That night during the storm, I activated the skill Ritual Remembrance. So far, I had two separate dream states. The first was when I was dreaming of my life as a Wild Human. In those, I moved around and interacted, but I could tell I wasn’t making the call as to what was going on. The second was when I asked Sam a question. I could make the call as to what the question was before the dream, but then it was me experiencing everything like an out-of-body experience.

The Ritual Remembrance was in some ways the best of both worlds. It was a pain to set up. I had to get the right heat and smoke levels along with a few other odds and ins. Then like most things with my shaman skills I had to chant.

I didn’t catch on to when things changed.

I heard a man with a kind, but gruff voice say behind me, “You can stop chanting now.”

I stopped and spun around to see who spoke. As I turned, I noticed that I wasn’t in my lodge any longer. I was now standing in a cave near a fire. Around the fire were several men, all dressed like the shamans from my dreams.

In almost a stuttering voice, I asked, “Where am I, and how did I get here?”

Several of the men chuckled a little. That is the first question that most of us ask. We are not sure where we are. To be truthful, some of us think this is the first cave, and this is the first fire that Chaos gave to us.

The same voice spoke again, and this time I saw who it was. Seated to my left was a man on a rug. He was the oldest among the men here. “We welcome you to the remembrance. It has been long since a new one has stepped foot here. Tell us of yourself and what wisdom you seek.”

I smiled; this seemed like a much better way to learn about life than asking Sam questions. “Who I am is odd, and I am not sure if telling you is the best thing.”

A different man, this one sitting on a log with a T staff next to him, spoke. “Do not worry about what you say here. The only ones that can hear us here are the goddesses, and nothing you tell us can leave here. Only the wisdom of what you learn can leave but never the words spoken.”

Another spoke, “What he says is true it is the ritual of the dead for we have all passed and now sit in council for the shaman of the caves.”

The first to speak barked out a laugh, “I am not dead just resting that is why it is ritual remembrance. We don’t speak with the dead like necromancers do!”

Another spoke, “Oh but we are dead and you know it. This one is different and isn’t one to remember any of us. No we are dead but not passed on. We might have been laid to rest but we all have been kept by the goddesses to be here for ones like him.”

The oldest spoke again, “As you see we are a group of old men and we do like to argue but tell us who you are and how our wisdom can help. What you tell us only goes to the goddesses and only if they are listening. Later shamans my benefit from what you speak to us. But, none of your day.”

A few of them muttered a bit about there not being anymore.

So I told them where I came from. Oddly enough, they believed me completely. When I talked about needing to learn to read, several laughed. Then when I told them about Lannah, most of them laughed hardily at me. It wasn’t with me; no, it was at me.

“So I guess first can any of you teach me to read?”

The one who did most of the talking with me, the first that I had seen speak, said, “Sadly no. We can give advice about things and even in some things give you the steps to follow. However, we can’t teach you new spells, or even how to read.”

The oldest spoke, “None of us have classes beyond the racial class. You straddle the break between humans and wild humans. You have both classes and race. We can teach you how to worship the sisters and we can give you advice for dealing with others.”

I was kind of bummed that they couldn’t replace Sam, but they might be able to help me in other ways. “Can you tell me about the Goblin Death Dance?”

One of the shamans who hadn’t spoken yet looked up. He had been staring into the fire and not saying anything, not smiling, just giving a thousand-yard stare. When he spoke, everyone else stopped their side conversations. “If you know of the goblin death dance, then you are fighting the horde again, and not only are you are shaman, the first so long, but you are on the path to being a battle priest.”

I had heard about battle priests in my dreams, but I hadn’t heard of this skill. “I have dreamed of the first battle priest, but I still show that I am a shaman. I also was brought to this world by the god of bards and summer beer. I don’t know if I can be a battle priest of the Chaos and Order.”

The one who had just spoke cackled a little and then looked up. “The young are so strange, Mistress; he is here in your space and doesn’t know if he can serve you. He doesn’t know who you are.”

The oldest spoke again, “Forgive Asim, he is here among the shaman but he was not ever one of us. He was an outsider who became a battle priest. He came from a line of warriors and he taken by the sisters to fight the horde. While we are all happy to sit and talk until the next shaman comes he has waited for one like you. A battle priest who can learn from him.”

None of the shamans had introduced themselves, and the only names given had been mine and Asim. I wanted to ask about names, but the question seemed to go away as all but Asim and the old man faded away.

The old man spoke again, “Let me show you what needs to be done for a shrine for the sisters. After that Asim will speak with you about the rites you will need to fully become a battle priest.”

I don’t know how long I spent with the old man as he went over all the requirements to create a shrine. He stressed that if the sisters asked for a shrine, I needed to do that before anything else and that I needed to make plans for it to be a full temple.

Asim, however, was brief with me. “Before you learn any rites to become a battle priest you must give yourself to the sisters. Then they will claim you.”

Since he was an outsider, I had a question for him, “The others said they couldn’t help me with my skills and class issues because they were wild humans, but the elder said you were an outsider. Can you help?”

Asim laughed. It was the first laugh I had seen from him. It was deep, and it was long. “No, dear Arn, I am an outsider like you drawn from the outside of the world. I was the champion for the rules keeper.”

I was confused at that point, “I thought they said that sisters took you not the rules keeper?”

“The rules keeper serves the sister though I have not heard from him in so long he may no longer be on this plain. Our time is over now, I will speak to you again only once you serve the sisters fully. Remember, the wisdom of this place may leave but the words will not. None can be told of this place.”

With that, my vision faded, and I came around; I was still chanting.

I felt tired, and my voice was hoarse. I wasn’t sure what time it was because I was inside, so I headed out of my lodge to find that the sun was just now rising. I was stiff in all of my joints from sitting on the ground.

I saw heads up the exhausted debuff icon and the mana regeneration debuff. None of my ritual counted as sleep; I used all my mana and couldn’t regenerate until I slept for at least 4 hours. I got good information out of the old men, but this wasn’t something that I could do every night. While I thought it was a far better way to get information than from Sam, there were some distinct limitations that would need to be worked out.

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