Success Is The Size Of The Hole A Man Leaves When He Dies

We part ways with the Spider-Riders at the edge of the desert. Ptolonox wasn’t too far then. We happened upon a wagon with a broken wheel, which I recognized from my vision. More than that, it belonged to Sphinx’s Claw mercenaries. They was fightin’ a drake and losing. Between the vision, and not wantin’ Kai’s family to think even worse of me if we ran off, Sledge and I ran off to fight off the beast. Larry and Vebradu slung bolts and spells at it from Charlette’s wagon. I gave a big howl to spook it, makin’ myself look big and such, and Sledge grabbed it right outta the air.

They took care of it from there. I hoped we could set the thing free, but it wasn’t up to me. The Sphinx’s Claw don’t back down from a fight, even if there ain’t no honor left in fightin’. I fixed their wheel. When I was runnin’ up the hill to join the fight, I had a gut feelin’ that somethin’ about them had to do with my vision. I didn’t know what yet, but it felt like the right idea to get on their good side and figure out the rest later.

One of the fellas there took a real shine to me. Heh, he said my howl was very primal. Which felt a bit on the nose at the time, but if you know Vitkatzi culture, you know it’s a pretty high complim-

OW! O-oh c’mon, ya ain’t still sore about that are you? I don’t even remember his name!

Ugh… Anyway. We agreed to travel with them to Ptolonox. They said they could get us passage inside the gates which made all our lives easier. While we made camp one night, I had Larry check out their wagon while I distracted everybody with my charms. As part of our reward for helpin’ the Spider-Riders with the worm problem, Agatha gave Larry this nifty magic thang. It lets him see through stuff, like walls and such. Not like a portal like Big Clyde, but like a window. A magic window. While pokin’ around he found a hidden compartment with some sealed letters. He read them with his window and got some more information on these mercenaries. They was on a mission from the Vitkatzi Empire to smuggle somethin’ into Ptolonox. Through readin’ it, we was able to make some connections to my vision. So we knew we was on the right track. Only problem was, now we knew the Vitkatzi Empire also wanted what Nylak needed us to find. Not a good enemy to have, and Dahlania knows we didn’t need more of them.

Wasn’t too long after that we strolled into town. The Sphinx’s Claw got us a place to stay at a nice inn, and an audience with their employer, Prefectus Shiro Dumein. I remember Kai told me about him way back when. He’s a uh.. real rat faced fuckin’ bastard. Excuse the language. But there ain’t no better way to put it.

Anyhow, we settled in and made a lotta gold from sellin’ our monster parts and equipment and gemstones and such. I made some poison arrowheads usin’ some snail spines I got from huntin’ in the Fissure Fields. Vidar got his armor upgrade with the worm chitin. Sledge got some repairs and was able to move around a lot quieter.