A NOTE FOR READERS: The journals of Zong-Tossu, though fascinating, should not be taken as accurate. Even though he was considered a great ghav-urath, eventually many of his writings were dismissed as the products of severe psychosis by the ruling council of Thamasku and simply regarded as fiction or parody. It was rumored Zong-Tossu had a mental breakdown caused by his usage of the narcotic cam-rahn.

When we stepped out into the light, we found ourselves on a shelf in the rock along some kind of natural well. Glorious golden sunlight shone down into the space, glittering across the crystal-clear waters below. Colorful fish darted about within the pool, and lush foliage draped the stony sides of the well.

We paused for a moment to take it all in - the sounds of birds and insects from the vertical canopy, the flashes of light and color from the water below… it felt for a moment like we were home again. But then we heard Cho’ka speak up from behind us: “Interesting.”

I turned to see our kreen guide examining a collection of stones on the ground. “What did you find, Cho’ka?”

“These stone flakes do not belong here - they are chips of flint, but the surrounding stone is limestone. And these rocks here, they are arranged in a tight circle with ash and burn marks within it. I believe this place was used as a camp site, and that the creatures using it were working stone tools.”

“Stone tools? Perhaps we should move along.” I said. “No need to provoke any primitive natives…”

Working our way along the stone shelf, we walked nearly half-way around the well before reaching a natural tunnel concealed from view by dangling vines. The tunnel ran straight for a while before opening into another stone well, just as lush and full of life as the last. Here, however, the walls had crumbled down into the well to form a rough beach, so we stopped for a while to drink our fill, catch and eat several fish, and rest. As was often the case, Cho’ka took guard duty.

Several hours later, as he was exploring our surroundings, I heard Cho’ka call to me: “Master Zong-Toss…” and then stop suddenly. When I looked towards him, there was a crude spear pointed at his neck, and his four arms were raised high. At the other end of the spear was a curious creature - a striped biped with a bear or feline-like head, with several others of its kind standing nearby. One of them snarled at us in an unknown tongue and gestured with its spear, and even if the words were not clear, the creature’s meaning was. As I raised my arms in the air, I noticed Tr’Shadai and our two remaining warriors do the same.

Now that we had surrendered, our captors paused for a moment as if wondering what to do with us - it gave me a moment to study them. They were threatening us with crude flint-tipped spears, and had stone axes thrust through the only thing they were wearing - simple belts; it seemed we had found Cho’ka’s primitives. I noticed that the stripes in their white fur were curiously green and of different shapes: they seemed to have been dyed into their fur, perhaps with plant juices.

They soon moved us to the tunnel and kept us in place for a few moments, occasionally grunting or growling to each other, before another of their kind approached. Not just slightly smaller and more lithe than her fellows, this newcomer’s figure made it clear she was female. Her fur was better maintained as well, being largely cream-colored rather than the dirty off-white color of her fellows, and her stripes seemed much more carefully applied, being of nearly uniform width, length, and spacing.

The others quickly made way for the new arrival, showing a surprising amount of difference to her, given her smaller size. She stalked forward until she was standing before me, her green-slitted eyes studying me carefully.

She growled out a series of noises - surely interrogatives - then paused. I could only shake my head and respond to show I knew how to communicate: “I’m sorry,” I said slowly, “I can’t understand you. I don’t speak whatever language that is.”

She responded with more grunts and growls, more slowly this time, as if trying to carefully enunciate each word to help me understand, but I could only shake my head again: her tongue was simply too foreign to my ears to understand.

She did not flinch at that; she simply cocked her head to the side, touched her temple, and I suddenly felt a now all too common sensation… mental contact. “Can you understand me now?”

“Yes.” I replied. Her mental voice was surprisingly warm and comforting - deep and bassy in a way that conveyed strength and resolve, but also felt kind and warm.

“You are strange folk, and you travel with an insect.”

“I do.” I responded, “We come from far away and are stranded here. If we trespassed in your lands, we meant no harm or offense, we are simply passing through in an attempt to find a way home.”

“I am Jade Macaw, thonot of the Macaw Tribe. These are our lands, but you are in great danger here. You must come with us. My warriors and I will take you back to our village to meet my father, our chieftain.”

I hurriedly agreed to accompany Jade Macaw, as we had no other destination in mind and had no interest in confronting this ‘danger’ on our own. We immediately set out and traveled for some time, moving through a series of tunnels connecting various sun-lit wells, always keeping to the tunnels.

Our new acquaintances traveled largely in an upright manner as we moved along, walking on two legs much as we did, but they also appeared quite comfortable dropping to all fours when tunnels were too small for their full height. Eventually, however, we came to a well that possessed neither a ledge nor a tunnel allowing us to cross it. Instead, Jade Macaw indicated we needed to ford the waters at the bottom of the well to proceed.

As they prepared to make the crossing, her warriors looked especially nervous, glancing up at the walls of the well, almost as if they were expecting trouble. I placed my hand on the thonot’s arm to indicate I wished to communicate.

“Yes?” she sent me, initiating mental contact. “What is it? We must prepare ourselves for the crossing. You and those like you will need to swim, the waters are deep.” she sent, looking me up and down to gauge our height.

“That is fine,” I sent back, “we can swim. I was wondering - why do your otherwise fierce warriors look nervous about the crossing?”

“Ah, you are from elsewhere. They are keeping watch for xill: terrible four-armed demons that appear from nowhere and snatch our people - the quaggoths - away. Something about the rock walls keeps us safe, but crossing the open space of a sky well leaves us open to attack.”

I simply nodded, suddenly much more concerned about watching the sky for ‘demons’ than before. Several of Jade Macaw’s warriors moved to cross the sky well first, sinking down to their shoulders in the crystal-clear waters only to haul themselves safely out on the other side.

Then it was our turn to make the crossing. Our interpreter accompanied us, while her last few warriors remained behind to take up the rear. The water was indeed deep, forcing my Rhul-thaun companions and I to swim, but that was no obstacle for us.

When we reached the midpoint of the pool, Jade Macaw visibly tensed in the water, motioning us to be still and quiet with a gesture.

Then, suddenly, a four-armed creature appeared out of nowhere, causing an eruption of water around Tr’Shadai. Their description was apt - the creature seemed to have a red hide, fangs, horns, and a number of insectoid features.

Tr’Shadai gave a shout as the creature accosted him, thrashing about. Jase Macaw leapt to defend him, sinking her stone axe deep into the xill’s shoulder, causing the beast to give a howl and pop back out of existence.

My apprentice began to thank his rescuer as soon as his head cleared the water, but then another xill appeared behind the female quaggoth with a splash, menacing her with its many clawed limbs. Before she could even respond to the threat, several of her quaggoth warriors hurled spears at the xill, skewering it and sending it to the bottom of the well.

All was quiet for a moment, but the xill did not give up that easily. We were soon faced with a new flurry of attacks, with multiple crimson-red horrors attacking both groups of warriors and ourselves simultaneously. The quaggoth warriors made an excellent showing for themselves, hacking their foes down quickly.

Our group had more trouble, with one xill attacking Tr’Shadai again, another raking Wir-avios across the face, and a third lashing out at me! His face awash in blood, Wir-avios thrust out blindly at his xill with his armblade, causing it to disappear, and Cho’ka tore into the horror attacking Tr’Shadai with his own claws and bite. Meanwhile, I swam backwards as quickly as I could while Bal-olech and Jade Macaw moved to beat back the xill attacking me. Just as she sunk her atone axe into the xill’s head, however, another of the creatures suddenly appeared behind Jade Macaw.

The crimson horror wrapped its arms around her and then they were both suddenly gone with a splash, disappearing as quickly as the savage xill had appeared.

We all just held our breath for a moment - Jade Macaw was gone and no one seemed sure of what to do. Eventually, the quaggoth warriors on the far side began to gesture and grunt at us, indicating we should proceed across, so we swam to the other side, quickly followed by the rearguards.

Once across, we all gathered in the tunnel, dripping wet and morose over the loss of Jade Macaw. After a time, Cho’ka laid a clawed hand on my shoulder, quietly suggesting we should move on. At this, I nodded and stood, causing the remaining quaggoths to rise sullenly and lead on, taking us to their village.