"It's your funeral if I do transform," Maxine was too worried to control her unnerving reaction to joke in upsetting situations,so, the next phrase was not much better: "Do my ears already folling off or did you really talked to yourself? The mage that taught me had a habit like that, always explained it as a need to talk to someone smart for a change".

Shae chuckles some more, “Put a yellow musk creeper on my grave then.” She’d wink, hoping to get even a little smile out of Maxine. “You’re not imagining things. I do talk to myself, often.” She’d laugh a little more at the phrase ‘talk to someone smart for a change’. “Your teacher must be a smart man then. Did you enjoy your time under his study?” She’d look to her with curiosity. Shae, do you trust her?  ”I always desired a mentor. But I’m by no means talented enough to be a mage... no matter how hard or how much I’ve studied.“ She’d sigh, “I’ve been called an imposter. I suppose that’s the closest I’d be.” Shae would look up to the sky and stare at the stars. “Truth is, most of the time I ‘talk to myself’, I’m actually talking to someone... in my head.” She confesses. “He gifted me...” Shae, you agreed She’d roll her eyes then correct herself, “Which I consented to... these powers?” She’d wiggle her fingers.

Maxine did smile and already opened her mouth to explain her view of magic theory and list the points of disagreement between her and her teacher, when Shae confessed the source of her gift. For full 30 seconds Maxine was quiet (no small feat by itself!) thinking, then she recited: "A warlock is a person who made a pact with an otherworldly being. Through the pact  warlock unlocks magical effects, which strength and nature depends of the strength and nature of the said being.""Magic 101, Chapter 2, "Sources of magical power"" Maxine gave Shae a long look: "Ha! Now I understand why you did not object my experiment - compare to voluntarily possession a self-administered poison sounds like nothing." Now was the point for Shae to begin to deeply regret her confession, because Maxine's eyes were shining with pure insatiable curiosity, that washed away the slightest trace of worries: "Who is he? You said - "he" - how do you know? How did you find him? Or did he found you?" She stopped to take a breath and explained a bit: "I was trying at some point to get myself at least a familiar, but that wizard - my teacher - refused to teach me the spell and had the audacity to say "it's too complicated". I think he did not know it himself."

Shae would enjoy the new excited energy Maxine was now gushing, and smiled while she listened. Shae would nod when she’d recite the description of a warlock. “Yes, I am a warlock.” She’d chuckle, “Well... technically I didn’t really have time to object.” Shae was relieved when Maxine continued on with excitement rather than disgust, which she was used too. It would be nice for a change to talk about it. Shae would scrunch her brows in thought, pondering for a moment how she did know Kam was a he, before shrugging, “One sentence in all the texts I searched of him, referred to him as a he. And... he sounds like a male in my head.” She realized how weird that sounded out loud, but rolled with it. “He found me. Saved me from my death bed... when I’d given up all hope.”

Shae would chuckle, and do an exaggerated gasp when Maxine would quote her teacher. “Well, I think if you want one that bad, if you try hard enough, you’ll learn it. Give it time. Just... don’t get a monkey.” 

"Did not work anyway," laughed Maxine with a normal laugh for a change, "not that I tried to raze one of this psycho to be a pet, but I still have no slightest idea what part of that juice work and what does it do exactly. Argh! Maddening!" "Oh! Can your ... how do you call him? Guest? Contact? He is not literally in your head, is he? Well, can he help in that?" She looked at Shae expectedly, but realized (or remembered) it does not work like this. "Guess not... A pity." "Still, a life saviour, power source and a permanent companion... Uncontrollable magic is not my kind of thing, but you are the lucky one to get all of this!" "But you did not say who he is exactly. Is it a secret? Would not pester you if it is but you have to say you don't want to talk about it."   

The Professor looks around after having finished his tea and his journaling.  Seeing Shae and Maxine in an animated conversation, he smiles, hoping Shae can positively influence the rather strange zombie girl.  He sets the leftover tea aside in case someone gets thirsty during the night and falls asleep by the fire.

Shae would pause, actually having to take a moment to think through all the questions Maxine’s firing her way. She’d chuckle a little, “Well, what I do know is that we made our pact on the Moonshae Isles, where he came to me in what I perceived, as a dream, when I was unconscious in my own blood. His name is Kamerynn, and he’s a Celestial being, a unicorn.” She’d look up to the sky again, “My belief is that he did give me a piece of him, his essence, or soul?” She’d shrug, “I feel his presence and I perceive him as being in my head, cause he can hear everything and responds. Though, he does pick and choose when he decides to pipe up.” After a bit of a pause, she continues, “If I think about it, most of the time he’s fussing about my wellbeing. So I’m suspicious he needed me just as I needed him... but I have no idea what purpose I’d serve.” She’d shrug again. 

She’d be happy to continue on chatting with Maxine through the night, though eventually her eyes would grow heavy and she’d slump to the side, falling asleep.

They probably set there talking for 2 shifts, then Maxine will wake up whoever is next, cover Shae with a blanket and go to sleep herself (unless there are some unexpected effects of all the treatments she went through today).

The night passes easily, with two people on guard throughout the night, until the dawn breaks in the east, and the humid air saturates clothing and equipment with dew. Everyone is well rested, and Brax is starting as though he can put weight on his leg again, though he is still limping heavily, and relying on the splint. Shae tells him that it would probably be best if he refrained from walking on the leg for a week at least, to let the break heal some more, and begrudgingly, Brax agrees and sits back down.

WHat is the plan for the day?

The professor will busy himself with heating more water -- the idea is that we have hot water available for morning and evening meals, and extra water after it is boiled is put in the "clean" water barrel.  He will also use the compass and map, consulting with the others about the best path to take to skirt the mountains to the north and arrive at their destination.  About 10 minutes before the group is ready to move on, he starts the Floating Disk ritual.

Survival Check (with advantage from the map and compass, I hope:  17  

After making her rounds checking on the wounded, she'd join the Professor to consult the compass and map. With fresh eyes and early morning sun, she takes another look around the jungle canopy to see if there's any hope of getting closer to pinpointing their exact location.

About the same time the Professor begins his floating disc ritual, Shae would do her morning herb and floral check. She'd look to gather wildroot to have enough for the group and stock the med kits. She'd look for larger, sturdier leaves for splint replacements. Of course she'd hope for anything new to catch her eyes. She'd make note of any sightings of Torchstalks, but not gather any.

Berrus will await the appearance of the disc, then commence loading the supplies

Zip begins the day with a small experiment on the torchroot stalk. With just a small chunk in a bowl and a glowing brand from the fire, he touches the smoldering wood to the plant. It immediately catches better than a dry leaf. Zip keeps the heat applied, wanting to see if torchroot would burn itself out or grow. He only waits a moment before it it glows, then erupts to a flame which dies in seconds.

"That went better than expected. I think if I can dry and powder the torchroot, it'll make a potent weapon additive. Worst case, I can get it to burn on contact. Best case, maybe something bigger? I just need a good-sized chunk of the stalk and small bit of that tej stuff."

(I'll assume this is something needed to make the Explosive Ammunition infusion. The infusion is only made after a Long Rest and can be applied to 20 pieces of ammo. If anyone has ranged weapons, I can spread it around so we all get 5-10 shots of the stuff.)

Meanwhile, Maxine was experimenting with her hand-crossbow, attempting to solve ammunition shortage. The part of Prestidigitation spell, responsible for creation of non-magical trinkets, combined with Mending (to solidify appearing bolt) could potentially do that. She found (or cleaned up) a small patch of ground and tried to find the right combination of words, allowing to turn her crossbow into Repeating Shot weapon, at least temporarily, from time to time shooting at the nearest tree to check the effect. 

Professor Snively moves over to Maxine after he gets the disc created next to the pile of equipment (raised on the earthen berm for easy transfer).

”What are you trying to accomplish?” He asks her, adding somewhat awkwardly, “I am glad you didn’t wake up as a zombie, by the way.”

"Me too," very seriously answered Maxine. "Sorry for alarming you all for nothing". She sighed and looked at Professor with uncertainty in her eyes. She liked to talk about her work but ... "I am trying to modify a spell. Two of them, actually. And apply to my weapon".

"Professor, you are a wizard, am I right? My teacher was a wizard, I recognize a lot of him in you. I would gladly explain my view of magic but have to warn you, he did not like it at all, you might find it blasphemous too."

"You see, to him, and as I think, to all of wizards, magic is an art, and each spell - is an object of art. One pure "solid" creation. Every word, every gesture, every component at it's specific place, that can not be changed. And I agree in general - every known spell is like that, while wizardry is a perfection of as many of this objects as possible."

"But for me, every spell is a ... puzzle, a construct, that you can disassemble and arrange in a different pattern. I can see those patterns. The problem is, spells are an objects of art and very different types of art. You can not just take any spell and mix up words, like you can not take a hand from one sculpture and simply attach it to another, it would not work. So, I have to find similar components in different spells." Maxine pointed at her writings at the ground: "Like this part - third verse of  Prestidigitation and that one - the middle of Mending. They practically rime! It should be possible to enchant the weapon with them in a way, that it produce temporary bolts - to shoot, hit and after a while to disappear".  

Professor Snively:

"You are very creative, Maxine, but you take more risks than I would be comfortable with--I suppose that is because I am used to the life of academia, not adventure," the professor responds.  "I know of spells and abilities that offer flexibility in their implementation, but most follow strict guidelines.  Still, I prefer the creative ones as well," he finishes with a smile.  

Folding his hands together and pulling them apart with a flourish, Snively creates an iridescent mother-of-pearl crossbow bolt that faintly glows with its magic.  Handing it to Maxine, he says, "I can do this minor creation, but it will only last for an hour or until you shoot it."  Looking around, he says, "It looks like the others are ready--shall we resume our journey?"

Berrus finishes loading the disc then hefts his trusty axe,     looking at the former crewmen "if we arent too tired when we stop tonight i am going to try to train you a bit wi those weapons o yers

"Thank you, Professor, I'll try to be more careful," not very convincingly promised Maxine and took the bolt, looking at it as if already thinking how to add it to the formulae on the ground. "If you do not mind, I would ask you about your spells sometimes. I might not be able to use it - not the way you do it, but may be there will be some parts, something I could still apply to anything else? Who knows."

She worked a bit more in hope to get that Infusion: Repeating Shot working, but when Berrus - shamefully left to load disk alone - was declared everything to be ready, so was she.

Seeing the others begin to gather to head out, Shae would join them with her her bundle of herbs. "Last night during watch with Maxine, while looking at the night sky, I was able to figure out which way was north." and she'd point in the direction.