we were on our way around "saerun wood" when the joined hardbacks went dark and still
shortly after that the back lit up with a greenish-white glow
"æther" may have had a solid body once but all that remained was a few bits of detritus swirling around a bare forged metamatrix projected from a core of tass
i wish i'd been there when d'cannith merrix 1 planned that "experiment" to compliment his creativity then explain why crystallized mana is a poor choice of substrate for a core
the hardbacks were designed to resist many dangers but i don't blame flock of 7 for not anticipating the output of an unshielded fountain of raw magical energy
during the visit from æther parts of the hardback flickered on and off
bell and i found out the uncomfortable way that the output of the heating vents can far exceed safe levels
at one point the front hardback briefly kicked into full motion while the rear stayed put and it was enough to break the linkage between the two
while the others fought i stayed in the front to guard the folks less ready for combat so i saw little of æther ... but when bell finished the fight with her hammer i definitely saw the flash then heard kaba's cheering
i haven't said much about the 8 ancient spirits that relic must hunt – the children of the last wish – but the 6 we've banished so far had all possessed the forged merrix 1 crafted
of them only codex has survived
... so we have 2 more chances to improve our average
it didn't take long to help everyone recover and fix up the hardback linkage so we're on our way again
i'm doing my best not to let it get to me but i really could do with fewer instances of dangerous people suddenly appearing in places i thought were safe
that there's anyone here at all is a little unsettling
on our first visit to the mournland we met exactly one person and dowser turned out to be friendly
this time we've met 2 people on the way in and both were disturbing —
between that last sentence and this one we had to stop because of several more unexpected people
we came across a poorly-hidden wagon with a group of emerald claw "bone knights" trying to wrangle a number of wrought
we gave peace to the undead forged
the knights are either fixing their wagon wheel or walking home and either way they're learning a lesson
...
for being a dead place the mournland sure has a lot of living people in it