“Well done, Pelle. You’re doing much better,” Krivax said kindly. The tuskarr seamstress was quickly improving in her ability to properly weave nerubian silk.

Krivax had already stayed in Kamagua for over a week now, and he was really enjoying himself. He had been ceaselessly working toward his goal for so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to slow down. There were so many things he wanted to do in this fantastical world, but circumstances forced him to push all of those things aside.

Krivax wanted to see every inch of this world and experience all that it had to offer. He wanted to make friends, learn about new cultures, discover forgotten magic, and taste every kind of shellfish in the world.

He still was not yet secure enough to allow himself to relax completely, but staying in a peaceful village like Kamagua made him want to dream again instead of only plotting ways to stay alive.

Krivax reluctantly pushed those thoughts aside; while he had his own wants and ambitions buried deep within his heart, they would have to wait.

He came to this village for a reason, after all.

The negotiations with the Chieftain had gone well, with Krivax agreeing to trade silk and ores for a variety of shellfish. He had suspected that shellfish would prove delicious to the nerubian palate, but he had not anticipated it being as good as it was.

Krivax and Masruk may or may not have… embarrassed themselves a little when they tried their first lobster.

Suffice to say, Krivax was confident shellfish would prove a stable trading good between Kilah’Kuk and Kamagua. He intended to look into other goods that the tuskarr could offer, such as surface world plants that could be used for alchemy, but trading silk for shellfish would suffice for now.

Aside from trading for shellfish, the two parties had also reached a few other agreements. While they had not yet developed enough trust to begin sharing their magic with one another, the Chieftain agreed that it was something they would be willing to consider.

What Krivax was most happy about was the agreement for them to mutually share stories and knowledge. After all, that was how Krivax intended to find evidence of the existence of other continents.

“Thank you, Krivax. You are a good teacher,” Pelle said with a smile.

While Krivax was not himself a Weaver, like most nerubians, he knew enough about the intricacies of working with nerubian silk to teach the Seamstress. Nerubian silk possessed many special properties, and training was needed if someone wanted to use it for crafting. Once she was done with her training, Pelle would go on to teach the rest of the tuskarr seamstresses.

Krivax spent the next few minutes finishing up his lesson with Pelle before deciding to go find Masruk.

Just as he was about to make his way to the part of the village set aside for warriors to practice, he was interrupted by a soft whistling sound near his feet. When he looked down, Krivax saw a tiny tuskarr child who was wrapped up in a snug little fur coat whistling at him and lifting his arms.

Huffing in amusement, Krivax bent down, lifted up the child, and placed him on his back.

The people of Kamagua had been cautious and fearful of the two nerubians at first, but their friendly and peaceful nature quickly shone through. Karfu was a tuskarr child whose mother had passed away recently and whose father was frequently out to sea. The kid was extremely quiet and barely talked, but he did spend most of his time wandering around Kamagua and watching the various villagers work with curiosity. Once the villages had started to warm up to him, Karfu had taken to quietly riding on Krivax’s back while he went about his business.

Krivax couldn’t help but indulge the kid; tuskarr children were unfairly adorable with their oversized heads and tiny little fur coats.

Without comment, Karfu quietly settled into a comfortable position while Krivax made his way to find Masruk.

The first thing Krivax saw when he reached the training area was the predictable sight of Masruk sparring with Kagonut. Turning to the side and laying down so that Karfu could get a better view of the spectacle, Krivax decided to wait until they were finished before going to speak to his friend.

While the spar looked to be evenly matched, Krivax knew that was only because Kagonut was holding back significantly. While Masruk was talented in combat, his mere four years of experience simply could not compete with the tuskarr warrior. Though to his credit, Kagonut was one of the most skilled warriors in Kamagua and Masruk had handily defeated some of their younger warriors.

Krivax watched as the two warriors traded quick blows with incredible amounts of force. Masruk was skilled with his spear and was good at moving quickly and attacking from unexpected angles, but Kagonut moved faster than any giant walrus person had a right to and seemed as stable as a mountain.

Eventually, the fight ended with Masruk defeated and Kagonut looking smug and none the worse for wear. Karfu started to clap his hands in excitement and let out little whistling noises.

Krivax knew his friend would try to get back to fighting almost immediately, so he decided to call out to him first before he could.

“Masruk!”

Krivax stood back up carefully so as to not throw off Karfu as his friend made his way over to him.

“Krivax, do you need help with something?” asked Masruk.

“Not really, buddy,” said Krivax. “I just wanted to remind you about our meeting later today.”

Krivax knew that his friend could be a little… absentminded when his attention was focused on combat. It was a good idea to occasionally remind him about important matters.

“...What meeting?”

Krivax sighed in exasperation and Karfu patted his back in what seemed to be comfort. The boy was quiet but had a talent for understanding what others were feeling.

“Our meeting with Vizier Hadix. I need to scry him later today after I’m done speaking with Elder Wumni.”

“Ah, yes. I will be there,” said Masruk. Krivax felt amused as his friend turned back to look at the warriors as soon as he was done speaking.

“Alright, thanks. Have fun practicing.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, Masruk turned around and started to head back to the tuskarr warriors, most of whom seemed to enjoy his company. Krivax was glad to see his friend so easily getting along with the tuskarr.

With his message delivered, Krivax started walking to Elder Wumni’s home with a sense of anticipation. The old shaman had agreed to answer questions about their culture and share some tuskarr legends, and Krivax was hopeful he might be able to use this opportunity to gain his first hints of the existence of other continents.

Wumni’s home was located near the Chieftain's and was not particularly distinct from any of the other buildings in the village. The entrance did not have an actual door and was instead covered by a heavy sealskin, so Krivax settled on calling for the Elder instead of knocking.

“Elder Wumni! I’m here for our meeting,” Krivax yelled into the building.

“Come inside, boy! Why are you standing outside my home and making all that noise?”

Well alright then.

Krivax skittered into the Elder's home with Karfu still securely settled on his back. The inside of the building was much like the Chieftain’s, except for the various herbs and animal parts laying around that Krivax assumed were used for the old tuskarr’s shamanism.

Wumni herself was seated on what looked to be a comfortable pile of seal hide pillows while carving symbols into what Krivax assumed was a piece of whalebone.

“Feed the calf and sit down while I finish,” said Wumni, pointing to a pile of pillows and a nearby bowl filled with fish without looking at him.

Seeing no reason to argue, Krivax picked up a fish and handed it to Karfu who immediately started to nibble on it. After finding a comfortable position, Krivax lowered himself to the ground and curled his feet underneath his body.

Once the shaman was done with… whatever she was doing, Wumni put away the bone and turned her attention to Krivax and Karfu.

“You indulge that boy too much,” said Wumni after casting a translation spell with a wave of her hand.

Krivax had made a lot of progress in learning the tuskarr language, but a week’s work of effort was not enough for him to reach a level of mastery acceptable to Wumni.

“Karfu is very well-behaved,” said Krivax while patting the young tuskarr on the head. Karfu ignored him and continued to eat his fish. “He’s not a bother, so I feel no reason to deny him if he just wants to ride on my back.”

“He’ll get fat and lazy if he doesn’t use those stubby little legs of his,” said Wumni with a huff. Karfu directed a mulish glare in her direction, but the Elder ignored him. “You’re here earlier than I expected. Are you that excited to learn about our people, boy?”

“Learning new things is always exciting to me, Elder.”

“Just call me Wumni. I’m not interested in hearing you end every sentence with ‘Elder.’”

“Of course, Wumni,” Krivax said easily. Nerubian society had forced him to grow accustomed to a certain degree of formality, but if the Elder preferred to be addressed casually then he wouldn’t complain.

“If I’m remembering right, you said that you wanted to learn about our gods, correct?” asked Wumni.

“That’s correct. I specifically wanted to know how your gods compared to the Drakkari’s Loa.”

“The difference is our gods don’t demand our worship. We give it freely,” Wumni said derisively. “Any spirit that requires you to worship them before they offer you anything are spirits that any shaman with sense would run away from. Tayutka, Karkut, Issliruk, and Oacha’noa do not need our worship nor do they interfere with mortal affairs, unlike the Drakkari’s Loa. We honor them because they guide and aid our people.”

From there, Wumni went on to share more specific details about the tuskarr gods. Tayutka was a female tuskarr shaman who became a powerful spirit after her death that continued to aid her people by guiding Fishermen away from danger and to large catches. Karkut the Dark One was responsible for shepherding tuskarr spirits to the afterlife, Issilruk was the spirit of war and weather, and Oacha’noa was the goddess of the depths and wisdom.

Oacha’noa was the only one Krivax knew for certain existed given that she appeared in the game as a kraken Wild God.

After she was done speaking, Krivax reciprocated by telling her some of the nerubian legends about the Old Gods. More specifically how legends said how the nerubians had become ‘enlightened’ and turned away from the worship of beings who at best were casually cruel and destructive even to their own worshippers, treating them no better than tools to be used and discarded.

Nerubians did not worship anything anymore—they believed that gods could not be trusted to care for the wellbeing of mortals—and the Old Gods were considered to be mere stories at this point in time. Krivax had actually never met a single nerubian who believed that the Old Gods existed at all, but he had suspicions that the nerubian leadership might know the truth.

Whenever he attempted to discreetly research the matter he would find any information related to the Old Gods to be… suspiciously vague. He probably would not have noticed if he did not already know the truth, but it was suspicious enough that Krivax had put aside all attempts to research the Void or the Old Gods.

He didn’t have much to tell her, but by the time he was done Wumni seemed to be satisfied anyways, even if she found the legends themselves rightly disturbing.

“What else did you want to talk about?” Wumni asked when they were done talking about gods. “You have a look in your many eyes like you’re about to chomp down on a lobster.”

Krivax did his best to reign in his anticipation.

“I wanted to hear your people’s legends on the Sundering,” said Krivax. “My people have many theories about what caused it, but those theories are mostly speculation.”

The nerubians really had no idea what caused the Great Sundering. Many of their theories came close—in that they believed that the elves were most likely to blame—but from their perspective, one day the land simply exploded and they had no idea why. Krivax had been unable to verify whether the nerubians had even been aware of the Burning Legion’s first invasion.

“The Sundering? Sorry boy, but we don’t know what happened either,” Wumni said with a frown. “According to Oacha’noa, there was some kind of war going on at the time, but she’s not willing to talk about it.”

“That’s a shame,” Krivax said casually. “My people would like to know what destroyed the rest of the continent. The old world was a land of many wonders, according to legend. It’s a shame that these lands are all that is left of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Wumni said incredulously. “This land is not all that is left of the old world. There is still plenty of land across the sea.”

Bingo.

“What?!” Krivax exclaimed in fake astonishment. “How could you possibly know that? ”

“I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve been told that people from lands beyond the sea sometimes trade with the Moa’ki clan,” Wumni said with a frown. “I’m surprised that people as supposedly advanced as yours do not know about the other lands.”

“My people tend to keep to themselves, and have been isolated underground for thousands of years for the most part. If what you say is true, then I am not surprised we do not know of it,” Krivax explained to Wumni. “Still, I’m certain our people would be glad to know about this.”

“And what will your people do with this information?” Wumni asked with open suspicion.

“Nothing bad,” Krivax said hurriedly. “But I do think they might be interested in sending people to the other lands to learn more about them.”

Wumni glared at him with suspicion while Krivax did his best to look like an innocent spider person and Karfu did his best to open the shell of a crab with his tiny teeth.

Eventually, the Elder Shaman just huffed, “Bah! Far be it from me to tell you how your people should act with those far from these lands, but if you embarrass yourself don’t go getting our names involved.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Krivax said with mock sincerity.

Krivax and Wumni spent the rest of the meeting talking about the lands beyond the sea, sharing various legends, and comparing different parts of their cultures.

For example, both of their species highly valued communal cooperation, but differed in how they treated interpersonal relationships with tuskarr strongly believing in strong family units while nerubian families as a concept just didn’t exist. Wumni thought that kind of life must be incredibly lonely while Krivax explained they still had relationships and friendships, but they weren’t as… ‘expressive’ as tuskarr ones.

Krivax also tried to figure out if Wumni knew anything about any wars taking place on the lands across the sea, or if she knew anything about the Dark Portal, but Wumni seemed to care little about things happening so far away.

By the time they were ready to finish, Karfu was barely able to stay awake.

“Leave the calf here,” said Wumni as Krivax got up to leave.

Krivax nodded in agreement and gently placed Karfu down on the pile of pillows before turning to leave. Just as he was about to walk out of Wumni’s home, a soft voice stopped him.

“Bye…”

Krivax turned and gave a short wave to the tiny tuskarr. “Goodbye, Karfu. Sleep well.”

After Krivax left the house and stepped outside, he was startled to realize that the sun was already starting to go down.

I must have spent much longer talking to Wumni than I thought.

He didn’t have much time before he needed to speak with Hadix, so Krivax hurriedly collected his friend and dragged him off to the building that the tuskarr used to house guests.

Once they were both in their shared room, Krivax retrieved the scrying crystal from his spatial bag, mounted it on a small platform, and quickly started casting the necessary spells. After a few minutes, violet glyphs began to appear before the crystal and the visage of Vizier Hadix appeared on its surface.

“Initiate Krivax, I was starting to believe you had completely forgotten about me, that or died,” Hadix said with mild irritation.

“I apologize for being late, Vizier,” said Krivax, lowering his head in contrition. “I was speaking with the tuskarr’s eldest shaman and found myself losing track of time.”

“Hmph. Do not allow it to happen again,” Hadix said sternly. “Now, report to me everything that has happened since you left for the surface.”

“Yes, Vizier.”

Krivax spent the next half hour detailing their first contact with the tuskarr, their subsequent meeting with the Chieftain, and the agreement to trade silk for shellfish. Masruk remained mostly quiet, although he did share his own perspective at times.

Once he was done, Hadix paused for a moment in consideration before speaking.

“If these ‘shellfish’ are as delicious as you say and these people are willing to give them to us for something as worthless as a few common ores and some low-level silk, then I suppose this deal will be to our benefit,” said Hadix offhandedly. “There are some who would enjoy more options for luxury food.”

Krivax knew that Hadix probably considered such luxuries to be frivolous, so he wasn’t surprised by the faint dismissiveness he heard in the Vizier’s tone. If he wanted to impress the man, he would need to present something more… materially beneficial.

“Is that all, Initiate?” asked Hadix with disinterest. “If so, then I have experiments that require my attention.”

Here we go, Krivax thought nervously.

“No, Vizier. I have something else to report,” Krivax said hesitantly.

Krivax reported to Hadix what Wumni had said about the existence of other continents. While the topic seemed to catch the Vizier’s immediate attention, he at first seemed to believe the Shaman was merely sharing a tuskarr fairy tale. It was only after Krivax informed him that the tuskarr had personally met with people from other continents that the Vizier began to show… extreme interest.

Once Krivax was done telling the Vizier everything he knew, Hadix remained silent for nearly a minute while he absorbed the information.

“One moment, Initiate,” said Hadix, speaking suddenly into the silence.

Krivax grew confused as the image of Hadix disappeared and the scrying crystal grew dark.

Did he just hang up on me?

Suddenly, both Krivax and Masruk lept back in surprise as a bright violet light materialized in the center of their room. Their surprise only increased when the light faded to reveal that Vizier Hadix had decided to teleport into their temporary home.

“Hello, Initiate,” said Hadix, focusing completely on Krivax and ignoring Masruk. “We need to talk.”