You hear Kerwyn saying “You are a naughty snail.  Very, very naughty.  No shell polish for you tonight.  Hrmph.”

Ol Ironsides is still chewing in the foot as it turns to look at Johnathan as of to say "what?".  It swallows, then goes to the side where Kerwyn chastises it. Ok Ironsides doesn't seem to care about being called naughty and looks around for the next meal.

Dook watches Delphinium fly about and do what they do and answers the little Fairy at least twice with blasts of "DOOOOK" before finally stepping near the wagons and sitting down, it's myconium bottom shaking the forest as it drops the last few feet.  It reaches out with one huge finger to poke at Ol Ironsides, who acts like he's ready to flail and bite, and then the newly labeled Doot Doot retracts his finger and clutches it to his chest like this is the scariest shit that's ever happened to him.

One of the Myconids, who is adorned in a robe of moss and phlox and has a beard of lichen down to his chest, steps forward and nods when Shavaris speaks in common before touching the side of his head.  He then motions to some of the other Myconids, who hand him a few more air bladder instruments, and then squeezes them in certain ways to produce something that sounds like 'nooo tok' before reaching up to rub a hand on his throat.

”Hello there mushroom friends, I should be able to understand you now in your natural speech.” Ward says after dropping the disguise and moving towards the group casting speak to plants. “We apologize for the misunderstanding mushroom friends, our snail can be a bit overzealous. I am Ward, this is Shavaris.” Ward says

Delphinium flutters about from person to person obviously wanting to say hello to others.  The lack of the mushroom folk's ability doesn't seem to curb the tiny fairy from talking with Doot Doot.  Delph goes right back over to them after telling Johnathan what's going on and gives a hearty "Doooook!" in greeting again.  They land on their hand if they let them.  At the big one's obvious distress Delphinium looks for Kerwyn and zooms over to them like a rocket.  "Hey!  Hey!  Kerwyn!  They hurt people right?  So they need to spend time in the cage?  Or is it called....ummm... jail!  That's what big people do right?"  Delphinium looks at the various empty cages then zooms off again to talk to the big mushroom guy but then notices Ward and Shavaris is talking with several other mushroom folks and zooms over to land on top of Ward's head.  "Oooooo, can you speak mushroom?  Can you ask them if they have other fairies in this forest?  Oh!  What's the big one's name?  Did I guess correctly with Doot Doot?  Oh!  Oh!  Also ask them about the..."  they lean over the top of Ward's head to whisper directly in their ear "...the unicorn."

Shavaris nods as Ward introduces them.  She notices who seems to be one of the leaders of the mushroom people make a motion to their throat.  She looks at them quizzically, trying to figure out what they mean. "Good to meet you, and I am sorry for our snail and his ways, I'm just glad we were able to stop him.  May I ask, what are you trying to convey?  Are you thirsty?" but she looks up again and is reminded that it is raining even if they are in a pocket of shelter.  She turns to Ward, "Do you know what they are trying to say?"

The giant mushroom looks at  Delphinium, then at Ol Ironsides, and points accusingly.  He squeezes the bag and makes a gentle 'Dook' sound.  

Kerwyn looks up at Delphinium and says “Oh no, no, no, no.  No jail.  He had no idea.  He was just having a snack.  You can’t blame him, look how delicious they look!”  Kerwyn thinks back to some delicious mushroom soup that he had in his village and his tongue licks his lips subconsciously.  

When big Doot Doot pokes Ole Ironsides, Kerwyn steps forward and goes “Whoa, whoa big fella, that’s my snail there, you can’t just go poking him.  You be careful there, I think he might get indigestion with you, but he would be up to trying if you keep poking him.  Keep your big mushroomy fingers to yourself.  “No dook.  Ixnay on the ookday.”  Kerwyn crosses his arms to give the “No go” signal.  

Ward talks back and forth with the Mushroom priest for a little while, after the wounded Myconoid begin coming up as Ward sprouts replacements for their lost limbs. Ward says a last word with the priest before going to the group. "They understand that there was no harm meant and appreciate our quick response. What we also talked about is due to them being a plant(ish) being, one of my spells to sort of, invigorate, the land may help them. It would take me 8 hours, but I believe it will gain us great allies no matter how it affects them, as I do not exactly know. For regular crops, it increases their yield for one year, so I can only imagine it would help them greatly." Ward says "Oh, and if you do have questions for them then let us do that while I cast the spell, I can do that whilst I cast the spell so I have something to keep my mind busy. The Mare however will wait till I am done, so that they know we are trustworthy." Ward finishes gesturing to those who asked questions

Johnathan has been tense with the mushroom people ever since they’re been pointing at the snail. You want to cage the snail Delphinium, good luck with that. Johnathan just has flashes of the “Harpy” battle and how the monsters attitude became when imprisoned. He didn’t want the snail to suffer a similar fate. He turns to Ward, If it’ll calm the mushroom people down then sure. When we have a moment ask them if they know what’s been going on in the forest. Might be nice to know troop movement of our enemies and so on. With that Johnathan will tell the wagons full of “people” to set up camp. He wasn’t sure of them to begin with but they are starting to become useful for him. Their wagons make travelling a lot easier, they can transport a lot of goods and creatures of the night that have been brought into the light. They also keep to themselves and don’t ask questions.

 During the 8 hours Johnathan starts practising some of his ritual spells. He tries one of the spells that he learnt from the wizard. He places his ritual spell book on the ground and begins to trace magical runes in the air. Unlike his other magical casting, this one didn’t produce black flames at all. Once the ruins in the air have been completed Johnathan mutters under his breath, equus, and a large phantom horse with a saddle appears next to Johnathan. Johnathan pets the horse and starts climbing on it. Ok horse, the wizards notes said you are suppose to be quite fast. Let’s see if you were worth the trouble. With that Johnathan starts riding around on the horse, which moved surprisingly fast. Faster than his donkey he has been on. In his pocket echo was most displeased, almost like it’s jealous that Johnathan has found something better to conjure than himself.  But Johnathan didn’t notice, he was having fun racing the horse in the forest. What first started out as a test quickly became a game for Johnathan. He wasn’t thinking of the nightmare anymore, he wasn’t concerned about the dangers they would face. After an hour of racing the horse the steed begins to disperse into the air. Johnathan climbs off the steed, sad that the game was over. When the horse is gone Johnathan picks up his book and adds a note next to the spell, I think I’ll call this one Spirit. 

Aoe is mesmerized by the fungi forest tapestry… it had been too long since he had been here in younger years of life…

He watched Ward work on explaining e Virgo rating the growth of the area… “have these offered us hospitality for the day? I’m not sure if wasting a whole day just sitting around is worth it… unless we are secretly making atonements for our previous actions…” Aoe smirks, under his flopping hair the corners of his mouth raising lightly. “Be it 3 days or 5, I will be happy for us to get to the labyrinth and having a full bath.” 

The Myconids don't report any sort of troop movements or anything like that when Johnathan asks his question, save for the occasional group of Goblins moving toward the Labyrinth.  They do have something odd and concerning to report, however; there is something in the jungle ahead, closer to the Goblin City, that seems to be targeting humanoids.  The Myconid Sovereign, previously talking to Shavaris, relays a tale of how it made a huge hole in Dook just a few weeks ago and they were barely able to get away by releasing all the pacifying spores their tribe had.  The Goblins, it seems, have not been so lucky, and a great many of them have been killed or disappeared.

Ward's ritual seems tk really help the Myconids.  By the next morning, all of them with injuries are healed, and missing limbs have regrown.  In the case of the Myconid who lost an arm to Ol Ironsides, the arm is not just back... It's ripped.  He looks like he's ready to arm wrestle a giant.

Of course, the ritual also leads to mushroom growth impeding the trail, but the Myconids are more than obliged to reopen the corridor around the traveling Dawn Guard. 

While Ward is casting his spell to help out the mushroom people, she asks him to ask about Schmendrick the Blue or even the red bull that was mentioned earlier.  If he wants to wait on those subjects till after the spell is cast, that's fine with her as well.  In the meantime she gets antsy.  She isn't used to sitting around for 8 hours, even more so now that they had such a huge obligation weighing on them.  

As the Myconid Sovereign talks about what is in front of them as they travel to the Goblin City, she turns to her friends.  "How do you all feel about this?  I think we should keep going the course, if there is something out there, attacking humanoids, why shouldn't we be the ones to try and stop it?  Try and use our chaos for good for once."  She still feels guilty for the deaths of the ones at the carnival.  She knows it was the ringmasters decision to hold such a dangerous beast, but they were the catalyst that did cause their deaths.

Delph spends the entire ritual asking questions about the myconids.   "What do you eat?  Do you poop?  Are there a lot of you?  Is this your village?  I've heard of you but never met one before now!  You're all super nice.  Is there a mushroom city?  Can I visit someday?  What's your name?  Can you look like any mushroom?  Do you have posionous mushroom myconids?  Are you friendly with the people from cities?  Do you want to visit the Kokiri forest someday?  Have you been to other forests before?  What do you do for fun?  Have you been all over these lands?  You mentioned goblins, are they good goblins or bad goblins?  What about...."  the questioning continues the entire time definitely keeping Ward busy while they cast the ritual.  

Once done and Delphinium's curiosity is sated the fairy agrees with Shavaris that "We should totally help out our new mushroom friends!  Also, if whatever it is is giving goblins a hard time stopping it might help them like us more!  So, yeah.  Let's just take the main road no worries!"

When the group finally leaves Delphinium spends a lot of time flying from carriage to carriage checking on folks and talking with them.  The fairy continues to train with the Thri-Kreen if they let them.  Working on their speed and mobility.  When resting they tend to be on top of the carriage the Dawn Huard are in so that they can hear what they talk about as well as contribute when they feel they can but also enjoy the fresh open air of the mushroom forest.  This also allows them to keep an eye out for anything in the forest that might be big and scary and want to attack folks.  Someone needs to keep a watch out for big dangerous things right?

"They like to eat decaying leaves and wood from the forest floor. They don't have a village they are nomads. The name of the Sovereign is Mork. They do have a few poison myconids. They don't like to go near the city people as they are weird and sometimes unfriendly. They do like to visit the Faron woods quite a bit. He has a Lichen farm. With it, he grows it into beards, shirts, and the like with it." Mork geeks out a wee bit here talking about his Lichen farm. "They travel around the forest often, but stay clear of the southern lands where people from the cities are. They don't know the difference as to good or bad goblins." Ward finishes the questions as the ritual, happy to see the rejuvenated mushroom people happy and well, and still chuckling a bit from Delph's questions. "Well I guess this is farewell my mushroom friends, again, should you hear anything concerning what we've asked send a messenger our way, and if you ever need a hand we will be happy to lend, or replace one." Ward says. Once they are on the road Ward will say on the left side of the caravan, watching for any odd things relating to a possible killer in the woods whilst also making a couple of small trinkets with druidcraft. Waiting for Delph to come by he whispers something to them before giving Delph a dozen or so flower crowns for them to pass out as they please. 

The caravan marches on.  The forest thickens, thins, thickens again as they head north and then west, making their way toward the Labyrinth and the Goblin City at its center.  The travel is mostly mundane, even after the Myconids warning, for the first two days.  The carts just jostle along, the waggoneers keep up the mundane work of the party and keeping things together, and the Thri-Kreen act as sentries, usually riding directly on top of the wagons.  

FWAP

The third day was waning toward evening when the attack came.  One minute they were trundling along with the caravan, the next they were taken from their right flank.  Shavaris was hit in the first attack, carried off the back of her mount and crashing hard to the deck between her elk and the Flail Snail.  The elk panicked and everyone around her were caught off guard by the sound of the explosion and the smoke that puffed up where she'd been only moments before. 

She had been hit so hard she was unconscious...

Kerwyn jumps off Ole Ironsides when the blast hits and looks around immediately for who may be attacking them.  He sees - - nothing.  He starts shouting to the others.  "Incoming fire!  Spread out!  Don't give them an easy target!"  He looks for any trench or cover, any downed trees or boulders to hide behind.  "Ironsides, move forward!  Everyone, spread out!"  He bends down and picks up unconscious Shavaris and carries her over to cover, out of harm's way.  He pulls out his glaive and looks for an enemy to throw it at.  The instant anything appears or is pointed out, he will throw his glaive to attack.  

"Over here." a voice calls in what sounds like an extremely loud whisper. It comes from the left side of rhe caravan

"Over here. Over here..."

Ward quickly glances toward the whispering voice. "Nope" Ward says, running towards Shavaris and once in range using all 5 charges of Balm of The Summer Court. Heal Amount: 21 damage and giving 5 temp HP. Ward will point out where the attacker is coming from and then use a Dash to continue going towards the source of the attack. 

Two of the Thri-Kreen have a short, quick conversation.  One pulls a chakra style weapon from its belt and a spear from its back as its friend lays hands on it.  It shimmers, begins to look fuzzy, and then leaps away after Ward, one giant jump taking it very.  It started running when it hit the ground, catching up easily with the Druid.  

There was a pop in the distance, but not where the original shot had come from.  This time it's off to Ward's right, closer to the rear of the caravan.  Ward is suddenly hit hard from the side by a huge metallic net.  It wraps around him, and then he topples to the ground restrained. 

There is a clicking sound in the distance...

Shavaris wakes slowly after Ward gives her healing.  She doesn't wake with a start, she comes out of it slowly and not realizing they are in the middle of being attacked, she looks up towards Kerwyn, "Eloise?  Where, where is she?" she has a big coughing fit and her eyes dilate as she looks around, for something, Eloise? She's not exactly sure.  She doesn't feel right and doesn't know what is going on.  "I..I am so so tired."  She reaches over to Johnathan and uses him to pull herself up to standing and looks around trying to get her bearings. She looks at him, very concerned, "What, what happened to me?  I don't feel right."

Finally the situation they are in starts to dawns on her, but she only has enough realization at this moment to dodge.