“Adra, Rai, care to share what you found on the body?” I called out, getting the attention of the other two. I managed to hear them grumble a little at the idea of moving from their comfortable spot in the sun, but they came over, sitting in a different sunny spot.

“Take a look. There were two items, neither of them something I would voluntarily use.” Adra admitted, looking a little perturbed as she pulled something from her magic bag. I blinked at the appearance, agreeing with her assessment on the face of things, but I was curious enough to get a better look with Identify.

The first item was a raggedly torn dress, originally white and lacy but the damage was severe and the mud that clung to it made it look rather disgusting.

Despoiled Bride’s DressRarity Rare Type ClothingBase Protection0 against Piercing DamageBase Protection0 against Slashing DamageBase Protection1 against Blunt Damage Special Effect Bride’s Lament- Channelling Astral Power into the dress projects the pained screams of the Despoiled Bride outwards, their effect depending on your Charisma.Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this shield is held, you gain +2 CharismaOnce upon a time, a young woman was left at the Altar by her Groom. In shame, she fled into the swamp, sealing her tragic fate.

It was an… interesting piece of equipment, that was for sure. I wasn’t sure what the active effect would do, my only guess was that it was something similar to the Bolotnica’s initial Mind-Magic attack, something that made me want to test it, at least for the purpose of studying it. But even with that incentive, I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to wear the filthy fabric, an attribute I wasn’t sure would go away with such mundane means like washing it. But there was that nifty magic spell, in my Grimoire, used to clean and even mend clothing, something I had used from time to time, when the clothes worn in our group needed it.

The other piece of gear wasn’t much better, it looked like a weird, almost phallus-shaped mushroom but from the leather wrapped around the shaft, it was supposed to work as a mace or club. Inspecting it gave me a little more insight, but no increased desire to use it.

Swamp-Tzar’s ScepterRarity RareType One-Handed MaceBase Damage 0 Damage PiercingBase Damage 0 Damage SlashingBase Damage 18 Damage BluntStrength Modifier High Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this shield is held, you gain +2 EnduranceSpecial Effect Swamp’s Binding - Channelling Astral Power into the Scepter allows you to suck an enemy into the ground, trapping them in mud.This mace was wielded by Tzar Bolotnik, a spirit ruling a borean swamp. His power to drag his enemies into the mud is preserved within..

I offered the mace to Sigmir, who looked rather unhappy, the strange shape just too unpleasant.

“I think I’ll stick with my axe, if I need to use a shield.” she said, revulsion clear in her voice.

“It might be useful for enemies that can’t be easily cut, don’t you think?” I asked, slightly amused that her feelings mirrored my own so closely.

“What about the dress?” Adra asked, sounding a little amused at our reaction.

“I might experiment with it, just to see if I can learn something from that active effect, but in all honesty, I don’t want to wear it, at least not in its current state.” I admitted.

“But you know that spell we use on our clothes from time to time, it might work on this as well.” I suggested, reaching into my nearby magic bag, to pull out my grimoire.

The spell was relatively simple, at least for a spell that I couldn’t cast by directly using the runes, only requiring a strange chant that moved the infused Astral Power into a spell-formation. Stepping away from the others, just to make sure nothing went wrong, I started to read directly from the page, not even trying to understand the sounds I was making, I had failed to do that already, instead I simply channelled Astral Power into my voice, letting it flow out.

Some thirty seconds later, the formation wrapped around the dress and was completed, magical energy suffusing the enshrouded area to fulfill its cleansing effect. Only that the effect didn’t seem to budge the dress, if anything it was a little more dirty, as if some of the dirt that had fallen away was replaced.

“Looks like the mud is as much part of it as the fabric.” Adra remarked, looking at it a little more intrigued.

“Sadly, you are right. There might be a way to change that, but I have little to no experience with the manipulation of magic items not made from my Ice.” I admitted, shaking my head in disappointment. Having a magical garment would be useful, even if my preferred choice wouldn’t be a dress, certainly not a gauzy, white ensemble such as this might have been, when it had been whole and clean. No, I liked my leathers, even if they were a little restrictive at times and my feathered cloak, despite my attachment to it, was simply too warm to wear most of the time now.

“Well, the items are… something.” I admitted, shaking my head at the look of the mace again. Part of me wondered if it was some sort of prank-item and couldn’t rule out the possibility.

“What do you think, stay here for another hour or two, just to relax, before we make our way back to the dwarven camp? That way, we can stay in the cottage again and set out to their hold tomorrow morning, maybe even with an escort.” I asked and the others agreed to the idea.

We spread out again, with me leaning against the tree and Sigmir’s head in my lap, while Adra and Rai were catching some sun-rays nearby.

“Out of curiosity, Rai, Adra, do you have an idea about your path forward?” I asked, after some thirty minutes of comfortable silence. “Lenore managed to break through the second Divide using the swamp and Sigmir mentioned that she might be able to cross the second Divide soon, that she has an idea what path to take. Do you have an idea what your path might entail?” I explained while gently caressing Sigmir’s face, a proud smile curling my lips.

“I don’t think I’ve reached the end of the path, when it comes to that strange Shadow-realm. I’ll continue to experiment with it, maybe I’ll find my path in the Shadows. But I think I need a few more levels, before I can even try. I mostly caught up to you, but not quite yet.” Rai answered, looking pensive. I felt a surge of pride, even if his latest experiments were quite far removed from the things I had taught him, my pupil was truly coming into his own.

“I remember the writings of my elders and I don’t think it’ll be easy to cross the second divide, unless I bond with a tree. But that would bind me to a single place, near my tree and grove, something I don’t want to do just yet. So we’ll have to look for opportunities, it will take quite a bit of life-force to push me past the second Divide.” Adra explained, sounding almost apologetic.

I nodded at the two of them, as I considered the differences between the races.

“What about you, Ylva? Any idea?” I asked, even if I had an inclining what the answer would be.

“Ideas, yes. Opportunity? Not so much. The lower the level of a spirit, the harder it is to cross the divides. And this one might be especially hard for me, given that I strengthened my Divine Bloodline. But if we find some more Divine Blood, that would help a great deal.” she answered, her maw clearly stretched into a wolfish smile.

“I doubt that we’ll find something like that but I’ll try to find out if there are more problems with the Black Wolves further south, maybe we’ll find a suitable snack for you.” I chuckled, making a mental note to take a long look into the forum during my next log-out.

“As for myself, I’m not sure where my path will lead me. I will have to meditate on it, maybe something will come to me before long. Hopefully before we stumble across something similar to the swamp, it would be a waste to gain a lot of levels that might strengthen us even more if we gain them after crossing over.” I chuckled, causing Adra to roll her eyes, at the idea that we would be that lucky again.