Speaking with Sovass
Erin and Matilda are kept quite busy for a while translating the words of the party and your host. The task is made harder when the curiosity of the tribe's younglings overcomes their shyness and they descend upon you in a frenzy of probing claws, grasping tails, and high-pitched, squeaking questions. They seem especially drawn to ‘he has no name’ and Eff Flat. The bolder ones among them go so far as to climb up the warforged, who have their hands full fending them off. Eventually Sovass sends them scattering with a tooth-baring roar and leads you to sit and speak next to a fire pit lined with blackened stones.
Speaking to the Spirit Guide is an exercise in patience. Sovass’s voice alternates between a wavering hiss that can barely be heard to a nearly deafening bellow and the speakers on both sides use many unfamiliar terms that must be painstakingly explained, not always satisfactorily. Any useful information is buried among frequent tangents about the customs and history of the tribe and legends about a dizzying array of ancestral heroes, fearsome beasts, and supernatural beings of all descriptions (often indistinguishable from one another in Sovass’ rambling narration).
Highlights of the conversation:
About the Three Feathers:
”If they have been driven from their home, then justice has been done. For many generations, they sought to keep us from the Grandfather Spine, although they themselves did not go there to talk to their forefathers or the Celestial Guardians. There are those that say they are in the thrall of the children of the Deep One, but such speak with anger and without knowledge. They are a tribe, like any other.”
Why the Three Feathers are attacking:
”The tribe must live. If a foe cannot be fought, the tribe must move on. If the lands on all sides are occupied, the tribe must find the side that will give way. The tribe must live.”
About the bugs:
”Before our grandfathers’ grandfathers broke the shell, it is spoken that the Grandfather spine became infested with gigantic vermin, much as the unwashed will become infested with scale biters. Legends say that the insects could change their form to counter the weapons of their enemy. The Sky Touchers lost many warriors, but we attracted the favor of the Celestial Guardians with the blood of many enemies and even of our own tribe. They sent Vhillishaak, spawn of Rhashaak, to destroy them.
“Our warriors who met them yesterday report that they were small and easy to kill, but countless in number. Only the fliers were strong enough to pose a threat in small numbers, but now the Guardians have once again sent us deliverance.”
About the lek’sshareth:
”The lek’sshareth neither carries the seed of children, nor lays the eggs that rear them. The lek’sshareth’s body carries the soul of the tribe. Its scent will tell the tribe how to survive. I am lek’sshareth to our people.
“I do not believe that the insects could have a lek’sshareth. However, if the Three Feathers have lost theirs, it is possible they could be fooled by the scent of another creature, although I have not heard of such a thing in all the Ancestors’ memory.”
About other smooth skins:
”The turning of the moons brings the smooth skins to us from time to time. Unlike many of the tribes, the Sky Touchers are peaceful, and will give strangers, even hideous ones, a chance to be friends. There is one called Gurven, who lives apart from his own kind. He is a friend to the Sky Touchers and, it is said, to all the tribes. The Spirits have told me he carries a deep sadness inside.
“Many hatchings past, one called Merritt came. He spoke strangely, saying that he wished to set down on paper the lands of all the tribes, that his folk might intrude on none. But he angered the Guardians by taking K’Lethka’s scales. I spoke to a Dawn Greeter who boasted of slaying him.
“And just last season one called Ghash’tor came to us. He was larger than most smooth skins, nearly as big as one of our own warriors. He had one jutting tusk and bore the Kiss of the Guardians. He traded knowledge with us, seeking to learn what we know of plants and medicines. He, too, was interested in the lek’sshareth, and told me that the smooth skins have no such thing. How, then, do you know what is right to do and when?
“But I have not seen your friends. If they have been taken by a war party, then they are almost certainly dead. Do not be saddened by this. In the Endless Circle, they will return again, and it may be that the next time they will be the victors and the Three Feathers will fall before them. All is balanced.”
Conversation with Sovass lasts well into the night. When you are finished speaking he offers you a place of honor in one of the largest trees, twisted into an interlocking series of bulbuous, and surprisingly comfortable, sleeping spaces. Warriors surround the tree to keep watch over you through the night. No one dreams.
Anything else you want to ask about? What would you like to do in the morning? Sovass is willing to send as many as 15 warriors with you to combat the insects (in fact, Hlal insists on going) , but they will not set foot in the Three Feathers village. Sovass is adamant on this point - the Sky Touchers have an agreement about their borders with the Three Feathers and they will not break it under any circumstances.
