Day and night: there is no rest for heroes !

26th November 5000

Alast was the first to move, he came closer to the anapheg and Griselda's body and bowed in a solemn farewell. Yesnarel decided to stay aside but remained silent all the same. Mulchanor wasn't so quiet. He was taken by disbelief and kept saying : "She's dead. Dead. Gone. She is ... dead. No, she is dead." Erleothir joined Alast in his prayers and knelt beside him, facing the corpse. There wasn't much left. Only her right side was recognizable, still though, far from complete. If he was also affected by this loss, Gustavius showed nothing of it. He was much more interested in the camp and, followed by Alast, he started searching the giaks and their tents. Mulchanor sort of woke up from his shock and jumped on the anapheg at the knight's surprise . He ferouciously started digging in its jaws, using his claws, seemingly trying to get some of its teeth. Not daring to interfere, the company left him to his bloody task and went on with the problem at hands. Yesnarel picked up some of the heldeghast's ashes and Alast helped Erleothir to dig a grave for their companion. Mulchanor and Gustavius watched from afar. The first only reacted when his friends approached her. "Don't touch her ! I'll carry her".

He jumped down from the anapheg and walked to the Telchos' side. He stood there at lost for a while : where could he start ? How would he carry this bloody mess ? Realizing he needed help, the knight walked forward and grabbed the leg. Mulchanor followed his lead and took the arm. They did their best to carry the body with respect and laid her in her grave. Mulchanor, this time driven by anger, kicked in the dirt, sending it flying and falling over her.

After a touching speech from their mage, speech concluded by an unfortunate "May you rest in pieces" - the emotion surely - the company decided of the best course of action to set.
If Mulchanor was determined to go south, Erleothir had no idea. They were indeed left in a bad position. On the tree to which the boat was left attached, there was now only a little note for the knight. Nothing really precised but an interesting name "the Green Rat" caught everyone's attention. According to Eolfrid, that was where Karnelian would be hidding.
But to get there, they would first have to cross the river, to come back to the ship. The discussion was again animated to say the least. Luckily for them, there was no beast or enemies around. It didn't stop Erleothir to check around and he suddenly hushed them all. " Get down !"
Even that was difficult for them to respect. Alast ducked as instructed but asked loudly, "What's wrong ?". Still angry, Mulchanor persisted : "And I say we walk south untill we find a bridge or the Green Rat . What do you want to wait here for ? The bridge to appear here overnight ?"

The danger of whatever Erleothir had seen or sensed was gone. Gustavius then decided to use his gun to signal their position to the crew of the Nameless ship. If the light of the shot might have been missed, the sound of both the bullet and the exploding gun was sure to catch someone's attention. " Damn it !" The dwarf still checked the result and thought he heard something, a voice ... All looked around, was there someone coming ? Mulchanor was still at a loss and lifted his eyes to the sky, looking for a Kraan maybe...

The sound was heard again, a voice. Gustavius decided to call in Drodarin. If the newcomers were indeed rescue, they would know what to reply : " A ... ei... re !" To the general surprise of the group, it's Alast who understood that yes, it was Jack and a few crew members on a raft, slowly reaching them.

Their friend welcomed them on board. He was clearly impresses and disgusted by their appearance and smell. Little did he know that Alast was carrying the anapheg's head in a backpack... He hadn't seen everything yet . After checking the speed of the boat, Yesnarel decided to undress and jump in the water to wash. None of his companions followed. Seated at the front, Mulchanor was mumbling : " Nice speech, we'll miss you and blablabla, valourous warrior. All hypocrites, they don't even see that she is missing." He turned to Jack. "Where is the kitchen ?" Jack placed an arm on his shoulder with sympathy. "I don't know what happened there but it clearly wasn't pretty . The kitchen is on the ship, we're almost there ... "

Once aboard, Mulchanor didn't waste time and went straight to the kitchen. Jack signaled to the crew to let him be and then turned to the company. Leo started immediatly asking their friend about the inn. All were of course curious to learn more about what would more likely than not, be their next step. The Green Rat was four day away by boat, two only with the airship. That was already good news : Eolfrid might be ahead, it wouldn't take them long to catch up with him. Beside that, Jack didn't have much to say but he was surprised that Alast had never heard of this rather famous and respected inn just a few miles away north of the Shadaki border.

Though all were impatient to now report to Alukel and finally rest, none was enthusiastic to the point of actually go and get him out of the cabin where he was again "studying". A dwarf called him nonetheless and the little group, Leo, Alast, Gus and Yesnarel was soon facing the priest. He was having obvious difficulties to stand and probably even more to understand, which was lucky since the tale of the fight was rather confused.

The instruction had been clear : they had to go after "the Telchos" and "the Bear", kill them and bring their head. Then, why were they carrying an anapheg's stinky, bloody and scary head along with a vial of ashes ?
Yesnarel proceeded to tell about the heldeghast using Griseto's already dead body. Proudly exhibiting the anapheg's head, Alast stayed short of words when asked about Griselda. Nobody noticed Mulchanor coming back on deck. He listened to them for a while, muttering "fools" but he reacted immediately to his companions cowardise. "She's dead. She died in the fight against the Hedelgast. Why don't you just say the truth ? She is dead".

Alast tried to appease the suffering dwarf but his friendly hand on his shoulder was brutally shaken off. And with that, Alast couldn't hold it anymore. He had been trying all day long to understand Mulchanor's shifts of mood. He had been patient and he couldn't stand it anymore. Of course Mulchanor was the most affected of them but it didn't give him any rights and his moods would have to be contained. Alast tried to punch the dwarf but missed. Leo and Gus quickly intervene to separate them : it really wasn't good to publicly appear so disorganized.

In the conversation, Alukel had unvoluntarily given away some elements about a temple nearby. Gus and the mage certainly didn't fail to notice it.
So, while Mulchanor went back to his room escorted by Leo to whom he wanted to talk in private, Yesnarel decided to press on the subject. The Captain and the priest were already back in their cabin so he knocked on their door and entered politely. Padoka had already fallen back asleep and Alukel was happily drinking from a bottle of some hard liquor sitting on the desk. Taking the bottle away and pushing it aside, the mage took on his serious face and started : "Well, well, well my friend ... ".
The young mage had definitely grown up at court. He seemed perfectly at ease and not so much impressed by his elder. Using the bottle to make pressure on the priest, he asked question after question, rewarding him with a drink for the details and hidding the precious liquid when getting unsatisfactory answers. All the while remaining polite and pleasant, never rising his voice and always thinking quickly.
After a half hour, he met his companions on the deck, they were waiting for him to give a full report. Obviously proud of himself, he sent Leo back to the rooms, to get Mulchanor, saying he would explain once all gathered in the kitchen. Alast asked for a few minutes to wash before hand as the anapheg's smell was getting more disturbing by the minute. Yesnarel simply replied, grinning " I do not think that bathing will be an issue ".
The kitchen was an odd place to meet, heart of the ship, it was rarely deserted and they couldn't expect much privacy . It was decided that Gus would ask Jack to empty the place for them, too bad that he actually forgot. All were already caught in the tale of Yesnarel and failed to notice when their friend sat at the end of the table, listening attentively too.
"... so, there is a temple, under the water, just a few minutes away from here. One first has to dive to reach it and then, there is no possibility to breath. The place has been left mostly untouched... There is however a secret way to visit the place ... and it's right... here " His friends moved closer as he produced something out of his pockets. " Roots ?" they asked. Yesnarel's grin was now even wider. " Yes, roots. Chewing those roots will enable anyone to remain for up to two hours under water, without breathing".
The knight was a little dubious and eyed the roots suspiciously. Gus and Alast were much more enthusiastic and almost ready to go. Mulchanor stopped them with his comments. " And why should we care about a temple in the first place ? Don't you want to get to Karnelian ? Find Eolfrid ? "
" But we only need two days to get to the Green Rat, Eolfrid will take double that time ! We can take a few hours and check this temple... " started Gustavius.
" What for ? Leo, don't you want to go to the Green Rat too ? Isn't it what we agreed to ?"
" Well, true, but Gustavius is right too, we have time to do both ... "
" Plus," intervened Jack, " you have to wait for Padoka and he won't give you the go before daylight. "
" You're all disgusting. I'm telling you, I'm not going there. And we'd better leave first thing in the morning tomorrow... " With those final words, Mulchanor stood and left for his room. His mood didn't discourage the others, they were excited at the prospect of a new adventure.

Shortly after the sun rose above the thick jungle foliage, a small group was gathering on the bank of the river. Alast, Erleothir, Gustavius and Yesnarel together with 2 dwarves started rowing towards the center of the mighty stream. They had traded their armors for light clothing and left all their equipment behind. Soon enough, the boat stopped near a small turbulence in the streams.

Our four heroes disappeared beneath the waves while the dwarves waited, rowing in circles... Time passed by, uneventful. Slowly, the clear water grew dirty, the turbulence grew bigger and all of a sudden a large fountain of water erupted. Then it was calm again and shortly after that, the four adventurers reappeared, unharmed. While Erleothir seemed unhappy but determined, Gustavius had a bright grin on his face.

As all of them boarded the skyship again, a short discussion between Yesnarel and his companions could be overheard. "So, why do you think god's creation was incomplete ?" - "hmppf, no idea, honestly I don't think this is important now" said Gus with a shrug "but I'm curious, do you have a second riddle ready ?"

As they disappeared in some corridor of the their flying home, Captain Padoka was slowly awaking from his ethylic dreams. Only two hours had passed since they left and soon the skyship would follow the river southwards.


The following morning, Mulchanor's mood hadn't improved much. Gustavius went to him and explained that he discussed his gun issue with Jack. Apparently, he still wasn't out of his deal but could "pay" for his weapon by bringing a raccoon to "Sareftin", a woman he would find at the Green Rat.

After a day and a few hours flying, the inn was in sight and another surprise awaited the group. Padoka came out of the cabin and left them very strict instructions " Do not mention that I'm here. Do not even mention that you know me. Do not ever mention the name Padoka to Enuri. Is that clear ? " All nodded their understanding.
Alast added more timidly " Well, if possible, I'd like to stay on the ship while you visit the place... I don't really want to go there... And don't mention my name either. Not to Enuri, not to anyone. Just pretend you do not know me. Ok ? "

No one asked why, they more or less shuddered and excitedly looked as the ground came closer. Mulchanor was the first to climb down the ladder, leading the group. There was energy in his steps and a smile on his face. The inn was big and clearly richer than the one they stayed at in Ljuk. They entered the yard and saluted the guards. They then came in the cloakroom and left their weapons, armours and other potentially dangerous items in exchange of a blue token. Mulchanor's special gauntlet went unnoticed though...