around the edge of camp to hopefully help her see if anything tries to enter their space. Unfortunately, though it's stopped raining, the humidity in the air is so thick that a heavy fog or mist obscures what seems like the entire Marrow Valley but she doesn't know because it's just too thick to see very far at all. She wakes Malkey for his watch after a while.

"Ah, stab the fucker!" he yells as he wakes with a start.

"There's a bit of a fog but everything seems fine. It’s really hard to see." She lets him know as she settles onto her bedroll.

"Oh man ok." He sits up and decides to work on Nutbag. Maybe he can add some kind of alarm system... Using the different bits and bobs he took from the clockmaker Arkello in Trostenwald, he ends up affixing Nutbag with a cuckoo and quietly tests it out with great success. For the next part of his idea, he begins to unravel his rope. This he will eventually coil up within Nutbag and when it's time for sleep the clockwork bug should be able to make a perimeter around camp and when the line is compromised, 'Cuckoo!' The fog is still thick when he wakes both Hung and G for the last watch.

G wakes with surprise when Malkey shakes her arm, "What are you doing to me, I was just abducted recently!" she says as she tries to calm her adrenaline.

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Malkey replies as he lays down and closes his eyes.

Hung and G look out into the thick fog. "Well I guess its a good time for me to read my book, it's written in common. Where are you from?" G asks Hung, trying to make small talk.

"Monastery," Hung tells her.

"Near or far?" G asks.

"Now far." Hung replies.

"Been on the road for a while so far huh?" G continues.

"Yes," Hung responds.

"Anything i should know about...?" G presses.

"Don’t die, those spiders, not good," Hung advises.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'm still trying to make sense of it, but don't have any memory as to how it happened.

"Sit and close eyes and focus, it works for me," Hung suggests.

"You mean meditate?" G questions

"I call it traveling," Hung states as he eats a ration. He then decides that maybe he should take his own advice, and try to focus on that spear. He sits by the fire in the thick fog, cross-legged on the ground with the spear across his lap. He tunes into the spear going into a deep trance-like meditation. As he does, he feels a pulling and like he's traveling through time and space until it's like he is seeing through the eyes of someone else!

He is in a dim cave sitting on the ground cross-legged next to a fire, just exactly as Hung is now, looking down at the spear laying across this creatures’ lap. He can hear drums from a short distance away. He uses the sharp tip of the spear to cut his finger then starts a low, gutteral chant as he draws an eye on the tip and writes on the shaft, all with his own blood. After each line is drawn, the blood seems to burn itself into the wood like acid. He reaches to his side where he picks up an oyster and with a grunt breaks open the shell using his orc tusks. He pushes a finger into the spongy flesh and pulls out a perfect black pearl.

Holding it above his head he says in orc, “This will do. Come my helpful servant, there is a job for you. Without you, this spear can be used against us and we cannot help the one in the shadows be freed.” With that, an entity approaches and is surrounded in deep blue light. As the large orc chants, it seems the entity's soul is merging with the gem before neatly placing it in its setting as the pupil of the eye. The one he had drawn with his own blood.