Duration: 13:27

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There’s still one more spirit we need to talk to before engaging our primary target, so I step back on the main path and continue forward. Along the way, a group of spirit wolves materializes and attacks; we have to defeat them. They’re not that tough individually, but since they have a numbers advantage and this is Nightmare difficulty it can be a bit dicey if we’re not careful. We kill the first wolf easily by hitting it with both Lightning and Arcane Bolt, but the second wolf closes into biting range while the spells are still recharging—not good. I retreat and wait for the spells to recharge, then turn around and attack. Unfortunately, the wolf resists one of them, and while we’re trying to finish him off the third and final wolf attacks from another direction, forcing yet another tactical retreat while we’re recharging. Still, we kill the weakened wolf with Arcane Bolt and then win our clash with the final one. It was a bit messier than I would have liked, but that’s okay.

With that over, I continue down the path with Mouse tagging along behind, and when it dead ends we meet a giant creature who appears to be sleeping. This is a sloth demon, who fittingly refers to himself as Sloth when we engage him in dialogue. Sloth demons are master shapeshifters who have no known true form, and they use a variety of forms and deceptions to encourage laziness and resignation in humans. They themselves aren’t necessarily lazy, but this one certainly is—he’s wanting to take his nap and not bother with us, trying to shoo us away. Notably, he’s currently in the form of a powerful type of bear called a bereskarn; bereskarn are bears that have been infected by the Taint, and they have bony spikes on their backs as well as being stronger and deadlier than normal bears. Mouse notes that such a powerful creature would be a good alternate form and suggests that perhaps the demon could teach him to shapeshift, but all Sloth wants is to take his nap. We try to push the issue, and Sloth gives us a challenge: answer three riddles, and he’ll teach Mouse the new form.

The first riddle is “I have seas with no water, coasts with no sand, towns without people, mountains without land. What am I?” The game gives us a number of possible responses; guessing wrong will cause Sloth to attack us and we’d then have to defeat him in combat to get the bear form. Fortunately, I know the right answers, and correctly say “a map” for the first riddle. The second riddle is “I’m rarely touched, but often held. If you have wit, you’ll use me well. What am I?” The correct answer is one’s tongue. The third and final riddle is “often will I spin a tale, never will I charge a fee. I’ll amuse you an entire eve, but alas, you won’t remember me. What am I?”, and the correct answer is a dream. After giving all three correct answers, Sloth keeps his word and in a cutscene, Mouse becomes a bear. He’s a regular black bear and not a bereskarn, but it’s still a lot stronger than his old mouse form. Mouse is now part of our party, and he’ll engage our enemies alongside us in combat for the rest of our time in the Fade. His bear form is quite good at melee combat, and he’ll be a valuable asset in the fight against the demon.