Yep. Akiho will be back here. Being supportive and full of debuffs (and fire).

“Let me know if you sense any proper spirits,” she calls, to Annika, “I’ll need to switch what I’ve got on you two to let you fight them better.”

The buff as it current is: is very subtle. …. But it is less cold here, and there are some other effects that are even less obvious. Annika feels like she flows through her forms easier, with less use of mana, and Taharqi moves faster in stealth than he’s used to.

...neat.

Fascinating.

There are two main changes in the cave from the last time Taharqi and Annika came in. The first and most obvious is that all of the torches have gone out, every single one of them, past a certain point; it's pitch black. The second, though, is—or at least starts out—as subtle as Akiho's own buffs.

It's cold. It's really cold, colder than it should be, but that's par for the course. But it's cold in their bones, it's the kind of cold that's not just unpleasant, it's hard to recover from, it's like being dumped in frigid water and being out in the air and not being allowed to dry off, and every time you might be getting a bit drier another bucket of water is dumped on you. The negative spiritual pressure is being converted into actual physical chill, this time, as if the soul of the stone itself were absent and trying to suck in the souls of their flesh to replace it. It takes a while for them to notice that, because it just feels cold, so it creeps on them.

And the spiritual and psychological effects themselves are more keenly felt. Not stronger, exactly, but they're the difference between seething in the back of your mind and being actively angry; a different of focus. And the three of them are being watched, personally.

Akiho haaaaates iiiiiiit. Her ears eventually go flat against her head, because she sure is not having a good time, but she otherwise doesn’t complain. Out loud.

Inside, she hates it she hates it she hates it but she has a mission and she will accomplish it. Mrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh. Onwards. Setting things on fire in this very cold place. Are there spirits around? Please say there are spirits around, she has a surprise for them.

Not... at first. There are undead, which are really just animated matter, and there are horongs, which are spiritual phenomena but not really spirits, so much. And it's... quite a bit of walking. With everything feeling worse. And worse. And wo—

s̷̘̦̟̆̎̀̀́͐̈̊̈͊ẖ̶͖̦̗̙̮̫͖͎͔͓͇̠̣͔̗̓̃̌̈́̎͛̌͜͠e̴̬̫̘̐̐ ̴̧̛̲̳̭͎̘͉̥̐̔̈̽͂͘s̸̨͚̗͇̗̻͎̙̠̊̾̒̊̎̎̎̇̅͘ͅh̴͖͋̊̈́̉̓̇̌͛̉̂̚ơ̷̙̱͇͓̻̜̱͉̣͇͌͆̈̿̾̎̽͋̓ǘ̷̢̢̻͖̗͈̯̟̝̰̥̻͓͍̼̈́͒̄̋̾̾̓̿̐͒͂̊͜ļ̴̧̨̦̫̝̣̣̣̟͙̣̰̜͈͛̎͜͠d̵̢̨̨̫͔̺͇͎̼͚̬͙̜͎͋̌̈́̍͑̓̓̏̓̽͑̍̍̓͠͝n̴̼̘͈̩̝͉͙̞̦̟̞̾͐̈͊͋̒̏̄̌͝͝ͅ'̵̨̢̭͔͓͇͔̺͉̂̕ţ̵̝̯̦̠̰̮̲̍̇͋̃̅̈̓͒̀͘ͅ ̴̳̲͙̾̆͌̀̈́̋̄̈̄͂̓̇̅̚͘ȩ̴̧͔̳̝̪̤̗͇̬̻̗̖͗͊̐̊͗̈́́͐̊̈̿̈͒̿͋͠x̸͈̬͕̼̗͓̖̳͗͐͐͑ḯ̴͖͉͎̜̣̟̖͎̟͎̤̺̣̯͎̯͖̽̅̈́̈́͐͒͊̾̈́͛̇̕͘̚s̴̜͙̳̺̯̠̣̻͓̝̬̲̲̲̩̀̃̈̍̔͑͝t̷̡̧̯̱̭̙̟͇̮̜̹̰̠̪̦̮̽̿̈́͌̉̈́́̈͜͠

—rse.

There it is. She’d been bracing for it, but it stings all the same. Augh augh augh augh and she’s probably the first one to hear it and she will continue to hear it until this job is done. She carries on regardless, until she can’t anymore.

“One moment,” she says out loud, because she’s stopped walking and can’t make herself start again. Yet.

Deep breath. And then, with some trepidation, tapping into her own inner beast.

Yes she does. Yes she should.

“Okay.” She is glowing a little, with her ethereal blue fire, and her hair is kind of…. Swooshing dramatically… but she is in control. Onwards.

...?

"...are you two... fighting?"

“Not exactly. I’m… asserting my presence. I need to, because I’m too similar. But we’re not in any kind of spat just yet.”

"......what's the trigger I should have to teleport you out?"

“If I curl up into a little ball muttering to myself that I exist, or, er. If I grow claws and try to kill you. I expect it’ll be the former before the latter, but. I’m okay for now.”

She nods, and keeps walking.

(Ha how's that for a dose of your own medicine.)

The first actual spirit shows up shortly after.

It's... unclear... if it's a ghost, or an impression of a person, or, or what, but it's shaped in a mostly-human fashion, if you ignore the way their edges fray and sway in nonexistent wind, and the way they don't seem to have defined features just in full generality. There's... something there.

Yesssssssss she can tear it apart with her claws and teeth by sensibly changing the buffs on her allies. From the back. Where she will be doing no ripping apart of anything in particular. These buffs go out one at a time, but they’re very obvious:

Their weapons are now spirit-flavored. Guess what their attacks are now super effective against! It’s spirits. The answer is spirits. Spirits and souls are best for handling other spirits, because the energy is on the same metaphysical level.

Cool he steps over to the spirit and slices it and—

It dissipates harmlessly.

—that was anticlimactic as Hel.

Yeah?? Try hanging out in the back playing support bitch when you are gorgeous and terrifying and powerful—!

… Yeah. Pretty anticlimactic.

Onwards!

Spirits continue to be the exception rather than the rule, but the numbers of foes increase steadily until that means they're encountering one every ten minutes.

Almost all of them are very weak. Almost all of them seem unaggressive until you walk to close to them at which point they lunge at you and dump

despair horror fear loneliness anger hatred emptiness

right into your soul. Killing them early and quick is the best way to deal with it.

And then there are the spirits that aren't that weak, and which do more than just make you feel so bad you want to kill yourself and maybe everyone around you. Those spirits are probably not ghosts of the deceased; big misshapen things with corrosive touch, creatures as black as night with silver eyes with rectangular pupils and teeth as tall as a person, things of fur and claw that don't follow any body plans known to mortals—

None of those had been there, the first time Annika and Taharqi came. None of them are impossible for the party to take on, but they do need taking on, and it kind of becomes clear pretty early that having Taharqi around is helping a lot. They'd be covering ground much, much more slowly without him or someone in his place.

He’s going to be insufferably smug about this, isn’t he. She’s glad he’s here anyway. Grumble grumble, from her place at the back.

(They wouldn't need his help if—) (She is not finishing that sentence.)

They walk.