Then we went back out to visit Dulcimae, who wanted us to stay with her and her last two brothers for a wake that evening. With nothing better to do, we agreed, and spent the hot part of the day inside, trying to stay out of the heat. Prihelm went looking for Isu, either to discuss religion or for other reasons (he seemed to be somewhat smitten with the local priestess, as well as with Dulcimae; our resident paladin is somewhat warm-hearted), but the rest of us just relaxed and sat around talking and whatnot. Aside from the undead and the giant scorpions, I have to admit that this land was not exactly what you might call exciting! And of course, there's more to life than undead and giant scorpions!

So we went back out to Dulcimae's wagon again that night, and she decided, while waiting for the wake to start, to tell our fortunes. I was hoping she'd do a better job of it than the last fortune teller had done (I don't remember her name of the top of my head, but she started this whole mess, curse her!), but it seems that none of these Vistani women are taught how to properly tell a fortune. No prophecies of wealth, love, happiness, or anything else, just this nonsense. She does it with seven cards, so I'll tell you about each in order.

First there was the King, which (according to Dulcimae) signified the "King of the Desert. This is his land and only he can free one trapped here." As if we didn't already know that! Then came the Knave, which was supposed to mean that someone "seeks to steal what is the King's. This knave is evil personified; he is the one who bars your exit." Then came a card which she told us represented our location, and that we were "displaced in time and space." Alamon looked insufferably pleased with himself, and I was seriously considering smacking him just to wipe that grin off his face, but fortunately, Dulcimae hurried along.

The next card was the Mists, which were supposed to represent an ally of our or some such nonsense. Dulcimae conveniently failed to think of anything, so she just said that "this tells us very little. Your ally will either be one of mystery or in a mysterious place. It could also mean that your ally is not your ally and will not be present when needed." Very helpful! Then we had the Tower, which means that "the outcome if you fail is Destruction! Of your bodies, minds and souls, perhaps of all things." Do you begin to grasp why I say that no one taught Dulcimae how to tell a proper fortune?

There were still a pair of cards to go. The sixth card showed three moons, and it was the only one that was really interesting. Dulcimae told us that we "must seek the King in three nights...on the Night of Thoth. This card has another meaning also: it is the sixth card, the sign of the hex. The King understands the hex as the knave does not. The Sun holds the Six behind him." Why this was really interesting will come in a bit, but let me finish. The last card was Death, of course. It always is! Anyways, we were told that "Death will come; of that, be sure. He will come for you or the knave. If the knave wins, we all are lost. The Knave and King must fall together or all is destroyed. Flee the King else he think you are also the Knave," and that was that. These Vistani really are dreadfully uncheery people!

Well, this bit of unpleasantness being out of the way, we went on to the wake. It was going along in typical fashion (that is, people sat around looking gloomy), when the undead decided to crash the party. They really have the most abysmal timing! We eventually drove them off, but not before Dulcimae and her last two brothers were dragged away and I was forced to waste a potion on Alamon. He's supposed to be healing me, not the other way around! And even after I so graciously helped him out, he still said all sorts of mean things about me! Clerics. Puh!

Since there wasn't much we could do, we decided to go back to the temple to sleep in town, where it was a lot safer. After healing ourselves in the morning, some of the group went to talk to Isu to find out about this Night of Thoth (there actually is such a thing!) while the rest of us tried to figure out what else Dulcimae's reading could have meant. I still think it meant that she was making things up, but the rest don't believe me, and we spent a lot of time arguing (not exactly a surprise, I'm afraid) and not a lot of time coming up with solutions to our problems. Eventually, Sam extracted a promise from Isu that she would help determine when the next Night of Thoth would be, and I got Prihelm to promise to help keep her distracted (he seemed rather enthusiastic about the prospect), while the rest of us were going to explore the temple without the inconvenience of being watched by the priestess.

Alas, we didn't have time to get into the inner sanctum while the others were on the roof; Isu was regrettably quick about finding out that the Night of Thoth was indeed in two more nights (just like Dulcimae said, although I think it must have been a random lucky guess), and since she's one of those snobs who only likes people of her own religion, she decided not to take Prihelm up on his offer of dinner, even though she seemed to have a bit of a thing for him. Humans are very odd, and religious humans more so than most! I mean, look at Al!