The Campsite
It is the day after Mitr left, it is raining steadily.
Tallbeck is the first to wake up, and after putting on some clothes, as he sleeps in the nude, he decides that he does not want to get wet from the rain and conjures up a disc which he can just barely stand under as he walks around the camp to wake the others.
Dago stretches in his tent, listens to the rain pattering on the tent, it is an ironic rain and he can hear it giggle. He thinks about how one of the big holidays, Dawnfather's Day, is coming up soon. As he gets up, he goes about cleaning the pots and pans from last night as well as making breakfast in the rain.
Verla wakes up next, she's in a cold sweat, grabs her bearskin and rolls over on the side to get 20 more minutes wrapped in the bearskin for warmth. Nonu's cranky.
Tatiyena wakes up, thinks for a second and writes something down. She checks her sword; today is not the day it turns to stone.
She gets up, is invited under the umbrella that is Tallbeck's disc, and they have a little fun with the water that is now sloshing over the edge of it. As Tallbeck greets Verla, he invites her to use it too, but they agree that the 3ft height might make it a challenge.
Tallbeck suggests using the disc to hover over the fireplace so we can get a fire going and maybe smoke some food. Dago decides on scones with nuts and berries.
Verla gets out her canteen and conjures up some orange juice to go with the scones, and offers Dago to use it in his cooking for the future if he wants to.
We pack up, get going, and don't talk too much. Despite the tiredness, Verla takes front as a Commander for the day.
Travel Challenges
Heater Shield Skip Gliding Halfling! Over an overflowing river.
Wading through a bog, finding the shallowest path through.
Crossing a small crevace, by climbing.
Landslide down a hill, slippery. Verla uses whip, but slides down and gets mud in her eyes.
Numi decides to sprint. He falls down a hole. Screaming and hollering for help.
Dago follows soe lights in the canyon area, it's foggy, he gets confused, finds humanoid looking trees, sees lights, and it's Tatiyena's torch.
Tallbeck's foot is grasped by a flytrap-seeming thing, and seeing that trying to pull out might be a bad idea, he called for help to get his ankle free.
We keep going.
The Wetlands
As we walk, Dago, in the water, sees a shiny thing. He grabs it out of the water, and finds a ring. On a finger. Belonging to a mummified corpse. Another corpse, with another ring, is embracing it, and Dago takes the rings. He says he asked their spirits, and they did not answer.
You've Got Mayo
As we take a minute to identify the rings, Verla takes a powernap and Dago goes on an adventure in the close vicinity.
As he waks, he finds an "little, oily black thing", and he reaches out for it to say hello, and it reaches out to touch his hand, which promptly throws him 10 ft away and his arm goes numb. He asks the people who know about glister, and they say it was probably a glister infected creature, very probably dead.
Numi talks, and bubbles fill his mouth as he talks. Then comes the thunder - about 4 seconds of ear-shatterting thunder that shakes the ground.
We, weirdly enough, decide that this area, filled with too much glister, is an area we should pass straight through, also to investigate. There are oily black things and bubbles evreywhere in the ground. Tatyena has heard nothing about this area.
Verla is against it, says Dago can go first. She follows right after.
We see more living-ish oily black things, and far away, a slightly glowing, little scared bird person who keeps mimicking the explosion sound.
We try to console it, it's freaked out. We try to go closer, it triggers it's fight or flight, and we fight hordes of things.
Fighting, Numi tries to take the bird out, as it is entrapped by Tallbeck's Hold Person. It's crying, scared, confused, and held in place, as he pummels it without knocking it out. Verla gets mad about this, tries to defend it, and Numi asks Teos to save this bird from the curse placed on it by the gods. It's no longer a Thunderous.
As the spell finally breaks, the bird tries to dash, Verla tackles, grapples, and holds it in place until it falls asleep from exhaustion.
We take it with us, this little glister bomb, and take it straight into Verbum.
Verbum!
The people are happy, dressed for a party, in red and gold colors, including face paint, with roses and lotuses everywhere. It is the Dawnfather's Blessing! Woo. There are lots of weird people, Eorans, a human journalist, and even people with riding bears. There are also some "Rangers" and their caravans. They travel around and help people with whatever they might need. Superior friendly neighbors, but not neighbors.
Dago finds the smells of the place fascinating, Tallbeck thinks about Gaun and it makes him happy, Tatiyena tries to identify the origin of these diverse people from all over, Fearrond finds the holiday a beauty, and does also get face paint and a flower crown from the Verbumese. Verla finds some peace in the happiness and safety of the people, and shields the sleeping bird from the loud noises.
We stop to watch a handsome man who is performing for the crowd in the street, a poem, confusing, takes 20 minutes, but very well done. His name is Huneruk Synnamhaid Cosantóir, also known as Hun. His poem speaks of unity, family, community, wealth, land, health, friends, and strength. All good qualities.