{"id":2885,"date":"2017-05-20T11:31:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T18:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/?p=2885"},"modified":"2026-09-26T12:17:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:17:01","slug":"kalis-journal-abadius-15-30-4713","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/kalis-journal-abadius-15-30-4713\/","title":{"rendered":"Kali’s Journal, Abadius 15 – 30, 4713"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abadius 15 (Ovorikheer Pass, Evening)<\/h3>\n

T<\/span><\/p>\n

he barren trees of the Domagalki Forest are coated in windswept ice. In the waning twilight, the forest takes on a sinister appearance: frozen teeth glistening in our lights, claws reaching for us as we narrowly slip from their grasp. It\u2019s said that it used to be a lush forest, tended to by a family of fey. A few years before I was born, they left for reasons known only to them\u2014the fey are a fickle lot\u2014and this was the result.<\/span><\/p>\n

We left the frozen trees and the still-smoldering corpses of the spiders behind us and resumed our ascent to the summit of the Ovorikheer Pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty, maybe thirty miles of ice lies ahead of us, and then we are done with it for the foreseeable future. Our days are mostly twilight now, a welcome change from the perpetual night. This part of the world is equal parts beautiful, deadly, and peculiar. I will miss the astonishing sights, but not so much so that I wish to return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 19 (Path of Aganhei, Osman Confederation, Morning)<\/h3>\n

W<\/span><\/p>\n

e will reach Jaagiin tomorrow around midday. It sits on the shore of Lake Buriyiim and is the seat of the Osman Confederation. According to Ulf, the Erutaki settlements here are formed around clans, and each one sends a speaker to Jaagiin to serve in an assembly. Jaagiin itself is a large trading village, about a third again the size of Sandpoint. At this time of year there won\u2019t be much trading, though, which means we will once again be attracting attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does that matter? Probably not. After Ul-Angorn it\u2019s not exactly difficult for the Five Whoevers\u2014we now have both Winds <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> Storms in our retinue\u2014to figure out where we\u2019re headed, or when we\u2019ll be there. There\u2019s no hiding at this point, so all we can do is be prepared.<\/span><\/p>\n

We did learn one other lesson from our last stop, however, and that\u2019s to keep the caravan looking somewhere between good repair and well-traveled. Ivan has been using spells each day to fix the worst of the wear and make sure the small stuff doesn\u2019t get out of hand. I do some cleanup as well using cantrips that help keep it looking neat but worn. Obviously, if it always shined like new that would be suspicious, but we don\u2019t want it looking like it\u2019s been through the Abyss, either. We won\u2019t have to tell stories if it doesn\u2019t look like there are stories to tell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 20 (Jaagiin, Night)<\/h3>\n

A<\/span><\/p>\n

stonishingly, we seem to have made it through the evening without someone or something trying to kill us. Of course, the night isn\u2019t quite over yet so there\u2019s still time to be disappointed.<\/span><\/p>\n

We visited a few taverns tonight and Ameiko played a couple of sets in the first. We more or less knew this was coming so no one was surprised when she announced her intentions, but it still put us all on edge. After she was out of ear shot, I suggested that we \u201ccome up with a plan for defending the pub without burning it down along with the people inside.\u201d This earned me a number of stares. No one appreciates my sense of humor.<\/span><\/p>\n

We kept a close eye on Ameiko, the patrons, and pretty much anything that moved or looked like it might, especially while she was playing. I also listened in on as many conversations as I could\u2014discreetly, of course\u2014using one of my oldest spells to compensate for the fact that I don\u2019t speak Erutaki.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was more or less a waste of effort. Not listening to Ameiko\u2019s music, that is, but being a party to the drama and intrigue of Erutaki life at the Crown of the World. Did you know that the caribou herds were thin last year, almost certainly due to the colder than usual weather which limited the meltwater in the river valleys? Also, the trappers from the clans to the south have been working farther up the lake in recent years\u2014some would say \u201cencroaching\u201d\u2014in order to boost their seasonal harvest, at the expense of those who have had an unofficial claim on this territory for generations. And Assemblyman Aninnuk\u2019s son, Noahtak, disappeared two weeks ago and it was thought he had fallen prey to wolves, but really he had just eloped with Assemblyman Silaluk\u2019s daughter, Salak, who was supposed to be back at home tending to the family\u2019s herd of goats. Gripping stuff, no?<\/span><\/p>\n

OK, I am being unfair here. We actually did hear two pieces of news that were of interest to us: The first was that there are unusually fierce and persistent storms this season that are making travel extremely difficult. The second was about a village named Iqaliat, whose people were recently freed from a relentless, months-long siege by a white dragon. They managed to slay it somehow, which only goes to show that the Erutaki people can\u2019t be kept down for long. There was also some kind of kerfuffle\u2014they actually used that word in Common\u2014with their shaman, but the details there were a little sketchy.<\/span><\/p>\n

You get the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Qatana was genuinely curious how the bits about Iqaliat had traveled so fast, given that we had just gotten here ourselves. The answer?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have these things called \u2018dog sleds\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Qatana looked confused. \u201cWe were told no one crossed the ice in the winter time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCaravans don\u2019t. But the Erutaki are hardy folk, and we know this area.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I mean, it makes sense: one person with a team of dogs can <\/span>easily<\/span><\/i> outpace musk oxen pulling wagons, especially when the latter has to rest for a month just to breathe. And they can probably do it much more discreetly. I have to remind myself, and the others I guess, that Tunuak <\/span>walked<\/span><\/i> to the Nameless Spires. By himself. And he was probably about the same age as Koya. We don\u2019t give these people enough credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

What we didn\u2019t get was information about the pass, Atlan Zuud. Almost no one makes the crossing at this time of year, and no travelers means no news about the pass conditions. That\u2019s concerning because the bad winter weather has apparently been <\/span>everywhere<\/span><\/i>, more than we can definitively attribute to Katiyana\u2019s antics. On the other hand, all of those reports are pretty generic and none of them are exactly timely. So there\u2019s no <\/span>specific<\/span><\/i> reason to worry, and no hard information to act on. Famous last words?<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, I hunted down a wizard, which, thankfully, Jaagiin does have. Imnek was nice enough, and our skills are about on par. We each had a few spells that the other could use and we swapped a pair of them today. We made arrangements to do it again tomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sparna and Radella both vanished shortly after we arrived. That\u2019s pretty typical for Radella, but we weren\u2019t used to it from Sparna. By late evening people were getting worried, and Ivan went off to find him. Turns out he had found a swordsmith and lost track of time while talking shop well into the night. Good for him. Maybe this will make him less grumpy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 21 (Jaagiin, Evening)<\/h3>\n

J<\/span><\/p>\n

aagiin doesn\u2019t seem overly interested in who we are or what we\u2019re doing, and that has helped put me at ease. They are happy to take our money without tacking on a surcharge paid in invasive questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandru and I topped off our provisions for the final leg into Tian Xia. This wasn\u2019t strictly necessary, but we weren\u2019t about to start the next leg of this trip without being fully provisioned, especially since it\u2019s the dead of winter and we don\u2019t really know what we\u2019re headed into. Glad we are on the same page, there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up was seeing a jewelry maker about the talismans I\u2019ve been carving. Each disk is about three inches in diameter, very slightly domed, with a leaf pattern adorning the inner rim. The leaves are polished smooth and the gaps between them are roughened. I\u2019d completed the second of them just a couple of days ago, and though I still had more to make, it was time to start thinking about settings.<\/span><\/p>\n

I need a silver mounting of some sort for each, along with a silver chain, so they can be worn like an amulet. The bigger challenge, though, will be studding them with small stones made from the fragments of the gems that had powered the Storm Tower before they shattered. I don\u2019t know how to set stones yet. I mean, I barely know what I\u2019m doing in <\/span>general<\/span><\/i> when it comes to making jewelry. But I\u2019m learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was no avoiding it: I had to show her one because I needed her help. She slowly traced one of the leaves with her fingers. \u201cIs this a remorhaz scale?\u201d she asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She paused, probably expecting me to elaborate. I didn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is your work?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it is. It\u2019s taken me a couple of weeks. I do the carvings from the smaller ones.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She looked up at me sharply, clearly surprised by the implications of that response. It may sound like I was showing off, but I wasn\u2019t, really. There was no hiding the fact that I\u2019d need materials for making more than one setting. Though I suppose I could have been less coy about it. What\u2019s the fun in that, though?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good. Especially for a <\/span>kavdlunait<\/span><\/i>. Yes, I can help you create settings for these.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That took the rest of the morning, but now I have what I need.<\/span><\/p>\n

The afternoon was spent trading spells with Imnek. There\u2019s not much to say there. He\u2019s still Imnek. He\u2019s still a wizard. He\u2019s still nice enough. We both have a new spell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tonight, Sandru, Bevelek, Vankor, and I will start prepping the caravan for our departure tomorrow. We leave in the morning, just an hour or two before twilight. Yeah, that\u2019s right: there is still no sun. Thank the gods that will be changing very, very soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t see many temples to Sarenrae up here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 24 (Path of Aganhei, Evening)<\/h3>\n

W<\/span><\/p>\n

e passed a cabin today that had a few trappers staying in it. Or, at least, I assume they were trappers; I don\u2019t really know these things. They opened the door to watch us as we went by and they looked like trappers to me, so executive decision: they were trappers.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does a trapper look like? Like a surly Erutaki dressed in heavy furs standing in the doorway of a cabin in the middle of nowhere. And that\u2019s \u201csurly\u201d by Ulf and Sparna standards, by the way, which\u2014let\u2019s face it\u2014is awfully surly. I thought I saw Qatana wave to them as we passed but they just stared at us. Having already had our fill of \u201csurly\u201d we didn\u2019t stop to visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Watching caravan migrations must be what passes for entertainment around here. They probably have some game that they play for each one that they see, maybe the reverse of travel games like the ones that mom and dad used to play with me when I was really young and easily bored. In one of them, they\u2019d say, \u201cI see something that starts with the letter G\u201d and I\u2019d have to guess what it was as they gave me clues. When I was six my first guess for \u201cG\u201d was always \u201cgrass\u201d, even when we were in the middle of the ocean (give me a break: I was <\/span>six<\/span><\/i>)<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>but eventually I branched out to naming things that were actually there.<\/span><\/p>\n

These trappers probably looked at us and pulled out their game for Abadius, where you try to be the first one to, I don\u2019t know, spot the half-frozen corpses of the dead traveling companions, or some equally hilarious variation of that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 25 (Path of Aganhei, Afternoon)<\/h3>\n

N<\/span><\/p>\n

ihali is happy to be able to spread her wings again. Even with the tag I enchanted for her, the weather on the ice pack was simply too extreme for her to fly safely, and there were even days when I had to keep her wrapped up in the wagon for warmth. And of course it was perpetually night. We got a reprieve from the extreme cold down in the basin, of course, but there were only a couple of hours of twilight each day, so that only solved one of the two problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

I do wish the circumstances were better. One of our scouts, Shalelu I think, saw a heap of something a little bit off the path. She thought it looked like a pile of animal corpses, so I sent Nihali up to have a look. Short version: that\u2019s what it was.<\/span><\/p>\n

We saw something like this back before Iqaliat, only the bodies were human. And I\u2019m not really up for telling the long version because it\u2019s horrible, so I\u2019m just going to leave it there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 26 (Path of Aganhei, Night)<\/h3>\n

Q<\/span><\/p>\n

atana cast a spell for Ivan so that he could exchange a short message with someone. First, the obvious: I had considered that as an option for mom and dad, but as I understand the spell you only get a couple dozen words, each. I had better options. Second, I had assumed it was so he could talk to his sister, Abby. But, I caught his body language and thought to myself, <\/span>that was not his sister<\/span><\/i>. I have no idea what the story is there, and it would be rude to ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the few hours of daylight today we could, for the first time, clearly see the mountains that form the Wall of Heaven in the distance under dark, grey clouds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 27 (Path of Aganhei, Early Afternoon)<\/h3>\n

A<\/span><\/p>\n

huge winter storm has engulfed the pass and we are getting heavy snowfall and high winds even here in the foothills. I am going to go ahead and call this a blizzard just because I can.<\/span><\/p>\n

This right here is pretty much what I was worried about. The only good news is, if we hadn\u2019t stopped for a couple of days we\u2019d have been up there when it hit. So, small victories, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re either going to have to wait it out or push through.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 27 (Wall of Heaven, Evening)<\/h3>\n

W<\/span>e decided to push through. I don’t know who “we” is and I can’t even begin to describe how much I am regretting that decision. This was a terrible, terrible<\/em> idea.<\/p>\n

The lightning is ferocious and relentless. There is so much of it that the thunder is a constant roll of crashes and echoes (the only silver lining is that it’s possible to tune it out, but that’s only because it just never stops<\/em>). And then there’s the snow and the wind. I don’t even know where to begin with that.<\/p>\n

A while ago, we thought we might have heard an avalanche, but it’s hard to tell because, come on<\/em>. Though it sure sounded<\/em> different than constant, rolling thunder, which is a thing we’ve recently become experts on. We need to see to be sure, though, and that means having a closer look. Even if it were light out, though, all we could see from here would probably be blowing snow.<\/p>\n

At one point I thought I heard voices on the wind. Qatana must have heard them too because she looked startled at the exact same moment that I did. Normally, I wouldn’t use Qatana as a litmus test for whether or not I am hearing things, but this was different. We both agreed it was reminiscent of what we heard at Dead Man’s Dome when the last of the undead fell. This can’t be a coincidence, and it can’t be good news.<\/p>\n

Abadius 28 (Wall of Heaven, Morning)<\/h3>\n

W<\/span><\/p>\n

e\u2019re getting out. This time, it wasn\u2019t just Qatana and I that heard it, but everyone else, too. And it was more than once: laughter on the wind. We\u2019d had suspicions that this storm wasn\u2019t natural, and now those aren\u2019t just suspicions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The weather didn\u2019t let up at all overnight. If anything, it got <\/span>worse.<\/span><\/i> We decided to trek up the pass, on hoof and foot, leaving the caravan somewhat sheltered against a cliff face. Ivan graced us all with spells so we wouldn\u2019t slip on the snow and ice, and I summoned a phantasmal horse to ride so I wouldn\u2019t have to walk in this crap. It didn\u2019t even take us an hour to figure out that the pass was closed. It wasn\u2019t just avalanches of snow, but rocks as well. No one would be coming through here for a while. And the storm intensified as we got closer. It felt like a personal vendetta.<\/span><\/p>\n

We delivered the bad news to Ulf.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 28 (Path of Aganhei, Evening)<\/h3>\n

T<\/span><\/p>\n

his day just keeps getting better. Sandru and I had a little chat with Ulf. Storms do not rage in one place for days. This was all wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are our options here?\u201d I asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t any.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ulf wasn\u2019t being facetious. We could, <\/span>maybe<\/span><\/i>, go <\/span>around<\/span><\/i> the Wall of Heaven instead of <\/span>through<\/span><\/i> it but Ketskerlet is hundreds of miles to the east and the storm has <\/span>expanded<\/span><\/i> in the last few hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandru said, \u201cThere\u2019s no way we could even make it that far. The caravan literally wouldn\u2019t survive it.\u201d Ulf agreed with that assessment, and added that even if we did, we\u2019d still have to cross the Gulf of Khorkii somehow, which is thick with icebergs and floes this time of year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going <\/span>west<\/span><\/i> to the Ivory Sea might be better, but <\/span>that<\/span><\/i> trip is over a <\/span>thousand<\/span><\/i> miles, and every single one of them is in the wrong direction. Most of them through barren, frozen tundra. To quote Ulf, \u201cNo one goes that way for a reason\u201d. The only realistic route to the coast is a couple of weeks behind us.<\/span><\/p>\n

That pretty much left turning back to Jaagiin, but given our run-in with the oni in Ul-Angorn that is not a particularly attractive choice. Whether or not it\u2019s attractive, though, is irrelevant if it\u2019s our <\/span>only<\/span><\/i> choice. Which means it\u2019s not really a choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then I had a brilliant idea because I am an idiot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s try a Harrowing. This is why Varisian caravans have fortune-tellers, right?\u201d I was met with everything from silence to eye rolls, but I pressed on because I am a glutton for punishment. \u201cWhat do we have to lose?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There was general agreement, but while I think <\/span>most<\/span><\/i> of that qualified as humoring me, Koya did seem genuinely excited about the suggestion. She disappeared into her wagon and emerged a couple of minutes later with her cards. I found out why she was so enthusiastic <\/span>when she handed them to me<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou go ahead,\u201d she said, smiling. \u201cJust like I taught you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Well,<\/span><\/i> I walked right into that, didn\u2019t I?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This was not the easiest way to start my budding career. Harrowings typically focus on individuals, and what we needed was a direction for our group as a whole. So I was already feeling in over my head. But Koya was there to help and she had never let me down before, so I dove in.<\/span><\/p>\n

I laid out a bridge. I could clearly see Ameiko\u2019s story revealing itself here, both the past and what she would face in the future. The problem was, I couldn\u2019t make sense of the present. Or, perhaps more accurately, I didn\u2019t understand what it was telling me. There was something about the mountains or the storm that we were missing. Some key information, and it was crucial to our survival. Even worse, the Hidden Truth card was misaligned. But the <\/span>larger<\/span><\/i> problem was, the reading didn\u2019t tell us anything we didn\u2019t already know. What we needed was guidance, not our failings laid bare.<\/span><\/p>\n

To quote Sparna, \u201cBut <\/span>what does it mean<\/span><\/i>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Koya couldn\u2019t make sense of it, and that\u2019s when I got worried, and when everyone else got frustrated. This isn\u2019t how this is supposed to go.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 29 (Path of Aganhei, Small Hours)<\/h3>\n

K<\/span><\/p>\n

oya emerged from her wagon around 1:00 this morning, all aflutter. She found me working on one of the talismans in the center of our camp, and was practically manic. At first I couldn\u2019t make sense of what she was trying to say because she was just short of babbling, but eventually she got a coherent sentence out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had a dream and\u2026there\u2019s something I can\u2019t shake. I had an epiphany, or Desna\u2019s speaking to me, or something\u2026\u201d The excitement in her voice was climbing again. \u201cThe reading you did\u2026where are the cards?!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I still had them and set them out in order.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something with the Empty Throne and The Hidden Truth, something we\u2019re not seeing. But, what really strikes me, is at the end of the bridge with The Big Sky and The Queen Mother.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She explained, or tried to explain, that there may be some meaning to these cards, or to the way they were brought out, that wasn\u2019t part of a normal reading. That these cards appeared here as a message to us. I just nodded my head because I had <\/span>no idea<\/span><\/i> what she was talking about, but she\u2019s the one who follows Desna. This was her thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve studied the peoples that worshiped Desna for years, and there is a story of a traveler that came through this land quite some time ago\u2026that he insisted that what he saw was real.\u201d Her thoughts were bouncing all over the place. \u201cThe Uqtaal people that used to live here, they worshiped Desna. They called her the Queen of the North Star. That\u2019s what struck me about <\/span>this<\/span><\/i>.\u201d She pointed to The Big Sky in the bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

She had my full attention now, as well as that of several of the others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I remember is that they followed the north star. Even in death, they tried to follow the north star to be taken back to Desna and spend eternity with her. This traveler\u2026wrote this story that the people here delved a necropolis and a passageway through the Wall of Heaven. It\u2019s called The Path of Spirits. It was so their dead could find their way <\/span>here<\/span><\/i>. There\u2019s an entrance we can look for\u2026<\/span>That\u2019s got to be it<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was crazy. Even Koya thought it a fantastic story. But it\u2019s not just a story, is it?<\/span><\/p>\n

We got Ulf and Sandru and talked this over. Ulf had never heard of anything like this, but he was not exactly skeptical either. \u201cNo one goes to the west. At all. Because there is nothing there. Something like this, though\u2026it could easily be that no one has heard of it because\u2026no one is around to look.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We let that sink in. It wasn\u2019t proof, but he wasn\u2019t ruling it out, either.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lightning continued to flash in the distance. The storm was clearly expanding, getting closer. This would be a <\/span>huge<\/span><\/i> risk, taken solely\u2014and literally\u2014on faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked, \u201cHow would we even find it? One cave in an entire mountain range\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Koya, the traveler\u2019s story spoke of two statues, facing due north, that marked the start of the path into the mountains, and that path would lead to the passageway. It was\u2026something. Better than something. It was enough to make a plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

There will be enough light for Nihali to see by in a few hours. We\u2019ll send her ahead of the caravan to search by air while we move west and search on the ground. All we\u2019d need after that would be Desna\u2019s blessing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 29 (Wall of Heaven, Noon)<\/h3>\n

W<\/span><\/p>\n

e\u2019d gone about twenty miles when I felt her coming back. There was a sense of urgency and excitement about her. A couple of minutes later, she landed in the covered wagon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a statue of a human, carved in rock. Not far from here.\u201d One, not two. But it\u2019s been hundreds of years\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you lead us there?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And off she went.<\/span><\/p>\n

The storm seems to be following us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 29 (Path of Spirits, Evening)<\/h3>\n

T<\/span>here were<\/em> two statues, but one had broken off at its pedestal. The one that was intact was clearly of Desna. They both faced due north and marked the start of a path that led about a quarter mile to a cave entrance in at the base of a towering cliff.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tight fit, but the caravan can manage with the wagons single-file.<\/span><\/p>\n

This place\u2026 It may have been <\/span>built<\/span><\/i> by people who worshipped Desna, but something changed. The tunnel is lined with pillars decorated with star carvings, and the walls themselves bear stars and butterflies applied in faded paint. But on top of each pillar sits a skull, bleached then painted red, bolted into place. The skulls face north. Always north.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not Desna. Not anymore. The symbology, assuming the Uqtaal clans were influenced by their Tian neighbors, is reminiscent of Fumeiyoshi, god of dishonor, envy, graves, and the undead. It\u2019s said he murdered his brother, the moon god Tsukiyo, in a jealous rage and was punished by Yaezhing for his crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a whim, I asked Suishen what he knew of Fumeiyoshi. He said, \u201cHis religion was banned in Minkai. Fumeiyoshi\u2019s followers enjoy death and desecrating the graves of the dead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what we\u2019ll find here, but I suspect there\u2019s a sinister explanation as to why so few have heard of this place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abadius 30 (Path of Spirits, Morning)<\/h3>\n

W<\/span><\/p>\n

e were rudely awakened in the early hours of the morning when four headless mummies approached the caravan from the southern end of the passageway. Fortunately, I was already prepared for undead, and Ivan and I literally burned them nearly to ash, the others picking them off as they tried to escape the layers of flame.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is just the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
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    \n
  1. This was an extraordinarily good roll on a\u00a0perception<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>check.\u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Our GM set up four of the cards in the spread, though not the positions where they would appear. The others were chosen at random.\u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Abadius 15 (Ovorikheer Pass, Evening) T he barren trees of the Domagalki Forest are coated in windswept ice. In the waning twilight, the forest takes on a sinister appearance: frozen teeth glistening in our lights, claws reaching for us as we narrowly slip from their grasp. It\u2019s said that it used to be a lush […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-2885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-kali"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2885"}],"version-history":[{"count":57,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5691,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions\/5691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}