Having packed the bear meat onto Druvvaldis’
mule, the five unlikely trekkers through the Otherworld finally depart from the
temple. The recently freed Vasya, as the person who has spent the most time
here, is put in charge of leading the group through the dense woods. It is
difficult progress – the tree roots are craggy, and the absence of heavenly
bodies makes traveling in one direction difficult, so the bear-man does the
best he can with the aid of his companions and the occasional appearance of the
three riders, which all seem to travel in the same direction.
 |
| Khurshid awakes in the Otherworld |
By nightfall, the group comes to a lake. There
is a small island with a single tree a little ways offshore, and Vasya insists
that if they continue traveling left from the standing stone, they have to keep
going straight, and through the island. After some discussion, the rest of the
group agrees, but for this, a vessel must be fashioned. Chonkorchuk finds a
suitable tree, and begins fashion a dugout from it. After resting for the
night, the work resumes, and by late morning, the dugout is ready (in the
meantime, Plamen summons up restorative magic to rid Chonkorchuk of his
festering wound, and his lockjaw, to boot). Finally, after dispelling the mule,
the group climbs into the dugout, and paddles to the island. After arriving,
the discover a sleeping man, dressed in leather, and armed with a spear,
snoring away behind the tree. After being awakened and questioned, the band
discovers that the man is named Khurshid ibn Ali, and that he is a noble and
courtier from far-off Rakhman lands. The last thing he remembers is being
waylaid in the mountains by bandits, and he has no idea how he came to appear
in this strange land. Having martial gifts, he agrees to accompany and protect
the band while he searches for answers.
After taking refreshment, the group of six
continues rowing across the lake, until reaching the opposite shore. Here, they
disembark, and continue on foot across particularly difficult terrain. As they
travel upland, Chonkorchuk discovers a copper necklace with a green stone
hanging from a thorny bush. There is no indication how the item got there, but
the hermit soon discovers that the item possesses magics that aid their wearer
against noxious gasses and other dangers. During that night, Plamen discovers
another arcane item nearby the group’s camp – it is a shepherd’s pipe that
seemingly whistled to him. In the morning, he attempts to play it, and succeeds
in frightening Katarina and Vasya, who have to be restrained by their
companions to prevent them from fleeing into the woods. At the end of the
night, the White Rider seemingly charges the band as it breaks camp, but
instead of attacking, he just rides by, and accidentally drops a fur-lined hat.
When Druvvaldis examines it, he discovers that the hat allows the wearer to
magically disguise himself.
The group sets off with its new finds, and by
dusk finds itself before a body of water. A brief investigation reveals that
they have circled around and returned to the same lake they crossed not two
days earlier.
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