Event synopsis: The Black Forest Wills A Dream
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Acting as the prologue to Expeditioner's Joklumarkar, The Black Forest Wills A Dream, or Skógrinn Svartr Vill Einn Draumr in Old Norse, tells of Magallan's solo journey into the Infy Icefield following the sudden disappearance of a Rhine Lab expedition team. As the Ursus route was suddenenly locked down by the authorities, she embarks on a new journey to Sami where she meets both encouragement through a familiar face and obstacles by hazards and the Snowpriests.
In the Biting Cold
Many years ago, an Ursine troop was patrolling the Ursus-Sami border. Upon questioning by a soldier, the captain claimed that the Samifjod are like wild burdenbeasts who must be herded, and that Ursus has brought them civilization. Because of the "violent" Sami response, the only way they can persuade the Samifjod is through violence in return. After his lecture, a scout reported that a group of Samifjod warriors is fighting off the "Andskotarnir", demonic beings hailing from the north. The captain ordered his troops to get into formation to assist, noting that "not even a disobedient burdenbeast deserves to be devoured by starving beasts".
The Samifjod warriors thanked the Ursus for their assistance and invited them to rest in their tribal settlement under an old tree. The captain accepted, but ordered his troops to advance in formation. Back at the Sami village, the captain claimed the land for Ursus and demanded the people there adhere to Ursine customs instead of their "abominable and heretical" beliefs. The Samifjod warriors were ready to fight to preserve their homeland, so the captain gave the order to slaughter the tribesmen. But at the same time, nothing was heard from that Ursine troop since then after they were engulfed by an approaching blizzard.
Fast forward to the current time, two months ago back in Trimounts, Columbia, Magallan receives news regarding Andenate Maryam, the director of Rhine Lab's Scientific Investigation Section. He and his team have gone missing in the Infy Icefield after venturing further to the unexplored north. A colleague urges Magellan to search for the team during her trip, fearing the Maylander Exploration Society will take too long.
Upon reaching the supply depot in the Ursine tundra nearest to the Icefields, Magallan meets Ivan the envoy. Even though her documents are well prepared, Ivan gives her the bad news: the Ursine authority has suddenly announced the lock-down of its route to the Icefield. While this incident has always been common to the Northland explorers, Magallan begs him to let her in to rescue lives, and notes that it takes more time for a rescue team to get moving than a single explorer. After a further denial, she decides to try to get into the Icefield from Sami. Ivan offers to escort her, having been ordered by his superiors to keep an eye on her.
Upon reaching the Sami-Ursus border, Magallan thanks Ivan for help. When asked about his opinion regarding the Samifjod, he claims they are savages who attack Ursus territory without reason and will harm outsiders like Magallan. He warns her of a scary "witch" wandering around the borders, claiming that she's a vengeful spirit out to get revenge for what the Ursus did at the outpost.
At the Ursus sentry outpost, Magallan admires the large Sami tree in the middle of it. While she goes off to take samples, Ivan informs his superiors that he's arrived. As a blizzard is about to arrive, Ivan tells Magallan to take shelter inside the old outpost, claiming to check the scale of the storm while actually setting up a signal for a squad of border guards, as the officals in charge plan to use Magallan's skills to guide their investigation team.
During the blizzard, Magallan sees a familiar figure appearing among the storm – Santalla, the Infected Sami sorceress who once calmed the blizzard around her research base. She gladly welcomes her into the outpost and explains to her her situation. Santalla offers her help, and she hurries Magallan to quickly prepare for a departure due to the approaching blizzard. But Magallan wishes to inform Ivan about it. She informs Santalla the direction Ivan was heading off to, and the caster leaves for a while. When Santalla returns, she claims that she could not find Ivan, and the two set off.
Afterwards, as they travel along the snowy field, Magallan shows Santalla a unique specimen she found around the outpost—two pieces of bark from an old tree that possesses unique pattern. When Santalla questions if she harmed the old tree, she immediately apologizes and states that she just obtained it when they dropped off from the tree, not knowing that the old tree is actually a sacred tree worshipped by the Samifjod. Santalla forgives her, and she allows her to keep it as she wishes. But before that, she glances through the patterns and interprets its symbolism: gydja (priestess) and heillir (lucky). She believes that it could be a sign of good luck.
Daughter of the Icefield
Magallan and Santalla has reached the foot of Fjal Vetrtonn, the northernmost mountain range of Sami. As Magallan records in her journal, she suddenly hears some sort of hallucination. She believes that Director Mariam is just nearby calling her; she even sees her "shadow" amidst the mist. Suddenly, a female Sarkaz covers her mouth from behind and tells her not to respond to the voice. Introducing herself as Typhon, a huntress and Santalla's acquaintance, she elaborates that those "voices" are actually from the Andskotarnir. To avoid their attention, Typhon gets Magallan to put a ball of mud and mosses inside her mouth until they flee from them.
While the trio are hiking the mountains, they were spotted by Sami warriors stationed in the north. They are extremely hostile towards any foreigner trying to venture there. Even though Santalla and Typhon try to reason with them, the warriors still reject their response. Magallan suddenly speaks out to cool down the debate, but without knowing, she attracts the "demons," forcing the warriors to have a bitter fight against them.
Magallan and her company fortunately were able to escape from both the "demons" and the local warriors after hiding inside a nearby secret passage that leads to Typhon's hideout. While passing through it, Magallan notices another strange phenomenon—snow is accumulating above their head. Knowing that this is an obvious sign of demonic corruption, Typhon draws blood from all three of them with her arrowhead, and shoots the arrow towards the snow above. With her Sarkaz Arts, she coaxes clumps of snow to fall. This slows the accumulation of snow and makes it less likely to fall upon their heads. They push onward.
Upon reaching her hideout in a cave, Typhon proceeds to search for Arges, a Cyclops shaman who raises her, and she needs Arges' help for the journey to the north. But the cave is empty. Seeing that further venture will become more dangerous, Magallan decides to return south to the city of Čappat to regroup with other explorers, and Typhon agrees to search for Arges. As they gather up food supplies, Magallan curiously flips through Arges' notebook, and a particular sentence caught her attention: "When the box is opened, Andskotarnir will realize." Magallen is slightly disturbed by this, as it is also the last thing the hallucination of Director Mariam said to her.
Meanwhile, Santalla is standing outside the cave while carefully listening to an Ursine walkie-talkie which she retrieved at the border outpost. She hears that the Ursus army are tracking down a particular figure codenamed "Black Mark" who went MIA in Sami.
Shadows of Trees
Continuing the trek, the group take some sour berries and hollow nuts to stave off altitude sickness. Upon Magallan saying that they work much better than her sickness pills, Santalla requests that she checks the active ingredients in them. After rummaging through her bag, Magallan reads off wild sourberries and bubblenut extract. Santalla informs Magallan that one of Sami's exports to Columbia is medicinal ingredients, but adds that Columbia will never find a way to grow them, as "everything is provided by Sami".
The trio stop by a Sami forest settlement as they travel south. This was an opportunity for Magallan to study more on Sami culture as they are about to hold a migration ceremony to escape the encroaching omens. Magallan encourages Typhon to try out her extremely comfy sleeping bag, and immediately falls asleep. She awakens hearting complaints from the tribespeople about an Outlander touching the sacred treem, and has to dash after Magallan to prevent her from committing any more faux pas. Meanwhile, Santalla and the tribe's shaman are carefully reading the vision provided by the foldartals from the ancestral sacred tree to determine the exact timing for the migration.
During the night, Magallan has a nightmare. In the dream, she sees herself as a musbeast that encounters corpses of its family murdered by the demons. Upon waking up, she walks out for fresh air, but encounters a massive shadowy entity. Typhon, who followed after her, then appears behind her, surprising Magallan. She introduces this shadow as an immature being that could become a threatening "demon,". Typhon tells Magallan of her dream to escape Sami's cycle of hunt or be hunted, and her goal to conquer her fear of these unknown things. So, the two spend the remaining night on the tree trying to touch the "shadow" before getting tired and return.
The next morning, the tribe is holding a farewell ceremony to their ancestral sacred tree. While watching the ceremony, Typhon gives Magallan a unique snowball – one that has been blessed by "Amma," a goddess of Sami. Magallan records down what she has received and observed. The earth rumbles, and the tribal sacred tree "moves" on its own, prying itself out of the ground. Magallan is shocked, and for the briefest moment is reminded of how the nighttime shadow also spread across the sky.
The trio bid farewell with the tribe after the ceremony and continue their journey. But in the meantime, Santalla is carefully monitoring the report in the Ursine walkie-talkie, and she hears two codenames: "Black Mark" and "Liebafowl."
Revelation of Nature
The traveling trio reach an ancient forest. Before entering the forest, Santalla and Typhon bring offerings as a respect to the "First Forest", the heart of Sami. Just then, the trio meet a young male shaman, Oakcup of the forest tribe, who willingly offers his help to navigate the forest.
As twilight arrives, the gang decides to settle down inside a giant, hollow tree trunk. Oakcup and Magallan are having a conversation as the former teaches the latter the meaning of the foldartals. Typhon brings back game for food, and Santalla stands watch for any approaching demonic being.
While sleeping, Magallan has another strange dream. In the dream, she become a bird-like being resembling Emperor, and witnesses a deer-like spirit — the being better known as "Amma"— in the middle of the forest. She settles down beside her to dream. She dreams of the "Black Mark" approaching the camp, burning away Santalla's protection. Amma distracts the "Black Mark" and heals the barrier. Magallan does not know the meaning of her dreams, but when she wakes up, she feels dampness inside her pocket. The snowball blessed by Amma has melted.
Just then, Typhon arrives and informs her an urgent news. Nearby, a wild beast was gravely injured by the "demons," leaving its calf behind. Eikbikar performs a ritual ceremony to ward off demonic corruption, and he kills the beast to end its suffering. As she observes, she notices that the blackness on the beast's wound could not be taken by photography, a sign of the "demon's" corruption.
After leaving the forest, the trio thanks Oakcup for his help. Santalla also informs him of some Ursine infiltrator before continuing their journey. Meanwhile back inside the forest, there is another unfortunate wild beast slain and corrupted by a demon. Stepping over the corpse, the Black Mark, revealed to be an Emperor's Blade with pitch black blood and tears, continues to hunt.
Homecoming
Magallan and the gang stops by another Sami tribe once again. Magallan tours around the market, eventually coming across an Ursine caravan trading goods. She falls in awe of an elaborated flagon with unique Sami runes, and the merchant reluctantly gifts it to her. Later, as she discusses the curse of Typhon's black bow, she distractedly grabs it. Typhon tries to warn her, but it takes the sound of Magallan dropping the flagon into the water to regains her senses. It seems that something corrupt is nearby.
On Santalla's side, she is busy helping the tribe find how their warriors were killed while returning from the northern frontline against the "Andskotarnir". Since this tribe lacks a leading shaman or a Snowpriest, Santalla has to assist the tribesmen in reading the foldartals. Through this event, Santalla notices an alarming trend – more tribes in the north are migrating south en masse. But what is worrying her is that the demonic influence has even reached as far south as the swamp tribes. After seeing an Ursus bottle of Vodka on the dead, she pursues after the departing Ursine caravan for more information.
Among the deceased soldiers is the brother of Ragna, a.k.a. Operator Gitano of Rhodes Island. For years, the two siblings held grudges against each other due to their disagreement regarding their tribe's fate. But even after that her brother is gone, his spirit refuses to respond to Gitano's divination. Nevertheless, Gitano wishes to bid final farewell to her brother, hoping that he will not carry this grudge even in the afterword.
The tribe's shamans are also having a disagreement regarding the funeral. Most prefer to hold a boat burial, a tradition practiced among the swamp tribes for soldiers who died honorable deaths, but others strongly oppose this since the land they are settling is no longer their homeland. As the "Andskotarnir" is arriving soon, there is no time for such an elaborate funeral. After making a divination through Gitano, the tribe decides to hold a boat funeral, but this time, the tribesmen have to migrate together with the deceased.
The boats have set sail along the dark river, and the tribe is ready for the migration with the deceased after sounding the horns. Magallan and Typhon are honoured to witness the process. But a looming threat is about to engulf the fleet.
One Day
While Magallan and Typhon are with the migrating tribe, Santalla finally caught up to the Ursus caravan. Suspecting them to be spies, she angrily interrogates them to divulge information regarding the "Black Mark" and the "Liebafowl." But the caravan knows little; they are there just to bring the tribe's deceased soldiers back. To Santalla's horror, the caravan did not know that those corpses are bleeding black blood—a sign of demonic corruption. She hurries back to the migrating tribe to halt the funeral before they become victims of the "Andskotarnir" soon.
Magallan, Typhon, and the tribesmen eventually reach the burial site in the river marked with wooden fences. Out of curiosity, Magallan deploys her sample-extracting device into the river to collect rock samples. However, the signal suddenly disappears, and Magallan believes it cannot be swallowed by a finbeast due to its protective shell. Typhon too senses some strange fog nearby, and Gitano's divination shows a bad omen. Typhon immediately halts the tribesmen from continuing the funeral, but they simply assumed her to be disrespectful to the deceased.
Just then, the river current suddenly rocks the boats. The water seems to swallow the whole fleet, and Typhon orders everyone to escape. To prevent the corrupted corpses from further contaminating the river, she holds back the sinking boats with her arrows tied with her Arts. Santalla finally arrives and freezes them. But the combined corruption of all the dead has been too much and becomes a demonic being. Fortunately, the gang receives aid from an unexpected guest – Eikthyrnir and the Treescar tribesmen, the most respected guardians of the Fjal Vetrtonn in the furthest north.
The threat defeated, Eikthyrnir tries to rally the migrating tribesmen and persuade them to join them in the northern battlefield. He proclaims by only by overcoming the fear of speaking about the thread, and facing it head on, could the Samifjod finally defeat the "Andskotarnir". He also takes the opportunity to personally meet Santalla and asks her to join them. She is moved by his words, but she rejects out of her promise to accompany her friend to Čappat.
As everyone disperses after the failed funeral, only Gitano stays behinds to lament her failure in seeing her brother's spirit again. But there is no answer – except an empty flagon with Sami runes that floats on the river in a style she recognizes.
Vision Unseen
The trio finally arrives at Čappat, and the gang formally disbands after bidding farewell. Magallan returns to a local R.L. research outpost to report her findings. Santalla borrows Magallan's travel book from Ursus to continue her search for the mysterious infiltrators. Typhon follows Arges' notes to meet someone, who turns out to be Arges herself. The female Cyclops shaman is here to deliver a small case from an expedition team in the tundra to the R.L. outpost. After handing the case to her and elaborating on its origin, she promises Typhon she will wait for her again up in the north.
Typhon and Magallan meet again at the R.L. outpost to further study the item inside the case. From Arges' word, the item was an unknown sample taken by the missing Director Mariam, and Mariam and his team seemed to accompany with Arges for a while before facing demonic threats during their further venture to the north. Sadly, there are only two survivors: Arges herself and Director Mariam, who continued further north. Magallan hurriedly removes the enclosure, and within the transparent specimen box is, surprisingly, a strange flower without a single root.
Out of precaution, Magallan and the research team decide to open the specimen box inside a closed laboratory. While they are excited about the nature of the "flower," little do they know that the "flower" is acting as a beacon that slowly pollutes the room and bends the space within. Fortunately, Typhon breaks into the laboratory and quickly shuts it down. It seems that Arges' note is true: "When the box is opened, Andskotarnir will realize."
Although the "flower" almost brings an irreversible disaster, the possabilities it represents for knowledge are worth it to the Columbians. Now, the specimen has been brought back to Columbia for further studies under a more protected environment, and the researchers in the Sami outpost are more eager for more new discoveries in the Infy Icefield. Despite Typhon refusing to join them, Magallan and the researchers are ready for a new adventure to the north while continuing their search for signs of Mariam's missing team.
Somewhere in Čappat, Santalla finally encounters the Ursine spy codenamed "Liebafowl." Before freezing him to death, she forces him to speak out details regarding someone codenamed "Black Mark." And to her bewilderment, the "Black Mark" is in fact a rampaging Emperor's Blade whose Dominion has collapsed, and the "Black Mark's" presence could turn Sami into an unhospitable land. Leibafowl dies, refusing to inform the Ursus empire in the belief that the Black Mark will be unstoppable otherwise. Santalla rebukes him and claims that the people of Sami will hold against all demons. She turns her gaze back to protecting Sami from what is to come...