Session 32 - Reconciliation

Alta is doing traveling north to find the source of the troubles the wild places are experiencing, such as the unusually hot weather and nechist' about. Friends in forests are missing and he's been having dreams about a maiden being kidnapped by a prince with dark hair. He encounters strong vibrations underground and follows it until he runs into Vasia. The two discover they are both followers of Mokosh and Vasilii tells him about the events of the Rada.

Meanwhile, back in Luzhinsk, Hrefna is practicing being a raven and using it to snoop around the Temple of Dazhbog. She hopes to find books that could tell her more about the City of the Dead, where he supposedly dwells. During her snooping she runs into Olga, who sees through her attempts to pretend to be someone else immediately. Olga brings up rumors that Koshchei has followers in the city. Olga seems to be trying to avoid being head Volkhva. Hrefna agrees to investigate these rumors. Olga suggests that a place to start is to seek out the children that went missing after visiting a traveling magician.

Hrefna finds Vadim and they go into the forest to track down Vasilii along with the wolverine. They do not inform Vladimir of their plans. Olga tells Vladimir his companions have left and Vladimir concludes the party is sneaking away without him so he follows them into the forest. The whole group eventually meet up at Vasilii's camp and meet Alta. Alta tells them about his past as a Kochmak child who got separated from his people and has been living in the wild ever since. Vladimir and Vasilii get into an argument where Vladimir airs his grievances about the past. Hrefna and Vadim leave, uninterested in Vladimir's complaints.

They group finally agrees to head back to the city, and Vasilii summons horses to help them travel. In the city, they debate how to find the missing children. The kids left to visit a Fogarma wonder-worker who could perform magic and is supposedly staying in the leatherworkers' quarter. They talk to the Rakhman merchant they previously stayed with who says Gaalites often lie and accuse them of stealing children. The group splits up. Vadim and Vladimir talk to the Gaalites, and learn one of the missing is the younger brother of a Gaalite merchant they earlier met Makarios. Hrefna turns into a bird to head into the leatherworker quarter. Vasilii and Alta follow her on foot.

Hrefna reveals to a leatherworker that she can talk and transform into a human and claims to work for a master named Koshchei. She's invited to come back that evening. She leaves and informs the rest of the group. The rest of the group try to find locations near the quarter to be on watch when she has her meeting with the wonder worker. Hrefna, meanwhile, goes back to the citadel and gets dressed up for the meeting.

Vasilii finds out one of the children was wearing a red shirt and pretends to be intending to buy leather armor for Alta to go around the area and search for the child. He uses magic to detect the shirt inside a building but it is unmoving.