It is late afternoon when you have successfully coerced all of the animals and members of the party across the threshold of the Dead Place.
You quickly realize that riding in single file or in a column is miserable to the riders in the back, as the dust disturbed by your mounts' hooves rises in great choking plumes.
Vorrik comments, "This place is odd. Does anyone know what we might find here?"

Noragia, who has been irrepressibly cheerful since the zebra's reprieve, interrupts her homily on the virtues and foibles of the sable antelope and its trail gear to give Vorrick a worried look.
"Naming calls Vorrick Brighthelm" she says "If you don't already know who the Desert Wind fought here then I'm not going to be the one to tell you, but to avoid that fight being lost, all the life was stripped from this land. Even magic can no longer be used here. Because of that, later, some bad spirits were imprisoned here in that place ahead. They were very powerful spirits and in the end they escaped. I don't know the details of that story, but my clan warn us to avoid that place. There are still lesser bad spirits here, maybe some followers left to take revenge, or defeated guardians"

It is time for Urox.

"This," Lemak speaks up, "is a place of sorrow, but also great victory.  Here, Storm Bull," he puffs his chest out, "fought the Devil.  He was sorely wounded, but was revived by his wife Eiritha, though at the cost of the life of this place.  (If not for this sacrifice, perhaps all of Prax may have been overrun and corrupted.)  Renewed, the Great Desert Wind called The Block - which you saw when we gathered at the feet of the shaman - down upon the Devil, halting its advance, but not destroying it.  Chalana Arroy tended to the Bull's injuries after this battle," he nods to Norijia in acknowledgment.

Looking back at Vorrik, he continues, "Chaos still lingers and blights this place - always an eternal battle.  Little that you find here will be good.  Have your wits about you.  You will need your sword arm."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Wed 09 Sept 2020.

Vorrik shudders a bit and pats Lucky on the flank, continuing in silence.

Trotting along through the thick dust, progress is slow. Every step of your mounts churns up clouds of ashen powder.
On the bright side, you don't think that any enemy riders here could surprise you.

You have seen no signs of life since entering this afternoon.

As Yelm sinks lower into the sky, the wind begins to pick up from the south-southwest, with gusts blasting you from behind. At Tuari's next reading, the bone indicates you are still on course. You think you should settle in for the night, lest one of your mounts make a false step.

Actions?

As they prepare for a night of rest, or what passes for it in the Deadplace Mabwe says "I will take the darkest watch again, but spirits may wander this place so wake me if you need to."

He takes a little of his rations, some root and dried leaves and curls up chewing it, but gives an involuntary shudder as the memory of his last dream/vision returns to him. He shifts, rises, turns a circle and a half and then lays down again.

"Maybe we should have more than one person on watch at a time while we are in this place?" says Noragia

"Not a bad idea," muses Lemak.  "But there are only six of us, so it means only three shifts during the night.  Let's try it tonight and see if we feel too tired the next day...  I'll take the last shift."

"I don't suppose any of you fellers plays an instrument?" Norajia says hopefully as she checks her lyre over after the day's travels.

"I only play the dagger-axe," says Lemak, inspecting his weapon.  He brushes down Lobber too, and feeds it a bit of rations.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:03, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

As you settle in for the night, establishing orders of watch, Norajia plays her lyre.
It is not her finest playing. It's a bit hard to hear as the wind intermittently gusts.

Lemak cocks his head to the side, apparently intent on something, then perks up.  "I hear other music in the wind.  It's faint, so I'm not sure of the direction...  Perhaps you should be careful plucking those strings, Norajia.  We don't know whether this music is in response to yours.  Nor whether it's friend or foe.  Or spirit."

Norajia looks surprised, and with a couple of chords rounds off her tune rather abruptly. She gives Lemak a forced smile of apology. "Sorry, Lemak I didn't think it would carry..."

"I don't know whether your playing carried either," Lemak says with a smile, "but probably better to be safe than sorry.  The Wastes are harsh enough.  In here, I think it's definitely better to assume anyone or anything we come across is a foe until proven otherwise..."

Tuari nods at Lemaks words and stares out into the wind "Wise words, this is a place to be careful for certain." he adds resting his hand upon the pommel of his sword.

When Norajia finishes her tune, the wind becomes suddenly silent and you hear a ghastly music that sounds like hundreds of voices, trumpets, timbrels, flutes, harps, reeds, and other instruments you have never heard before, all in different timing, singing and playing different, bizarre melodies, seemingly making no effort toward harmonizing with each other.
<OOC: Think "Revolution 9" on the White Album or  the beginning of ELO's "Fire on High">

The cacophony becomes louder and louder until it passes on all sides of you continuing on with a weird Doppler effect until it fades in the distance.

The rest of the night goes by without incident.

"Ohhh-K..." Noragia says wide eyed after the silence has stretched a few seconds. She looks at the other questers in confusion.

As the sound of the "music" (if it can be called such) approached, Lemak grabbed his dagger-axe in preparation.  He kept it held in guard position as the music passed through and around the party, and didn't relax until the sounds receded.  Looking around at the others, he went to sooth Lobber and then laid his weapon back by his bedroll.

You pack up and hit the trail on Fire Day of Stasis Week, Fire Season.
The bone continues to point you deeper into the Dead Place, taking its toll on Tuari.
About midday, the Bone of Varantas begins humming and vibrating wildly, nearly twisting itself out of Tuari's powerful grip.

Surprisingly Mabwe awakes feeling better than he did the morning before they entered the Dead Place, having satisfied himself that the nightmare he had the previous night was just that and not some new portent of doom.

He walks along humming to himself until he sees the activities of Varantas's bone "What now? We there, erm here?"

He looks about trying to spot whatever it might have sensed to make the spirit within behave so.

Always preferring to ride near the van, Lemak closes the distance to Tuari.  "Which way is it trying to point now?" he asks the bigger man, staring at the bone.