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- Holmes: As Archelaus heads back to the shore, contemplating what the entrails of the snake have told him, he notes Okhfels holding up Haikain who looks out of it. He also notes their boat, which appears to have a large rock on it.
- Archelaus: "What's going on here?"
- Okhfels: "I just put a rock in your boat."
- Holmes: Haikain grunts something incoherent
- Archelaus looks somewhat confused, a not uncommon state for him of late.
- Archelaus: "Take it off?"
- Isadora comes striding along briskly, quite briskly, quite away from her tent. "Ah!" she beams when she takes in the scene. "Wonderful!"
- Okhfels: "Why would I do that?"
- Archelaus: "It makes it hard to use."
- Archelaus: "...as a boat."
- Okhfels: "That's why the rock is there in the first place."
- Holmes: All three of the conscious people standing by the lake start to get an inkling of a feeling that someting odd going on about them, but it's too subtle for anyone to put a finger on it at the moment.
- Isadora: Isadora, being nigh-impervious to such inklings by now, doesn't allow it to ruffle her temporarily good humor. "It's a splendid rock, Okhfels. I'm in your debt."
- Okhfels doesn't pay attention to little things like that. He gets them all the time, especially when he eats beans. ... He chuckles at Isadora's compliment. "My pleasure."
- Archelaus: "I'm not sure you've quite understood the concept young man. Now Gilbert of Sel-Kai proved quite conclusively that the prime cause of boats is what he termed 'floatiness'"
- Archelaus: "Not the most poetic of terms, I'll grant you, but his logic was quite sound. As you can see..."
- Isadora: "Who did Gilbert of Sel-Kai work for?" Isadora asks Archelaus, pleasantly.
- Okhfels: "Little man."
- Archelaus continues in this vein until somebody stops him.
- Okhfels: "I put the rock in the boat, so that it would NOT float."
- Holmes: At this point, the often oblivious Archelaus is first to note the phenomenon in question due to his preoccupation with the heavens. The sky over the White Wood is turning yellow. Very slowly, but very distinctly. With the sun still high in the sky, and not a cloud to be seen.
- Archelaus: "hmmm. That doesn't seem quite right."
- Isadora: Waiting for Archelaus' diatribe to wind down, Isadora blinks at his unexpected conclusion. "What's not right now? I'll add it to the list."
- Okhfels: "Isadora said to do it. So it's just fine."
- Archelaus: "I'm rather new to these parts, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not quite right is it?"
- Archelaus is staring at the sky over the white woods.
- Okhfels gets the idea and turns to look. "I am new here too. But I don't like it."
- Isadora cranes her neck in the appropriate direction, although wary of a possible diversion.
- Holmes: Nurek, the Vajaari guide, comes striding up to the group at the lake, looking at the sky as well. "Bad omens for two directions," he says enigmatically.
- Holmes: Sweat breaks out on his dark brown brow.
- Isadora sighs and says to Nurek, "I must be mad to even ask this, but could you explain that a bit?"
- Holmes: "Pallos is sick, so I've been out scouting the hills," continues Nurek, now addressing his employer directly. "The goblins are still out there, and they're doing...something...."
- Okhfels: "Doing what?"
- Holmes: "They're dancing, I think. That's what it sounded like," he says, now turing to address Okhfels. "I'm no coward, but I will no face many, many goblins myself. I merely get near enough to hear them singing some crude song, and the sound of many feet stamping the ground together."
- Okhfels: "Not good."
- Archelaus: "It sounds like it might be a ritual."
- Okhfels: "It's a good thing we have an expert like you."
- Holmes: Nurek nods in agreement. "It sounds not too different than the Curse of Z'taar ritual performed by the people of the land of my birth - a ritual performed before war."
- Isadora: "Indeed. So you can come and identify this ritual for us, good scholar?"
- Holmes: It occurs to Archelaus that Haikain might have a better chance of making such an identification.
- Holmes: "Also, ladyship," reports Nurek turning dutifully back towards *Isadora, "Jilliams bades me tell you that many of the soldiers have become afflicted by the same malady that Pallos shows signs of."
- Okhfels: "I can go on a raid, take some men, kill their priests."
- Holmes: "Yes, there was a shaman with them, no?" says Nurek. "One that didn't end up amongst the dead?"
- Holmes: Nurek's distance from the other seems odd. It's clear that he's trying not to get close to other people. His expression remains unchanged, however.
- Archelaus: This sounds more like Haikain's area than mine, I fear.
- Holmes: By now the sky over the White Wood is an ugly ochre color. Down the shore, Isadora notes the Rhiani shaman also observing the phenomenon, and apparently doing some ritual of his own.
- Holmes: The crew of the Skyship, preparing to make weigh, also stop short of their duties to gawk. No doubt their captain must be considering whether or not to take off yet today.
- Isadora: "Yes, I think the goblin shaman has overstayed his welcome in our hills," Isadora says to Okhfels. To Nurek, she adds, "Bad tidings, but good to hear them swiftly. Anything else?"
- Okhfels: "I will start getting ready."
- Holmes: Far off in the swamp to the south of the lakeshore here, a very odd cry emanates. Possibly human, but very odd if so. And dire sounding, as if something has died.
- Okhfels jogs away quickly.
- Isadora: "Good hunting," Isadora calls after him, then looks to Nurek again. "That sound to the south--anything you recognize?"
- Holmes: "I'll ask one of the men to query the Rhiani about it," says Nurek. As usual he doesn't want to deal with the Rhiani himself, as the Rhiani trust every Vajaari about as far as they can throw a chegain.
- Holmes: He lopes off.
- Isadora: Finally, Isadora returns her attention to Archelaus, hoping he's found an answer in the meantime.
- Okhfels: Okhfels is going to go gather his troops. He sends two of his Rhiani recruits to see if any of the Rhiani hunters want to come along. He sends a soldier to roust up the biggest, heaviest crossbow in the camp. Starting with his boat having a rock in it, and moving on up to the sky again. As he gazes at it, suddenly his focus is drawn far off to something above the trees far across the lake. Almost as if his vision had zoomed in, he notes something break the skyline of the woods.
- Holmes: Given the distance, whatever it was must be gigantic.
- Holmes: But, the essence tells him somthing of a story. There are forces from above assaulting the strength of the woods. A battle of sorts is occuring. And the yellow aura is an effect of some massive magic meant to stop the power of the sky descending on the White Wood.
- Holmes: Then it all goes out of focus from the strain of trying to focus so far off. Archalaus realizes that he might have fared better had he used Haikian's spyglass to follow this. But there was no time to do so.
- Holmes: Haikain, left by Okhfels, groans as he lies in the tall grasses near the shore.
- Holmes: Isadora, looking back inland after Okhfels leaves, notes many more people watching the sky over the White Wood. Amongst them is the goblin, Agok. Something about his thoughtful gaze at the woods seems disturbing.
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