Chapter LIV
in which Vulsh accepts a new Archon and his children unite
A Slowly Catching Madness
The foxes succumb to a sense of dreaminess as they continue along the river, losing all sense of time. And they all feel like something is watching them. Something that wants them to believe that it is a dragon. While Haas gives into the sensation to trace her way to Irik, the skeptical Glad tries to keep track of time's passage by singing to himself on a loop and tallying the number of iterations. He loses track of his progress nine songs in, seeing a smiling dragon face on his arm in place of the tallies he's carved. Glad freaks out, but his comrades only see the tallies, even when he attempts to replicate the image for them. Fraxinus investigates the surroundings for hallucinogenic plants and stumbles upon some suspicious mushrooms that Haas verifies as psychotropic. Frax suggests Glad use a bandana to ward off the spores. Frax wets the cloth in the river so that it's more breathable. This prompts Glad to ask how we know that the hallucination inducing pillar's river isn't similarly drugged. Haas checks and realizes that it is, as well, just before Frax begins his own freak out. He mistakes a common marsh plant for a baby tree ent, which he thinks Haas kills when she rips the plant out. Only after purging and refreshing the water in his body does he come down.
Further along the river, they happen upon two humans, one of whom is bleeding out badly. Satisfied that they aren't new illusions, they provide the men aid. Apparently, they are travelers called to Vulsh who believed the No Man's Land to be uninhabited. On their way, they were set upon by blackscales, likely of Irik. Glad investigates the tracks with FaceBook's help only to be warned by the book that they are in the territory of some dangerous creature, Sokalu, who is somehow similar to the book's former master. Fearing that they're in vampire territory, Glad passes the info along, before Haas helps set the travelers on their way.
House of Stolen Years
They next happen upon a stone house with a wooden dock, situated on the river. Besides standing out for the obvious reasons, there's an unnatural occult energy to the place. And a closer examination reveals that the stones used to build the structure are from Losken, many miles away. The Silver Foxes knock at the door and are greeted by an Ussetran treasure hunter who calls himself Emois. This excavator claims to have been searching for some treasure in the area for 3 seasons. He can't recall if he has any friends or if he lived alone. Haas uses her net to revoke him. Upon waking from his stupor, Emois immediately checks for his suddenly remembered companion. He finds him long buried behind the house. When pressed on when he departed Ussetra, Emois says he left shortly after Losken gained a new Sentinel ... something that hasn't happened in years. The Foxes deduce that Emois has been trapped in a loop of routine for some seven or eight years.
He wants only to leave. For some seven or eight years, They teleport Emois to the pit of Chracio and arrange travel and help for their rescued friend. On their return to investigate the house, Glad determines that there is an occult spell set up to sap the mental energy of the house's occupants and that Emois' poor companion committed suicide to escape the spell. Red uses his earth magic to demolish the house and Glad revokes the rubble. And the Foxes continue on, along with 100 gold (by weight) of ancient Dionastran mint they take from the house.
The Children
Not much further away, they happen upon a cave with a sole inhabitant, Sisare, who had earlier chatted with Haas while in possession of one of the lost travelers. He and Haas discuss the rift between Vulsh and Irik and their followers. He believes such a rift might not be bridgeable in the timeframe Haas desires. Like Chracio, Irik feels constrained by his parentage and the ideological differences he has with his father. Rather than tribal Vulshik life, Irik desires organization and conquest. Glad chimes in that this is possible. One can both organize a place and have that place cater to the strong, using the desert and its inhabitants as an example. And he offers his hand in conquest or ... at the very least ... holding the Northern Ussetran border if Irik ever moved to conquer their northern redscale neighbors. For her part, Haas offers that such a thing would not offend Vulsh so long as their alliance was respected and Irik never marched south on her and hers. She also dispels concerns about tribal tensions by convincing him that Vulsh wants peace and reunification and that her people will respect his wish if it comes to pass. After a testy exchange, Sisare agrees to pass this message along to his archon.
A few days later, Silmung holds a council and reveals that Irik's Archon wants to meet with Vulsh's to cement an alliance ... and then offers his sash to the new archon who will represent their people, Haas. She takes the sash after some prodding, but shows a hesitancy ... feeling that she does not know what to do. The people, however, trust her and respect what she's made. So she offers a rousing speech and the Vulshik feast in celebration. Afterwards, she travels to Chracio as a diplomat and speaks to the dragon directly. He accepts her offering after some dragon posturing to send home the point that he better damn well be respected and appreciated this time by his father and his siblings.
Face to Face
The Silver Foxes return to the Felspar Army camp, along with 10 Vulshik hunters. With Glad's Fangs in tow, the party heads North in search of Asoth, disguised a wealthy caravan making haste across dangerous terrain. Eventually they come to a stop on the road when a tall figure is glimpsed on the horizon. They recognize the stranger as a Westerner and fake a retreat down the road, leading their foes to give chace. As they beat a retreat, an invisible Glad waits on the side of the road for the squad of four to approach. He fires an obsidian arrow when they're in range, taking one of the four down. Two of the others form a protective shield around their fallen comrade and the other gives him aid. Haas, still shapechanged into a horse, charges the group. Glad rips the shields from the Westerners defending on defense. Red sinks their footing in mud and Glad knocks them off balance with a lightning strike from behind. Haas breaks through their magical ward and finishes the wounded one. The Vulshik kill the shield bearers and their leader decides to run. He's caught by a combination of revocation spells from Red, Glad, and Haas.
The Fox's new prisoner agrees to lead them to Asoth. On the way, he attempts to foment dissent within their ranks by pointing out Glad's residual Shul energy. At some point, the gang figure out that the energy was a side effect of him eating Asoth's horn fragment in the spirit realm.
When they reach Asoth, Glad tries to broker a duel, despite his party's objections. In the end, he decides to face Asoth in a 2 vs 1 battle with Haas' help and says he will return in two days time. On their way back to the army encampment, a dozen Westerner scouts track their movements.