Last night was hardly the most relaxing of evenings. I'm not even sure how I ended up in the nomad's caravan, I suspect someone must have carried me. The nightmares stil haunt me occasionally, although recently I seem to carry the aquan sword with me in them. I was however awakened by Terry shaking me violently to wake me up. Instinctivly I spasmed and caught myself casting something, at the last moment I realised and threw it straight up. at this moment three huge leathery creatures, aflame, dropped out of the sky and instigated the process of ripping me to shreds. I screamed, and then suddenly everything was on fire.
Whatever it was that was happening, I couldn't tell reality from nightmare any more, and I don't remember anything more about the evening after that, other than Terry putting me back to bed.
The morning came, and we proceeded to the temple. Vincent and I tried questionning our captive priest, but he was insane, frothing, and there was nothing I could do for him. Ayeena and I rededicated the temple, and at the end of the ceremony, she excecuted him for his crimes, which I suppose was the kindest thing for him. I felt a little awkward throughout the ceremony, since I've never done any ceremonies before, my movements were clumsy and hesitant, but Ayeena performed her part with otherworldly elegance and poise.
The temple immediately returned to the state it had been in when we first spotted it, and I could feel that Amaunator's presence was with us. I stood on the viewing platform, and kneeled before the sun, then he spoke to me. He said that were we to travel south, we would find a great rift, where potential allies with reason to hate the drow reside. He also said that there I would find destiny. Needless to say, one filled me with hope, and the other with dread. Apparently I should also keep the aquan sword close when I sleep.
Back in the nomad camp, Vincent apologised to me. It was a clumsy half baked apology, but at least now he realises why I was so angry. I suppose he's never really had to deal with people before, so I'm willing to give him another chance. I think he's learnt not to put his friends in danger, or needlessly anger the gods, but I feel a bit bad for guilting him quite so badly. I feel like I manipulated him into apologising, when I should have just spoken to him about it, and I let my emotions get the better of me. I'll make it up to him somehow.
It seems Argent has finally figured out the ritual that'll let her adjust magic items. First on the agenda was converting Vincent's scythe into a spear, which he's much more comfortable using. Apparently he needs to take a life to complete the transmutation, so we went hunting orcs.
One weird thing I noticed, in the stories the heroes always seem to defeat their foes in new and exciting ways. In real life it seems that the safest thing to do is use the same trick over and over, after all, the next bandit you come across isn't going to be ready for the move that defeated the last one. I've noticed if I flick the sword upwards in a certain way, I often catch the eyes of my enemy, just enough for marigold to slip in behind them. I have to say, even I'm starting to lose track of Marigold when we fight, she moves like a blur!
Where was I? Oh yes, there were a lot of orcs. Marigold and Terry took them out while I stood in the middle and focussed on not dying. The spear is complete, and we're just catching our breath before heading back to the caravan for the night. We'll probably stay with them for a few days, as travelling in the group will be safer and faster than forging on alone.