Aura follows her companions, drifting along rather aimlessly as she listens to their conversation.

”Yes, those mushrooms did indeed look utterly delicious! But Cabbage - Is that a favourite of yours? I’ve always found it to be rather bland, but perhaps you cook it differently to where I am from?”

Upon hearing Khessa’s musings of the group past escapades the Genasi’s eyes widen, and she clasps her hands together in excitement. “Cursed temples, Orcs… the dragon himself? Oh, what amazing adventures the lot of you have had! You must tell me all about them when you have the time, I should so like to hear all of your stories! 

Aura refrains from offering directional advice, perfectly happy to follow the lead of the others. 

"Katarina says you can keep the mushrooms and the cabbage," the Tabaxi says with a light-hearted chuckle. "Katarina shall stick with the good meat off the bones. Yes, she will leave much cabbage for her friends to enjoy."

The cat's ears perk up at the mention of dragons and cursed temples and orcs...

"Much adventure you have had. It seems to Katarina that you could use someone like her the next time you go to fight orcs and dragons... perhaps it would do all good to travel together in the future, yes?"

Katarina follows Jasper and Khessa, trusting that they will find a good route to the bridge. While Katarina certainly has her talents, she knows that navigation isn't one of them.

Khessa puzzled face turns some times from Aura to Katarina; finally she regains enough of her breath to state: "Cabbages are among the most healthy and delicious food mankind ever discovered! And the perfume, as you boil them in the water... How I cook them? Oh, many recipes... Lemon garlic sauteed cabbage, maybe with onions, sautéed red cabbage, cabbage rolls, corned beef and cabbage..."

"You know, my family farms cabbages from generations..." at that, suddenly, sadness brings shadows in the deep of her eyes; the woman wipes away something (maybe tears?) from the eyes with the back of her hand, muttering: "...or at least they did, as long as they have been able to. Darn! The wind must have blown some dust in my eyes..."

Khessa regains her composture quickly and her curiosity helps her to focus on something less painful: "...But this is the first time I meet a specimen of your kind. A sort of woman with very fine but unusually colored skin... and a sort of half feline... maybe you eat something entirely different, after all. I have lived all my (not yet very long) life in a small farmer's village".

"So you like meat very much, Katarina?" can't help but smile the blonde arcane warrior "You will get along great with Echo and Tookrashk!"

"And as for sticking together in the future, absolutely yes!" the tall adventuress' blue eyes sparkle with excitement. "Gods know how much help we might need, to beat Cryovain… And even once this matter is settled, if you're going to continue traveling with us, at least Jasper and I still have other important matters to settle".

The 'matters to settle' seem to make Khessa frown again, but she forces herself to focus on more pleasant thoughts: "Our adventures up to now have been very unusual... and they have united us a lot" her blue eyes run with affection to Echo… and to Jasper, which they linger on even longer. "I will gladly recall them with you at the first opportunity, perhaps tonight in front of a fire".

Jasper hearing all of this talk of food is making him hungry. Pulling some dried meat from a pouch, he offers to the others. “Would anyone like some?” 
Jasper notices the bow that Aura is carrying. Thinking about all the times he was caught following the tribes hunters. At the time wishing he was with them. But his place in his family and tribe was planned out and designed to compliment his sisters but never to rival them. 
“Do you hunt?” Asking Aura. 

"All sounds very good indeed," Katarina says in reference to Khessa's cabbage recipes. "But Tabaxi eat the flesh... it is simply how Katarina and her people are."

Katarina momentarily wonders what 'other matters' Khessa and Jasper may have to deal with, but the thought flutters away almost as soon as it enters her head. She is just happy to join these people on their adventures... maybe, she thinks to herself, she'll finally have a chance to show her stuck-up siblings that she is worthy to be called a member of the Mystic Paws, and that her magic is strong as theirs even if she can't cast spells the same way that they can.

"Kattarina is very happy to hear that; very happy indeed," the cat says, with a beaming smile. "It is good to have friends to share adventures with, yes?"

Katarina gladly accepts a bit of the dried meat from Jasper.

“That does sound delicious! Perhaps your recipes shall change my mind on cabbage.”

Aura nods happily at Katarina’s words, hands clasping together once more. “Yes, I agree! In my opinion friend are one of the most important parts of adventuring. Trials and hardships often create the strongest of bonds, and the fondness you seem to hold for each other clearly runs deep. How lucky I am to have found all of you! I, too, hope we will stay together for a long time.” 

Reaching out to accept Jasper’s offer of food, the Genasi’s hand pauses midway, surprises by the normally quiet Elf’s question. Still, any trace of shock does not last long as she cheerfully smiles up at him, eyes filled with warmth. “Ah, did you notice my bow? Her name is Quick’Silver, after the silver details that run across her body. I’ve had her since birth - she was a gift from my mother.” A strange look flickers across Aura face, but is gone just as quickly as it appeared, replaced by her normal grin. “As for hunting… I do hunt, when necessary, though I prefer not to kill wild animals - it makes me feel rather sad. I mostly use Quick’Silver for fighting enemies.” She pauses for a moment, finally taking the dried meat from Jasper and beginning to nibble on its edges. “What about you? Is hunting a hobby of yours?”

"Mushrooms and cabbage sure are nice but it really can't compare to the taste of fresh meat! You lose that taste if you spend too long cooking it. It looks a bit gruesome but red and bloody really does taste good." Echo says sagely as she shares her preference, agreeing with Katarina, as the group amble along to find Fibblestib.

Echo is excitedly adding bits and pieces of their short adventures as Khessa recounts them, holding her arms wide out in an attempt to show how big Cryovain was, mentioning how they'll probably revisit Tookrashk and then the new friends would know him, gesturing a square with her hands to describe the jelly cubes they fought... She smiles eagerly to Aura's words, "I've only heard about old adventurers' tales from my dads before, it's a totally different thing when you are on an adventure," she nods to herself, "definitely more fun!"

She accepts the dried meat from Jasper with a quick 'thank you!' Her eyes almost sparkle as Aura talks about her bow, "she is so lovely, I've never seen people use a bow this proper before. I really don't want to meet any enemies anytime soon but I'd love to see her in action!"

Jasper responds to Aura, “Only small game when necessary but mostly with snare traps. I never got the hang of using a bow.”  

Quote from Sam1am96 >>

Jasper hearing all of this talk of food is making him hungry. Pulling some dried meat from a pouch, he offers to the others. “Would anyone like some?” 

"I'm fine for now" Khessa smiles "but thank you for the offer, dear!"

Quote from 3aeros >>

...Upon hearing Khessa’s musings of the group past escapades the Genasi’s eyes widen, and she clasps her hands together in excitement. “Cursed temples, Orcs… the dragon himself? Oh, what amazing adventures the lot of you have had! You must tell me all about them when you have the time, I should so like to hear all of your stories! 

...

While the recently enlarged group travels the corridors of Gnomengarde in search of an audience, Khessa, since she has the time and Aura had shown such interest, anticipates a summary of the previous adventures.

"Surely you have seen the job board for adventurers which is posted outside the townmaster's hall?" starts the blonde arcane warrior "I don't know if Harbin, the townmaster, has updated it in the meantime, but it, as we gathered to help Phandalin, reported three necessary tasks: one, of course, that's what we're facing now, the last one left, to convince local clan of rock gnomes to give up their secrets and help us defeat the dragon Cryovain. The other two where one, to convince Adabra, the town's midwife, to come back to town, instead of residing in a mill nearby; another, to warn the dwarven prospectors in the mountains southwest of Phandalin of the dragon".

"We started by going to Adabra, the midwife" the tall adventuress narrates. "However, as soon as we left, we saw the majestic silhouette of Cryovain in the sky! That monster had evidently become so impudent as to dare to push his raids as far as the city limits! Unfortunately, in the open field we would have had no chance of defeating him - Cryovain could have simply flown above us and obliterated us with one frost breath after the other! So, as unheroic as it sounds, we dived into a ditch that luckily was nearby and hid, fearing for our lives, all the while trying to sidetrack the dragon with an illusion. Luckily for us, it worked".

"So we were able to reach the mill where Adabra lived" Khessa goes on. "But the troubles weren't over... because at the mill, as well as Adabra, there was a manticore! A scary monster and, in this case, reduced to hunger, because the raids of the dragon had forced him to leave his lair and usual hunting area. Leveraging the common hatred for the dragon, I was able to make friends with Tookrashk, the manticore. Tookrashk pledged not to threaten the inhabitants of Phandalin again and, when necessary, help us fight the dragon; Phandalin, on the other hand, helps him get food, providing him with scraps that, otherwise, very few citizens would eat... but which Tookrashk likes a lot!"

"Having secured Adabra and gained a new friend (or at least ally) in Tookrashk, we went to the dwarven prospectors" tells the blonde arcane warrior. "We warned them as requested, but found them in need of help: they had discovered an underground complex and wanted to explore it. Unfortunately , they had also discovered that the complex was infested with dangerous oozes, capable of attacking by stretching pseudopods and corroding the creatures they came into contact with! I was almost hit by one of those attacks myself... But using our superior intelligence we bested and exterminated them. And we also discovered during the exploration that the complex was a former temple of Abbathor, dwarven god of greed, and these jellies must have been ex-followers of Abbathor, transformed by their god for who knows what fault".

“When we finished helping the dwarves explore all of the cursed temple, it was too late to return, so we camped inside" the tall adventuress' tale continues. "And during the night some orcs tried to enter, to seek refuge just like we had before. Luckily, Jasper had had the idea of setting a trap at the entrance, so we were aware of their arrival in time and beat them. Interrogating a survivor, we also thus discovered that some orc cultists have begun to worship Cryovain! Which is of course a real shame; I was hoping to get the orcs allied with us against Cryovain as well... but, hey, not always we can accomplish whatever we want".

"And so now, here we are" concludes Khessa.

Quote from guyu >>

...

Echo is excitedly adding bits and pieces of their short adventures as Khessa recounts them, holding her arms wide out in an attempt to show how big Cryovain was, mentioning how they'll probably revisit Tookrashk and then the new friends would know him, gesturing a square with her hands to describe the jelly cubes they fought... She smiles eagerly to Aura's words, "I've only heard about old adventurers' tales from my dads before, it's a totally different thing when you are on an adventure," she nods to herself, "definitely more fun!"

...

Katarina listens to Khessa's story, doing her best to follow. But she keeps getting distracted by shiny rocks and her own stray thoughts (note: Katarina is not very smart).

However, she does take a great deal of interest in the story of the encounter with the dragon.

"It sounds to Katarina like if wishing to beat the dragon we are, then we must snare him out of the sky so he must fight on the ground. Yes?" the cat muses. 

"Exactly!" Khessa pats with enthusiasm the tabaxi on the shoulder "Either we disallow it to fly... or we learn to fly ourselves, else it will have too great an advantage".

(I don't have access to the map at the moment. I'll post the updated map as soon as I can!)

You head south from the kitchen, relaying your adventurers to the newcomers, before realizing you'll have to pass through another room in order to reach the rope bridge. As you step into the room you see bolted to the floor of the room is a rotating platform equipped with four heavy crossbows that reload automatically. Mounted above the crossbows at a height of 6 feet is a chair equipped with pedals that causes the entire contraption to spin counterclockwise, and with levers that reload and fire the crossbows. Sitting in the chair is a female gnome.

As you enter, she swivels around in her chair to face you and gives you a totally unhinged grin before she reaches for the levers to fire the crossbows!

Roll for initiative!

Facktoré - 6

Katarina Initiative: 13

Aura Initiative: 6

Khessa's Initiative: 5

3Jasper Initiative:  

(Lol! All too busy listening to Khessa's stories, to notice in time a nasty gnomish war machine! Only Katarina, who got distracted, rolled good initiative!) 

(Presumably she was distracted by seeing a crossbow pointed at her lol)

I will roll initiative for Echo. Here is the initiative order:

Katarina - 18

Echo - 4

Facktoré - 8

Jasper - 6

Khessa - 5

Aura - 5