Although it took Karnisal and Mirgia some effort to convince the council of the importance of this journey, eventually Karnisal simply said that this was their responsibility and they would not hear otherwise. Knowing how stubborn their leader could be, the rest of the council approved but only with the caveat that one of the council members, Qritor, would come along to Morpezo. Out of the members of the council, he was by far the most physically capable and would be able to protect Karnisal if the worst came to be, although Mirgia highly doubted that would be necessary. Still, having some extra insurance was rarely bad, and thus the next morning the party of six – Mirgia, Kimi, Rolin, Teddy, Karnisal and Qritor – set off in the direction of Morpezo. The weather had taken a shift from late fall to early winter during their short stay in Milinia and Mirgia was happy he was able to grab some more comfortable winter clothes from his home before going back on the road. The forest could get quite cold at night this time of year and as kind as Teddy and the people in Redsan had been to him, they only had so many clothes available for someone twice their height. Dressed in his winter greens and browns, he felt at ease leading the party through the forest. Despite their age, Karnisal also did not struggle in keeping up with the rest of the group, walking alongside Qritor for most of the journey. After a few days of travel, the group made it back to the outskirts of the Liriath forest, just a few hours east of Morpezo.
Mirgia made pace with Rolin, who had understandably been the slowest of the group. “How are those glasses treating you?” He asked the blind man.
Rolin smiled. “They’re wonderful, they make it so that the lights aren’t as intense as they were before but I can still see enough of the world around me that I can navigate it.”
“That’s good, and how are you getting used to your new eyes in general, now that you’ve been out of Morpezo and seen more of the world than most villagers would.”
Rolin chuckled. “Despite there only being a few days of travel between Morpezo and Milinia, it felt like I was in a completely different world. I don’t know what the difference is in how things look to you, but for me it was crazy. Morpezo looks relatively muted, welcoming in the color palette. Milinia looks old. Ancient in a way that’s hard to describe.”
“That’s interesting,” Karnisal said, listening in on the conversation, “because Milinia is not even that old. I wonder why it looks that way to you.”
“Perhaps it is not the age of the people living there or the history of the city that I’m seeing but instead it is the age of the forest itself.”
“Fascinating.” Karnisal looked at Qritor. “What do you think?”
The burly man with the now tiny mustache – he was a big proponent of changing up your facial hair regularly – pondered the question for a while. “From the little that you’ve told me, it seems like this sight is caused by some spirit of sorts, yes?”
Rolin nodded. “That is the running theory. It was a woman who spoke to me, but odds are that the woman was a spirit wearing a glamor.”
“Then perhaps the things you see do not actually use your own eyes but the eyes of the spirit. The way things look to a spirit varies a lot from one to the other. Younger spirits like Kimi’thania here,” he turned to Kimi and added, “please correct me if I’m saying something that’s wrong,” he continued, “have sight that is very similar to that of mortals, but some of the older, even ancient spirits see the world through such a unique lens – literally – that what they see is not really explainable to us mortals. So if the trees look old to the eyes of a spirit then perhaps the spirit’s idea of what this forest once looked like is vastly different from what it looks like now.” He shrugged. “Or perhaps I’m just saying things that make no sense, who knows.”
“Don’t undersell yourself Qritor, your insight into these things is often wonderfully well thought out.”
Qritor smiled. “I appreciate that, Karnisal.”
Mirgia knew that due to the man’s brawny demeanor, he was often underestimated but he was arguably more of a scholar than a fighter, despite his looks. After chatting for another half an hour, the sleepy village of Morpezo – with at the outskirts of it the tower – came into view.

The almost jovial atmosphere of the journey from Milinia to Morpezo faded rapidly as the Sahilid camp came into sight. They had moved their camp from their initial location on the outskirts of town to their new location right next to the tower which Mirgia now knew was a shard of Kanarth. With that in mind, the strange architecture of the tower as well as the unnatural way it was jutting out of the ground made a lot more sense and he understood why the villagers had found it so unnerving. He wondered if the shard had just suddenly spawned into existence or if it was somehow always there but not perceivable. Perhaps he would have to discuss this with Karnisal later, after they learned more. For now, he was anxious to see how this meeting between Karnisal and Ankh would go. Mirgia felt somewhat responsible for this meeting going well, considering he was the one who brought this news to Karnisal that ultimately got the old elf to leave Milinia. With the camp in sight, Ankh came out to meet them. Where the sorcerer had been imposing, almost arrogant, throughout the time that Mirgia spent with him, he now looked timid. Merely being in Karnisal’s presence seemed to make the man cower and that surprised Mirgia. Perhaps he was worried for nothing.
“A pleasure to meet you, my name is Ankh.” The sorcerer introduced himself.
Karnisal looked the man over. “That tome you have on your hip.” They said.
“It is where I keep a record of my magical capabilities.” Ankh replied.
“That book belongs to my brother,” Karnisal looked at it and squinted, “no, it is made to look exactly like the book that belongs to my brother.”
Ankh smiled nervously. “You have sharp eyes.”
“And you have a trickster’s tongue. What is your name, sorcerer.”
“I told you my name.”
“No your actual name. I am aware that you have been calling yourself all sorts of things and taking some serious liberty with names that do not belong to you. Do not question me on this, child. For now I am here to talk, but if you were to continue this crap I’m not sure I will stay as kind.”
As if to punctuate the threat, Qritor stepped up next to Karnisal, not doing or saying anything in particular but definitely making his presence known.
Ankh took a step back and carefully chose his words. As if to signify defeat he sighed. “My name is Cosodo. It is a shorthand for what I am. Master Sorda’Thun created me as the pinnacle of his research. I am a Conscious Sorcerer Doll.”
“What has he done,” Karnisal said, a worried look on their face. “You are fully conscious, you say?”
Ankh nodded. “I was born as an artificial spirit, created by magic, and then this body became mine.”
“Where did the body come from?” Qritor asked, still making sure he was positioned between the sorcerer and Karnisal.
“I do not know.” Ankh looked at Karnisal. “Look, I didn’t ask for you to come here to talk about my life, I have need of your capabilities.”
Karnisal nodded. “We will speak of your disposition later. For now, let us look at the problem at hand.” Karnisal looked at the tower. “This is the shard of Kanarth that you found, yes?”
Ankh nodded. “Yes, it is the fourth one I tried to investigate since I lost contact with master Sorda’Thun, and the first one I did not manage to enter.”
Karnisal investigated the tower with Qritor while Mirgia turned to Rolin. “Now I understand why you asked Ankh what he was, instead of who he was.”
Rolin nodded. “I sensed that something was strange about his person, it didn’t have the same colorful aura as most people, and I didn’t quite understand what that meant. I guess this means he is a spirit of sorts, although he does look very different from Kimi’Thania.”
Karnisal returned from their walk around the tower. “This is a Vincula, but I assume you figured that out already?”
Ankh nodded. “Yes, and they are almost impossible to get into.”
“Almost.” Karnisal turned to Rolin. “You have been given the key to entering this prison, my friend.”
“What do you mean?” Rolin replied.
“Your eyes. They were a gift from the spirit that is locked in this place. This Brela woman you met wasn’t a person that went into the tower, it was a spirit that came out of the tower to ask for your help.”
Rolin looked worried. “How can I help?”
“That I don’t know, but I think she wants you to set her free. Perhaps we can work together in finding out a way to use your newfound sight to open whatever lock is placed on this prison.”
“Well, if she needs help I think I can try, but isn’t the fact that she’s imprisoned a sign that perhaps someone doesn’t want her out?”
Karnisal had a pained look on their face and stared at Ankh for a while before speaking up. “Kanarth has a complicated and long history. I’m not going to make excuses, but the research that some of our mages and sorcerers did into the world spirits, their capabilities and the way their power worked was far beyond what should be ethically allowed. In the name of progress and advancing the betterment of everyone, a lot of atrocities were ignored. That doesn’t mean that whatever spirit is in this tower isn’t someone with ill will towards us, whether that stems from before their imprisonment or is a result of this treatment, but it means that whatever got them in there, it doesn’t have to be any fault of their own.”
Rolin nodded. “I’ll see what I can do then, will you guys help me out?”
Karnisal nodded. “I know enough about the general structure of these sorts of locks that I can help you navigate whatever wards there might be in place. Your newfound eyesight should hopefully do the rest.”