True to the dark figure's word, the rest of the trip along the Path is relatively uneventful. I can just make out the rat things running through the underbrush to each side of us and leaping between trees above, but none try to attack. Elvira even seems to recover from the encounter a little, though her movements are still unsteady.

"What? No, no I'm not doing that," she mutters to herself. "You can make a new one. I don't care how long it'll take, I'm not going back. What? Oh, Umbra, we're here."

Sure enough, a large door made of woven branches stands on our left. As we approach it begins to creak open, revealing a much brighter forest on the other side. Although I can her the rat things moving through the dark woods behind us, nothing stops us from stepping through the door. As the elf collapses to the ground the trees behind us unravel their branches, the door disappearing back into a completely normal forest.

"Okay. Okay, that's done. We're never doing that again, right?"

Maybe. Rest here, I'll look around.

"Alright," Elvira replies. Turning to an empty spot by the base of a nearby tree she says, "Yeah, whatever, go ahead. Just be done as soon as possible."

I assume she's talking to the spirit, though it doesn't particularly matter to me. I'm just about to begin carving a Shadow's Mark when roots slowly break through the earth, carefully creating a hollow in which the elf can lie without being noticed. Probably less noticeable than a large shadow being cast by nothing, and that confirms that the spirit has indeed followed us. Good, maybe it'll be useful.

That done, I set off to explore the forest.

The spirit has put us much closer to Lucet than I was expecting. We're close enough that within minutes of leaving the elf I can see the city walls between the trees, and it's clear that reaching Yehma's church isn't going to be easy. The walls are mad of stone, and tall enough that I probably won't be able to get over them. The guards at the gates are attentive, and while it's currently the middle of the day I'm willing to bet that they'll have torches. Probably be too bright to get in with Night's Veil. However, there are plenty of people walking through, and the guards aren't searching most of them. From what I can tell as long as a person doesn't have a large pack or a carriage, the guards simply wave them through with a quick glance over. That could be my way in.

I could try walking in myself, but I know that I can't walk very well. Plus I don't look even remotely human, the guards aren't searching people but I'm sure they'll notice something wrong with me. It would be a tight fit, but I could try sneaking in with the elf, hiding under her cloak. Elves look mostly human, if she just hides her ears it should be fine. Though, she can't speak the human language, so if the guards ask a question we're done. Trying to hitch a ride on a carriage probably wouldn't work, those are being searched. The only other way I can see to get is what appears to a an outlet for sewage, and the bars on it are placed close enough together that even I can't squeeze through. Gates it is.

Besides the city, there really isn't anything that interesting in the area. A few animal trails, and I manage to pull some small animal out of its burrow. A groundhog, maybe? I mangled it pulling it out, so it's a bit difficult to tell exactly what it was. It'll be good food, probably. Oh, and there's a road not too far from where I left Elvira, I can probably kill a human and steal their clothes there.

So, want to go meet the goddesses?

"What. The. Fuck."

"I think it sounds great!" says the partially reconstructed spirit. Apparently the body it lost is replaceable, but it's currently just a head sticking out of the side of a tree.

"No, not great!" Elvira replies. "I don't even look human! You really don't pay attention, do you, Umbra?! Y'see my skin? Yeah, humans are typically paler than this, that's already going to draw attention, and then there are my eyes, most humans don't have green eyes! And even when they do, not bright green like mine! Not to mention the fucking ears, you think they're just going to ignore that?!"

We can get a cloak.

"A cloak? Where are you going to get one of those? I thought we had a deal, no killing people when it can be avoided!"

It can't be avoided. I need to enter Lucet, to do that I need to kill a human.

"That's not- fine. Let's say that's how it works. You're still just going to get me killed when the guard notices something is wrong."

If something happens I'll kill the guards. You will be safe.

"That's not reassuring." She puts her head in her hands, sighing. "How about you, spirit, do you have anything to say about all this?"

"It sounds good to me! The champion has to talk to the Mothers, so they need to get into the city! This is a way into the city!"

"Of course it does. I don't... We have time, right? We can do this tomorrow. I'm tired, I just want to sleep for a month right now, can we talk about this when I wake up?"

Tomorrow.

"Tomorrow. Okay, tomorrow's good."

"Yay! I'll have a full body tomorrow too!"