"You're just bitter 'cause he saved your life."

"I was doing fine, an arrow wouldn't have killed me, and if I'd gotten that spell out—"

"If you want to post-mortem we can do that later, when T̷̡̡͉̼͚͉͖̠̭̜̹̃͒̌͂̏͌͂̈́́̈́͘͠á̵̢̢̨̙̙̻̲͍̤̳̦̖͚͓̩̰̒̆̈́̇̆̓̽̈́̓m̸̡̦̝͖̰̹̤̭̰̟̣͉̝͇̯̩̞͛͌̐͂̄͋̑͆̂̈͗͠͝͝͝ is back. Ah, speak of the devil—"

"Guys you will not believe what I found," says the ninja, seemingly stepping out of a dead tree over yonder.

"Then why go through the trouble of telling us? Go find something more believable and come back when you're useful."

"Yes, yes, ha ha. Anyway, there's a secret passage—"

He gasps. "A secret passage? In Glastheim? That, that changes every—"

The ninja throws a shuriken at the back of the archer's shoulder.

"Ow! You motherfucker!" he cries, pulling the shuriken out from where it had almost gotten to bone and throwing it out. The wolf looks up at him and whines a little. "N̵͉̦͉̼̻͇͖͍̞̦͊̚ͅͅỉ̷̳̽͑́̇̉͐̊͐́̑͑͋͘t̶̨̻̞̦̪͈̟͇̥̜͚̦̪͈̀̿̉͌̓̏̍̀ͅa̵̡̞̖͍̱̣͌̏̓̈̀̾̏̀̃͝͠, bite her," he says, pointing at the ninja, but the wolf ignores it and leans back into the scritches.

"Sure, make me waste mana, why don't you," he sighs, stopping in the middle of a seal to cast a heal on the archer.

"Do you even notice the mana cost for a small heal like that anymore?"

"It's the principle of the matter."

"Guys, let's let Ţ̵̧̧͇̠̬̟̗̫̠̗̳́̐̄̐͛͋͒́̉̔̽̍́͌̃͝͝ä̷̠̫̘̜̣͖́̌͆͛̂͒̓͒̉͊̚m̸̞̪͇̳͓̜̼̞̯͍̪̿̐̋̐͂̇̆̏͆̈́̈́́̕e̷̖͙̲̻͕̻̺̳͋̿̈́̄̑̆e̵̡̬̱̣͖͖̜̅͛͋͌̿̋̔̆̓̿͐n̵̢͚̦̙͎͖̭̱̺̙̥̗̍͐͋́͗̊̋͐̍̋͒̈́̚̚ actually tell us about what she found?"

"Thank you, S̶̟̠̝͉͓̟̅̊̌̈̄́̏͐̀̈̚͝v̶̨̱̳̣̭̜̼͑͐̅́̈̒̀̀͒̇̅̈̐̚̕͠͝e̷͈̤͓̅̒̃̄n̶̬̬͚̟̠̹̼̼̜̫̦̹͍͕͋́͑̈́͊͛̾̑́̾̔̓͋̐͠͠͝. Anyway, I found this secret passage..."

It's night by the time Taharqi wakes up, and he's in an unfamiliar straw bed in a room whose walls and floor are wood. There's a warm mug of tea on a short table next to his bed, and the soft sounds of people outside his room suggest that it's not that late at night.

Taharqi sits up, all at once, then has to catch his weight on the mattress after he's overcome by a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea. His stomach is completely empty, though, and throwing up bile again would just be really unpleasant, so he holds it back and waits a few more seconds until he's feeling stable again before he opens his eyes. He sees the tea and lifts it to his lips and burns his tongue and the pain feels so good he could cry.

(What was that dream? It felt really vivid, but he doesn't remember anyone's names, except that shouldn't be surprising, except for some reason it is and he's feeling kind of mad about it?)

(It's probably just woozy recently-woken-up brain talking.)

The tea tastes sweet.

Right, tea. He doesn't actually want to burn himself, though, so he blows on it until it's cool enough for him to actually be able to drink.

No one comes to disturb him.

Alright. Okay. Once he's done drinking, he stands up (slooooowly), and looks around. Does he have all his stuff?

He's wearing his clothes, and the dagger holstered by his shin is there, but the belt with his two main daggers is on another table over there.

Alright. Cool. He'll grab that and wear it again.

...what the fuck even happened. He's... in Payon... for a bounty. Right? Something about a cave...

The door opens a crack and Annika pokes her head in, then she opens it the rest of the way.

Taharqi is sitting on the bed again, head in his hands, breathing slowly.

"...are you still feeling affected by the spirit?"