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-----After about an hour, the needed supplies have been collected by everyone. The horses are brought around to the front of the inn, where the riders mount up.
-----The Dread Pirate, smiling winsomely, hands Tivia a gold coin and hops on his pony to ride off with the others.
-----As more villagers move about the buildings, the adventurers take the trail road that leads to the southeast toward the fief of Oakwood. As the trees of the forest seem to engulf them, the air seems cooler although the trees slow the breeze somewhat.
-----As they ride along, Rinda drops back to speak with Kazel.
-----Kazel munches on some of the bread she saved earlier, and seem to generally enjoy just leaving the horse alone and looking at the forest. She raises her eyebrow curiously at what Rinda wants to talk to her about.
-----Seth rides along concentrating on staying in the saddle and not creating more bruises on top of yesterday’s bruises.
-----After awhile, he smiles at Sarah. "Sorry we did not catch up to talk magic last night. I was playing music in the tavern and could not find you later."
-----Sarah looks like she has a problem. And she does. "Skunk cabbage." She says to Seth. "Can you believe this spell I just learned needs skunk cabbage to cast it? How am I supposed to carry skunk cabbage around? Maybe if I wait until it’s all dried out and it doesn't smell anymore, think that'll work? I gotta show you these spells. I would right now but we might run into something, ya know?"
-----Sarah now has two more pouches on her waist, bringing the total of belt pouches up to six. Also there is a leather loops around her left wrist, painted with gold runes.
-----Seth seems puzzled by the skunk cabbage. "Mmmm as I mentioned yesterday, I like spells that don't need these newfangled inventions like skunk cabbage. No, give me a spell you can cast at the snap of a finger, and even better one you can cast while you’re running as fast as you can."
-----At one stage Sol had slowed Thunder and looked like he was going to address the group, but he obviously decided against it, for once again his stallion picked up pace. Sol went back to watching the trees and the weather.
-----Seeing Sol’s almost announcement, Sarah coaxes Marlexana up to Thunder and talks quietly to the young warrior.
-----Sol replies just as quietly.
-----Gimplefwick bounces along and watches the trail, much as the others are doing. Occasionally he blows kisses at Sarah, until he grows weary of her endless carping. He then rides along in silence. Typically, he hangs back in the rear of the group, sometimes trailing by as much as ten or so yards. He then kicks his pony up to a jouncing trot, catches up and then slowly starts to lag behind again.
-----After Sarah moves on up to talk to Sol, Seth decides to practice playing harp while he rides. When that fails, he coaxes Albert down and whispers to the crow.
-----Leaves rustle lightly as the adventurers continue on the trail. The trail forms a wide light brownish path along the forest floor. Overhead the forest canopy thickens as the party progresses deeper in the woods.
-----Small hurrying occurs under the brush. Raven’s wolf quickly scrambles to investigate. The animal then returns to catch up with the horses after much growling and sniffing about.
-----Albert hops from branch to branch. He caws loudly as he takes wing to fly from tree to tree.
-----As they ride slowly along, the sun slowly climbs in the eastern sky. The breeze whispers as it passes through the surrounding trees. . .
-----Finally an hour before high noon finds the party passing a small gully on their right. Here many trees have fallen over due to the erosion of the land. Moss and fungi cover the trees and forest floor in some spots. As the trail leads past the end of the gully, the adventurers see a large deadfall of tangled and gnarled stumps and branches.
-----A small cloud briefly covers the sun further shading the trail beneath the trees. Suddenly there is an odd coppery scent to the air. Raven’s wolf emits a low growl and as everyone looks in the direction of the animal, it stands on its haunches as if in a defensive position staring straight ahead at the trees on the side of the trail. Everyone brings their steeds to a halt.
-----Rinda sitting on her horse beside Raven slowly reaches for her bow while staring steely eyed ahead. "My hunter," she speaks low but loud enough for everyone to hear, "the birds are silent." With that, everyone recognizes the utter stillness and silence that has fallen over the forest. In fact, it appears that the only bird in their immediate area is Seth’s crow who looks down from a tree cocking his head from side to side. Albert then flies ahead following the trail.
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