Hail hex

After defeating Bondrewd, the Sovereign of Dawn, and his formidable Umbra Hands, Captain Srajo and her team—the enigmatic Sovereign of Mystery—descended into the Sixth Layer of the Abyss. A place from which it is said that return is impossible, by any means.

The Hail Curse team finally found refuge in a cave, located just 300 meters above the entrance to the Seventh Layer. Their mission was to locate a mysterious entity known only as The High Priestess. No one had any idea who or what she was, nor did they understand why Captain Srajo was so determined to find her. But orders were orders, and questioning her rarely led to anything productive.

During the descent, Nishagora captured a young woman named Tepaste. For reasons still unknown, he made her a servant—essentially a slave—of the crew. No one openly questioned him, but the decision left a strange and lingering unease in the air.

At that moment, Srajo was near the fire, humming a soft, cryptic tune as he stirred a large metal pot of stew. Frapam, the snake-like creature that always coiled around his neck, watched the bubbling mixture with lazy interest.

Nishagora and Yataramar were sitting at the nearby table, waiting for the stew to finish cooking. Manae and Sherumi were behaving as usual: noisy, unbearable, and completely uninterested in keeping the peace. They took turns poking Yataramar in the leg or shouting at each other, laughing at their own jokes. Their behavior soon began to tire Nishagora, whose frown deepened with each outburst.

Tepaste was nowhere to be seen; she was probably still asleep or perhaps doing something else. No one had seen her for quite some time, and in that environment, that could mean anything. Srajo stared out the window of the shelter, thinking the obvious: the priestess.