21 of Last Seed
I spent the morning gathering samples of plants along the northern shore of the lake as Ajira asked. Sometime near midday, I encountered a lone, unarmed scholar on the road. He asked me to find his friend, also a scholar, who had gone in search of some strange animals' cries and not returned. I agreed - I was armed and headed in the direction he indicated anyway. I didn't hear any cries, so I started checking down each draw I came across. One had an unlocked tomb and I assumed the missing scholar may have entered. No scholar inside: a ghost or guardian spirit shrieked and flew up the stairs toward me
no sooner than I had stepped inside. It flew right through my guarding shield and sword. Thankfully, I was already running back out, and its flailing appendage only passed through my arm - the spot felt cold for nearly half an hour.
The next draw over, I heard the cries that must have attracted the scholar: a bellow like a lowing cow in great pain. My attempts at stealth failed very quickly, as something started crashing through the shrubbery crowning the top of the draw. I turned and ran again, back to the road. Thankfully, the two large animals had a harder time navigating the rocky floor of the draw than I, as I had time to