Lair of the Hunter
26th Day of Winter, Year 217
Vanja, Bax, Astarael, Ethan, and Lumotu searched the mountains for a path toward the Ancient Ruins, but as night descended the group had trouble finding a place to make camp. The temperature quickly dropping into a dangerous cold, the group pushed on in desperate hope of finding shelter from the harsh winds that would allow them to create a fire.
The party came upon a cave hidden among the stone of the mountains and approached, but discovered signs that someone else had already occupied the cave — signs of chopped trees, stacked wood, and a firepit just outside.
Knowing they could very well perish if they passed on and searched for another place to make camp, the group decided to risk a confrontation with the cave’s inhabitants and moved toward the cave.
They found the cave abandoned, but left behind was strange signs of the cave’s former inhabitant. On one side of the cave they found dried animal skins, simple tools made from bone and tooth, a table for working, baskets of cave-growing berries and fruits and a bed made from fabrics and furs on the lush moss that grew deep in the cave — and on the other side of the cave they found the remains of animals and discarded bones, a nest of animal furs, and on the walls simple cave drawings that depicted a river, a bridge, and a small town, the stars above and the constellation of The Hunter, and among the town simple depictions of the party members themselves.
Bax became disoriented by what he saw, uneasy and panicked. The others looked to him in confusion and sought answers, and before long the truth was revealed.
Bax Demir is the Yeti of Jorung.
The group sat by the warmth of the fire and listened to Bax’s tale of his flight from Northgate after Garbon’s death and his early weeks of trying to survive in the harsh wilds of Jorung, and that for all of his efforts in the end he had failed — starving and hunted by wild beasts, Bax had collapsed into the snow and succumbed to the cold, closing his eyes for what he thought would be the last time.
He awoke miles from where he had fallen, covered in the blood of animals and Swan soldiers with his clothing torn and dream-like memories of the thrill of running and hunting and savagery in the wild-lands — and ever since that day he has known himself to be the beast, leaving the city when rises the constellation of The Hunter in the night sky for fear of bringing harm to his friends.
The group worked to reassure him, but there seemed to be little they could do to ease his worry that he poses a danger to his friends.
Come morning the group pressed forward from the cave and discovered a narrow land-bridge which passed a deep ravine, but discovered the way blocked by a camp of Ogres.
They made an attempt to talk with the creatures, but the simple and greedy creatures snatched Ethan up with amusement once they learned he could speak their language, tossing him into a cage with a wounded tribesmen of Jorung and a number of dead bodies.
It wasn’t long until the others were spotted in their attempt to find a way to free Ethan and had no other choice than to engage the ogres on battle. The ogres were felled just as Ethan expertly freed himself from the cage, and they tended to the wounds of the one surviving tribesman.
The dwarf said himself to be Othig of the Yagurid tribe and that he and his people had been attacked by the ogres and once his wounds were healed he departed to seek his people and learn of their fate, but encouraged the party to seek him out if they traveled North beyond the mountains.
The party made a fire and made use of the ogres’ camp, but as Vanja kept watch her mind was busy with thoughts and worry for her friend now that she understood the terrible burden Bax carried in his heart.
It was as her mind was heavy with these thoughts that the night fog became thick around the fire, until the surroundings were obscured, and soon among the fog descended the light of the River, the aurora borealis that marked the Jorungun sky. The green and gold light swirled and danced and flowed so close that Vanja could reach out and touch it, and when it passed the group was no longer in the ogre’s camp, but they had returned to the Yeti Cave more than day’s travel away.
Through Vanja’s connection to the River, the group had traveled a great distance without moving by some means she still barely understands.
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