Shavaris sits back and watches ol' ironsides eat his fill as the others go on about the iron flask.  Though at one point, she leans over and asks Delph and Ward, "Scorpion?  I thought that thing was a Harpy?" and as the large flail snail starts to glow, "Kerwyn, that's not going to hurt him is it?  Or more importantly, shine a beacon on us when we are not trying to be detected?"

After a bit, while Johnathan takes her aside, he looks so uncomfortable she starts to worry about him.  As he stumbles around trying to find the right words, she gets more concerned that something is changing in him, that something is wrong.  When he tells her that it is her he is worried about and why, she breathes a sigh of relief.  "John! You really had me worried there, that something was wrong.  As for why I did?  I don't know, it was there and I was a mess, and I guess I just wanted to know what it was like for you...it was just stupid." she shrugs and looks down, "Sorry for worrying you." she stretches then and yawns, looking down at all the beds available, "If it's alright with all of you, I'd like to get some rest now.  This has been one hell of a day."

Kerwyn nudges Ironsides away from the mushrooms after he has had his fill, polishing his shell, and admiring the multicolored iridescent colors emanating from the shell.  He gets him put down for the night, noting how his flails draw up and down as he sleeps.  Do snails dream?  Kerwyn thinks this over as he says goodnight to everyone and heads over to his bedroll.  He sleeps with his thrown glaive beneath his pillow.

The last 24 hours have been tumultuous to say the least.  New friends, new sights, amazing and scary, dangerous creatures.  And food …. delicious, spicy but gastrointestinal distress inducing food.  He dreams of the Harpy, battling the evil, hate filled eyes.   Eyes that morph into something else …

A dwarf is staring at him.  An incredibly ugly, bulbous nosed dwarf, leering at him, from across a luxurious fountain.  A bubbling sound, babbling water in the fountain.  No!!  Not babbling water, pissing!  And the f$&@er just stands there, looking at Kerwyn with those glaring eyes as he finishes, shakes the dew off his lily and buttons up, a satisfied look and a smile on his face, but never looking away.  The dream changes again….

…And Kerwyn is going through the line outside of the circus, purchasing his delicious Cornlizard.   There is a tray of Cornlizard, sweet nectarine, and bat eyed boba.  One of the servers turns around to look at him, and it’s the same bulbous nosed hideous Dwarf!  He shoots a look at Kerwyn and eyes him as he’s doing something to the food, gives a satisfied look as he finishes whatever he’s doing, and Kerwyn looks on in horror as he buttons up.  The dwarf gives Kerwyn an evil smile and a wink.  Kerwyn wakes up in a cold sweat, a chill, and you hear “What the …” come from him as he pants, breathing deep.  

Johnathan gives a big sigh of relief when Shavaris explains the incident. He starts laughing to himself. Oh thank goodness, I was going crazy thinking about it. Yeah it’s an “acquired taste” I suppose . He couldn’t believe it. How did he get so paranoid. To think he thought she was like him! Johnathan immediately felt embarrassed over the whole thing. Johnathan turns to the others and begins yawning. I think I will also call it a night. See you all bright and early. With that Johnathan heads into his tent and rests for the night.

Similar to Kerwyn Johnathan has a dream. His dream was slightly different to Johnathan, but it also seemed so real. Johnathan recalls the battle of unicorn. He can feel the heat of battle, the cries of war. He looks around himself at his fellow soldiers who are bravely charging towards the hoard of goblins. He sees the surviving mare running into woods along with a group of goblins. Johnathan starts running after it, desperately trying to keep up. That’s when he hears it. A howl in the night. Johnathan looks to see a shaggy dog running towards him at full speed and jump on him. That when Johnathan wakes up in his tent. He feels a cold sweat on his forehead. It wasn’t uncommon for these sorts of dreams to plague him, but something about this one was different. Some of the details weren’t correct. There was no dog in the battle. That’s when Johnathan sees the dog, not in a dream or the woods but hiding next to his bedroll. The same dog with a grey and white coat seems to be shaking next to him. It was clear it was scared. How is this possible, what’s going on? Johnathan goes to pat the dog but it seemed cautious of Johnathan. Whatever happened has clearly spooked it. Perhaps it was a sign that he was to help the creature, maybe that’s why he dreamt of it.

Silence. That’s what was weird. There was no noise coming from outside the tent. No animals, no people, no frail snail eating halve a forest. Johnathan holds the dog in his arms and looks out his tent. No one was out there. The plant life looked dead and the camp abandoned. Johnathan looks up to the sky in horror. The sun, the source of life that everyone needed, was dark. It’s rays couldn’t be felt and the air itself was death and despair. There was no light, not even stars. The sky was like the void itself. That’s when the shadows, much like the ones he summons for his magic, started to gather around Johnathan’s tent. He tried running, but to no success. The last thing Johnathan remembers is the cold shadows engulfing him and the dog. Then he heard it. A deep laugh cackling in the darkness. It wasn’t human, oh no, it was old and powerful. Evil and unforgiving. He hears the voice speak, See you soon. That’s when Johnathan wakes up a second time. He looks around to see no dog but everyone else was still there. He panics for a bit, trying to determine if he is dreaming again. The nightmares were getting worse, much worse. 

Delphinium looks to Shavaris "Ah, sorry I spoke unclear."  They bow in apology to Shavaris and then to ward. "I don't want any confusion on my words and my mother's fables sometimes cause me to make mistakes.  I was saying the Angar was a scorpion to reference it's behavior.  I was referencing a popular druid tale in which a scorpion asks a fox for a ride across a river.  The fox agrees but only if they promise not to sting them.  The scorpion agrees and they go across the river.  Halfway through the scorpion stings the fox and the fox says "Why?  now we will both die!" the scorpion replies "Because It is my nature." its a tale to druids warning them that predators are predators.  You don't poke a bear as they sleep even if they are your friend.  You don't hang out with your wolf family when they are hungry.  You don't let angar's out of cages that want revenge."  The fairy then notices the glowing snail and seems to brighten up with a smile.

"Kerwyn!  your snail glows!"  Delphinium goes to play with Ironsides.  After which they eventually tire out and passout on a freshly made flower near the other members of the Dawn guard. 

“Please bag the fairy if they attempt to open the flask, I need to rest.” Ward says before finding a comfortable tree and sitting down next to it. The glowing lines across Ward’s body dimming slightly, his eyes staying  open but seeming to fade out a bit. As he sleeps Ward hears the best of feathers and feels as a white owl lands on his shoulder. As he “wakes” he turns to look at it, noticing it not actually there.

Shavaris laughs and give Johnathan a shove with her shoulder against his.  "Yeah, definitely time to turn in."  she then digs in her pack and pulls out her bag, looking directly at Delph with a smirk on her face, "Oh, I always have this handy" she responds to Wards request.  The turns over and falls fast asleep.

As she sleeps, she sleeps deep, escaping the horrors of the day.  The dream comes unexpected but very, very real.  There is a looking glass, a tall one surrounded by a gilded frame.  Within the mirror, it is not Shavaris that looks back at her, it is a beautiful young woman with dark hair that is looking out at Shavaris, expectantly.  Her body is adorned in an elegant and ornate gown.  She holds Shavaris's gaze for a moment, then speaks, "But...should you need me..." the last word having a peculiar inflection...

Days passed.  The mushroom forest made for an interesting travel as the myriad unique creatures came out to spy the travelers on the various roads and trails leading through the woodland.  Woodland?  Mycoland?  Mycoscape?  Mushscape?  There was never a true night in the forest, though it did often get very dim; many of the mushrooms glowed in the dark, all sorts of wonderful, beautiful colors; cool blues, neon orange, vibrant greens and yellows.  

The band had plenty of time to talk about their dreams, their goals, what they were doing while the wagoneers navigated them toward the Labyrinth and the Goblin City.  

It was the evening of the third day when the thunderstorm set in.  There was torrential rain that ran down in divided sheets as the mushrooms did a surprising job keeping those below dry.  There was lightning, and one mushroom was actually struck and exploded into stinking burned chunks of fungus.  Then, of course, there was Ol Ironsides moving along the edge of the convoy, eating as he went, sampling the fungal smorgasborg he was privvy to as they went.  

It wasn't until he sampled a roughly man-sized mushroom that starts screaming when he pulled its arm off that anything changed.  Suddenly there were mushroom people all around him waving arms, poking with sharp sticks, and making loud, sharp blasts on strange bladder-like instruments they had cushioned under their arms.  It sounded like someone squeezing the life out of a dozen ducks.  Ol Ironsides didn't seem to care as the forest came alive with these mushroom people.  He just continued chewing on the arm he'd pulled loose and looking around while his flails started...flailing....

Shavaris enjoys the way they traveled through the mushroom forest, was nice having the carts and even being around the oddities of the carnie folk.  She tried to get to know the thri-keen better if they let her.  She'll share her dream if others did, otherwise she'll just keep it to herself, chalking it up to the strange time at the carnival.  She enjoys the atmosphere of the mushrooms - not like home, but more magical and a lighter feeling than the situation really calls for seeing they are trying to help save this world.

"Hey Kerwyn, what did you end up saying to the other groups after we left Whichaperch?  That is not a place I ever want to return to" 

A scream splits the air the next day, she immediately stands up and looks out to see what caused the sound, was that men made of mushrooms??  And Schmoopy has.. is that an arm? "Kerwyn!!!  Your snail, it is eating people!!  Mushroom people??  I think he's in trouble or they are?  Help!"

Kerwyn looks at Shavaris and scratches his head, says “I haven’t replied yet, I didn’t know how to report on… what happened.”  He drifts off and looks off to the sky.  “If you have any thoughts, I’m all ears.”

The next day they were enjoying their travels, Kerwyn had fallen asleep while riding Schmoopy Ironsides, and all of a sudden he hears the bleating of a number of mushroom men, jumping around Ironsides excitedly, he snaps awake.  

“Ironsides, you drop that arm this instant!  Don’t make me tell you twice mister!  No more myconid dismemberments!  Stop, right, now!”

“Ironsides! Look over here, these mushrooms will be much easier to eat friend.” Ward says, using druidcraft and making a small field of mushrooms to try and attract The Snail. When it doesn’t work Ward sighs “Please don’t let my eulogy be credited to a snail.” Ward says mostly to himself before ducking behind a tree and disguise selfing Into a Ward sized mycoid. He then gets in front of Ironsides and ducks away from his mouth, trying to keep Ironsides moving away from the majority of the Mycoids.

As talk of dreams happen Delphinium seems to be enjoying listening to others.  They eventually add to the conversation "I had a really neat dream too.  Super friendly too!  On a completely unrelated note, can I open the vessel yet?  We slept now and Ward said I had to wait until we slept.  I want to make sure no one is trapped in there.  Must be super awful being stuck in a tiny flask if so."  Delphinium begins to look around for the vessel.  Zooming around on their tiny rapid wings.  Apparently fully recovered and completely back to their bouncy carefree ways.  

The time traveling is otherwise spent as a means for Delphinium to get to know the Thri-Kreen warriors as they try to learn how they ended up here.  Delph was definitely curious why the warrior three became performers.  Delph would also try to get them to perform for the caravan as many seemed to be miserable after what happened and Delph wants to cheer everyone up.  To help with this they go from carny to carny talking to them and offering to help.  They tell tales of chasing birds and hiding from squirrels to make folks laugh.  They seem to favor a particular tale in which Delph and their sister stole the acorns from one squirrel and spent the day helping them gather new ones because they accidently dropped all the acorns in the nearby river.  There's even a bear attack and a flying fish in the tale.  In the later part of the day Delph would ask if the Thri-kreen would help train Delph with a skill they've been trying to master that involves a lot of rapid movement.

Overall the Fairy seems to be enjoying their time in the mushroom forest and a couple times was seen zooming around the camp and carriages chasing a stray bird or two....and one time being chased by about 200 birds... in the middle of the caravan.  The fun seemed to come with a stop at a sudden cry of pain and Delph, who was busy with the Thri-kreen, looks over for the source of pained sound.  They see mushroom people looking angry.  One without an arm and screaming and a flail snail looking like it just had quite the handful of a meal.  Shavaris calls out to Kerwyn and soon the two are heading over to stop any fighting.  Delph flies over to land on Shavaris' shoulder and looks to the myconids.  They add to the deescalation by saying "Hello proud Mushroom folk!  Sorry about the big snail.  It's super blood thirsty but good at protecting us from dangers!  I think Kerwyn is trying to train them better.  Its dangerous these days after all.  Do you have a strong healer nearby that can help them?  I'm sure Kerwyn will pay for the healing.  They are a super good hero after all!"  

Ol Ironsides isn't having it.  He takes the command from Kerwyn more as a command to go.  Doing what he did best, the snail surged forward, flails pummeling.  Two smaller Myconids hit the ground, the bladders they were carrying making awful screeching sounds as they were deflated by bodyweight.  Ol Ironsides actually reached down to one and bit off a foot before charging forward, flailing an chewing.  At the suggestion of Ward to stop, the snail, trained expressly for war, thought it meant to fight harder.... So he did.  He moved forward as a sixth flail sprouted from his head and proceeded to blow a piece off of one of the Myconids. 

Another Myconid tried to interject but got cracked in the face hard enough to sprawl him on his mushroomy butt.  Ol Ironsides didn't stop, and as Ward appeared, he spun up his flails and gave chase to this new opponent, ready to beat him into truffle paste.

More Myconids emerged from the woods.  They were all squeezing the bladder instruments in unison.  'Dook, dook, dook' the strange air horns sounded...

Then, in the distance, a reply. 

'DOOOOOOOOK' it came, big and loud.  The ground shook... 

Suddenly a Myconid the size of a large Hill Giant peeked through the trees, squeezing its own bladder instrument as it towered menacingly overhead.

'DOOOOOOOOOOOOOK'.

“Keryn, if you could help me wrangle our snail friend. Mushroom people, I’ll pull him away from you guys. After we get this under control I can give you all a hand with healing your wounded.” Ward-Shroom yells towards the groups as he continues trying to pull Ironsides away

Delphinium smacks their palm into their face as Ironside attacks another myconid.  They drag their hand down their face in exasperation then looks over at Dook.  Then at the dawn guard and sigh exasperated "I can't take you big people anywhere." the tiny fairy takes a deep breath and then says "Heal the injured.  Stop Ironside from killing anyone.  I'll keep our big friend busy while you show them we are friends!"  The tiny fairy them zooms to be right in front of the eyes... does it have eyes? anyway in front of it and to make sure they notice the tiny fairy they focus inwardly to begin glowing and summons their fists but not to hit them but rather to have giant hands to wave with "Hello!  I'm Delphinium.  I'm sorry about our deadly war snail.  We will stop it promise!" as the fairy gets the big one's attention they are paying close attention to them to dodge if they try to swat the fairy.  Either way, Delphinium is getting in their way and buzzing around their head to have them focus on them.

Boys!!  Shavaris thinks with exasperation.  She puts one hand on the carts edge and leaps over the side to the ground.  She sees their snail, technically Kerwyns, but he was still theirs, and now their problem.  She looks around frantically, not wanting that giant mushroom to do whatever it was it might be planning, and spots what she is looking for.  The bright blue luminescent type mushrooms that she noticed were Ol Ironside's favorites. 

She grabs a couple handfuls and runs near him, but far enough to avoid the flails.  She whistles and waves the shrooms up in the air for him to see.  "Over here ol boy, I got your favorites!!  Come on and eat them, I promise they won't scream and upset your tummy..."  Ol Ironsides stops what he is doing and strolls up to Shavaris, eating out of her hand, hungrily, slobbering all over her.  "Hey Kerwyn, little help?"

The giant mushroom pauses and looks at the end of the grizzly confrontation below.  The massive head pans down, then back up, and it raises its air bladder inatewnt level with Delphinium and blasts one long 'DOOOOOOOOOK', threatening to blow the tiny Fairy out of the sky.  When Delph offers the same reply, in a much smaller, more tenor voice than the ugly blast of the instrument , Dook looks pleased, raises a fist the size of a table, and offers it to the Fairy.

The other Myconids stop their frantic gestures and attempted threats when the snail ceases its attack and is placated with the illuminescent mushrooms.  Water still trickles down from the storm over head, but it seems like everyone's mood began to improve instantly.  They gather in, closer, now curious.  

Kerwyn nods and smiles at Shavaris, “Great idea, get the ones he likes!”  He heads over to help Shavaris with her distraction of Ironsides, heading him away from confrontation with the giant myconid.  “Maybe let’s take the long way around, out of the mushroom forest…”

For the following days of travel Johnathan tries to talk more with Ward along the way. He wanted to get a better understanding of his kind and how they function, more out of curiosity than anything. On the last night of travel Johnathan walks away to gather more animal ingredients for the journey ahead. He wasn’t sure when he would get a chance again, especially since they are travelling in a bigger crowd. That’s when he hears screams. He didn’t recognise the voice but knew it was coming from the direction he last saw the band. Johnathan starts sprinting towards his friends. He didn’t know if they were fighting for their life’s or just causing more trouble as usual. When he arrives he sees the scene unfold. He watches as the snail, who he still hasn’t learnt the name for, starts eating mushroom people. It looked like a fight was about to break lose when the snail started backing off and eats the offerings the others gave it. Johnathan gives a huge sigh of relieve and joins his band again. Um, what’s going on? I leave you for 2 minutes and you nearly anger an entire forest Johnathan says towards the snail, unsure if it could understand his at all. Johnathan will await to see what the others do, but he is clearly concerned that they are easily outnumbered here. 

Delphinium gives a fist bump to the giant mushroom man.  They smile and give another small "Dooook" as they bump fists.  The size disparity almost ridiculous as Delph only bumps a single finger.  "Oh!  Looks like they got it under control!  See, told you they are good people.  You can always trust a good fairy!  I'm going to let them know you won't squish them and we will get your friends all patched up!"  Delphinium flies on down and see's that several are corralling the deadly snail away from the fungusfolk.  The fairy does notice Johnathan returning and it seems they missed the ordeal.  Delphinium flutters down to him and says "Hi! johnathan!  No worries.  Ironsides just started eating folks.  Its just what snails his size does.  I promised them we'd make sure they don't anymore and that Kerwyn would take responsibility for not training them better; now we are besties!  I didn't know I wanted a mushroom man friend but now I'm super glad I do."  They look up at the giant mushroom man then back to Johnathan "Im going to call him Doot Doot.  Is that okay Doot Doot?"

Shavaris and Kerwyn succeed in facing the snail away from the people so that it can continue harvesting however many mushrooms it wants without harm.  Once she is satisfied, she heads over to the mushroom people, who by now appear to be gathering in, curious.  "Hello? Do you speak common?" then switching to other languages, "do you speak Elvish?" "do you speak sylvan?" seeing if any that she knows will strike a cord with the unique humanoids.