The night sight spell he had recovered during his excursion to the Lich Lord's archives, while a bit weak, was much preferable than his current alternative. He paused, and lit the torch. Without the characters being inscribed in his book the words were about as useful as a Shemp’s blade. Tale was spreading about his current… inadequacy. He was sure it would not be long before his enemies began to send assassins in the dark. He had searched all several dungeons all over with worthy adventurers, but found no traces of another scroll. It seemed not even treasures guarded by the Lord of the Abyss held the secret scroll.
His problem was becoming bigger, but his ideas for finding a solution were slimming fast. In fact, he was down to his last two: brave an audience with Naib Araka of the Iduali, or chance a visit with a temptress Nox Witch. He definitely favored the possibility of losing his head over the latter option.
Gaining an audience with the Idauli Naib would be challenging to say the least. One does not simply pass by fedaykins and live; and with the track record of messengers sent on Jupiter’s errands, he felt use of such means would be a certain death sentence. Fortunately, he had devised a way to arrange a meeting with the Naib of the Idauli tribe on somewhat ‘neutral’ terms. A private group of citizens had recently established a ‘dueling’ arena near the desert. The location of the arena was almost hand-wrapped by fate. He only hoped the Naib would understand his message ‘tahaddi da demon - Jupiter’
--- The challenge is accepted ---
As soon as he had received word that Araka had accepted to the terms he began making preparations. Despite all the treasures he had collected over his travels, the only item that he possessed which held any value for the Naib was his own head. Although he himself held no personal hostility towards the Iduali, he had to try his best to seal up certain bits of knowledge. He wasn’t sure of the Naib’s true magical prowess, but if the Naib could extract any information from his secret summits with Lord Brit, it could prove volatile for the entire land if the Iduali were to learn of any of Lord Brit’s intention towards their people. Worse yet, if the Naib detected any hint of his attempt to mask is own memory it certainly conclude any possible future entreaties.
True to his word, Araka arrived unattended by his deadly savage guards Prepared for the challenge. Jupiter began to explain the customs for this Daemon Battle when Araka quickly interrupted showing he clearly understood the terms. After three exhausting matches, the contest ended in a draw. Although Jupiter had not won the contest directly, he had again succeeded to win the Naib’s admiration of his warrior spirit and battle-honor.
Jupiter offered his head in exchange for any information the Naib had about seeing in the dark.
“Why Iduali great hunters? They hunt at night like sun shines bright!” Jupiter spoke with broken chakobsa.
“Hrm. It kom tu us natrali” the Naib continued without a pause “What Jupiter want no dat fer? He fergit da wurds of him maaji tryb?”
“The words were taken from me,” Jupiter explained “and I had hoped perhaps the source of your night sight was something that could be learned.”
After a few moments of contemplation, Araka offered his reply “mebe yu curst or it majik vampyr. mebe me meditayt on yur prublum. kom find me suun, see if can help yu”
Jupiter wasn’t sure he would survive another meeting with the Araka, especially not if the sealed portion of his memories were accessed. Although he still had not recovered the night sight spell, and unsure of what rage he might have unleashed upon the land, he was pleased that he had at least learned that the ability to see in the dark was a natural ability, perhaps one that could be honed by any belonging to the race of men.
He left the tower of dueling with more questions than he had come with, and less hopeful of completing his quest. He found he was next seriously contemplating an rendezvous with a witch…
