E8Q3 From Peak to Shoal

A Warrior's Village.......

You drift in and out of understanding and some sort of consciousness, the world around you a blur of disjointed images and sensations. Time loses all meaning, and you're unsure if hours or days have passed since the confrontation at Home Tower. Your mind is foggy, unable to grasp the reality of your situation. Are you dead? Is this some kind of vision? You can't tell.

Gradually, your surroundings start to solidify. You find yourself arriving in a village at first light. A soft wind descends from the white mountain peaks, bringing a chill to the air. You don't recognize this place, and a deep sense of confusion settles over you. Where are you? What happened to the battle with Delrona?

The warriors in your group, Patrice and Dushino,—wait, when did you join a group of warriors?—lead you to the village chief. He is introduced as Galmon, the Phoenix warrior guardian. Somehow you know him to be a wise and sedate leader, having ruled the village for close to twenty years, though how you know this escapes you. 

"We were sent on a journey to retrieve the page of an immensely powerful book, great chief," a warrior says. "Messages and riddles have led us here, in search of a crystal grove and ice that forever grows." "I am on Morian" you think to yourself, "but how? "And what are these mages doing here, one of them looks very young and a healer too?"

"There is eternal ice that grows near the summit of Mt. Peak. It is not a safe journey, but it is the only place you will find ice in any season," Galmon replies. "Seek the master dock worker north of the Swift River near the Emerald Stepstones. He knows many paths to reach the mountain."

You want to ask a million questions, the first being why you are being given a quest. You’re already on a quest—Delrona is probably killing your companions as you speak! But this must be a dream, or... something else. You decide to remain silent about your confused state.

Heeding the Chief's instruction, you follow the warrior named Dushino down the road leading out of the village. You are hopeful that you will be able to begin this new quest, even though you don't understand why it has been given to you. You know you have a quest already, but are you alone? Where are Haden and Drue? And who is this Galmon? Garrow is the Chief, isn't he? It's almost too much for you, but in a daze, you continue on, hoping that this will all become clear if you let it unfold.

You try to piece together the fragments of your memory. The last thing you remember clearly is the giant water warrior's snake crashing into you. Talik's scream, the blackness that followed—everything else is a muddle of half-formed thoughts and inexplicable events. 

As you walk along the road, your mind races. You recall the fire message Talik sent to Maeka, the rock structure rising from the ocean, Delrona’s appearance with the stolen page from the Book of Lyt, and the terrifying water giant that attacked you. But now, you’re here in this strange village with warriors you don’t recognize, following the instructions of a chief who shouldn't exist. "This quest from Galmon, if that's his name- its to find a book. There is something there..." You stop thinking as it is making you dizzy.

Every step feels surreal. You touch your face, expecting to feel the wet impact of the water giant's blow, but there's nothing. No pain, no injury—only confusion. The landscape around you is foreign, yet there's an odd sense of familiarity that you can't place. Then you see Ridoan tower far off to the west and and the Great Clan hall and those are the Bordrad Marshes to the south of you. It is Morian for sure but different. You wonder if you’re trapped in a dream or some sort of magical illusion. Maybe you’re dead, and this is some afterlife trial. The thought sends a shiver down your spine- which you felt!...so many questions. As you leave Galmon speaks to you, "You! Mage, this is for you," Galmon spoke as he threw you a small forestine leather pouch, Daemos dropped this in my hand this morning, he said you lost it and that you should 'keep trade alive'?" 

You continue to follow the road, the warriors around you chatting and laughing as if nothing is amiss. You envy their certainty, their clear sense of purpose. For now, you can only put one foot in front of the other, hoping that as you journey further, the answers to your myriad questions will reveal themselves.

But in the back of your mind, the nagging fear remains: what if you never wake up? What if this is your reality now, an endless quest with no resolution? You push the thought aside, focusing on the immediate task. The journey to the summit of Mt. Peak and the eternal ice awaits, and perhaps, somewhere along the way, you'll find clarity—or at least, a way back to your true quest.

What evidence from the text is there to show that you are on Morian? Add the evidence to Thy Quests below. 

Next: E8Q3 Toward the Emerald Stepstones