Vesper shrugs. "Sorta. We didn't have any clowns though. And the only animals that we had were the horses that we used to travel around."

"Oh...." Krackle would reply... looking down to the ground.. obviously very disappointed.

"Is something wrong?" Vesper asks.

"Nothing... I had kind of hoped you had more animals. The circus that came through town had a big orange and black stripped cat! And a really gray animal... way bigger than the ones we saw last night. It has this long arm...nose... thing sticking out of its face and would let out these really loud horn sounds.." He would say with a smile, his eyes lighting up a bit as he talked about the creatures. "I talked to some of the animals even... when I was cleaning up their stalls.. They had a lot of neat stories to tell." 

"You mean tigers and elephants? I've never seen those before, but I read about them in books and saw some pictures of them. The horses were pretty boring and they smelled bad. Whenever someone misbehaved, they had to clean up after them." 

"Ain't that a universal truth," Chrys agrees, wrinkling her nose in an apparently unpleasant memory.  "Maybe it's more fun ta do if ya can understand the horses.  Or, ya know... ask 'em to do their business out in the fields instead...

To tell the truth, though, I kinda like the sound o' Vesper's troupe more than a circus, t'be honest," Chry continues.  "If ya get lucky, then them animal-circuses, they treat their performers all nice, no matter if they got two legs, four, or anythin' inbetween.  But sometimes when they came through Twilight Tor, they weren't so nice to the beasties, and that always rubbed me the wrong way.  Always thought those types o' wild creatures would be happier bein'... well... wild, y'know?  At least with troupes like Vesper an' her family, they ain't puttin' beasts through their paces, just themselves."

"I didn't know what they were called... but now that you say that.. I do think I heard some other kids say those names.." he would say with a smile. Then looking to Chrys, he would nod. "yeah.. I think you are right. They did have very interesting stories to tell... but I do think they would have liked to have been free... they seemed homesick." He would add looking back over his shoulder. He would then shake his head and look around. "So are we there yet?"

"What is it like to be able to speak with animals, Krackle?" Lumen says, offering the diminutive kobold another ride on this shoulders should he start to get tired. "I think that would be very interesting. I wonder what they think of music. I heard about troupes but never had run across one until recently. It seems much better to be able to perform as a group, at least in terms of logistics and travel. Being a wandering minstrel can get a bit lonely."

Krackle would scramble up the half orc and settle down into his spot. "Well.. it is kind of strange really. It was really confusing at first because I didn't know how it worked... so sometimes I would talk to a cow for a while and it would have no idea what I was saying.. and then later I would think I was talking normally and my sister Hellen would laugh at me for mooing at the nearby cows... but I didn't realize I was making cow sounds.." he would say with a smile. "I didn't know how to turn it on... or off... or how long it would last at first" He would say looking around to each of his new friends. "I was worried once that I might be stuck clucking like a chicken for the rest of my life... the chickens tried to calm me down but it was pretty scary" he said with a shudder as he thinks back to that day "Now that I know how it works a little better... it is pretty nice. I cannot do it ALL the time.. at least not yet. Maybe some day. You can find out A LOT of stuff by talking to animals.. Just think of all the things a horse might overhear during a long trip... or a cow might overhear while the maids talk during their chores." He would pause and look up to the sky... squinting to the point where his eyes were almost closed in the bright sun. "I used to like talking to birds and dogs the most... birds because they could go wherever they wanted.... they would tell me storied about all the neat things they saw when flying to far away lands... and dogs because... well because everyone treated them nicely.. at least the ones i knew. They would tell stories of playing with their owners and eating big meals before falling asleep next to their best friends in front of a nice warm fire... they seemed so happy... it sort of reminded me of me and Hellen... kind of.. at least how it was for a while.. without the food.. or the fire." He would say before shaking his head and looking to Lumen. "One time I convinced a mouse to bring me a copper coin that I couldn't reach that had fallen behind a crate in a barn... so it is definitally useful!" he would add with a grin.

Vesper shrugs in response to Chrys' statement. "I mean, I've never really been to a circus, so I couldn't tell you which is better. As for when we'll get to Melton, I don't think that it'll be until dark, if we get there at all today."

You continue along the road, which appears to be decreasing in quality the further you travel away from Yartar. After a couple miles the paved stones turned to a track of wide, hard dirt and gravel, but now a full day out, it's been reduced to a variable width track inconsistent quality. Some sections are smooth, hard packed ground, while others are filled with potholes and rocks. None of this affects your travel since you're on foot, but you can see that traveling by cart along some sections of The Evermoor Way would be rather uncomfortable. 

During the early hours of the day, you pass a small handful of other travelers, and at one point see a horse patrol of 2 members of the Yartar militia, who keeps watch of the road within a day's travel of Yartar. They nod as you pass by and keep moving westward. If you ask them if they've seen anything on the road, they would reply in the negative, as the section they've been patrolling today is all clear.

As morning gives way to early afternoon, a layer of clouds begins to build in the sky, and soon the first rain drops fall from the sky. At first, it's a slight trickle, but by mid afternoon, it's a steady drizzle. The potholes on the road become puddles, and certain sections of the road turn to mud, which cakes your boots with every step. With the rain, the air becomes cooler, and as a brisk breeze begins to blow down from the north, the temperature drops even more.

Where twenty four hours ago, you were traveling under warm summer skies and sunshine, you are suddenly reminded at how deceivingly harsh The Savage North can sometimes be, even during the warmest months of summer. 

Chrys takes a moment to pull out the saddlebags she picked up and sling them over a shoulder.  "Krackle, hop on in," she says to the kobold, opening one of the bags up.  "Ya ain't that heavy and these things are oiled, you'll stay a lil' drier in here."

As the weather began to change, Vesper pulled out her boots as she knew that the ground would become increasingly muddy as it rained on. She also pulled out a cloak and wrapped herself in it. Chrys had instructed the girl to buy some gear to protect her from the elements when they first started traveling together and the older dwarfs wisdom had come in handy right about now. "Well now I'm really looking forward to arriving at Melton."

"Thanks!, and here... let me help with the road.." The kobold would reply as he kept into the leather bag. He would pull out his small staff and point it toward the road in front of them.. while casting mold earth. He would attempt to make the ground solid and less difficult to walk on as the wet soil is quickly churned under and dry soil is brought to the top and compressed. "I am glad the sun had gone away a bit.. The bright light hurts my eyes" He would add with a smile as he hoists the flap of the bag over his head to shield him from the rain and continues to point his staff towards the road with the other 

"Ugh. Rain." Kess gave an exasperated sigh as she trudged on. "Well, it's a good thing I got changed before we left Yartar. Let's just watch our steps, everyone. We could end up in a mud put if we aren't careful."

Kessdarra was no stranger to the savagery of the northern lands. After all, she had been raised in this region of Faerun for much of her youth; whether it was in the merciless gauntlet of Icewind Dale or the surprisingly perilous throngs of the Silver Marches, the cold and the wind could prove the undoing of any ill-prepared traveler.

And that wasn't even considering the more lively dangers that lurked in the north. Kess had heard the stories, growing up; traders speaking of horrific tales of being ambushed in the night by wolves or bears or any of the large cats that called the north home. Or worse, goblins and giants... or trolls.

That was all just assuming that the weather wasn't shifting early this year. In the worst case scenario, the party might well experience a rare summer blizzard. A very rare thing, but not entirely unheard of in this part of the world.

"It's going to get dark that much sooner with this rain coming down. Let's keep alert; it will be easier for anyone to pursue us if they so desire. Hopefully, if we're bothered again, it'll just be more deer."

The rain keeps falling and in fact, shows no sign of letting up as the afternoon hours wear on. By now your clothing is soaked all the way through, and the constant pitter patter of raindrops on your hoods echos in your ears, which makes it hard to hear very well. On the other hand, not wearing hoods just makes you colder and even more miserable. 

Krackle continues to try and use his Mold Earth cantrip in order to reduce the depth of some of the deeper puddles, but at some point, it seems like a futile gesture. The ground is quite saturated in many spots, which makes for numerous patches of slippery footing, especially on the section of low, but constantly rolling hills that you're on right now. The terrain just off the side of the trail is less muddy, but trudging through the waist-high grass just makes your already soaking wet clothing even wetter. Again, neither option seems any better or more comfortable than the other.

By now, it's approaching the onset of evening. It will start getting dark in about two hours, but right now, the light is already quite dim, due to the thick cover of heavy gray clouds overhead. 

(Need perception checks.)

"You think it's easier for us to be pursued? I actually thought the opposite, since it's impossible to keep a campfire going in all this rain and that the rain would wash away our campsite. But I don't have a ton of experience in the wild."

Perception: 3

Chrys eyes the falling rain with dismay.  "We may not make it to Melton at this rate," she grumbles.

Perception: 9

Krackle would keep his eyes peeled while trying to stay dry in the saddle bag..

Perception! 11