"I shall, my friend. But I would not trespass upon ground claimed by the spirits. First, I must make myself known to them and make an offering." He smiles wryly at his companion putting the lie to his earlier complaints. Quietly and confidently Kerim leads Riukh a short distance away and makes fast the bridle. Rummaging about in his saddlebags he retrieves a tiny box no bigger than his hand and a small bundle of cloth.
Kerim kneels in front of the stone and begins to speak. As he speaks, he gently places the box on the ground in front of the rune-stone and begins unwrapping the cloth bundle. "Spirits of this place, hear me. These are my ancestors who watch over me." From the cloth Kerim takes a chunk of stone crudely carved in the shape of a man and places it on the ground next to the box. Four other statuettes join the first as Kerim continues, "My father, Malik, who gentled wild Riukh and taught me the ways of the wastes; my father's father Fahd, who faced the heart of the wastes and lived as an ascetic ever after..."
Kerim, focussed on his devotions and ignoring the weather, continues the litany of his ancestors. "...Naaman the Smith who forged the blades that I bear and founded the house of Badiya. By them you know me, Kerim al-Asad ibn Malik ibn Fahd Zahid al-Badiya."
Once finished, Kerim will place the statuettes back in the cloth wrapping them carefully as he does so and gather up the small box that contains a bit of his ancestor's funeral ash. When those items are again secured in his saddlebags, Kerim will begin the investigation as his traveling companion suggested.
