As you travel through the Dark Woods, you see more and more mushrooms of many colours—red and brown purple and white, and such—growing from the trees. Soon this mass of fungi fills a secluded glade where the trees have almost all fallen. There is a narrow, dusty trail winding through this glade. The mist glows slightly underfoot and in the corners of your eyes.

Shrett looks and spots a white puffball mushroom that might be a Chalana’s Tear, near the path inside the glade. He enters and a Voralan (fungus/dark elf) pops up from behind a log and tells him to halt, in a weird buzzing voices in Aldryami. It speaks of itself as Mee Vorala and says you are in Zu Gortha (the Grey Hell, their land, Bog will remember), and that you must turn back. Shrett begins to negotiate to get the mushroom and pass through. He notices that the mushrooms grow in rows, as if cultivated, and spots elf-faced carved trees; their eyes closed – yes, these must be dead ancient Aldryami. A graveyard, of sorts.

Bog, most of all, knows something about the Voralans and Mee Vorala. She is the sister of Darkness beings Sokazub and Kyger Litor (Beast, Man runes). She grew on the body of Flamal/”Fala Mal” when he died. She and her people tend to be passive, but when they act can be powerful. In the Underworld, and sometimes on the surface in times of strife, they may grow great Sporewoods on dead trees. They believe in Food and Eater gods, and that they are an interface between them. She is an enemy to Mallia – she refused her secrets and her claim as sister, but Mallia corrupted some of Mee Vorala’s children to eat the living, and made disease with Death. A Voralan prophecy that some Uz know is of the End of the World: the Bright One will stop and be slain by a hero of Darkness. Mee Vorala will consume Yelm’s husk. Darkness will rule on the surface again; with decay of all, and consuming of all; so that the Void is left, in a return to how the world began.

Boamund comes forward as Shrett asks what the Voralans (now you see a diversity of them around) might want in return for that mushroom and your crossing; he offers a Pathway spell or a mushroom from Boamund. The voralan considers this and looks at Boamund’s arm with close interest, and agrees, popping a new mind-protecting mushroom off and saying with pleasure that this is a “new cultivar”. But it then says you still cannot cross. There must be Death. You are confused by its way of thinking and communicating. It points to a black mushroom, Humakt’s Crown, and says Shrett might eat it to die, or that he might kill Boamund, or that he might make Boamund eat it to die. You discuss this as it patiently awaits. You realise you can re-enact death by: (1) eating the deadly mushroom [instant Potency 225% Endurance or die!]; (2) striking a companion to kill them; (3) actual death (most powerful); (4) fire a blessed arrow at someone/somewhere? You opt for what Bog wants most: to sacrifice Finstaval. After debate with Boamund, you unbind Finstaval who is slowly awakening but he drops to the ground, still too weak even to hold a dagger that Shrett offers him to defend himself with. Boamund turns away (with Fraud) as Bog dons his lead tusks and rips Finstaval into a bloody mess, screaming for some ugly moments. Immediately, Finstaval’s ghost appears, angry and vengeful and sulking. He points to Bog and decries his treachery in Ralian, but then turns away onto the Path of Silence and begins his descent into the Underworld toward Orlanth’s Hall, as he says he must do. Shrett notices a terracotta bracelet bead transform, fading to light grey: the Death rune like a ragged sword-wound. You have the puffball mushroom and cross the glade. Some sort of shadow had passed, too, and Bog took that as a good sign. [It was the Hunter Vinshana, sneaking through with magic!]

You pass down the trail, where the ground becomes grey, hard and frosty as it slopes downward. The air chills and is thick with corpse-stench. The forest drains of color and life; the trees have lost their leaves, are gaunt and withered, or even seem made of shadow, mist, poison or even lead. Aldrya’s tree-hall has crumbled, gored by axe and rent by teeth and charred by flame. The bleak Dark Woods engulf you in a nightmare land of rot with their black-barred cage of dead trunks. Everything once wholesome is now foetid. Looming above, a great tree reaches upwards. White as bone, a cavernous crack widens down the side, like a maw waiting to swallow the world. But it still is far away. Shrett’s magic arrows twitch and glow blue, and the mist ahead bears that tinge. You’re in Hrunda’s Underworld now, where what would survive to become the Tarinwood is all but dead.

There is a cry for help in Ralian and a boy of perhaps 8 years old rushes up to Shrett and grabs him by the leg, begging for aid, that a Chaos-monster is ahead and he is lost and needs to find his parents. You don’t get much more out of him, but there was a crashing in the forest up ahead that had stopped. You cast some spells and don’t find anything there. Shrett holds the boy, who Bog says must be one of the dead, over his shoulder and you proceed, denying the boy’s begging to go no further.

Something amiss is in the canopy ahead; there is movement in the skeletal trees, but it then stops. Fraud sees a dark shape there. Still, no sign of Chaos from Boamund’s magic. The boy Kary is panicking more. You await, weapons and magic ready, discussing, then Shrett comes forward. A dark shape covered in thick hair crawls through the trees. Eight black unblinking eyes stare at you, each the size of a wine pitcher. The enormous spider’s fangs clacking, its legs carving furrows through the soft loam. Its mouth opens wide—so that you can see straight down its wet gullet. The boy Kary tries to flee, but Shrett holds him firm, feeling protective. But then Fraud addresses the spider in Swampspider and it looks at him, and replies in very refined Tradetalk: “Hi there! Where are you from?” And, much to your surprise, you have a lengthy and very polite conversation with it, who introduces itself as Yama-kisintha, and tells you (as if you didn’t know) that it is a giant spider. You learn from it that it is a philosopher of sorts, and an iconoclast among her kind – choosing vegetarianism, although she still admits a hunger for plump, juicy blood-prey. Yet she finds a strong morality in not eating beings of the Beast Rune, which she considers to be true persons such as herself. You mention your quest to slay Hrunda and she accepts that notion but says that it’s too bad as he’s a friend; another person. Soon you learn that she does not see you as persons. And, as Bog talks to her in Auloring, he learns that she does eat what you consider persons: “Aldrya’s children”. He likes that admission. She “grazes” almost exclusively on them here in the Dark Woods, and believes that they do not experience pain when she bites into them, or fear as her venom begins to liquefy them, or really “think” like a Beast Rune person does. They’re just mimics of sentient beings, so it’s proper vegetarianism to eat them. Shrett passes forward a Fruit of Hrunda and she happily eats it but says that her normal food is better. She happily relates her “experiments” on Aldrya’s children that show they are non-sentient. You leave, promising to spread word of her novel ideas amongst her kind, and she says she’d welcome more of them here, as there is plenty of food around. A bead transforms dull red as the Beast rune’s power infuses Shrett’s bracelet. Once you’re clear, Shrett lets Kary down – and he sprints into the mist, screaming. It’s not long thereafter that Shrett realises that he has been robbed – the little bastard stole a magic arrow!

[Bozfani the Uz has two twin tricksters with her, but she doesn’t truly realise their nature, yet in this case one used “Become Child” magic to sneak in and steal stuff and try to cause you to kill the spider. I mean why not?]

You continue through the mists, guided by Shrett’s remaining arrow’s glow. A new clearing presents itself. It is bare of any former life. Black ooze pools across the ground of the clearing. Corpse-stink invades your nostrils, thrusting nausea down your throat. This site is unwholesome and evil. You can see claw marks on trees, and great footprints, and deduce signs of a fierce battle here. And one of you sees a huge finger in an ooze-pool: of a black Uz! Fraud soon realises this is all a remnant of the demon-demigod-vampire-troll Rafierki, who took the role of Nontraya/Vivamort to nearly kill Hrunda. And indeed, Boamund’s magic shows all the goop here to be Chaotic. You experiment with various means to damage the slime, and it reacts physically but also tries to reach out mentally, but is easily denied. Finally, Bog bravely presents himself to it and welcomes a conversation. It speaks [Darktongue] “Do your worst. I am defeated, so what you might do to me is meaningless. My purpose is fulfilled; my service to my sender complete.” And asks to speak to his Arkati companion.

Uneasily, knowing that he will be lied to by this Chaos/Gbaji-thing, Fraud comes forth, and it talks to his mind. “Nontraya and Hrunda are mirrors of each other, but from a different perspective the masks of you and I are mirrored. Yet what lies behind those masks? We do share the same goal. Perhaps the same face. I still have the power of Darkness that I could lend you to complete our goal.” Fraud questions it, and it says it can give him Darkness magic to strike terror into Hrunda’s heart, to ensure that Hrunda dies and that Fraud strikes the death-blow, because anyone can do it; not just the Hunter. Its whispering mind-voice mentions “The Wanderer” who sent it, and Fraud can only think of Duke Aamor “the Wanderer”, exile from Dangk in Dangim province of Safelster, where Seshnela took over some years ago early in the Ralios-Seshnela conflict. Aamor has been exiled, said to be a foe of Seshnela and maybe an Arkati. But how could he be this Wanderer? Fraud is confused. He asks the demon if it is Aamor and it chuckles and says that no, it is Rafierki, but Fraud will know The Wanderer as the darkness that it calls spreads. Rafierki says that, regardless of what happens now, it will fade. Fraud has enough; he has denied strong temptation to use that Darkness magic offered; and stops the discussion. Bog grabs the finger and Devours Chaos on it. He quells a chilly feeling of something trying to force itself into him as he eats it, and then it is gone, and the ooze around the clearing acts more quiescent. A bracelet-bead transforms to dull black; the Darkness rune now is blessed.

You travel on through the mists. A bluepaw monkey presents itself, walking forth and climbing atop a burned stump. It is tall with faded fur, and a bit of a paunch. Shrett thinks it’s one of the Hrunda shamans but can’t tell which. You hear the thrumming chant from the temple; but still faint now; and the monkey straightens, baring his teeth, and demands that you halt and undergo a trial, to purge and purify yourselves of all Guilt before you confront Hrunda and do your sacred task. Spirits come forth, and your trial begins instantly. Each of you faces one, arguing that you should leave the quest as your guilt is too great to continue. You fight them off, but for some of you it’s a tough struggle. Fraud faces an ashen elf, blaming him because he helped the Dying Fire which now has burned it and some other elves and killed them. Shrett meets a spirit of the “Deep Woods elf”, who had tasked him to stop something eating elf-kind; and now Shrett realises you did not stop the spider once you learned it was eating them. The Wise Beast returns, telling Boamund that his secret is out now, and who knows how far it will spread and what damage it will do. And Bog meets a very vengeful Finstaval as a ghost. Boamund purges himself of guilt rather easily and then watches the others. Fraud and Shrett make short work of their guilt, too, soon enough. But Bog is losing and forced to use his Spirit Block to drive off Finstaval, who curses and once again walks off to return to his journey to the afterlife.

During the challenge Boamund sees Pelnor Lackheart enter the clearing, face the judgement via a ghost of an old friend, admit that he is very guilty about a secret he revealed to the Wise Beast, that his family in Nolos had funded some of the Seshnelan invasion and otherwise aided him, and he did not speak up against it, and silence was his tacit agreement which caused his friend’s death. Pelnor dies of a broken heart, and his spirit rises to go to Malkion’s chamber. But there’s no time right away to ponder the tragedy.

A glowing magic arrow lands at Shrett’s feet after he finishes his purging. He picks it up. Bozfani comes forth riding a giant beetle along with a warrior-elf, and hands it back a bow as she dismounts. There are two giggling twin ginger-haired humans with her group. She says she should challenge Shrett here, wanting to atone for her deception on this quest before she faces the spirits of Guilt. She offers him a test of non-violent magical prowess, with the winner of three contests to finally concede defeat in the quest. He asks that she first do the judgement of Guilt like he has, and she looks uncertainly to the monkey/shaman, who gestures for the two to proceed; it must be OK. So the two call forth their heroic runic powers. She first calls Darkness (healing darkness will come from Xiola Umbar, to repair damage her deceit has done), Harmony (peace between elves and trolls has happened and can be again, despite what her quest causes), and Man (we are all of the same runic forms and can understand each other, especially mortality and faults). Shrett retorts with Movement (she can change to recognise that she is wrong here), Illusion (I forget what he did) and Truth (again I forget) and he wins the first; she the second; then he defeats her in the final contest. It was close, but she admits her loss and hangs her head a little in disappointment, and goes to face the spirits before she leaves. She gives him a magic arrow, and he now has two again!

You’ve pieced together that Bozfani came here to “spy” (in a sense) on the Tarinwood on behalf of the Black Arkat human allies, seeking advantages; but not so much to help her Guhan clan’s Argan Argar Chain. But she hasn’t succeeded fully.

This was a powerful place of judgement, and as the monkey/shaman says that you’re now cleansed of guilt and may go forth to challenge Hrunda, you think about what has happened here and on the quest. How did overcoming this station’s Guilt affect you? Most of you feel differently. Especially, Shrett has some unease about acting as leader again. Some deal might have been arranged with that spider, if he’d been fully aware of things. But you sally onwards, the arrow glowing bright as you come toward the looming Great Tree of Hrunda.

The world throbs with an erratic rhythm, like a wounded heart’s. Hrunda’s tree stands in the centre of a large dead grove. The grove’s floor is covered with a spattering of detritus—fungi, dead leaves and twigs, bone fragments and pebbles. Thick branches from the great tree form a “ceiling” about two man-heights above the ground, making the area exceptionally dark. Shrett has to use darkseeing-magic to continue.

Ahead, the great tree warps. Its sky-grasping branches shrink, now merely gigantic. Yet the trunk—higher than any temple, any wall crafted by mortal man—is split open like a hungering maw. Shadowy mists swirl across the crack in the tree’s rough bark, stretched like a veil. Pale bones are mounded beyond the unfelt wind that swirls the mists. A shape lurks atop them, inside the tree. It growls, shaking the canopy.

It is a huge monkey, as tall as a great troll. At last, the Half-Mad God Hrunda! Hrunda hunches, one hand clutching seeping puncture wounds in his side. There are both monkey and other Man-rune species’ skulls inside the tree. All bones are supernaturally large, and the myth’s power tells you that these are remnants from generations sacrificing Hrunda to the forest again and again, only for Him to rise anew. The erratic mist-winds are in rhythm with the god-monkey’s whimpering. They are contained within the rent in the tree-trunk, as if held back or holding themselves back.

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