The Reshaper: Darkblood Pilgrimage and the Lost Wolf

The Reshaper: The Darkblood Pilgrimage

Aria and Lucky have followed a disturbance through the air and earth toward a Darkblood camp near the Rift. Aria has always felt close to nature, but the feeling has intensified since the Rift opened. Warlic suggests that the Hero accompany them. Aria does not believe the travelers themselves mean harm; the timing and location of their search make her suspect something else. When the Hero mistakes Lucky for a dog, she corrects the mistake: Lucky is a wolf, and Aria has more pets than the Hero might imagine.

The camp's lorekeeper, Thedra, recognizes the Hero by reputation. They have not met, but the Darkblood remember the help given to their Primarch. Madra's respect is enough for Thedra to welcome the Hero and Aria, even though outsiders would not normally be trusted so readily. The travelers have come because the Rift and rumors of Kolyaban offer a connection to a history they rarely expect outsiders to understand.

According to the tradition Thedra recounts, Kolyaban was the first Darkblood, created by the Queen of Monsters, and all others descend from her. Unlike her descendants, she did not age. After enduring the loss of those around her, she left Lore to return to her creator, the one person she would not have to lose. To the pilgrims, the Queen is also the Mother of Darkblood. Rumors that Kolyaban has returned promise a link to their origins, rather than merely another monster to confront.

That tradition has not meant the same thing to everyone. Thedra explains that Darkblood have long argued over whether it is literal history or allegory. Some describe Kolyaban as the Queen's biological child; others call her the Queen's first creation. The pilgrimage offers the possibility of answers to those disagreements. It has not yet supplied them.

Eremon has dreamed of finding that connection all his life and has taken the lead in the search. Others combine the journey with ordinary work. Nerali and Salthos offer home goods while wondering whether the stories they treated as myth might prove real. Hindar still needs customers for haircuts and shaves while away from home. Devotion, curiosity and the need to make a living share space in the camp.

Nearby creatures have become misshapen. Eremon suspects a connection because such animals have appeared near sightings of Kolyaban, and Aria has agreed to help study them. The Hero captures spiderwings and urstrix for that work. Their altered bodies are clues, while the cause remains something the searchers are trying to understand.

Hostile parasites must also be cleared from the area, and some pilgrims are falling ill from Rift toxins. Eremon says that, whatever their shared origins with the invading creatures, Darkblood have lived on Lore and have different biology. The Hero destroys Extrikiti spreading the poison, remnants of the earlier threat. Eremon hopes further study might yield immunity. Their ancestry has not protected them from the danger, and that hoped-for protection is still only a possibility.

The Reshaper: Lost in the Fog

After the work around camp, Eremon directs the Hero toward a more urgent problem. Lucky has vanished, and Aria is distraught. The wolf had been chasing the monsters nearby. Searching the Extrikiti turns up tufts of fur and her collar; marks in the landscape add claw scratches and a hoofprint to the trail. They are signs to follow, rather than proof that Lucky cannot be saved.

Others have heard of Kolyaban in the same area. Aria wants to join their scouting party, hoping the two searches will lead together. The Hero rallies six interested Darkblood and speaks to Eremon. A path beyond the tracks leads deeper into the woods. The party clears monsters along the route so they cannot be ambushed from behind, then scouts farther ahead.

The forest has become twisted. Aria takes it as confirmation that Kolyaban is responsible for the disturbance she felt. Eremon wonders whether the legendary ancestor has grown powerful like the Queen herself. The Hero's unease angers him: he argues that humans fear other peoples gaining power, and that such fear helps keep the Darkblood isolated in Falguard. The Hero objects that this is not what they meant. Their shared search has not erased the distance between their expectations.

Then they see Lucky and Kolyaban ahead. Fog closes over the path as they hurry after them. When Lucky appears again, she has been transformed into another creature. Aria is horrified. The Hero tries to hold the attacker back, but Aria begs that her wolf not be hurt. Finding Lucky has brought them to a danger she hoped to prevent.

Aria asks for a chance to help her. If Lucky can be knocked unconscious and brought back to camp, perhaps a cure can be found. It is a plan for rescue, rather than a cure already in hand. The Hero attempts to keep Lucky at bay, unwilling to hurt her. She leaps, and the Hero strikes out with a weapon.

In the confusion, Lucky disappears from sight. Aria runs after her despite the Hero's warning. The fog thickens until the companions cannot see one another. Eremon answers the Hero's call; Aria calls out from farther away, thinking she has found something. The Hero follows her voice and finds only a scrap of cloth on the ground. Aria is gone.