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The room, which overlooks the courtyard and stables, is small yet surprisingly clean and comfortable. You sleep well, but you are rudely awoken at dawn by the clang of a brass hand-bell. Guyuk's wife is walking around the courtyard ringing it for all she's worth. 'Daybreak, daybreak! All awake, all awake!' she cries, her voice only slightly less piercing than her bell. Quickly you wash and dress before gathering together your equipment and heading for the stables. Banedon is already there, having risen before dawn to prepare the horses.
The sky is cloudless and the air is warm and still as you ride out of Chadi. Open grasslands stretch before you, broken occasionally by the low, whitewashed farm buildings and peasant dwellings. It is noon when you arrive at a mass of standing stones that line the highway approaches to the village of Phea. Banedon recalls a local legend that the Black Zakhan of Vassagonia once came to wage war on the defenceless inhabitants of Phea, who had no army. The besieged people offered up prayers to the goddess Ishir, who was sufficiently moved by their plight to cause the wicked Vassagonians to become petrified right where they stood, clad in full armour and clasping their weapons. It strikes you that the Pheans may very soon have cause to pray for Ishir's help a second time.
A mile beyond the village you see a cloud of dust on the highway.
I use Huntmastery plus Principalin for telescopic vision. It is a patrol of Anarian cavalry. I choose to ride forward and meet them. My Kai instincts confirm these are loyal rangers, and they state my purpose. We show him our Invitation. He tells us that if we stay on the highway we should reach Tahou by sunset, it’s clear for now but tomorrow could be a different story. They have found many enemy scouts in the hills, so we need speed. We thank him for the info and continue on.
After a lot of quicker riding, my afternoon we see the hills surrounding Tahou. We hurry our horses after seeing the Hills. A stone watchtower guards the entrance to the hills. Do I have Pathsmanship + Tutelary? Yup. It tells me there is an enemy in the watchtower and the huts around it, laying in ambush. But, this is the most direct way to Tahou. Make a wide detour or gallop in? I make a detour.
As we move into the hills away from the ambush, we eventually spy a small hut with a candle in the window. I choose to stop and investigate. I enter and no one is there. I use Divination and it tells me someone is under a trapdoor. I choose to open the trapdoor and pull out an old man, almost blind. I tell him he has nothing to fear from us. He is hunchbacked, marked by poverty, and a hermit out here at a gorge. The hermit offers use some of his smelly gruel, and I decide to be nice and accept. We talk, and the hermit tells us there is a cave that cuts through the hills to Tahou and shows it to us.
We enter the concealed cave. I pull out my Firesphere. After a while, we exit in a hill above a small village called Varta. It looks completely deserted, probably the people have been evacuated to moved to Tahou. After more riding, we reach Tahou.
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