A lot on his mind

Obisdian Black in rare form called for the room to be cleared, and staff and patrons alike cleared the room to give them privacy.

Gentlemen! I have some words to share. If knowledge is power then knowledge shared is power multiplied. My intention is to increase our power by sharing what I have gleaned since the forging of our most unlikely alliance.

It seems improbable that a group such as ourselves would be sent to retrieve a scrap of parchment, only to end up in possession of a keep. Lords no less. Don’t get me wrong. We are all skilled in what we do. It’s just that we seem to have overcome tremendous odds in our endeavours.

Our escapade under the governor’s keep. That blast of fire should have been the undoing of us all, and yet... here we sit. By all appearances I was unscathed but I reveal to you now that I perished in flame that day. Perished and returned unharmed save the blackness in my hair. Not unlike the whiteness you’ve no doubt noticed in Jalinbeti’s.

I am certain, although I have yet to confirm, that he and I both visited the same beyond. A beyond that triggered feelings of deja vu when I visited the temple of Woden in Karagay. A beyond that was more akin to an army triage with beds and uniformed people than the after life promised in the sermons of the clergy.

A beyond where they were surprised to see me “awake” instead of “recycled”, which I attribute to the box that Jalinbeti was so eager to reclaim. A box that is a great source of magical power. I believe the phrase used by one of the men in the beyond was an “ylem” source.

Since my rebirth I see the world... differently. Our adventures in Karagay for instance.

Roake is lucky enough to find a cleric, an old army buddy no less, with knowledge about the spell being researched under the governor’s keep.

Alleman happens upon a fight club. Judging from the bruises I assume they have secret techniques to improve your fighting prowess if you so choose to study?

I would even venture that Rayjok has or will meet a mentor wandering around in the woods. And Cree? No doubt you’ve found your sexy warlock patron by now.

As for myself, I investigated an odd looking tower that conveniently revealed a sorceress with advice designed to enlighten me. In a tower made of obsidian. For Obsidian?

Gentlemen, everything that happened in Karagy could not have happened any other way. I submit that we are pieces on a board being manipulated by a player or players unknown from the realm beyond. We are being nudged, sometimes with carrots other times with sticks, in a particular direction. To what end I know not, but I am starting to see “the will of Woden” in a new light.

Could it be that the Great Erasure was in direct response to a “Great Awakening” of pieces on the board?

Regardless, I do know...

There is a river of convenience nearly a stone's throw and a half from where we sit.

There is a council of nine and nine reagents in this spell we are investigating.

And this wine. This wine is impossibly good.