"So he's gone." Alf, having woken late for his watch, had woken the others, and shared the news. "How gone is gone?" asked Teclis.

"Well all of his stuff is still here, so I doubt he's just cut and run" said Alf, "but it's still not great".

The mood in camp was gloomy at this. A mysterious disappearance in the dead of night was the last thing that they needed. Arrogant though he might have been, a wizard was still a useful ally, and it was a bit ominous for the mist to have just claimed him.

"Well we should start looking for him then, shouldn't we?" said Gialli. "I'm sure any of us would do the same."

"If you want to start, be my guest" contributed Alf, as usefully as ever. "Just tell us where to go". Tove cuffed him across the back of the head. "Don't be a shit", she said. "Maybe there are tracks".

A few minutes of very careful searching later, there was a triumphant cry from Teclis. "I have something! Footprints, leading away from the camp." Talani and Tove, the most familiar with this sort of thing, headed over to confirm. "Only looks like the one set" Tove said "So I don't think he was dragged away by anything".

"So he just wandered off?" asked Teclis.

"Or was lured" she replied. "but who knows by what". They looked up, but no sign of any distraction could be found. "I guess the best thing to do is follow them?"

"Don't they lead off the path?"

"They absolutely do."

"Hooray."

"I suggest," said Talani, searching through his pack "that we be intelligent about this". He ignored Alf's muttered comment, and pulled out a heavy line of rope. "We each tie this around ourselves, since we're moving in the dark."

Gialli sighed. "We should have done this from the start. Foolish of us to overlook this"

"We can chastise ourselves later." Talani started passing around the rope, spooling it out from his hands. "For now, we get moving. Tove, you take the lead and follow the prints, I can't see in this light. I'll take the rear. The rest of you, sort it out."

The line was handed out, knots checked and secured, and the slow procession stumbled off into the darkness. Mersingmergr walked alongside Gialli, and those who carried weapons walked with them drawn. In Talani's case this was a large axe. For Teclis, a sword. Gialli, a bow. Alf carried a shield with the divine symbol of Sol, the sun god. For days now he had been lamenting the weak connection he had to his god in this place, and wished fervently for a ray of sun to break through. He kept his other hand free for that magic which he could muster. Tove meanwhile absent-mindedly toyed with her own spell focus. Her magic was drawn from the stars, and the movement of the heavens. The cord she carried was strung with beads, and although it was simple in design, she twisted it into shapes of extraordinary intricacy as they walked, each pattern representing a different constellation, and glowing faintly from time to time. Here as well though, the power of the stars, even at night, was limited by the mists.

They moved at a snail's pace, Tove bent low to the ground and occasionally stopping entirely to make sure that they were still on track. In the dark and the fog it was next-to impossible to tell where the others were, and so they all put their trust in the rope. The occasional sudden slackening or tautening sent the heart lurching up into the mouth, but these were false alarms. Muffled footfalls on sodden earth, jangling packs, and the sound of their own breathing were all that each of them heard as they pressed on.

--

At the barrow, the situation was not improving. Backing up against the edge of the mound that formed this tomb, Reg steadied his sword in front of him. He mustered what bravado he could, and spoke confidently into the mist. "I'm warning you. Back off or I shall force you back".

Instead of the sound deadening in the fog as normal, it was instead picked up, and echoed around him a thousand times, voices emanating all around him. "Warning you", they called, in voices low and high. "Warning you" came the message, leaving Reg spinning, trying to face each voice. "Warning you" they said again, humanoid shapes in the fog stepping closer each time.

"WARNING YOU." A jarring voice to his left, the clearest yet, and Reg pivoted, startled. One of these mist-figures was almost upon him. He cried out in surprise, desperately trying and failing to correct his footwork as it lunged, hand reaching for his throat - and dissolved. He stood, mouth agape like a startled fish. "Warning you..." the same as the last voice, whispered directly into his right ear. He suppressed a scream, and turned once again, heart in his throat and threatening to choke him. Another of the mist-people, this one on all fours, leapt up towards him, springing like an animal. This time he had the presence of mind to at least take a swing, but as he was expecting, his blade slashed uselessly through a person made of cloud. As with the last one though, it dissolved moments later, returning to the rest of the vapour.

Reg kept spinning, keeping his eyes on the mist-people, but by this time his breathing was coming back under control. They seemed incapable of harming him, but the voices were unnerving to say the least. "Who is there, man or monster?" he called once more "Step into the light and show yourself!" He issued the command, raising his glowing hand.

As he did, the voices took up a new chant. "The light", they whispered, "the light". Reg decided to take up a chant of his own. "Fuck off!" he cried, experimenting with their apparent habit of repetition. "The light" continued the voices. This was, Reg decided, turning into a right pickle. In this weather, keeping the light on was six of one, half a dozen of the other as far as his vision was concerned. The real question for him therefore, was whether he thought these voices friend or foe.

Life is nothing without a little experimentation though, so he put out the lights.

Then turned them back on.

And then back off.

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"Oh dear".

--

In the grand scheme of things, Tove reflected, it was probably a good thing that he started flashing like that. She hadn't exactly lost the trail, but it wasn't the easiest to follow, and there were multiple sets of footprints now, following the same path in opposite directions. A big blinking light was a much easier sign. A light had been present there for a while of course, but making assumptions is how you end up falling down crevices or something. She wasn't really sure what was off the path, but it was better to be safe than sorry. That said, now that it had started pulsing, that felt much more urgent. "Over there" she called out, pointing to the light. She winced internally in mild embarrassment when she realised that nobody could see her. She started walking faster though, figuring that the rest of them could see the light as well and would get the memo.

The group sped up slightly, the ropes occasionally causing one or two of them to stumble as their different physiques led to different speeds, but they were closing quickly on the beacon that she assumed was Reg. She called out into the mists as they got closer: "Reg!"

"I didn't even say that!" she heard yelled back from the direction of the light. The manic voice of Reg, that she had expected to hear back muffled, if at all, rang loud and clear. It also made no sense. She was now two for two on yelling things that had gone badly for her, and she was seriously considering just never speaking again.

"Reg, it's Tove!" she shouted. "Where are you?"

"Where the bloody hell do you think?! In the flashing light!" Tove had known this. This was, perhaps, the worst question she had ever asked, and she desperately wished that the earth would consume her. "We're coming!", she added somewhat pointlessly. What were they doing otherwise, just yelling at him? The moment she got home she was going to fill her mouth with gravel.

With all of that said though, there had definitely been a note of panic in Reg's voice. This set alarm bells ringing. Reg was normally quite a collected person, and good at putting on a front when he wasn't. The fact that he was that rattled was not a good sign. She broke into a run of sorts, hobbled by the fact that she was tied to the others, and so it was almost comical; 5 people of different sizes and athleticism, all trying to run at the same pace when they couldn't see each other. It would make a good carnival game, but here it was dangerous.

To say that they burst onto the scene would be wrong, since that would imply a gap in the mist. Instead they continued to stumble until they were practically on top of a wildly yelling Reg. She yelled out to him, and was briefly glad for her dwarven frame as Reg spun and took a panicked swing over her head. "Hey man what the fuck?!" she yelled at him. She heard his laboured breathing, and they were now close enough to see him properly. Sweat was beaded across his face, eyes wide, and with an air of desperation.

"Where in the hells have you been?!" he hissed.

"Us? You wandered off!" She fired back.

"Well never mind that"

"Nevermi-"

"Just get behind me, stay quiet, and keep a look out."

"For what?" To answer this, Reg gestured, chivvying the rest of them towards him so that they were all huddled in a conspiratorial circle. "In a moment," he whispered, "I'm going to put out this light. When I do, figures will appear in the mist. Then I'll put it back on a couple of seconds later. Ready?"

"No." spat Tove.

"Well tough tatas" he retorted, and any further questioning from Tove was cut off as the light went out and darkness rushed in.

Darkness only really inconvenienced Tove, but this particular darkness worried her much more. Reg was right. All around her, she could now make out the shapes of various figures in the swirling misty darkness. She barely had time to acknowledge them before the light came back up, and they vanished.

"What were those?" asked Teclis, who of all of them had the best night vision.

"Why should I know?" replied Reg.

"Because I thought you were meant to be clever!"

"And I thought you were meant to be funny, but here we are."

"Be quiet both of you before I beat you with my stick." butted in Alf. He turned to Reg "do you know anything about them?"

"I've never seen them before I'm afraid. The only thing I can tell so far is that they don't get closer whilst the light is up."

"Did anyone else feel like they looked oddly... flat?" asked Gialli.

There was a short pause in the conversation at this, as people pondered this new question. "I think you're right" said Teclis. "The almost looked more like the image of people than actual people."

"Well there are images or something here too, but they're harmless so far." Eyes snapped to Reg, who shrugged back. "What? I said they were harmless. If you do hear voices though, they're probably helpful? I can't fully tell."

"I'm going to brush past that for now" said Alf. "Since these people can't get any closer in the light, why don't we just... leave?". General murmurings of assent followed this.

"Well we can, but the barrow is right here." Reg waved his hand like a salesman showing off a particularly impressive new product, and behind him was the door. "Well then lead with that next time."

"My apologies. Next time I'll try not to be surrounded by mist people and shadows and ethereal voices."

"Good."

They moved closer to the door, taking a moment to examine it. "It's locked" said Reg. Talani stepped up towards the door, carefully examining the runes carved on the frame on top of it. To most people this would have been a strain, but to him it was eye-height. "It certainly matches what was on the map. This is a bit more in-depth though."

"What does it say then?" asked Gialli.

"Mostly what we knew already." He turned back to the group, having given a perfectly satisfactory answer, and was surprised to see that they were instead hanging on his every word. "If you must know, I can give a loose translation."

"Please." said Gialli.

"Fine." He continued, reading flatly from the carved symbols. It was clear he had no future as a skald. "Here entombed is a great warrior and king, to lie beneath until Ragnarok comes. His enemies slain by him, and he by them, he rests with crown and sword. The noblest of his house shall here join him, and together they shall fight once more. By him was decided the fate of nations, and by those who emulate him they will be decided again. Seek pride, seek strength, seek glory, seek greatness, and all shall be found below by those to whom it is owed, and by those who have the will to claim it. Fate wills it so."

His monologue over, he turned to the rest of the group. They in turn stood there agog. "That's a 'loose translation'?" stammered Gialli.

"It flows better in the original."

"Oh of course it flows better in the original" said Reg, who had become sarcasm manifest, "Nothing we didn't already know was it then?"

"Talani," said Tove, in a conciliatory tone "I think it would be best if you could start with descriptions like that." He looked down at her, gave a small sigh, and shrugged in acceptance.

"Fine then. It still doesn't help us get in though."

"Honestly I was just going to ask you to cut down the door big man," said Reg, "but now something tells me that might be a bad idea."

"Mmm, doesn't seem like the kind of place one should disrespect like that." Gialli input, "but I can't see a keyhole either."