From afar, the valley we were told the lichen was growing in was peaceful. Nothing seemed to be out of place, just rocky slopes, some sparse trees, some evergreens and leaves scattered on the ground. There was a small brook, maybe a remnant of the water that had, in days long past, dug the valley from the mountain and on the upper slopes, near that very brook, we were told to look for the peculiar lichen. Blood Moss, a red lichen, almost dark enough to be called black, and apparently, it was famed for its antiseptic properties and could be used as an disinfectant.

“I don’t think I like this valley.” Adra admitted, looking skittish, like a fawn that was staring at the wolf, not sure if she should run just yet, or if that would only carry her into the jaws of the hunting pack.

“Can you elaborate? He said there might be undead and sometimes, beasts settled nearby, but I can’t see anything.” I asked, stepping up next to her, looking down the slope, my face scrunched into a frown.

“No, it just feels…” she paused, clearly lost for words, “just weird. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s almost as disturbing as the Dorrian Mountains themselves.” she admitted, shaking her head.

“Undead? Wouldn’t surprise me.” I prodded, my tongue flicking out to taste the air, hoping to detect their scent. There was something, but what that something was, I wasn’t sure. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I was sure I knew the scent, I just couldn’t recall why.

“No, it’s a different kind of weird.” she kept shaking her head, though there was a forced smile on her face now,

For a moment, I considered creating a scrying focus, but the valley wasn’t large enough that anything obviously visible could hide from Adra’s eyes. A quick check with Lenore, who had scouted ahead and was on her way back confirmed that there was nothing, at least nothing visible. However, absence of evidence was not evidence of absence and I wasn’t about to discard Adra’s instincts, just because I didn’t share them.

“Can you try concealing our tracks? I’ll try to hide us, it’s early and cloudy enough that there are enough shadows to work with.” After a nod from Adra, I got to work, spreading a film of twilight around us, feeling that Rai joined in, twisting the veil of magic I put out, making it more transparent in some places and denser in others. I let him work, knowing that in that particular discipline, he was better than me, the concept of Twilight coming naturally to him.

Once Adra had finished her own magic, the scent of nature and the forest lingering in my nose for a second, we set out, carefully making our way down the valley, keeping our eyes open for any potential danger.

“It’s quiet.” Sigmir whispered, after we had moved down half the slope, planning to reach the brook in the middle first, before following it up the length of the valley. While we had been told that the Blood Moss mostly grows in the upper valley, it apparently liked to grow in any moist and dark places within.

For a second, we all froze, our ears busy scanning for sounds, and I realised that she was right. Before, there had been the soft sounds of the forest, the rustling of dry leaves in the wind, some animal noises, the occasional bird-call, all those sounds of life that were so much part of nature. But here, they had all gone silent. Silent as a grave, as the saying went.

No sound, but somehow, the absence made things only more disturbing. But how could you get rid of the absence, without completely abandoning stealth, daring whatever might be lurking to come out and attack.

Even more vigilant, now completely convinced that there was something here, we continued on our way, slowly creeping towards the brook. As we got closer, the quiet, bubbling sounds of water broke the silence, letting us calm down, if only a little. At least there was some sound, not the absolute, creepy silence.

Following along the stream, we made our way up the valley, checking potential spots where the Blood Moss might grow and even finding a few, small patches, but far from enough for our task.

After we had crossed roughly three-quarters of the valley, I felt the amount of Astral Power needed to maintain the concealing shroud around us suddenly skyrocket, to the point that I would have to activate Overflow to keep up.

“Watch out!” I snarled, warning the others, before I let the shroud dissipate, our concealment fading away, like mist under the sun.

The others instantly moved into defensive positions, all our senses scanning for the threat that had wiped away my magic, when I felt the sun hit my skin, barely warm enough to be uncomfortable to me. At that moment, it dawned on me and I realised what had happened, it hadn’t been a magical attack at all that had shredded our concealment, it had simply been the sun, finding a hole in the clouds and shining down on us.

Still, vigilance was warranted, with our concealment gone, who knew what might jump out and attack us.

“Left side, in the back!” Rai called out, causing Adra and myself to look over, while Sigmir made sure nothing was coming at us from the other side. Olivia, in the middle of our formation, was busy, scanning in all directions, providing back-up.

In the direction Rai indicated, I was able to spot movement, a brief, flickering glimpse between the rocks, some hundred metres away.

“Ankheg!” Adra identified it, apparently having managed a better look than I. Hearing her, a soft curse escaped my mouth, our previous fights against Ankheg still vivid in my mind, despite the time that had passed. The large, acid-spitting insects we had fought together with the Wolves of the Northern Wind had been a pain, quite literally, due to their annoying ranged capabilities and incredible internal coordination.

After considering for a moment, I remembered what one of the wolves had told us, the Ankheg were normally subterranean dwellers, especially during the cold months, only appearing after the snow had thawed or if they were desperate for food. If they didn’t like the cold, I certainly would give them something to think about.

Activating Overflow, without considering longer than a second or two, I rapidly drew a set of Runes, only three of them, creating a dense stream of Liquid Moonlight that was launched outwards, in the general direction of the Ankheg. There was no chance I would be able to hit the agile creature, not at that distance, but I didn’t aim to hit, I merely wanted to get as much Liquid Moonlight, and thus Astral Power perfectly aligned to Ice and still connected to my control, in the area around it.

The Liquid Moonlight splashed against the rocks, some of them cracking from the sudden temperature-change and I pushed it, my mind focusing on the Rune for Mist, pushing the concept into the Astral Power making up the Liquid Moonlight, even while keeping power flowing into the runic formation that created it.

What started out as a stream of frozen light, turned into a bitter-cold mist, the volume expanding and filling the whole area. There was nothing detrimental about the mist, not in and off itself, but at a guess, I had plunged the temperature in the area by some twenty degrees, pushing it from a balmy autumn-day to the onset of winter. Some moisture fell from the air, as the mist billowed around, causing an almost snow-like effect and I felt a smile creep on my face.

“Keep watching, I don’t think they’ll want to move through that, but Rai, please keep an eye out.” I ordered, as we continued moving forward, now forewarned about the danger.

We continued upstream, each small rock that got kicked loose in our passing making us freeze, the clacking sounds so similar to the chitinous claws of the Ankheg on rock, but nothing happened, even as we reached the upper section of the valley, where the water was cascading down some steep rocks.

Given that Adra was the best at finding plants, we let her do her thing while we made sure nothing could sneak up on us.

At times, I was certain that there was movement further down the valley but it might have just been a trick of the eye, it was hard to tell due to the distance.

“We’ve got enough.” Adra finally announced, after she had been crawling between rocks and into crevices for almost two hours.

“Good. Let’s get out of here, up the slope.” I decided, feeling that the more difficult climb up the steep, upper part of the valley was so much more sensible than moving back, through the valley with its insectoid inhabitants.