Chapter LI
in which a secret Shul'Garoth settlement is discovered
Fighting a Dragon
Haas travels to the subterranean citadel to retrieve Glad's swords. She finds that the swords, which they consider tainted, have been discarded as trash with the looted Tusker gear. She returns with the swords and an odd orb that might be a compass of some sort. She and Maus continue the conversation they were in the middle of before she left, trying to counsel Glad on judicious use of Og and how to prevent Og from causing future catastrophes. While he won't promise to never use Og again, he does promise to end all contact with Og if he ever has to target the Weaver. And he reveals that he actually doesn't feel under contract to Og ... probably due to the exorcism. The discussion then turns to the topic of ascendance and how Og and the Dream Wraiths came to be.
Eventually, the Foxes settle on a course of action. They abandon their quest to find Jurlim, instead having their airship swing by Chracio to pick them up. Then, they'll head to the occupied farmlands to help in the war effort. In the interim, Glad has the idea to spar with Chracio, hoping to figure out how to fight a dragon in the worst case scenario of Shul showing up. Chracio is surprisingly game, and the fight draws an enthusiastic crowd. Chracio uses only a small fraction of his strength but otherwise doesn't take it easy on his Sentinel, forcing Glad to be cautious around the claws, teeth, and tail barbs that could easily shred him to pieces. He ends up fighting to exhaustion. In the process, he learns:
normal weapons don't pierce dragon
obsidian weapons do pierce dragon skin (of dragons not descended from Losken)
dragons are vulnerable to evocation magic
despite all the above, Chracio heals extremely easily and seems to be evolved specifically for one on one dragon combat
Haas gets in on the fun too and has Chractio teach her how to move more gracefully in her shapeshifted dragon form, which she later makes gold from by charging eager Chracioites for rides. Both fights garner the Foxes additional fame in the desert. Red uses his downtime to check on the Temple of the First in Encatus. While there, he learns that someone had placed a bounty on the Foxes heads. Glad confirms with the ruling council that it's been placed by the Vormyllean with the box of dismembered fingers. He's not too worried, though, about that guy attacking a Sentinel's friend. Haas checks in with Cadence and is given the name of three targets in the farmland, various villages that she thinks the Foxes would have the highest level of success with. Glad checks in with Imbri who wants to meet in person in Attria. When they depart the desert, they bring along 4 volunteer fighters from the pit and the 4 man anti-Shul squad that Glad's been having trained.
The Sanctuary
They take the direct route, flying over the Dionastran mountains. Glad leaves a journey book behind in the hopes that its found by a Dionastran. Red notices in passing a sigil carved into the earth, the one Father Benjamin told him signaled sanctuary for Westerner refugees. The Foxes land to investigate, finding a note with directions. Before they follow the trail, Glad has Weaver put a ward on the note to prevent Shul-aligned people from being able to read it. They track the path to a cave and carved bench. After some time, they're met there by two Shul'Garoth. They're able to prove they mean no harm and are taken to a sanctuary for Shul'Garoth. Their main contact, Chiron, gives them the history of the area and mentions that they have a still active escape network for those seeking to abandon the West. While they don't gain any recruits for their farmland campaign, they do learn a lot about how Shul'Garoth fight. Specifically, they learn how to recognize their high value targets, the sorcerers that are capable of summoning Shul. And they learn to be wary of Shul'Garoth with large horns because horns growth signifies someone who is practices in reaping magic. Glad tries to offer a trade of his Sentinel's favor in exchange for letting his anti-Shul squad train in anti-reaping under Chiron. Chiron says he'll consider the offer.
As his comrades dine, Red has a heart to heart with Chiron. He reveals his half breed ancestry and his lingering resentment for the circumstances of his birth. Although Chiron offers to help him locate any family he might have left, Red is adamant about not seeking out his father. The Foxes are his family now.
Fighting a Shul'Garoth
After dinner, Glad offers to spar in way of training with any of the militia that want to. Most of those that take him up on the offer are the younger Shul'Garoth not likely to have seen much actual combat. The older more capable members keep to themselves. Glad doesn't hold back and points out what weaknesses he finds in their fighting stances, noting that the only real weakness he sees are openings in their shared melee style that the young arrogantly don't bother to account for. Haas makes note of the fighting styles as well and comes to the same conclusion. Frax, Red, and Haas start strategizing. Nothing from dinner that Shul'Garoth require high caloric intake, they decide the best course of action is to raze farmland as its encountered and to poison what food stores are left over. To this end, she gets some advice from Chiron about what toxins might prove effective. After sparring with the young ones, Glad tries to track down the fastest Shul'Garoth in camp so that he might have some idea of what he'd be up against when fighting a legionnaire. This idea is quickly shot down when one of the older looking militia men explains how far above their abilities the legionnaires are. They're bred for war and must be surprised. Glad believes he has that bit down but has no real way of countering the reaping that took down Encis, so the militiamen teaches Glad how to prevent reaping with reckondite conealment magic. Glad shares all his notes with his Shul-Swat team later.
The Purple Ones
The Foxes make their way to Vormyll, stopping at the pillar. Red, boosted by Haas' spirit walking abilities, communes with Vormyll. He isn't able to gauge much about her desires beyond a curiosity about the war and who the winner will be, implying that she intends to side with the winning faction. Haas notices that all the Vormylleans are wearing sigils, one of two. She asks a gardnerer about the more numerous sigil worn by 80% of the attuned. He tells her it stands for loyalty, but not to whom they're loyal. He claims the other means failure. Glad comes over when he hears this, not liking the guy's tone. Soon enough, the gardnerer disparages the desert, so Glad takes him on a little trip to Chracio. While the gardener is distracted first with awe and then terror - Glad has Chracio roar in his face - Haas swipes his sigil from him.
Back at Vormyll, the gang talk with two rich looking fighters doing some unknown investigation. They end up getting work from him and a promise to set an appointment with Vormyll's Archon, Jes'ro. The work happens to fall within their clearing the occupied farmland mission. In exchange for a bar of platinum upfront and another later, they agree to help take back a trade route that the Black Flame obsidian workers are interested in. The road may be occupied by anywhere from a dozen to a hundred Westerners.