Private Tales In Pursuit of Knowledge

[Volker]

Volker approached the college’s gate. He was silent, wearing his muzzle and armed. His face was an unreadable mask, but that might have had to do more with the wraith at his side than any actual emotional state. He’d given it a week, and now he was to present himself at the gates and ask for Kikwi.

Oor seemed amused, or as amused as a burned and withered corpse could look. Volker wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. It could mean he was about to toss Volker on a completely boring job while he scared up other leads. It could also be he’d be commanded to make an example out of the little bird. No one wasted a Volker’s time, much less Oor’s.

At least they were dressed for the occasion. Simple black clothing for Volker, but black robes trimmed in gold papyrus leaves for Oor. Volker eyed it a moment. Chaceledon’s work, and good work at that. Suitable for a client meeting.

I believe we were invited here by one Professor Kikwi. Oor told the guardsman.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

The guardsman looked over the men at his gate, thought for a moment, and then burst into a short sputter of laughter. He collected himself as best he could. "Pro-professor!" he took a few more wheezing breaths. "Ah, thanks for that, not much amusement here. Aye, I know the little bird, off to find more centipedes is he?"

He ushered the pair through the gates and directed them to wait in the foyer of the main building. A small glittering messenger made its way up and twisted through the sky into the college towers.

Ten minutes later, Kikwi entered the hall. "Ah, friend!" he exclaimed, tottering over. "I am so glad you came. And you brought a second. I hope you've been well since the class. I've been quite busy cataloguing... well we'll get to that soon enough. Come! Come, I will tell you all about it." He beckoned the men follow him to his small and cluttered room.

On the way he explained rapidly about his most recent interest, a particular centipede (the guardsman was correct) that interacted most interestingly with a local fungus. "Ah, but I must apologize, I'm afraid I never did get your name from the class?"

 

[Volker]

Oor gave Volker a venomous look when the guard laughed. Volker didn’t so much as flinch but that was not a good sign. He followed the wraith as he stepped into the courtyard, and into the foyer of the main building. A messenger was dispatched, and Oor folded himself delicately into a chair. The wraith was looking at Volker with a gaze nothing short of furious.

You dragged me from Witherhold for this? His tone was low. He didn’t rely on looks alone to be intimidating; he looked like a corpse one had thrown on a burn pile. No nose, ears, eyes or lips. His skin was delicate as paper. The robes he wore were monstrously out of place; black and cloth-of-gold like one would wear to greet a client. Volker knew he was in trouble the minute the owl toddled in.

To Oor’s credit he didn’t show his anger. He followed the owl, listening to him go on about centipedes. Rheinhard. This was a mistake you don’t make often. Oor’s tone was frigid, and he lifted his hand to undo the buckles on Volker’s mask. Two months. I don’t want to see you unless I have a client lined up for you. A client that I choose.

Oor left without a word, vanishing into shadow and bleeding out between the stones.

“Rheinhard Volker.” Volker told Kikwi quietly.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi blinked as the other man... dissolved? His little beak opened and closed a few times and he raised a finger as if you say something, but could not put the words together. Had... had the other man even been there at all?

He was brought back to the present by Volker's quiet words. "Ah! Yes, well now, Mr. Volker, as I said I am glad you have come..."

They made their way to Kikwi's small room. It was in a lower tower and had likely been a storage area previously by the looks of it. Kikwi didn't mind, he didn't need much space, after all.. There was a minute bed two cluttered desks, and what little wall space there had been was lined with bookshelves. Texts, scrolls, and various cages and cases sat upon these. Hanging from the ceiling over one of the desks was another cage, and this one housed a rather large orange and green beetle.

Kikwi offered the beetle a small brown pellet after gathering a few supplies. "There you go, Frederick. Be good while I'm out."

The little owl had been getting better at tact and social cues, but he still assumed that because Volker was here he must be willing to help with whatever project Kikwi had in mind. The project this time: venturing into deep dark woods in search of centipedes and mushrooms.

The woods in question were the Ixchel Wilds. On the journey to the portal stone nearest Elbion Kikwi had no shortage of tales to tell (most of which were about his recent work but some were things he just found interesting). As they ventured into the jungles he spoke at length about the plants and animals that he recognized, and marveled at those he did not.

They were going to a colony that Kikwi had read about in recent reports from pathfinders. A grove of white fungus and numerous red centipedes that held an unusual relationship. His little feet made moving through the underbrush a little difficult, but his vigor for discovery kept him going.

 

[Volker]

Volker saw the little owl’s confusion and shook his head. “My master is not pleased with me. He expects clients that pay. Mostly for my services with a blade, and not to a curious owl.” He said. He followed the owl obediently to his room, picking carefully around the mess. The beetle he peered at; he wouldn’t have normally given it a second thought and here it had a name? He snorted at it.

Volker balked a bit at the portal stone. He never knew how magics were going to affect the Well, and he teleported so seldomly. He stepped through, and had to pause and close his eyes. It was a distinct feeling of being hideously drunk, and everything sliding to one side or another. Like a great table had shifted everything in his brain before settling in. He shook his head, and blinked a few times. “I do not like teleporting...where are we?” He asked.

The Ixchel wilds. He frowned, looked down at the owl chattering away as he wandered through the brush, and leaned down. He plucked Kikwi off the ground and gathered him onto one shoulder. Volker wasn’t a tall man, but the owl was less of a tempting snack this way. “Why do you want insects? Do they make poisons like the spiders?” He asked. One didn’t judge a poisoner on looks.

“It is dangerous for you to be on the ground. A young devourer or bowhead could pick you off, and there are larger beasts here.” Volker told him.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi did not protest as he was hoisted off the ground. Volker's longer strides would make the journey quicker, and Kikwi could see much further from up here. His feathers fluffed a little at the mention of the ferocious beasts that could make a quick meal of him, although he was equally interested in what they were.

"Oh, I don't need the centipedes," he clarified, "I'm just curious. There hasn't been a symbiosis like this documented anywhere before. Why do they use this one mushroom so much? What benefit do they gain from it, and what does the fungus gain from the relationship?" He thought in a rare moment of silence, riding on his newest friend. "I guess it's a little bit like me riding on your shoulder. I get a better view and protection, and you get to hear all my wonderful stories!" He chuckled to himself in a twittering, hooty laugh, before saying sheepishly, "Um, that was a joke."

The path they were on was getting less and less defined as they moved. Tree roots were growing larger and more gnarled, and the noises of the jungle grew louder. Suddenly Kikwi pointed to the side and shouted "There!"

He had spotted one of the mushrooms. It was ghostly white and growing from the side of a tree. There were no centipedes, however. "We're going in the right direction."

 

[Volker]

Volker snorted. The owl was using words that were beyond him, but he could surmise that Kikwi wanted more information about the centipedes and the mushrooms. Why, Volker didn’t quite know, but that was the job. He leaned in to examine the mushroom that Kikwi pointed out, tilting his head.

“When I study someone, I look at their habits if I cannot attack them directly. I cannot attack a sidhe alone without assistance but if I study him, I find he drinks too much, or has a poor back, and exploit that. Perhaps you are looking too much at the centipedes and not what the mushroom has to offer.” Volker pointed out, bracing his elbow against the tree so Kikwi could get a better look. He didn’t see anything special himself, but he was swiftly learning that the owl was wiser than he was in these matters.

If they were on the right track, he’d keep them going in that direction. He herded Kikwi back onto his shoulder once he’d had a chance to look at the mushroom, and continued.

They pressed on through the thick foliage, Volker carefully picking his way through. He paused once at a paw print, and squatted carefully. About the same size as a bear, flat pad, with five digits and slight indents about half an inch out from the paw pads. “Bowhead.” He muttered, and pointed at the track. “Devourers have three paw pads. Two fore and one aft, and five digits. A Devourer is intelligent; you may speak with him. A bowhead is not, they will just eat you. We are in the territory of the latter.”

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

"Ah, right you may be!" Kikwi said as he leaned in for a closer look. The fungus on the tree had formed into wide disks, almost like shelves along the trunk. The little owl reached into his robes and fished about one of the many pockets he had sewn into the interior and produced a little glass vial and an even smaller knife. He carefully took a piece of the mushroom and stopped the vial before they continued on their way.

The mushroom was largely unremarkable in appearance, looking much like any other white fungus. He was turning the vial about and peering at his specimen when Volker stopped and announced the tracks.

Kikwi swallowed nervously. Who had named these creatures? Devourer certainly sounded much more dangerous than bowhead... but then again there was a viper called a flower snake so perhaps names alone weren't the best indicator for threat.

He stowed the vial and put a claw to his lower beak. "Hmm... I wonder if bowheads are also a part of this web." He looked up, and in the distance it was easy to see the number of mushrooms growing and... yes! "There!" he pointed with an excited sqeak. "Up there, we've found a centipede!"

It was very small, and were it not for Kikwi's particularly keen eyes he would not have spotted it. Suddenly the threat of being eaten by ferocious monsters was at the back of his mind, and he was back on the project's path.

 

[Volker]

Volker lifted his head and spied the centipede. Then looked down at the tracks. “Perhaps. All animals are part of a web, even men like us.” He pointed out. He headed toward the mushrooms, and noticed how they were clustered. Not on rocks and stones, but in trees. In particular, trees with rubbings. Unbeknownst to Volker, mushrooms eagerly took advantage of things like elk rubbings on trees, because the mycelium could penetrate after the tree’s protective layer had been rubbed away. Given protection by the branches of the tree, the height, and the bark around it, fruiting bodies were eager to sprout as the tree attempted to fight off the infection. It was the same phenomenon that produced the slightly swollen bases on the trees.

Volker carefully approached the centipede and offered his hand to Kikwi. He would let the owl collect the specimen. He knew more about them. He lifted Kikwi up to the centipede, ears pricked for signs of the bowhead. There were tracks everywhere the mushrooms were, and these looked recent.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi eagerly crept close to examine the centipede. It was bright red and curled over and around the white fungus. Every so often it would stop and mess about with its forelimbs, before starting up again in the same odd dance.

He did collect this one, but he mentioned “This one is small. They should be much larger. Maybe if we keep following the mushrooms, we will find healthier Arthropoda.”

The pattern of fungus on the trees was not lost to him. There were others on the ground in a more toadstool-like shape, but the once on the trees had been larger and sturdier.

“These markings were made by very large creatures indeed, I wonder-“ but he did not need to wonder, for he froze in mid sentence as he looked behind them and into the beady, black eyes of a bowhead.

It was some thirty yards off and very still. Kikwi whispered “Do you think it has seen us?”

 

[Volker]

Volker nodded. He was content to let Kikwi collect whatever he wanted. So far this was quite the easy job. He found the owl’s company pleasant, and nonjudgmental. Perhaps a bit distracted, but nothing worse than the men he’d served in the past. At least this one just wanted to look at bugs.

He nodded, and settled Kikwi back onto his shoulder. He felt the owl tense, and his hand went to the knife roll on his thigh. He withdrew the longest blade, tipped in a human femur. It wasn’t so much a knife as a short sword, but he wouldn’t bring anything less against a bowhead. He slowly, very slowly turned his head.

“It has.” He said softly. Bowheads had very poor eyesight, but this one was definitely locked into the blurry things ahead of it. “Do not move. They charge at things that move.” Volker said as loudly as he dared. “If it moves off...fine. If it charges, I will throw you into the trees and take care of it.”

He hoped it wouldn’t, but bowheads tended to flatten first and ask questions later. Temperamental, aggressive and territorial, no doubt it was trying to figure out whether it could feasibly crush them flat before Volker did anything.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi tried to recall what he had read about bowheads. They were unusual beings for dense forests, being so large and heavy and with such cumbersome head decorations. They looked like they rather belonged in the open plains or savannahs, where they could move more freely. Nevertheless, this one was here and it would make short work of the twigs and branches between it and them.

Kikwi gulped and held fast to Volker. He didn't really want to be tossed into the trees but it would definitely be better than sticking around to be flattened. It was facing them, but it head moved a little bit from side to side, and Kikwi saw it taking deep inhales through flared nostrils.

An idea struck! The beast could scarcely see them, but it could smell them. It was a sense that Kikwi often took for granted, seeing as he had little of it himself. He turned his head full around to look at the tree scratchings behind them. If these were territorial markings, and they did have that potential, then perhaps the beast had left its scent on them.

He leaned back slowly, hanging on to Volker's collar with one hand and scratching a few shavings and bits of mushroom off the tree with the other. This he returned and began rubbing over Volker's head and shoulders along with his own robes. He didn't want to speak and risk the monster charging them, so he just had to hope that Volker would not protest as he went back for more tree dust and applied more of the stuff over the two of them.

 

[Volker]

Volker watched the creature, frozen. Bowheads were massive, and usually moved through forests much the same way elephants did: flattening anything smaller than they were. Their small, piggish eyes were nigh useless, but how accurate did they really need to be with forelimbs that muscular? He heard Kikwi moving and tensed. What was the owl doing? Last minute samples before they were summarily crushed? Instead he felt the owl touching him, and that made his skin crawl more than facing the bowhead.

Volker didn’t like people touching him. At all. It was one of the very few things he had control over. He lifted his lip slightly, expressing his displeasure, but he could smell what Kikwi was rubbing him with. The mushrooms? Was the owl trying to disguise their scent? He resolved not to move, eyes locked on the creature, and an idea came to him.

He angled the blade in his hand slightly. It caught the light, and threw movement onto the trees to their right. Hopefully enough to distract the creature.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

As Kikwi toiled his mind raced. If the scent were enough it might blend them into the forest, but would it be enough? Maybe the mushroom odor would entice the bowhead, thereby undoing the protection he was seeking. Then again it probably wouldn't charge them maybe just rub up - hey what was Volker doing?

Contrary to the bowhead, Kikwi's vision was excellent. Beyond excellent, and he caught the flash of light from the dagger immediately. A distraction, it had to be! Oh, how very clever. Kikwi made a mental note to record this interaction as soon as possible, and had begun drawing up sketches and scribbles in his mind when the bowhead moved again.

The beast turned its head sharply and snorted into the air. The flickering light appeared to be doing the trick, and the bowhead turned just a few degrees to face the new threat. Kikwi, for the time, stopped covering the pair of them in debris.

 

[Volker]

Volker watched the creature turn. Good, he was noticing the light and interested by it. Now there was a little acting involved. From that distance the bowhead wouldn’t likely be able to tell that it was merely a play of the light and not some small animal. He began to move the reflection up and down the tree trunk nervously. As though it were a squirrel or some other small mammal running about on the bark. He paused it, but never long enough for the bowhead to get a good look at it.

Go after the dumb, unobservant animal. The little pale thing stopping here and there at clusters of mushrooms. Volker sharply flicked it to a tree beyond, implying his little “animal” made of light had leapt between tree trunks for greener pastures.

He hoped the bowhead would fall for it. A shaft of light flicking from tree to tree. Then beyond, further. Once he had the animal convinced it was just the matter of covering the blade and letting the bowhead search for prey that had “gotten away”.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi watched, mesmerized both by the bowhead's fascination with the light and by his own nervous heartbeat. It was a cool 250 beats per minute, not too bad considering the tension of the situation, and he wondered if Volker could feel the little muscle trying its best.

This rate would fall as the bowhead took some steps towards the light and further diverted its attention from the pair. The light was a marvelous trick, but Kikwi thought that his scent-disguising probably played a role as well.

Through the disk of his face he could hear every breath of air through the creature's nostrils, every wet smacking of its lips as it swallowed and snorted. Finally, with the sound of crunching ferns and snapping twigs, it began to lumber towards this new and more interesting target.

Kikwi watched and listened. Should the beast truly leave them be they would be free to continue on. The little owl had never been this deep within the Wilds... how extraordinary.

 

[Volker]

They made a good team. Volker led the beast away while Kikwi’s quick thinking had made sure the bowhead hadn’t realized what was happening. It was lumbering and crashing through the forest, and Volker realized it would probably be chasing sunspots until it ‘caught’ one. He carefully moved forward, his feet picking through the undergrowth with all the tentativeness of a deer. He looked at the path the bowhead had gone. Hopefully, well and truly gone.

“Good thinking.” He told the owl. He slowly made his way toward a thicker copse of mushrooms, away from where the bowhead had disappeared to. Volker silently looked up. There were larger mushrooms further up. Too tall for him to reach. “Hold on,” he told Kikwi. He began to climb, slowly, making sure not to disturb the mushrooms as much as possible. He wanted to get the owl close to the samples as he could. This might not be the most glamorous job but he would do it and do it well.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Volker was a most excellent assistant. He allowed Kikwi to reach places otherwise... well otherwise out of reach. He was quiet, but when he spoke he spoke knowingly and with healthy curiosity. Sometimes he sounded like another person entirely, but Kikwi assumed he just needed to get used to Volker's mannerisms.

The pair continued to follow the gradient of fungus and chilopods. As they did so, the wilds seemed to morph into another realm altogether. White began to outmatch green as fungus grew not only along trunks and stone, but spread like spiderwebs across branches, roots, and even over streams. The centipedes, likewise, grew larger, more vibrant, and more aggressive.

Kikwi had noted that the creatures had stopped retreating at Volker's footsteps some time ago. Just recently, they had actually begun moving towards the pair. This was fascinating, until the length of the centipedes began to exceed Kikwi's own.

He had his notebook out and was scrawling steadily, but his collection materials were, unfortunately, too small for the scuttling beasts now. Perhaps caution would have eventually made its way into his thoughts had he not seen something new.

A small crystal. Rounded, glittering, and amber-like, it was nestled amongst the mycelia. A few feet off another such crystal. They were no larger than raindrops but very hard, and the owl had a sneaking suspicion that they too might grow larger if they continued on.

He showed the discovery to his companion. "Look at this!" He said. "Such a thing I have never seen. We should press on to find more... but the centipedes might become defensive."

 

[Volker]

Volker cautiously climbed. He made sure Kikwi wasn’t about to be dismounted from his shoulder, and moved carefully to give himself good footholds and prevent crushing too many of the fungi. As they climbed, it became apparent that the problem was systemic. A bowhead would snatch small animals that came to feed in the fungi, and get spores all over its face and horn. When it rubbed that horn against a tree, the spores were rubbed deep into the wounds. The roots of the fungus would attack the crown of the tree, and encourage rot. Rot would lure in termites and other insects that the centipedes could prey upon.

Volker slowly settled himself in the crook of the tree, looking around them. It was almost entirely white, and the centipedes no longer ran from them. They were also getting much larger, and Volker eyed them carefully. “You should gather some of the mushroom spores, and see if you can re-create this environment inside of a glass box.” Volker mused, and leaned over to see what Kikwi was scribbling about. He couldn’t read, but he could follow the owl’s eyes.

Tiny beads of amber. He tilted his head and drew a blade. The hooked knife was used more for skinning than gathering samples, but it had the angle he needed. He carefully extracted one of the crystals, and offered it to Kikwi on the tip of the blade.

“It is your decision. I do not fear the centipedes. We will have to be careful.” Volker told him.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

"Yes, careful steps!" Kikwi agreed. The arthropods were indeed growing larger and more aggressive, but he still felt quite safe atop Volker's shoulders. He was a very sturdy man, and quite clever, too. There was no doubt in the little owl's mind that he could rely on this taciturn fellow. No doubt at all.

He took the amber and turned it over in his claws. It was hard and glass-like, not sticky at all, and it refracted the light in an almost dazzling way. It was quite unlike anything he'd seen before, and he tucked it away safely for later study.

"Let us continue," he whispered with excitement.

The sky was growing darker, but despite this, the jungle was growing warmer as they moved deeper. Kikwi took out the small centipede he had captured and peered at it through its glass prison. It was acting just as it had been before.

A thought occurred to him rather suddenly, thinking of all the wonders they were around.

"Your, um, master, you called him. Is he a wizard?" The man had vanished into thin air. It seemed likely.

 

[Volker]

Volker paused for a rest as they moved up into the canopy. It was harder to move this way; he had to be careful about where he grasped to prevent them from falling to their deaths. It also kept them away from any bowheads, and allowed him to move from tree to tree as long as he was careful. Trees in the jungle grew close together, so close that one could mistake one branch of one tree for the tree one was currently on. It was a highway for smaller animals, and Volker kept a strict eye on the centipedes. He had no problem shoving one or two off onto the ground if they presented a problem.

He leaned against the trunk of a massive fig tree, sitting down and settling Kikwi on the large branch beside him. “Oor is a wraith. A creature of shadow, and memory. It is what happens when your soul doesn’t join your body in the afterlife. It takes root in an unfamiliar body, and creates a husk for itself. My master is undead.” He said, bitterly. It made the man astoundingly hard to kill. “The only way to dispatch one is finding where the soul is pinned. In almost seventeen thousand years of observation...neither me nor my ancestors have found out a way to kill him.”

Volker sighed and leaned his head back. “It is...frustrating to say the least. And he will watch this memory later, and punish us for it.” He muttered. He rested quietly, only rising to inspect a bromeliad and drink deeply from its flower cups. He brought one back for Kikwi and offered it to him. It had tiny frogs eggs in it, which clearly hadn’t deterred Volker.

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi felt a cool shiver run down his spine when Volker talked about Oor, and especially how casually he discussed his desire to kill him. He didn't know very much about the undead, and it was, admittedly, interesting. There were plenty of resources at the College to delve into the subject (although the more advanced tomes were restricted, for obvious reasons), but Kikwi had always preferred study of the living. It seemed premature to delve into the realm beyond death when the world before was still so poorly understood.

His feathers bristled. "Punish us?" he asked meekly. He hadn't meant to offend the spooky man and he definitely did not want a wraith coming down on him. "I - I'm sorry, I should not have asked. He just seemed intriguing."

He swiveled his head back and forth to observe the canopy around them. It was undeniably beautiful, even with the sprawling white webs of fungus, dew, and amber. He took the flower gratefully and, careful not to suck in the tiny eggs, took a drink. He hadn't noticed how thirsty he was earlier, he had been too preoccupied by the hike.

Eager to change the subject, he mused "You know, my ancestors spent almost their whole lives in treetops. You'd think I would be more used to it." He flapped his little arms. "But I guess somewhere along the line we were better suited to stay on the ground." He looked down, and felt a little queasy at the distance. "I think I quite agree, to be honest."

And there, slithering amongst the tree trunks, was the biggest centipede Kikwi had ever seen.

 

[Volker]

Volker eyed Kikwi. “When I say us, I mean myself and the other Volkers. The men in here.” He tapped his head. “Not you. He could not care about you and thinks less of you. He sees you as a lesser creature because you are not rich and you are scatterbrained. Oor is arrogant.” He sighed and looked around the canopy. “If you find slavers and rapists fascinating, I will deliver you his corpse when I end his life.”

He caught sight of the large centipede moving among the trees. Hm. They had to be careful with creatures like that. The owl seemed shockingly queasy on the branches, and Volker couldn’t move too quickly up here. He snorted and peered down at the dizzying fall. “You are fine. Grasp the branches with your claws. Move slowly, there are larger centipedes here. Do you see any evidence of predation?”

Kikwi

 

[Kikwi]

Kikwi looked back to Volker, using his steady presence to ground himself. He did not like being called scatterbrained, but Oor hadn't really met him yet. He would surely prove himself quite collected and intelligent if given the chance... although Kikwi wasn't certain how eager he was to see the weird and ghostly man again. "I, uh, I think I'll stick to studying animals and plants." Slavers and rapists were about the furthest thing from "fascinating" that he could imagine.

Kikwi did as instructed, and found that despite eons of evolution towards bipedal ground dwelling, his little hands and feet were quite good at grasping the branches. Perhaps it had not been so long between himself and his winged counterparts after all.

"I wonder how they get so big," he thought to himself as they traversed the canopy. Kikwi moved his body quicker than Volker, but his smaller size kept their paces consistent. "In all my research there seems to be an upper limit to exoskeletonized beings like these. Unless... if they possessed magical properties that could all be different." He took a little swing from one branch to another and examined another piece of amber. "We didn't see the big ones until these crystally blobs showed up. I wonder if that's the key..."

Up ahead the jungle had been entirely swallowed by white webs. The trees were invisible behind a blanket of the stuff, and it all spiraled inwards to a massive, dark hole. An opening into a den of sorts. Small centipedes were crawling over every bit of fungus, but they did not pay any mind to the travelers. Kikwi hoped their larger brethren would follow suit, but he assumed nothing.

"The crystals are getting bigger and more frequent in proportion to the fungus... if we want better samples..." he gulped, "...we need to go in there."

 

[Volker]

“What is man but another animal?” Volker muttered. He kept a close eye on Kikwi as they moved through the trees, but the owl seemed to be doing just fine. It was really astounding that he couldn’t just fly; he looked enough like an owl to warrant confusion between Kikwi and the common mouse-eating variety. Volker followed him carefully, his head on a swivel for the larger centipedes. Those could give him some trouble.

“Perhaps the Amber has enabled their growth, in one way or another.” Volker commented as they traveled. “Life is linked. Either this is natural magic they are taking advantage of to eat larger prey, or something is growing them large on purpose.”

However, he paused at the large swirling hole of silk. He frowned. He’d seen funnel web spiders make such dens, but this one was truly mammoth. He lifted his head and tried to catch a scent, but all he smelled was the slightly damp trees, moss, themselves, and the fungus. “What could have made a web that large?” He asked. “It reminds me of the funnel web spiders back home. If it is...there should be trip wires that warn her of prey.”

Kikwi