You’re running through the forest. Something’s chasing you, but you don’t know what. You’re panicking, dodging from tree to tree, running through underbrush and ducking under logs, but you still hear padding feet behind you. It’s gaining all the while, and you’re not sure what to do.

Caliz breathed deeply and quietly as they descended the ladder. It was a long way down, and he was feeling the strain on his arms. I’m in no shape to fight, let alone venture down into these fucking lizard’s native place. Shit. What if they are Vok Archons. "No. Angels can’t be that easy to kill, or we’d do it all the time." He felt the heat of the lantern bounce against his thigh as he climbed down, lighting up the thin tunnel up. The warmth gently radiated across his leg w

Early the next day, Kahara woke quickly and walked to the Heron Archives to talk with Teacher Ot. She told him of her concerns regarding the gremlins she faced the previous day, and the potential of this "Kurshkin" becoming a threat to the school. He assuaged her fears, teaching her of gremlins and their propensity for storytelling, but promised to take her concerns seriously, promising to look into it personally.

Caliz woke to a foot nudging him. He stared up at a woman decked out in studded black leather, intricately crafted to hug her every curve. Two hatchets hung at her hips, with knives in her belted boots. The only skin he could see was her face, her hood hanging back. She was a Nojern woman with what looked to be a ponytail, completely undyed and without makeup. She was a shadow in black armor. “You the newbie?”

Iron hung in the air like fog, clouding their vision, lungs, and hearts. Caliz was slumped against a wall, bleeding from his ribs and arm, his hand twitching in pain. He winced, grabbing at a bundle of herbs from a pouch in his pack, trying to remember the words of Itzel.

She boiled the water, and broke the brick of tea into her pot. Her knife dug into the tightly-packed leaves, breaking off flakes into her basket, and poured the violently bubbling water over them. Not even a minute passed before she took them out of the water, leaving a pot of rich, potent tea.

The Cohort awoke to the rain on their windows once more, ready to take on a Tempest-Sun Mage challenge on their first Toilday at the Magaambya. Kudra was the first to rise, bright and early, and she met with our friend and quest-giver Esi over morning tea to discuss their next assignment.

The party sidled carefully against the rock, Osa doing her damndest despite her long, snaky form not allowing for much in the way of sidling. Caliz motioned for them to hold off, snuck ahead, cracked the smaller double-doors, and peered inside. Inside the doors were, as the rough map stated, stables. Piles of hay flanked them, steeds rested in their little homes, and a large cage sat empty. Caliz assumed it used to contain guard animals of some kind. Dogs or something.

She tended her garden well, as she always did. This was her forest, her plants, her garden, her trees. It surrounded the tree she called home, the tree her soul was linked with, the place she could never leave, and could never imagine wanting to.

A train blew its whistle, screeching into the hot, stagnant air of the East Skyside Station, sending pigeons on its roof into harried flight. The horrible sound sliced through a sheer lace curtain and bounced around the room beyond. Quite suddenly, from the beauty of sleep, dream, and peace, Kroweth was painfully, horribly awake.