POV Jocke
As night starts to fall Pär and I start scanning the valley for caves. At the back of the first mountain we find a small cave that offers enough cover for the night. We bind our horses inside, and as Pär heads out to hunt I scavenge the valley for dry firewood. By the time I have a fire burning in the cave, Pär returns with 3 mountain bunnies. He carefully skins them and hangs them above the fire from a stick. After we've eaten we lie down to rest in the back of the cave. I chose my eyes and quickly fall asleep.
I seem to wake up a little after, but everything is blue again. I look around and see Pär isn't present here, so I get up and walk towards the cave entrance to check outside. Around the corner a man awaits me, the same mysterious man who visited me in my previous "dream".
"Before you head to the shattered Northern Kingdoms, you must visit the Black Mountain. At its summit you will find two warriors who you will find useful on your journey.", the man says.
"How do I get there, I've never even heard of it before.", I ask him.
"Pär knows the way, so remember the Black Mountain", he says as he walks towards me and pushes my forehead, causing me to fall backwards and as I hit the ground in my dream I wake up immediately sitting up.
Pär looks at me as he pauses what he was doing. "Are you alright, Jocke?", he asks me.
"Black Mountain, we need to head to the summit of Black Mountain", I answer.
"I see, there's no time to waste", he responds.
I get up and help Pär to hide our traces in this cave and as we finish we mount the horses and head deeper into the valley.
At some point we reach a split with both ways turning into a mountain pass, one going out of the mountains and the others going deeper into the mountains. Taking a look at the pass heading deeper into the mountains I can vaguely see a mountain made out of a black stone. I follow Pär deeper into the mountains and as we get closer to the Black Mountain our vision starts to turn more and more vague due to mist. Arriving at the foot of the Black Mountain we start circling around to find a way up, but it's hard to see in the thick mist. At the back of the Black Mountain we find a less steep ridge and begin out ascend from there, still mounting the horses. After a few steps upwards we hear ghastly screeches from behind in the mist. We carry on on our way upwards as the screeches become louder as if something is nearing us. As it gets closer Pär and I make our horses go faster, but the screeches manages to keep up. The higher up we go the clearer it becomes, so we're hoping for it to never become clear. But before I can leave the most the creature following us creeps in front of me and my horse stops and rises, causing me to fall off and my horse runs after Pär. I now can more clearly see what was following us, it kind like a creature made out of mist. It screeches as it's misty claws near me, and I'm just here on the ground defenseless. Pär turns around but is too far in front to help me out. But then, all of a sudden, a soft whistling sound comes from above as an arrow pierces the mist creature in its head. It screeches loudly in pain as it disintegrates into a pile of dust. I take a few deep breaths before standing up and mounting my horse to continue our way up, we get out of the mist and near the summit.
"What was that thing?", I ask Pär.
"Sorry, I know very little about monsters. But you should keep that question for my acquaintances, they will surely know more.", Pär responds.
As we reach the summit we dismount our horses and bind them next to the passage where we came from. Leaning against a shack, a young woman stands as if she was waiting us. She lays down a bow and walks in front of us as she looks at both of us and it remains silent for a little until she and Pär greet eachother. They seem well acquainted.
"So this is the... You know?", she asks Pär.
"Yes, it is. Let's not mention it for now.", Pär answers.
I step forward and greet the woman too.
"I am Jocke, but you seen to know a little more than that about me.", I say.
"Yes, we have been expecting you. My name is Odalyn and on the side of the shack you can see Sigurd.", the woman, Odalyn, says.
Confused I look at the shack and only now I notice there's a guy sitting on a bench on the side on the shack. He turns our way and shortly nods his head to greet us.
I turn to Odalyn and ask her, "Did you shoot that thing from up here?".
"Yes, that was me. You were being chased by a misty ghoul. It's sort of like a corporeal ghost made out of mist, although they do have razor-sharp claws.", Odalyn answers.
"Good shot, you seem to be able to handle a bow well.", I compliment her.
"I'm decent with a bow, I prefer shortswords. I just didn't really have another weapon choice with which I could help you out.", she responds. Me, Pär and Odalyn enter the shack where we rest for the night.
Without any memorable dreams we wake up again and Sigurd is still or again sitting outside. Pär and Odalyn start packing again, while Sigurd just stares in the distance. I take a moment to look around aswell and can see all the way to the Vast Plains border to the forests, never been this far from my home and I don't plan this to be the furthest I've been. I hear a strange sound, immediately taking me out of my focus on the great view, and suddenly 2 more horses appear from behind, which Sigurd readies so he and Odalyn have a mount aswell.
"Time to meet to meet up with the man from your dreams", Pär says. And so we all take our luggage and descend down into the mountain pass, this time out of the mountains further north and thus even further from my home.
