Prologue:
The forest rain has come - the deep, battering rain, depending from the sky in long ribbons of weight, bowing the jungle closer to the ground. Guilder Haarken trudges through the forest with the deluge battering its way off the thick leather of his nagahide cloak. On a small hill beyond the edge of the slavers' outpost is a ring of ironwood trees and Haarken's guest is there, meditating. Haarken makes his way into the clearing where a man in a crimson robe sits cross-legged on the long grass, head bowed, apparently untroubled by the downpour. At the man's feet an enormous hound with skin like a shark's raises its horned head and growls as the slavemaster approaches.

"Rugar," says Haarken, "There is a complication. I've learned from our Green Shadow friends that there is a second of these creatures in the vicinity, these Anathema of yours." The man in crimson raises his head, revealing an old face, lined and gaunt, with a great gold patch over the right eye. "Tell me," he says.

Session 3 : The Ghost and the Hunters

Jao, son of Jiun, is up early on the first day of his new life. He has a prisoner to question. The Nine Ravens tribesmen have left Ari Jackalstooth outside the huts in which they are staying, tied to a couple of stakes in the ground. The canopy that covers the dwelling of the Bone Faces is thick enough to keep the torrent down to a drizzle, but Ari is on the edge of a clear section and is soaked through. It just doesn't pay to be a slave-trader amongst the People.

Jao finds Ari and starts asking him a few pointed questions. The Exalt is in his Beastman form - eight feet of jewelled chameleon with eyes swivelling and tail atwitch. And he pointedly removes Ari's gag by extending the retractile claws from the tips of his fingers and slashing through it. Thus, the fallen Green Shadow is cowed into compliance, albeit a grumpy one, by the time the conversation begins in earnest.

Jao finds out quite a bit from Ari. The attack on Silent Waters was merely a precursor to a larger, and more significant attack which the Shadows are planning to make on the Nine Ravens as they make their upcoming migration from Thorned Nest at the end of Fire Descending. Ari explains that the merchants from the west, the "Guild", have offered the Green Shadows a very lucrative exchange for a large number of slaves, something with which they can rid themselves of the hated Dark Eyes, the militant leader of the Red Scars tribe which has opposed them so.

When Jao scolds Ari for his abandoning of the old ways of the People, Ari replies that there are no ways any more. Grandfather Oak abandoned the People because the old ways have failed; he no longer has interest in them. The ways of the westlanders are the new ways now and the People would do well to heed them. Depressed, Jao holds Ari down and replaces his gag.

It is as this is happening that the shaman Whispering Leaves emerges from the Nine Ravens' hut and approaches the god who was once his nephew. It seems that Whispering Leaves is quite perturbed: He had come here to visit with the Bone Faces shaman, Listening Skull, and to meet the newly chosen protector of the tribe. Like all of the Ten Tribes, the Bone Faces have been without a proper totem since Grandfather Oak abandoned them, but now they have found a new protector. He tells Jao that this protector is a ghost who claims to be an ancient ancestor spirit of the Bone Faces named Worship Of Many Worms. But Whispering Leaves is quite suspicious that the ghost is in fact an impostor. On his own, surrounded by zealous Bone Faces, he had not wanted to push the matter. But now that Jao is here, and bearing the power of Luna's chosen, the shaman is hopeful that he will be able to intervene.

The Nine Ravens who have come to the Bone Face home have been summoned to the Council Pit for mid-morning. Jao takes his place among them, having returned once more to his humanoid form. For now he has asked Whispering Leaves to do the talking for the tribe, waiting for the appropriate moment to reveal himself. The Council Pit of the Bone Faces is a great, deep hollow dug into the earth in the centre of their home. The canopy of trees is clear around it, but in times of rains like these the Bone Faces hang a great canopy of cured skins over a birch framework to divert the rains into separate channels. All of the Bone Face tribesman in the township are present - over a hundred spears and twice as many others - but the pit is large enough that there is still space to accomodate the Nine Ravens, who come filing in last.

The Pit is illumined by torches born by armed Bone Face spearmen. At one end sits a great dais made of slabs of black stone, with a throne carved from antique wood. Upon it sits Black Wind's Answer, the ageing chief of the Bone Face tribe. Solid and massive, he was a mighty warrior in his day but it will not be long before he joins his revered ancestors. His massive head is lined with age like an old leather bag about to wear through and his fine hair is as white as fresh bone. The chief speaks in a low, growling voice and a young spearman stands beside the throne to shout out his proclamations to the tribe.

Black Wind's Answer bids the Nine Ravens welcome and asks them to tell the tale of how it is they came to be there. Word has already spread through the settlement that they escaped a slaver raid and took Ari Jackalstooth prisoner, but the chief wants the whole story. Midway through the tale, Jao decided the time for honesty has come and reveals himself, stepping forwards and assuming his beastman form. In doing this, he allows his anima banner to flare a little, trailing a wash of silvery moonlight through the dim cavern of the Pit. An awed sigh passes through the crowd and there is a brief scurry as space is made for the forest god as he approaches the throne.

Faced with such an impressive totem from the Nine Ravens, Black Wind's Answer calls for the Bone Faces' own god to come forth. The shaman Listening Skull enters, wearing a ceremonial headdress whose faceplate is made from the yellowed bone of an ancient human skull. Great masses of beaded rags depend from each side of it, rattling and dancing and creating the impression of a head both massive and monstrous. When the shaman speaks it is obviously the voice of the posessing ghost coming through him.

The Pit has fallen silent now. All eyes are on the Exalt and the ghost. Jao and Worship of Many Worms begin with the formalities, telling of their lineage and complimenting one another. But it quickly becomes apparent that below the surface a verbal joust is on. Jao brings things to a head by asking Worship of Many Worms if he recalls a certain tale about the Funnelweb Spider Woman which is in fact a fabrication he has made up on the spot. When the ghost claims to know the tale, Jao is satisified that he is dealing with an impostor.

Sensing that he has erred, the ghost challenges Jao to a game of Dragon Stones with a small side wager - at the end of each round the loser must truthfully answer one question put to him by the winner. The two sit down to play and Worship of Many Worms, who is clearly more familiar with the game, handily wins the first two rounds. Jao is a little surprised by the questions, which mainly seem to be aimed at probing his inegrity - not quite what he had expected from an impostor. However, when Jao wins the third round of the game, much to Worship of Many Worms' surprise, he is able to put to the ghost the question he wants to ask: Who are you really?

At which, the ghost leans close and, sotto voce, tells Jao his tale....

In fact, he is not Worship of Many Worms. But he does have his Name. The ghost was once known as Marcus Astreleinius and was a pre-eminent sorceror of Lost Zarlath, one of the mightiest eastern cities which was lost at the time of the Great Contagion. Before Zarlath was lost, Marcus had been betrayed by his second wife and his step-children and murdered cruelly, his body left to decay. With his karma unbalanced his hun had not returned to the great wheel but instead stayed in the underworld, seeking to right this one great wrong.

He stayed in the Underworld a long, long time. For the outbreak of the Contagion occurred not long after his murder and the fair city of Zarlath was swept away in that cataclysm, lost within the depths of the Wyld, perhaps forever. Without purpose, Marcus wandered the Empire of Aki. After many adventures, he came upon the soul of Worship of Many Worms. As is often the case with those most unfortunate amongst the dead, the ancient shaman's essence had been hammered down by the artesans of the underworld and used to make Soulsteel - in this case fashioned in the form of a dagger. Marcus won this dagger from a Nephwrack in a game of Dragon Stones and kept it ever since.

After some time, he found certain sorcerous techniques which allowed him to make contact with the Echo - the last, faint imprint of the soul's original personality which remains in soulsteel. Learning a little of the thing's former life, Marcus offered it oblivion and then journeyed on to visit its former tribe, hoping to find a way to return the dagger. When he arrived in the Lands of the Oak, however, he found a people in disarray, desperate for leadership and protection now that Grandfather Oak had abandoned them. Weighing the options in his mind, he decided that he could do more good here by means of this deception, while also finding a purpose to replace his mislaid quest for vengeance.

Jao listens to Marcus/Worship's tale and weighs the words in his heart. Something about them has the ring of truth and the Exalt decides that he is being given an honest account. Thinking also about the corruption he has seen amongst many of the tribes so desperately scrabbling to find a god to replace their absent ruler, he decides that perhaps Marcus could be a better choice than many. And so the two reach an agreement: Jao will aid Marcus's deception and Marcus will aid Jao by recounting his (not inconsiderable) knowledge of the past, which may help Jao recover more of his memories from former lives.

With the matter of Worship of Many Worms' identity settled, the council ends and the Nine Ravens return to their tenting area eager to be off. Jao, now clearly their leader, walks at the head with Whispering Leaves and Worship of Many Worms. The Exalt is already making his plans. He will send runners to Thorned Nest to warn Vahael of the threat from the Green Shadows and the Guild. With any luck, the tribe may be able to move to Silent Waters early, and thus evade the notice of potential raiders. The Bone Faces can be counted on to patrol the northerly routes so at least there may be some warning of Shadow incursions. Meanwhile, Jao will lead the rest of his men back to Silent Waters to begin its fortification. (And also to relieve Pi Yen and Lazy Log, who are alone in guarding the winter home for now.) Once the Nine Ravens are fortified within Silent Waters then the warbands can return west to deal with the slavers for good and all.

But Jao's plans are due to be interupted. As they approach their area of the camp they hear a cry go up from some of the remaining guards - there is an intruder in the camp. Worse, there is more commotion from beneath the canopy and, on rushing to the scene, Jao finds the Master of Captured Breaths lying in a pool of blood, having been badly wounded by the intruder. Jao plucks an image from the Master's mind - one of the earth gods, a man with one eye covered in something golden. And then he is moving. Someone has hurt the snake, who is under his protection. Now he will offer the protection a god offers: The protection of retribution.

Jao gives orders quickly, calling on the Bone Faces to look to their perimeter and the Nine Ravens to look to the injured serpent. He then sets off, loping through the trees. Meanwhile, Worship of Many Worms asks Steals From Memories if he might "ride" in her and thus accompany Jao on the hunt. For it is his job too to protect this ground, but the old bones of Listening Skull will not do. With some trepidation, the spearwoman agrees and the ghost passes into her, leaving the old shaman to stagger into Whispering Leaves' arms.

Jao follows the intruder's trail to the edge of the camp and is in time to see a figure haring off into the forest. He takes off in pursuit with Steals From Memories close behind. It is not until the forest trail leads them both into a narrow ravine, whose white stones will be the bed of a creek once the season of water comes round, that the Exalt and the ghost begin to suspect that they are being led.

Coming round a bend in the ravine, the two come face to face with red-clad Rugar One-Eye, who stands maybe thirty yards ahead, by the dry slope of a small waterfall. Rugar has already fished a pair of javelins from the long pouch slung on his back and when he sees his pursuers he releases them. The essence-charged missiles shriek down the ravine trailing contrails of silver fire, and although Jao leaps clear easily enough, the ghost's reflexes are not quick enough. Steals From Memories catches a barbed javelin in the guts. It impales her and she collapses, bleeding profusely.

Jao is in motion now, clutching at the roots on the side of the ravine, turning his leap into a quick scramble, taking him over the lip and into the trees. Once up here, he finds that Rugar has a dozen men stationed on the sides of the valley - men who are only now reacting to the sounds of the conflict below. Angered by the injury done to his friends, Jao relieves his frustration on the hapless troops, tearing through their ranks with alacrity. By the time Rugar gains the lip of the valley, the men on Jao's side are dead while those on the far side draw their bows to shoot hopelessly at the tumbling Exalt.

Jao turns to vanish into the trees but instead finds himself beset by Rugar's great hound, which tears a great bite out of his leg with its jaws. Angered, clubs the beast away with one fist, dodges, Rugar's next javelin and then when the hound throws itself at him, ducks under the beast to catch it on his horns, eviscerating it. The animal collapses, whining in pain.

Marcus, meanwhile, has jumped from Steals From Memories' body into that of one of Rugar's men and begun cutting down his fellows. By changing bodies again, he quickly sews confusion amongst the six men left in the ravine below and has now made his way up the far bank to fight the bowmen there. Now that he is not in a body he cares for, the ghost makes a terrible combatant - leaping from host to host and striking those around him until all are fallen.

Jao tosses the hound's body from his horns and it lies twitching at its master's feat. Enraged, Rugar, hauls out another javelin and pitches it at Jao in another burst of silver. The javelin seems to vanish from Jao's sight and then it rips into him, its enchanted tip piercing through his tough skin and up into the lungs. In pain, he claws the weapon free and leaps up into the tree canopy, changing instinctively to the form of a true chameleon and hanging there.

As blood sobs out of his belly, Jao sees Worship of Many Worms, the face of his host distorted to form a hideous skull-mask of bone and cartilage, leaping across the ravine, towards Rugar. A half-instant later, another figure bursts from the treeline on the far side - an enormous warrior, nearly 7' tall, painted and tatooed with the markings of the Red Scars tribe. And an instant after that, he sees nothing but darkness.

Epilogue:
(Written by Rob Llwyd -- Jao's player)

Listening Skull, wearied by his patron's possession, had been fortified by a shockingly pungent but restorative draught prepared by his colleague, Whispering Leaves. He and the injured Steals from Memories, whose wounds were likewise tended by the Nine Ravens shaman, were left in the capable care of his apprentice when the survivors of the slave raid left Bone Faces territory the next morning. The folk of the two tribes were hushed and solemn, not certain what to make of recent events, except that great things had transpired and, perhaps, a better time lay ahead of them. Honourable talk of kinship and renewed friendship lay wrapped around the parting, these formalities familiar and comfortable despite the momentous events they could not quite comprehend.

For the tribesmen of the Nine Ravens, a difficult journey awaited them, as they made their way back to Silent Waters in the company of their shaman and carrying their wounded, the captive Green Shadow, and a litter housing the massive serpent with whom Whispering Leaves kept up an incessant but one sided conversation. They did not speak of the tasks ahead, of rebuilding the defenses of their winter encampment, of cleansing the site of the slavers' blasphemy before the Raven's Eye Festival at Calibration, or of Ari's words threatening war to come and the need to present their captive to Chief Vahael's questionable mercies when she arrived. Instead, they moved stealthily through the jungle trees, and when they spoke it was in hushed voices of good, odd omens in bad times.

On the second day out from Bone Faces territory, as they moved in stealthy slowness through the forest within their own territory, the great bronze and black serpent raised his head. The long expanse of his muscled body followed, marked by Whispering Leaves' stitching, as his bulk ascended in a straight line from the litter bearing him. Coil by coil, he disappeared into the foliage above, leaving an empty mat of hemp cloth behind. A few minutes passed before a coppery, triangular head lowered from the branches, fork'd tongue tasting the air mere inches from the shaman's nose, before it rose again and disappeared from view.

'Good, good. I reckon he at least knows where he's going. Let's move sprightly, now! "Hanging" in there Ari? Excellent. We've things to do....'

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