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# Waverider Expedition - Elarune

Calling the spirits

The forest swallowed sound.

Mist drifted between the trees like smoke, carrying the smell of sap and wet moss. Roots twisted from the earth like old bones, slick underfoot. Every breath felt heavy, as if the air itself were alive.

"Feels like walking inside someone's lungs," Otto the Dwarf muttered, adjusting his pack.

"Then stop breathing so loud," Rahim said quietly. His eyes scanned the undergrowth. "This place listens."

Kethra glanced upward. The canopy was so thick that sunlight came only in fragments, turning everything gold and green. "It's beautiful," she said. "And watching."

Solonex led the way. "Keep moving," he said. "The village should be close"

They didn't make it.

A sharp snap sounded overhead-then a thud. The world flipped. Nets dropped from the trees, tangling limbs, dragging them to the ground. From the mist, figures emerged: lean men and women in bark-colored cloaks, bows drawn, arrows notched. Their faces were painted green and black, eyes cold as river stones.

Otto the Dwarf spat out a leaf. "Hospitality's gone downhill."

One of the archers stepped forward. "Slavers," she hissed. "We kill you quick."

Solonex raised both hands. "We're not slavers. Look at us... no chains, no ropes, no wagons."

The woman hesitated, her bow still drawn. The others shifted uncertainly, whispering. The air hung thick with distrust.

"Let them breathe," said an older voice. A woman stepped out of the mist. Her face was marked with white tattoos, her hair woven with feathers. She wore a mask carved from living wood, half human, half owl.

The archers lowered their bows.

She studied the crew in silence. "If you do not lie," she said slowly, "the spirits will know."

She motioned, and they were hauled to their feet, still bound. "We will ask."

The villagers led them to a clearing ringed with giant roots, where a fire burned low and fragrant. The shaman knelt before it, setting a bowl on the earth. Inside were pale mushrooms, dusted with fine gray spores. She whispered words none of them understood, then blew softly into the bowl. The spores lifted like ash, swirling in the firelight.

Then she inhaled.

The change came fast. Her eyes rolled back; her hands trembled. She spoke in bursts of sound, half prayer, half gibberish, before collapsing onto her side, limbs twitching.

Kethra looked uneasy. "Is she..."

"Tripping," Otto the Dwarf muttered. "Seen dwarves do the same with grain mold. Usually ends in singing."

Rahim gave her a warning glance, but his voice was gentler than usual. "Don't mock faith, Kethra. Even if it's strange."

Kethra looked at him, a little surprised by his tone. "You sound like you have some."

He gave a small, tired smile. "Not faith. Respect."

Hours passed. The shaman's body convulsed, then stilled. At last she rolled onto her knees and vomited into the fire. The smoke hissed and turned green. Villagers rushed to steady her, murmuring.

She swayed, eyes glassy, and pointed at the crew. Her voice came hoarse but certain: "They are not slavers. The spirits name them friends. Enemies of chains."

The villagers bowed their heads. The tension broke like a drawn bowstring loosed.

Solonex exhaled slowly. "That's one way to clear your name."

Their bonds were cut. The villagers brought fruit, smoked fish, and woven cloth for trade. The atmosphere warmed; children peeked from behind the trees. The shaman, still pale, accepted Solonex's thanks with a slow nod.

When they departed, the mist had begun to lift. The path back to the river glimmered faintly between the trunks.

For a while they walked in silence, the forest breathing around them. Then Otto the Dwarf grumbled, "So, when she gets high on mushrooms, she's the goddam voice of the gods. When I get drunk, I'm a disgrace to civilization. Unfair, that."

Kethra laughed, the sound quick and bright. Even Rahim smiled.

The mist swallowed them again. The laughter faded.

Somewhere behind them, far back in the trees, a low sigh moved through the leaves, too deep for wind, too slow for breath. For an instant, all four of them paused, as if the forest had just exhaled.

Then it was gone.

And the forest, once more, kept its silence.

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