Mountains and Shadow

Saying goodbye to Biggins Stop we rushed west to find the next stone. On the way we found a small village or hamlet that had been razed and some killed. We found four dead and obvious that the others have fled. We buried those and Toblikai gave them their last rites. Stian and Amaris tried to track where the attackers went to but they were moving and not stopping. The worst part about this is it seems to be all Caldere. Our people are turning on themselves. If we had time we would track this band of brigands down but we don't have the luxury at the moment to be tracking down every single group of brigands around and we continued on.
 
We got to the mountains and met up with Kano, Dogan and a band of Myoki? Of course my first thought was "what did Kano get us into now?" He said they were just there to map out the area and look to see if there were any Vigal settlements to trade with. I hope that's all it is and we don't owe them anymore... He was able to get most things we needed, primarily the cold weather gear. Unfortunately the situation is deteriorating in the city and everywhere. The noble houses are barricaded and they are stealing each other’s land. A chunk of Galrix men have gone to banditry. Trying to unload his torque was not going to happen at this point. He did say there was a marriage offer to me from the widow but I think that's just Kano. Well I hope it's just Kano.
 
Kaen was terrified of going up the up the mountain so we left Dogan, Toblikai and her at the base. Toblikai offered to stay behind due to his sized which may have been helpful in some spots but not so much in others. Thank the Wolf we had these warm clothes because when I say mountains I don't mean a pass through the mountains, I mean UP onto the tops of mountains. During the travel to the first peak Amaris broke or twisted her ankle. So much for leaving Toblikai behind. We distributed the load for Kano and I to carry more and Stian would carry her. We got to the top of the first peak and Stian spotted something of interest on another peak "close" by. Luckily there was also a ridge that went there so it was the worst travel but still bitter cold. Yes Kaen would have hated this. I don't like it and I'm positive Kano doesn't either. In fact I've heard it more times than I can count.
 
One night Kano found some weird creature that was living in a skull, four of them in total actually. I don't know what they were but he seemed fascinated by them. He tried to put them in a sack but they tore through it in the night and escaped. I kicked at least one of them down the mountain. No helpful creature would live in a human skull right? Another night is when the real horror began. Kano woke us up to some crying/pleading child outside. He tried to offer it a lit torch and the creatures arm shot out and grabbed him and tried to pull back. It moved oddly, jumping in odd distances away. Each jump was farther the last. I cut into it a few times but it didn't seem to do anything to the things. It was almost out of reach when Kano was able to wrench free from the thing and it resumed its pitiful stance but didn't seem to try to attack again. I guess the show of force was enough to make it think twice! (at least that's what I thought until the Vigal told us otherwise. Apparently all we had to do was ignore it and it cannot do anything to us. I like my story better!)
 
Finally we got close to the peak where Stian saw something out of the ordinary. He was talking about going up alone but that was insane...Kano should definitely go with him! So they went and they returned worse for wear but they go the stone and it bonded to Stian. Hopefully this last one we saw will bond to me otherwise I suppose I'll be the odd man out. (Spoiler it did bond to me!) I didn't ask what happened up there. They can keep their frozen memories to themselves.
 
We started to make our way down the mountain and ran into a group of Vigal! They were pretty friendly and helped us get down the mountain. They stayed at our camp for a bit and shared their wine which was EXCELLENT. They shared with us that they hate the Mjorn too and have been fighting them. They could be great allies. They are excellent with their bows and can literally just walk up the steepest of slopes. It would amazing to have a unit of Vigal with any force. I don't know that they would do something like that but it may be worth talking to them further about it. They mentioned Kalphos who is apparently one of these Princes of Rot and maybe the primary one? Not sure. The Myoki Kano brought were pretty excited and drew up a map of where they were for future trading. We, as Hrin, need to just uphold our bargains unlike too many rulers in the recent past.
 
The Vigal took off, some of us were fairly slow the next morning but we eventually struck camp and made our way Southeast. On the way there we came across a group of what we found to be Galrix soldiers. They fought a battle against another group that was trying to take some land that wasn't theirs. At least that's what they said. Not wanting to draw unwanted attention to ourselves we both carried on with our days. We had to find this last stone quick so we could make our way back and help to ease tensions.
 
When we got close to the place where the stone had fallen it was a complete warzone. Land tilled and planted but no one around to tend the fields and smoke surrounding the fort in the area that has been taking a brunt of the Mjorn attacks. The weeping child shadow thing was NOTHING compared to this. Dead bodies strewn around the ground, some on large stakes watching towards the keep with their eyes gouged out and innards hanging all over the place. Well at least it's not cold.
 
There were some men still there and they told of some creature that attacks and can "jump bodies". Well there were plenty of bodies around here to jump into. Apparently it is the cause for this whole mess. We got to work immediately building a fire and starting to burn these bodies starting with the ones lashed to the stakes. They were still alive somehow. We decapitated them and burned them which was probably far preferable to whatever state they were in. We could only do so much and night was rushing in so we made our way into the Fort.
 
We were taken to their leader Spigval who was in very bad shape. Most of the men were in very bad shape either physically or mentally. I asked around about a stone falling from the sky but no one knew anything. Apparently there had been fighting that night so better to watch in front of you then upwards. In a show of the power of the Wolf Toblikai healed Spigval in front of the group that we could muster up and I gave the most convincing speech I could give. It seemed to help but a lot of these men were just broken. It was going to take a lot to turn this around and we were no closer to the stone (at least that we knew at the time).
 
Once night fell the thing attacked. A body would jump/flop up on the rampart and attack whatever was near it. We moved into attack and were able to stop it but it would just jump and do it again. I kept trying to rouse the men and get them to fight. We needed to do something more than react and that's when it hit me. "Find the beacon and shine the light on this puppet". At first I thought it meant like something summoned the creature and was in the fort but it must mean the stone was in the Fort! I asked Kaen if she knew where the beacon was and she pointed to the location where they were burning the bodies.
 
I ran full speed to that building and Spigval opened the door asking what was going on. "Something is in here that can help us!" I rushed in and Kaen jumped out and parted the flames to a stone sitting on the pyre. I grabbed it even though it burned like heck and ran out poking a glimpse at it. It was shining a bit and, not knowing what else to do, begged it for help. Since it was lit I held it aloft and tried to rally the men and it worked! More of them got out of their stupor and were realizing what was going on. Apparently it helped others see this shadowy creature as well though I could not see it immediately. Stian was able to somehow push some power through his stone into the bow and that power was able to hurt and pin the creature. I figured what they heck and drew my sword and tried to push fire onto it thinking that could hurt it. Didn't work. Wil have to work with this stone and Kaen and figure out its uses. Stian was able to kill the thing and it had some kind of "bond" that spanned all the way back across to the East into Mjorn territory. Spigval said the Mjorn called this thing a "weapon of Kalphos". Well there it is, now it is no question, the Mjorn are corrupt.