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Further investigation reveals a maple sapling warped into the shape of a spike driven deep into the earth. It reminds you unmistakably of the lance the rider carried back in New York, but it's not clear what it was for. Nin has no trouble uprooting and destroying it with her huge claws, and once it's gone, Pattern Spiders immediately get to work healing the ripped-open walls between this world and the Umbra. You can hear them working for a few minutes, even if they work so quickly that soon you can't see them.

The fomor isn't a suppurating pile of meat this time. Like with most "possessed" spirits, it returns to its natural shape at death. The horrible hand-tendrils vanish, leaving only a deer that looks like it got hit by a train.

Entirely pleased with Nin's chiminage, Whippoorwill explains that he must discuss what he saw with Simurgh, the Patron Spirit of the mysterious Silent Strider tribe, and then he will return to bestow his Gift on Nin and teach her the Song of the Moonpath.

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