In which Zeni makes a confession

Well, it turns out that last night I was rather too optimistic about getting to sleep. Once I had finished writing my last entry, I could still hear voices outside. Not just a couple of people on watch, but a fairly heated conversation between a few people about what to make of what Sabali had seen, and whether anything might be done about it right then and there. I stuck my head out of the tent and suggested people might like to go to bed, but it was clear that the energy of the fight was not yet spent, and that people needed something to do for a bit longer yet. For myself, I was more than ready to sleep, and if I could have blocked the chatter out and drifted off I would have done so, but it was loud enough that it was impossible to ignore once I was no longer concentrating on writing. And pretty soon the content made it hard to ignore as well, so I pulled my blankets around me and reluctantly left the shelter of the tent and joined the people standing about in the rain.
 
At the point that I started to pay proper attention, someone had asked Zeni what she had made of Althea during the time they had spent together while we were in Drynna. A reasonable question - after all, spending so much time with a banshee, or a hag, or some such creature, should, you might think, have given some sort of clue that something was wrong. Anyway, there was a bit of waffling here, but to cut a long story short, Zeni confessed, in an almost offhand way, to having stolen money from Melora’s altar in the forest. She said that Althea had told her to return what she had taken, and that she had done so - offering this as evidence of Althea’s apparent good nature. A rather awkward silence followed this revelation. For myself, I was much too tired to process this now, let alone engage with it. It had the potential to be a huge new problem, but Zeni didn’t seem to see it, and I had absolutely no energy for that conversation before I had had any sleep. Everyone sort of tacitly agreed to worry about it later.
 
It was suggested that someone cast a magical detection spell to see if we could find anything else unusual in the area, Zeni did so, and reported feeling some sort of echo or residue from the banshee, which surprised her. I thought it was strange too - undead with an origin like that of the banshee’s apparent story aren’t created by arcane means, and so you wouldn’t normally expect them to leave a magical trace. If this one did, it might possibly point to a different sort of origin, or to magic being used to control or modify its behaviour.
 
Raphael claimed that he might have another way to find out more, but, to my great relief, this seemed to be a plan for tomorrow rather than right then. The conversation tailed off after that, and everyone, save those on watch, settled to their tents or bedrolls.
 
This conversation had given me a lot to think about, and if I hadn’t been so exhausted I’m sure I would have lain awake worrying about all this new information, but as it was I think I was asleep before five minutes had passed. It was a deep and restful sleep, one that I had badly needed, and in the morning I woke feeling much restored. I opened the tent flap an inch and peered out, hoping that Arin and Wind, taking the last watch, might have some coffee brewing (last time they had been on watch together I had asked Wind whether she had enjoyed it, and I wasn’t really sure what to make of the look she gave me in response). To my surprise, I saw that Orlando was already up and not only had he made coffee, but he had also been casting new bullets for Bayou in the hot embers of the fire. I emerged blinking into the morning light, filled my own mug, and the two of us went a little way around the lake to talk and drink our coffee in peace.
 
Once we had found a reasonably dry place to sit, he asked me in confidential tones whether I had heard what Zeni had said the night before, and I said that I had, but I’d not really had much of a chance to get to grips with it yet. He and she had been on watch together for a couple of hours last night, and he said that he had taken the opportunity to raise it with her. I can’t tell you how glad I was to hear that - Orlando is absolutely the best person to have that sort of conversation when it needs to be had. I don’t know how many times Orlando has helped me to see things differently with a few well chosen words at the right moment. He has a wise head on his shoulders, and a kind heart, and I’ve always been the better for his counsel.
 
Anyway, he said that at first she had tried to lie about it, saying that she hadn’t realised that it was a shrine. I almost spat out my coffee at that, because Zeni had literally watched me and Arin pay our respects to the Wildmother there, and had even left her own offering. The idea that she didn’t understand what we were doing is ridiculous. Apparently, that is what Orlando had thought as well, and he had basically told her not to insult him with such transparent falsehoods. He’d tried, after that, to set her feet on a better path, explaining that she had to have a mind to the consequences of her actions, not just for herself, but for others as well. It sounded like he hadn’t pulled his punches, but still he wasn’t entirely sure how much had sunk in. Zeni had been very quiet, and he thought that he'd actually sensed something a little odd in her voice when she’d said that she wouldn’t want to see anyone come to harm because of her actions. She’d promised at least to think about what he said, and I hope very much that she will do that.
 
Encouraging as it was to hear that Orlando was giving Zeni good advice, I was (and am) still very worried about this situation. Even after making his home in Vasselhiem for so long, Orlando has never been a particularly religious man, and so I don't think that he fully appreciates the danger that Zeni may be in. Desecrating a shrine by stealing the offerings is no small thing, and simply repaying the silver is very unlikely to have closed the matter. (Especially since, by her own report, she did not do so on her own initiative but on the instructions of Althea - and the oddness of that, if she really is a hag, or a banshee, or anything of that ilk, is a whole other line of questions). As the smallest child in Vasselheim knows, money, or anything else, left to the gods acquires far more significance than its value in gold might suggest, it is a symbol of the reverence of the givers for the virtues of the deity who is honoured. Conversely, stealing those offerings is a symbol of dishonour, and rejection, of everything which that god or goddess stands for. It is a flagrant insult which invites just retribution, should the power in question be so inclined.
 
If this was an offence against Bahamut’s shrine, then I would expect there to be a consequence, unpleasant certainly, but it would be one that was proportionate, and which delivered a lesson which might serve to improve future conduct (which honestly would be well deserved). Melora and her people, on the other hand, are notoriously much harder to predict, and if she has a sense of proportion then it is governed only by own wild laws. Her response may be nothing, or it may be fatal. It may come tomorrow, or twenty years from now. Until things are set right, Zeni is at risk, and so, perhaps, are those around her.
 
Zeni will need to make amends to Melora herself, most likely via her acolytes, not to Althea (whatever or whoever she may be) and the avenues for doing that are very limited right now. Out here there are no priests of the Wildmother who might offer us guidance on what penance might be appropriate, and if there are ceremonies or offerings that might propitiate Her then I have no idea what they might be. Perhaps Arin knows more, but I doubt it, such knowledge is normally limited to initiates of the faith in question.
 
To make matters worse, we are out here in the wilderness, which is very much the heart of Melora’s domain. We’ve been here less than two days, and have so far been attacked by a crocodile, by giant lizards, and now by eelhounds (I will tell you all about those later). What is more, every one of these attacks has been a desperate one, and the beasts have fought to the death each time, even when normally one would have expected wild animals to flee once their own lives were in danger. Now, this could be a random coincidence, it could be something to do with the hunger generated by the Drynnan fever, or it could possibly be the creatures of Melora’s wildlands picking up on the dissonance created by Zeni’s sacrilege. Or something else entirely of course. Given how the last few days have gone, who knows what other problems are yet to come out of the woodwork...
 
Even if Orlando can persuade Zeni to behave more responsibly in future, this existing problem will remain. We will have to find a way to deal with it as soon as we return to Drynna, or sooner, if it can be managed. Until then I will do my best to watch Zeni’s back, but the truth is that there would probably be very little that I could do (except perhaps prevent her from making the situation any worse).
 
One thing that I would very much like to know the answer to is why she would do such a thing. Desperate poverty might at least partially excuse her, but when we left the spider caves Zeni had almost more silver than she could carry. Even without that, she had a secure place with Rebur, and no need to beg or steal stray coin. Orlando thinks that her rough start and her early life as a pirate may go some way to explain it, but I don’t know about that. For a sailor, pirate or not, to knowingly insult Melora comes close to a death wish. Even if she has never prayed herself (and I don’t know if she has), she must have seen her crewmates make prayers and offerings to Melora hundreds of times, hoping for fair winds and kind seas.
 
I know that in Vasselheim this would just be written off as the inevitable arrogance of a wizard, but to offer insult to a goddess for no reason at all goes way beyond arrogance and into lunacy. It makes no sense, and that troubles me.
 
Orlando and I were draining the dregs of our coffee, and shaking our heads like venerable grandfathers over the follies of young wizards, when Wind bounced up and announced that we needed to find more banshees, so that Arin could kill them. At least two, apparently, and ideally more. I have my doubts that this is exactly what Arin had wished for, and I wondered what conversational labyrinth might have preceded this rather radical conclusion. I know how to pick my battles though, and this is one mystery which I am content to leave unsolved.
 
We made our way back to the fire, where everyone was now up and breakfasting. Once the camp was struck, we made our way into the village to make our farewells and to get proper directions to Barithia’s house. There we found people preparing for a fishing trip, making ready small boats for what looked like an overnight journey. After the events of last night, that was brave, to say the very least, but no-one seemed to regard it as anything beyond the ordinary.
 
We wanted to see whether anyone might recognise Althea’s likeness, and so Zeni used her disguising spell to transform her own features into those of the apothecary. The shocked recognition on Jenna’s face was immediate, and she said something like ‘Oh, so you’ve met Barithia then?’. Zeni said that we had(!), why she lied about that I have no idea, but astonishingly, after a moment of uncertainty (and a somewhat tasteless diversion from Raphael), she seemed to accept it. That was just bizarre - we had all said yesterday, in so many words, that we did not know Barithia. Jenna must have heard us say so maybe a dozen times in different contexts - in fact, she herself was the one who first told us about Barithia. Why Zeni imagined she could lie about it is a minor puzzle, but how that lie came to be believed is a much bigger one. Normally I would of course have stepped in to correct this false impression, but I could see that there was no point. There was something stopping the inconsistency from registering fully with her - I think that she would probably have believed me, at least until someone said something else to contradict it, but it would have made no real difference in the end.
 
I had a very powerful demonstration of this fact almost immediately. Raphael, uncomfortable, I think, as I was about the precarious position these people were in, started trying to reason with her about returning to Drynna. She flat out refused to consider the possibility, on the grounds that Drynna was dangerous. We asked what sort of dangers she had in mind, and she couldn’t give us a single example, but the sense of threat was obviously clear and bright in her mind. Raphael gripped her shoulders and almost physically shook her, speaking fast and doing his best to let the conviction ring in his voice. It was something to see, the man knows how to talk, that’s for sure. It generated doubts in her, she could follow the arguments, and even seemed to connect emotionally with what was being said, but in the end something vital was still missing. It was very weird to see it in operation.
 
Listening to Raphael though, I did think that right now Jenna wasn’t entirely wrong. Although, a couple of months ago when she apparently formed this belief she had been wrong (as far as I know anyway). As things stand, Drynna is being slowly weakened by this novel disease, and it is unable to even muster the guards to defend its own dock workers from sahuagin attacks. It really isn’t a very safe place to be in all honesty (although Raphael was still right, it’s almost certainly much safer than here).
 
The thought crossed my mind that whatever had planted this belief in the dangerousness of Drynna might be one and the same thing that was causing the danger, or, alternatively, it might have advance knowledge of whatever was happening, and thought that getting people to move to Bel would be a way of protecting them from it. Either is plausible, although both of these stories have problems. More and more questions are piling up, and there are not nearly enough answers.
 
In the midst of all this doubt, Barithia seemed like the most promising lead we had, and so, armed now with detailed directions, we set out once again into the swamplands. Enessa led the way once again, sure-footed and skillful despite the lack of obvious landmarks. It was very reassuring to see, I am quite sure that without her talents to guide us we would have spent half our time, or more, wandering in circles.
 
Raphael was again hinting that he had some other way of getting more information, although he still wouldn’t tell us what it was. He just asked Enessa to stop when she guessed that we were half an hour or so from Barithia’s place, and said that he hoped that we would trust him. I have no idea what he is planning, but it’s the middle of the day, and given what he said in Drynna about the Moonweaver’s rites being performed only after sunset, it doesn’t seem like it would be the ideal time. I really hope it works though, whatever it is.
 
We had walked for almost that long when we came to another place where the trees opened up a bit, and the brackish water ran together into something like a small shallow lake. It looked like we could probably wade through it, but there was also enough space to make our way around the edge instead if we preferred. Most people opted to wade, but Wind was dead set against it, and so I joined her to go the long way around. The two of us had already made some headway, when a shout from behind us drew our attention back to the crossing point.
 
There was something moving in the water. At least two somethings, maybe more, all quite large. As is often seems to be the case in these situations, Raphael was the first to shout a warning, and he got the first shot in, but it hissed into the water without making contact. The things in the water sped up and now I could see that there were four distinct shapes. I looked around the space where Wind and I were standing, and could see nothing moving here at least. Wind could shoot from this position with no problem, but I needed to be closer if I was to be of any use in this fight. I started running back the way that we had come.
 
Orlando scrambled back out of the water, making it to the bank before the things could catch him, and turning and shooting at the closest one. The shot rang out, booming against the water and sending birds fluttering from the trees on the far side. The shot hit one of the creatures and it reared out of the water, giving us all a good look for at it for the first time. It was a sleek blue and purple shape, with a rubbery, patterned skin, an almost dog-like face, and torso, and jaws with far too many needle sharp teeth. I had seen pictures of these creatures before, although never encountered one in the flesh - these were eelhounds. Large ones, by the looks of it.
 
When the attack started, Raphael and Enessa had been leading the way, and the closest eelhounds focused on them. One went for Raphael, biting onto his upper leg and clinging on, while the other snapped at Enessa, unable to get a firm hold.
 
Raphael immediately struck back with his sword, stabbing down into the water. Purplish blood rose, bubbling around him, but the eelhound did not relinquish its grip. Sabali splashed over to lend his assistance, lashing out with fists and elbows, hurting it, I think, but doing nothing to loosen its jaws. These things were clearly tough.
 
Arin waded further out to meet them, swinging his mace and striking at the eelhound which was threatening Enessa, but it ducked down below the surface just in time and the force of the blow was mostly absorbed by the water. I saw Arin close his eyes for a moment, and then the glow of his spiritual weapon sprang into being, hovering just above the water and making it sparkle with a silver-blue light.
 
The other two eelhounds made their way straight towards Zeni, who was by now standing alone in the shallows. She was probably only ten feet from the bank, but even so she didn’t have the time to make it out of the water before they were on her. She wasn’t wearing armour and so the bites went straight through her clothes, and both eelhounds stayed close to her, one digging its teeth into her side, the other snapping and circling, preventing her from leaving the water. Despite her lack of armour, it turned out that Zeni was not helpless in the face of this attack - as soon as the first eelhound bit her, she reached out and placed her hand on its slippery skin, her face darkening with pain and anger. Some sort of energy flowed down her arm and seemed to pass from her hand into the body of the eelhound, which immediately began to thrash, throwing up huge amounts of mud and water. I’m not sure if it was a spell, or something else, but it looked like her retaliation had done far more damage to it, than it had done to her. The distraction created an opportunity for Zeni to bolster her own defences as well, creating what looked like a layer of colourful seashells and corals which pulsed brightly for a moment, before sinking into her skin and vanishing. I hoped it would be enough, but she still looked very vulnerable, stood there by herself.
 
Further out in the water, Ussi was leaping and growling at the eelhound threatening Enessa. As he grows, he is becoming more and more capable of judging the best way to help her in a tight spot, and in this instance the distraction he provided was invaluable, allowing her to strike powerfully with her sword while the eelhound’s attention was diverted.
 
From the trees to the east, where I had left Wind, an arrow flew, landing just a whisker short of Raphael and striking the eelhound which was still clamped onto his leg. It was a spectacular shot, accurate to a pinpoint, and impacting with a powerful thunk. As I got closer, I could see that Zeni was smiling to herself, as though she might have had something to do with it, and who knows, maybe she did.
 
The scene out on the lake descended into something like a brawl after that, with two eelhounds, Raphael, Arin, Arin’s spiritual weapon, Enessa, Ussi, and Sabali all stirring up the muddy water. It was very hard to see much of what was happening, although it looked like Enessa had managed to get free of the group and far enough back to fire her longbow, which was good news.
 
I finally made it round to where Zeni was standing, waist deep and still doing her best to fend of the second eelhound. I took a stab at the one which still had its jaws locked on her, but could find no purchase in the slippery mud. I could see why Wind hadn’t wanted to come this way. Zeni was desperately trying to force the eelhound to let go by pushing at it with both hands, but it was having very little effect. Despite my arrival, and attempts to catch their attention, both eelhounds continued to focus on her, and I wasn’t sure how much more damage she could take.
 
Another of Wind’s arrows came whistling from the trees, and missed by only inches. From behind us Orlando’s shot rang out, and that did hit home. It was very cleverly placed, and not only injured the eelhound, but also knocked it off balance and onto its side, which allowed me to follow up with a quick sword strike to its exposed belly. It was a maneuver which we had done variants of many times, but it still always felt satisfying when it worked out as well as that.
 
Despite laying about me with my sword, shouting, and generally being as threatening as I could manage, nothing I could do seemed to get the eelhounds attention away from Zeni, and between them they managed to pull her down under the water. Fortunately for her, Arin wasn’t too far away by this point, and he managed to extricate himself from the melee and come and pull her back onto her feet, healing the worst of her wounds as he did so. What was really remarkable was that even as he did this, his spiritual weapon continued to fight fiercely to defend Raphael. The strength of mind required for two complex spells at once like that is quite something, but he made it look easy.
 
In very quick succession, I heard a sharp exclamation of alarm from Raphael, and then a cry of triumph from Sabali - later I found out that Sabali’s stab, which skewered the eelhound with its jaws locked onto Raphael’s thigh, had come a little too close to his own flesh for Raphael’s liking. Seeing its companion defeated, the second eelhound had reared out of the water and seemed to be hissing loudly - at the time I assumed that this was simply an animal display of hostility, like Ussi’s growls, but Raphael had understood it as a broken form of Sylvan, the speech of the woodland folk and the fae.
 
That eelhound had made itself rather too visible with its display, and Wind’s next shot caught it in the neck before it could get back beneath the surface. Blood pumped from its wounds, but it wasn’t yet finished, and it turned and struck out at Ussi, who was still jumping and nipping at its tail. After another few seconds of confusion, Raphael finished it with a long slash of his sword. As he turned to come over and help Arin and I, I was glad to see that he looked much better than I would have expected, considering the damage he must have taken from the hounds. Arin or Enessa, I guessed, must have helped him to maintain his strength, or perhaps he had drawn on his own divine inspiration.
 
It was good to see the victory of the others, but Arin, Zeni and I were making heavier work of the two relatively uninjured eelhounds facing us. Orlando had managed to knock one of them off its feet again, but it hadn’t taken it long to right itself and resume its attacks. Zeni, thank goodness, had managed to shock and frighten them with some sort of electric spell and had been able to scramble out of the water, definitely hurt, but able, thanks to Arin, to get away to where she could concentrate on her magic. With her gone, the beasts seemed to switch to focus their attacks on me, one coming up under my shield to bite at my left arm and cling on there. It made striking at them very awkward, and although I could hit them easily enough as they were so close, it meant that doing much in the way of damage was difficult.
 
Orlando was firing as quick as he could reload and the smell of black powder was heavy on the air. Arrows hit home too, their shafts sticking out like pins in a cushion, the fletching of each one the signature of Wind or Enessa’s handiwork. By this point most of my attention was taken up fending off teeth and claws, with various degrees of success, but I saw Arin and Sabali laying into the backs of the eelhounds with mace and sword, fists, feet and elbows. Finally, Sabali managed to finish one of them with a mighty strike from his shortsword, which gave me a little more space to breathe.
 
Even so, I could feel myself weakening from blood loss, and I knew that if it wasn’t over very soon, then I might be in trouble. Gathering my strength for one last effort, I raised my shield arm high, lifting the eelhound bodily from the water. It was a risky move, and if it hadn’t worked then the thing would have been able to go straight for my throat, but I didn’t have a whole lot of options at that point. Now that I could see the thing clearly, it was a relatively simple matter to dispatch it with my sword, weakened as it was by the blows of my companions.
 
As soon as its limp body had slid from my blade and dropped back into the swamp, I felt just how close to the end of my strength I really was. I lent heavily against Sabali, and he half-supported, half-carried me back onto dry land where I sat, wounds throbbing, on the muddy sand. I looked around for Arin, but I think he must have been off checking that there was nothing else which could threaten us. Instead, to my surprise, Enessa sat beside me and pushed back the hood of my mail shirt, resting her cool, if rather bloody, hands on my face. I had felt her healing before, but never under circumstances when I had the luxury to actually consider what was happening. She either channelled, or perhaps created, a powerful restorative energy - it was a pleasant feeling, somehow fresh and earthy at the same time, but it was certainly not divine in origin. I’m really not sure what exactly it was, or how it came to be - my only guess is that it might perhaps be something similar to the life energies which the druids say they can tap into. Whatever the case may be, I was certainly very grateful for it. One thing that I am learning on this journey is that there is far more to the use of magic than is taught to us in Vasselheim.
 
Zeni had her medkit out, and was tending to anyone with scrapes or bruises (that was pretty much everyone, apart from Wind, who was busy congratulating herself on the wisdom of avoiding the swamp crossing). Once everyone was as comfortable as possible, Raphael told us about the speech of the eelhounds. Yet another mystery to add to the pile. Apparently, the eelhound said something like ‘you will pay’ and called us fools. Speaking for myself, I think it might have a point on the last item. I understand almost nothing that is happening here, and the situation seems only to get more complex with every hour that passes.
 
Raphael said again that he thought a hag might be involved in all this, and that perhaps these eelhounds were servants of that hag. It seems possible, although the implications of that would be worrying, because in that case the hag, or hags, know exactly where we are and very likely where we are going. Another worry - the eelhounds were a handful, certainly, but were never likely to kill us all - were they a warning of some sort, or is something playing with us? Or, is this unrelated to the hag? If, indeed, there is a hag at all. Does this have to do rather with Zeni, and the shrine? Or something else entirely? This whole thing is murky as the swamp water.
 
We are taking a very brief rest here, and Raphael says that he has something that he would like to do before we move on. This must be the mysterious detective power he mentioned last night - I hope it doesn’t take too long, this doesn’t seem like a very safe place to spend a long while.
 
I’m sorry that this is so confusing! I hope next time I get the chance to write this journal that I will have something more definite to report.