"Did it not seem like a statue, when you saw it?"

"It looked... very much like a thing that once was alive." Another very large gulp of whiskey.

Ha. Ha. Hahaha.

"How fascinating. And Ayers didn't know what to make of it either?"

"If he did he didn't tell me. Just started making notes-- I still have them."

"Really? Could we see them? We've traveled such a long way to find something - "

Acuna stands up and, swaying a little bit, roots around in the papers and records in the trunks outside of his tent.

Outside they hear the bray of camels being lead to a watering hole, and a fast-paced argument. (Araari can tell that someone seems to have stolen someone else's favorite girlfriend.)

He stands up and shows them a few pieces of paper. One is a sketch of what is recognizably the warding stone.

Araari recognizes the writing as Ge’ez. The syllable alphabet is widely used, but the language itself is only used today as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The language is archaic, but Ayers's notes seem to be a broadly accurate translation.

Anemone recognizes that the second page of Acuna's notes are a spell of some kind which appears to grant some sort of mystic knowledge.

"Have these been much help to you? I wonder whether I might find something if I compared them with the full version of Ayers's research before the dig. It was too extensive for me to bring it all with me."

"Go ahead. Take it. I don't even want to think about that dig anymore."

"Thank you very much! Hopefully your current dig is less, ah - disturbing?"

Whiskey. "I can hope."

Out of nowhere, wood cracks! The investigators jump, their eyes darting to the sudden destruction. Looking more closely, there’s a deformed bullet embedded there. It could have come from anywhere, could be from soldiers practicing, could be collateral damage from a firefight a mile away.

aaaaa.

aaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

aaaaa???

"--How bad is that--" He is asking Acuna but his personal opinion is BAD

"It happens all the time. Goddamn war zones."

Araari is just going to say a quick prayer for safety under her breath. This has the pleasant side effect of calming her down.

"It's - possible that we should return home before the war zone gets any worse. But I'm glad we have something to show for coming here."

"Makes sense. Glad for any goddamn company in this wasteland."

In Oswald's professional opinion as a criminal sometimes gunfire happens nearby and you have to tough it out. But he's tried to live his life strenuously AVOIDING the parts that involve being in earshot of random gunfire.

He sticks to the parts with offices.

Mordred does not do the kinds of crime that involve spending time in earshot of gunfire! Gunfire, like disembodied mouths, is a recent addition to his life.

Hmmm. Might be worth going to the Dallol dig site still but if so she feels like she should probably not make that decision without half of her brain tied behind her back. 

Maybe they can... rest here. for a bit. Vefore they figure out what they're doing. She sticks the spell in the pocket with the warding stone in case that makes it safer to carry.

"Resting sounds good to me. Today has been exhausting and I suspect I got the easiest of it."

They split off; Araari and Zoe to one tent, Mordred and Lev and Anemone and Oswald to another.