Darian moves with quiet efficiency, his eyes sharp and alert despite the early hour. He listens to Princess Harkail’s agitated commands and keeps his expression neutral, offering no comment. The camp is bustling, but he moves with the kind of calm that comes from years of practice.

He grabs a cup of the kobold brew, sniffing it briefly before taking a tentative sip. His face twitches slightly at the bitterness, but he drinks it down without complaint. As he moves through the camp, he occasionally glances toward the princess, watching her fume, then back to the horizon, his gaze sweeping for any signs of movement or danger.

He helps the others load the supplies, his motions quick and purposeful. His hands are steady as he packs his gear and secures his weapons. Occasionally, he pauses, ears twitching, listening for any unusual sounds beyond the camp’s perimeter.

(Perception 23 with Favoured Terrain)

When all is ready, he takes a final look around, nodding once to himself. He positions himself near the front, ready to lead if needed, his bow slung over his shoulder and his hand resting near the quiver at his side.

(Survival 14 with Favoured Terrain )

Ne'haredowell awakens sharply to the sound of the princess's voice. Silently, he keeps his eyes closed while his large ears listen in. To much his disappoint, he knew it was time to keep on the days trek. Keeping a bit of distance from Bran, he lumbers over to where the kobolds brewed some sort of... juice. 'Bottoms up!' he thinks to himself as he asks for a cup. He gulps it down. Surprisingly, it tastes pretty good. The smokey flavor accentuating the undertones of bitter. He wished he didn't just slurp the whole thing up. 

Now invigorated, the harengon decides to help out around the camp, moving at a bit faster pace than usual (it's not wise to give a bounding rabbit so much coffee). He tries to go find some things that can be of use to bring back to Doc Duncan but finds he's not too useful in this state of haste. 

((Nature: 8))

Neither can his mind pay much attention to his surroundings that he has to stop for a moment to take it all in, not even slightly better the second time around. 

((Perception: 4 + 4 = 8))

He looks at his pay, too jittery. 'Maybe I should lay off the coffee for a while,' he tells himself before joining Darian towards the front. His front leg just won't stop bouncing. He has to alternative between two feet.

Albert wakes up, stretches and gets up using his staff. Visibly upset about being waken up, grunts and mutters something in celestial.

Looks at the kobold brew, sniffs it, drinks it. "Cheers to new experiences. Yesterday it was gender changing mushrooms, today - kobold concoction. Tomorrow? Only gods know"

Takes a good look around at the chaos that the kobolds and now everyone is making. "Oh my, this is how we get ambushed and killed..."
Clears throat and does a caressing gesture:  "Lets not get mad and cause commotion, be at ease, calm your emotion."

Casts calm emotions to make this process a bit more calm and collected.

After that he passes Bran: "Hey, if you want to talk, I want to listen!"

Quote from _Miglasezis_ >>

Albert wakes up, stretches and gets up using his staff. Visibly upset about being waken up, grunts and mutters something in celestial.

Looks at the kobold brew, sniffs it, drinks it. "Cheers to new experiences. Yesterday it was gender changing mushrooms, today - kobold concoction. Tomorrow? Only gods know"

Takes a good look around at the chaos that the kobolds and now everyone is making. "Oh my, this is how we get ambushed and killed..."
Clears throat and does a caressing gesture:  "Lets not get mad and cause commotion, be at ease, calm your emotion."

Casts calm emotions to make this process a bit more calm and collected.

After that he passes Bran: "Hey, if you want to talk, I want to listen!"

 While Bran is busy trying to get things moving, he notices things have changed and is saddened, so he occupies himself in 'stuff' as he attempts to workout for himself whats changed and why?

So as Albert approaches him with the suggestion "they talk" Bran readily accepts:

"Albert, thank you, your' going to have to treat me like Im some sort odd bod, ... because I'm going to struggle to say stuff," and Bran stops and pauses looking away saying; "because it's so dam weird and scary at the same time!"

And Bran continues to fuss over getting camping items packed away. Albert may not see that Bran is close to crying.

Arvos takes the bitter drink and figure it couldn't hurt to drink as he rolls up his old bedroll. "Oh, yay another day of blazing sun and endless sand. Well let's get going then" He takes a moment enjoy the bit of chill left in the air and then starts walking towards Santekh. 

Bran's scythe lost its red pulse at some point throughout the night. And in the daylight it seems like the weaponized farm implement it was modeled after.

Nare's heart is racing during setup, and he has a hard time focusing on tasks at hand, making it too difficult to spot any new helpful resources... unless sand, rocks, or dog hair is interesting to him.

Albert's magical manipulation is noticed by Princess Harkail, and she squints her eyes menacingly. But decides to give in to the charm, realizing the wisdom in his decision to keep moods indifferent. She calls the guards in close to be in range of the spell as well.

Misreading Bran's concerns, one of the kobold guards cuffs Bran on the shoulder in a display of camaraderie. "Good warrior. You protects comrades. Dog die fast. Good kill." his common is thickly accented with the barking inflection of his people, but he does seem to be genuinely conveying reassurance and admiration at your combat prowess.

After the party is packed up, filled with kobold-coffee, and ready to go, Darian whispers something to the Princess who nods. Then he takes up point, guiding them on a slight detour that takes you yet closer to the mountains.

The beverage performs its job perfectly. You sweat profusely... soaking your clothes. It's a miserable sensation slogging in your own soupy linens and armor, but it works to catch the wind and cool your body quickly. The ravaging effects of the sun are much more tolerable through the day, until the afternoon sun starts to bake your clothes dry. But by then, you're already hiking part of the way up the mountain, where some scraggly trees and brush provide a hint of shade to walk through. Whatever path Darian has guided you on has at least kept you safe from further Death Dog attacks. It's around here that Darian slows the group. Ahead of you you see a cavern entrance wide enough to two medium sized people to enter at a time. This seems to be the place that Darian has decided to lead the party.

Albert checks the surroundings and turns to Darian: "Umm, Darian, is this where we're supposed to go? Until now caves have been nothing but trouble"

Darian turns his head slightly at Albert's question, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as he scans the horizon. He shrugs, his voice low and gruff as he replies in his broken Common.

“Many paths through desert. Some paths faster, some safer. This path more… interesting.”

He gestures subtly toward the cave.

“Food, water, medicine… inside.”

Upon mentioning medicine, Darian looks at Nare and the Princess for a brief moment before turning back to the cave entrance, his body language suggesting he's ready to move forward despite the risks. He taps the side of his quiver, as if to remind himself of the challenges that might await but seems unbothered by them. His gaze fixes on the darkness ahead, awaiting the party’s next decision.

"Medicine?" Nare's head turns from Darian to the cave. He cranes his neck over and tries to peer inside. He looks back over to the ranger with his head at a tilt. "Are you sure?" 

((Perception: 9 + 4 = 13))

Still feeling weary from yesterday, especially after that dog bite, he decides now's not the time to be so indecisive. "Okay." He nods. "You know the way."

Arvos just clambers into the cave ready to be out of the sun. "I have gone from swimming in sweat to back to slowly baking under the sun. Let's get out of this heat" He throws caution to the wind and just heads deeper into the cave. 

Albert puts light on his staff and follows in and turns to Nare: "Hey! There might be some things growing here. Maybe we can forage something for the witchdoctor"

Albert will give guidance (+1d4) to anyone willing to search for weird stuff. Or help action for advantage. He just doesn't have darkvision, so he shouldn't be the one looking.

Darian remains close to Albert, also lacking any means of seeing in the dark. He checks his immediate surroundings with Albert’s help and light.

Perception 19

Nature 9

(Both with adv from help but no ranger goodness)

Nare chuckles at Arvos's exclamation. "You're telling me! Under all this fur-" He playfully brushes up against Arvos. Around the same time he mutters something and cleans up any sweat stains on the man's shirt while also mildly chilling it in return. It feels almost like wearing little ice pack. "I, uh, forgot I can do that," he mumbles. And with a wave of his paw, also gives the people around him a quick cool breeze of the air. 

((Nature: 12))

"Oh! I don't see anything so cool just yet." The haregon tilts his head into the entrance of the cave, touching around the walls for anything neat. Nothing much at first, then he squints a little harder with Albert's guidance. "Thank you. I do hope so. Doc Ducan would be glad to see us with all this stuff. I am much happy to have not had this rescue come down to a fight."

((Perception: 9 + 4 = 13 + 3 + 1 (with guidance = 17))

"I could also make this cave much darker but that would be not be much very helpful," he states both randomly and bluntly.

Arvos lets out a deep sigh of relief. "Oh...I needed that. Thank you, Nare." he takes a few more relaxing breaths before continuing onward. 

Arvos marches inward. Once your eyes adjust to the dark, you can see that the inner cave sparkles dimly, like it's wreathed in stars. A distant trickling sound implies an underground river feeding into a pool. Roots dangle from the cave entrance and tickle your hair and face. And in your hair a small flower blooms that closely resembles a Moringa.

Princess Harkail barks something at one of the commoners who reaches a stick out to poke the roots, which also get covered in the floral vines. She nods approvingly and, using a knife and a small box, carefully cuts the flower and drops it into the box without touching it, then puts the box in her pouch.

Albert and Darian don't have to dig deep to find useful herbs. The Moringa flowers line the rim of the cave. 

Darian recognizes the Moringa as a common medicinal herb that can be used for treating minor wounds, and can help with certain foodborn illnesses and digestion, which is handy during a famine, when sometimes spoiled food is the only available food. But the fact that these moringa flowers are blossoming so quickly implies magical properties that may enhance their healing features. Traditional Moringa flowers are safe to eat. It is unclear if the same can be said of these though.

After Albert and Darian enter the cave, the twinkling diminishes. But the better lighting reveals, deeper in, some roots aren't quite as harmless as the ones that grazed Arvos. A decaying corpse of a sand cat, filled with fragrant yellow flowers can be seen bound tightly against the wall. The vines tighten in response to the light and the sand cat corpse twitches eerily. There's a fork in the pathway about 20 feet in. To the left, there is more twinkling light that emits a soft rainbow shimmer. The vines with the yellow flowers are denser to the right. 

Nare...

 Arvos...

 Darian...

Bran has spending the time in reflection, keeping to himself is not really his norm but given all that has happened he's just working through stuff appreciative of those around him. Seeing the cavern and its colour and water and rainbow reflections sends his heart aflutter that makes him very happy and more so given his fey background.

Darian crouches down near the Moringa flowers, his eyes narrowing as he recognizes the familiar plant. He keeps his movements slow and precise, plucking a few flowers without touching the vines directly. As he collects the samples, he speaks in his usual broken Common, his tone quiet and deliberate as he recounts what he knows about the healing properties.

Darian tucks the flowers away carefully, then stands and gestures deeper into the cave, his eyes focused on the decaying sand cat.

“Yellow Musk Creeper… dangerous.” He nods toward the vine-covered path to the right. “Will not attack unless we touch. Or if… dead thing see us.”

He finishes collecting the samples, turning to the others to gauge their reactions, though Darian's face remains unreadable as ever.

"You're welcome," the haregon says, eyes drawing away from the druid towards something else tugging at him, a source of power... within the cave. "No sweat." He chuckles to no one but himself at his pun.

Reconsidering the deer skull mask on his face, he ducks into the cave, being careful not to get his antlers tangled into any of the roots. He watches with a smile to see a flower blossum on his friends head from no where in particular. Where are roots? In his hair? The secretiveness of Princess Hakail around the plants means he tenses; he shouldn't leave his guard down.

Ne'haredowell gives Bran such a solemn look. He doesn't know what inner demons he is fighting on the inside but his survival instincts are telling nothing but 'stay away.' It all started that day after the fight, the one he hadn't been there for. There was just something about that scythe, something obviously not right.

But he was glad to see that the elf was doing so much better now. It must be this cave. He could feel it. Well, not only that but so wondrousness of it. The softness of those rainbows. It wrapped around him. Could he touch it.

Yellow Musk Creeper. The words dragged him out of his thoughts. "The dead thing?" His mouth grimaces at the sight of said thing. His eyes catches that it twitches. What was it? A zombie now?

"The roots to the heart," he says suddenly. He shivers. "They are leading to it," he points to the right. He exhales, the breath out of his mouth comes out ice cold. "Ley-lines."

Pointing at the cat, he squints. "See nothing." A darkness surrounds from palms of his hands. At the same time a similar sight (or lack of it) begins to engulf the area around the cat's eyes. "Say nothing." 

Bran approaches Nare and smiles, "You feel it too, don't you?"

Bran stands near, palms turned slightly upward, "Theres something very special here, reminds me of home, there are feelings here I have not felt for a long time".

He pauses, the magic feels so pleasant. It is energising his soul. Reminding him of his nature ... his heritage. 

"Maybe if he stay here longer, I would like to go into a trance state and allow it to speak with me".

Albert covers his light at the end of his staff a bit, so it sheds only dim light.

"I know a bad plan, when I hear one, but that will not stop us it seems. If we do camp here, allow me to set up a small shrine for Mishakal, so she gives us at least some bit of protection."

OOC: Just a question - would Gentle repose do anything to the cat corpse?