==== Summary 142: Tea with Ilk (2015-11-27) ====
[[Giraine]] [[summaries-2015|Summaries]]
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The stilt-walking "sticksnare" toad led you onwards toward the Sottogh village, across the increasingly rocky uplands of northern Giraine. You passed the half-ruin of the Evracian monastery as evening approached and you saw it brightly lit, quiet, and still caked with white streaks of bird-droppings but showing some structural improvements from last time you were nearby. 

You camped one night under the stars, on a dry slope speckled with boulders and moss, serenaded all night long by croaking amphibians that rustled on the periphery of your camp. As you continued northeast the next morning, Giranois people began to gather around you in the distance, following you in their typical furtive stalking fashion, with muttered grumblings occasionally coming from them. Pterodactyls, too, began circling overhead, shrieking in hunger. The wilderness of Giraine certainly noticed your presence out here, beyond of the domain of Baron Ronalio.

The Sottogh clan grounds came into view not far from the dizzying cliffs of Chuck-Em-Off Point, with their small square huts of dry-stone walls and turf roofs in a loose formation, interspersed with firepits and stakes and totems. There, Groad the huntsman met you with his bowing and cringing welcome and led you through the settlement. He passed by a central pit that was covered in large stone slabs, and glanced at it and at you as you passed- Miguel noticed this anxious attention and thought that Groad was watching your reaction, but he let it go and told you all about it later. Hmm.

You came to Ilk's old, foul hut, which was more cave than building, with no windows and festooned with toads-on-sticks, some old and dried out and others very much alive, unblinking eyes watching you. Jabbering Giranois with stone-tipped spears had encircled you, following in agitation, and the crowd pressed you forward into the hut.

Ilk was there, as ever, seeming not to move from this spot (reminiscent of Elder Useless), in her toadlike obese form with waves of unclean odour wafting from her and the glowing coals before her. She invited you to sit and share tea, and you did, as the Giranois throng outside watched, pointed and chuckled. Maugis eyed the door nervously, wondering if should or even could make an escape.

Ilk put a stone bowl on the coals, added herbs and other more uncouth ingredients, and boiled the "tea" in silence, her wrinkled hands twitching. Then she passed out little toad-skull bowls for you to drink from and served you. You all choked it down, some more easily than others. Maugis's stomach churned along with his soul. This was no normal Malkioni magic that he felt coming from her, even if the tea was just a ruse or mundane ceremony.

Ilk intoned then, waving a carved bit of bone at you:
"Three souls of Sottogh, lost to the angry soul that wails in the canyon near the wall-men's home. Thirsty and lured in by that soul they were, tempted to their doom, and cursed by our past. But the wall-men come now, as the toad said they would (pointing to a toad body charred on the coals), and the vapors speak to me that the angry soul still wails in that canyon. What was buried rises again, the doom of Saint Granno, the doom of wall men too... Ilk hears wall-men speak words of friendship, but why would friends leave our enemy be?"

Captain Ahappi spoke for you, saying that the Giranois must make things right with this angry spirit in the canyon. Ilk turned the issue around quickly, saying:
"There are many on Giraine like this angry soul. The strongest souls would not leave, would not be Shattered. Granno showed us that the bravest souls would leave even if they could not be shattered; even if their depravity or corruption could not be cleansed. This cowardly one must be shown the way, or shattered."
	And so, with more discussion, you learned that the Giranois could not deal with this ghost themselves, but if you found its bones and took them to Skeleton Isle and buried them there, praying to Makan that they would find rest there, that should resolve the matter. 
	If you did this, and returned to Ilk, she said you would have earned new favour with the Sottogh and in return she would help you. She explained that she knew the Huru clan, of the great St Granno's Mountain volcano's slopes, had risen in anger against your people and roused the Sharde, too, but she and the Sottogh had their ears and might be able to calm them, as a party that was still neutral in this feud (true, it had been a while since the Sottogh had caused trouble with Baron Ron's people).
	You weren't thrilled with this quest but agreed, and soon left, returning to the canyon and meeting Fraud Shaven along the way. You cast your magics and entered the cave. As the spirit began to use its glamours to scare you off with frosty auras and such, you reasoned that the former bandits' "shrine" at the back of the cave was a good place to look for buried bones and one of you quickly found the spot. 
	Fraud, Ahappi and Boamund began frantically digging for bones and found them soon enough. Miguel, staying outside the cave, helped you with magics and Maugis prepared his Banish spell for the ghost. Seeming to run out of ways to drive you away, the ghost manifested and Maugis blasted it away with Makan's power. You finished digging in peace and wrapped the well-preserved old skeleton up in hides that Miguel had ready. And after a short journey, you were back at Aria's Well, debating how to deal with these bones- could you burn them on the island to satisfy your geas? The Shadow was ready, and you braced for a voyage that was not likely to be pleasant-- Skeleton Isle ranked low on lists of ideal vacation spots...
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