Manithan Vaanam

In-Game Time	12th Day of the 5th Dharan Cycle
Played On	13th of June, 2025

After their journey from the sands to the snow, the party carries onward, the winds and weather intensifying as they travel upwards towards Malai Hill. After a week, they awaken to fresh snowfall, their bodies blanketed by the snow. Haavani conjures a fire cantrip to warm the snow off of the yaans. However, the yaans immediately start a snow fight amongst themselves, flinging snow with their trunks and barreling into each other. Aadhi and Shwari aim to hit Bhavannan with snowballs, Aadhi succeeding first before being followed by Shwari, who, from behind, smashes a massive snow boulder over his head. After Shwari hits him, Bhavannan demands a snowball duel with Shwari, which Shwari wins as well. Aadhi then attempts to hit Bhavannan with snow again, whereupon Bhavannan trips Aadhi, flipping her onto her back into the snow and stopping her attempt. After the party and the yaans tire themselves, they restart their journey.

After a day and a half, the party reaches the frozen Kaveri River. Nila immediately recognizes the landscape as the place in her dreams, where Ashitham died fighting a blur of a shadow.[1] She walks towards the riverside and tries to find any evidence of the fight. However, she instead feels a figure looming behind her, and the party watches as Nila's shadow grows and detaches itself from Nila. As the shadowy figure looms over Nila, it immediately charges at her, adhering itself to Nila's body, forming a tattooed hand around her body, the fingers slowly extending itself. As Nila collapses, her eyes roll back and she appears comatose. The group races towards her, trying to find solutions to disentangle the entity from Nila. Shwari takes her dagger out and attempts to raise the shadow from Nila's body. However, Shwari pricks at Nila's skin instead, blood swelling from the cut. Haavani claims with absolute certainty that this creature is religous-affiliated, and Aadhi, panicking, places her hand upon the inked hand; the inked hand juts out, grabs Aadhi's hand, snaps it backwards, breaking the wristbone.

As Aadhi screams from the intense pain, Bhavannan and Shwari reason that they could possibly cut the hand if they agitate it to jump out. Aadhi conjures up a fake hand, which Shwari places on a twig. She then places it on the shadowy limb, which takes the bait. However, the shadowy hand swiftly dodges Bhavannan's slice and merges itself back onto Nila's body. After watching the attempt fail, Aadhi casts Detect Thoughts on the entity and manages to hear a conversation between Nila and itself: the figure is trying to convince Nila to give in, which Nila refuses. The scene turns to black and Aadhi returns to reality. Aadhi mentions this to the crew; Haavani, in a last attempt, channels her divinity to push the shadowy figure away from Nila. However, after she channels the power, the body of Nila shoots up straight into the sky, hovering in the air. As the limp Nila lies suspended in the sky, the group looks in horror, the realization that shadows in the snow can come to life.