"Aw. I quite liked the team you had with the octopus, and seafood is better than that stringy thing." Erika smiles, and gives Ted a friendly elbow to the rib. "Have you thought of a name?"

As he responds, she glances outward, keeping an eye on the surroundings. 

Perception (adv shield): 9, 26

"The octopus was cuter," disagreed Trixi bit her tongue even as she spoke the words - she understood better than anyone else here, that the bird suited better not only Ted himself but the environment too.

Perception: 22

OOC: I'll let Killili check in once more to answer questions. Viper if you'd like to perform this would be it. I'll move on the party to day 1 of progressing to Ellyria over the wastes if there's nothing else for the last night on the mountain.

“True Trixi, but this one can talk! Look!” Ted gestures at his Parakeet as it squawks “Dreadbane, Dreadbane!” “I think I’ll call him Echo!”

OOC: We'll say animal handling is needed in future to teach the bird eh?

Give me one Ted to see if it sounds like Dreadbane to anyone else but you.

Erika pulls her flute from her pack, and with a snap of her fingers the illusionary accompianment begins to follow her own notes. She plays a tune that has melllow and somber tones, interspersed with cheery notes that attempt to invoke hope. Her eyes track up the mountain range to the south as she plays, the crags still looming over the party.

Performance (flute) 11

Animal handling 17

Ted begins asking the bird questions. “Say, who’s the most attractive in the group? Bravest? Smartest? Quickest? Coolest? Strongest?.......” 

As Erika plays here's Ted teaching his bird to talk. It repeats his surname over and over, Dreadbane!

The last night's watch on the mountain passes without incident. The sprites return each watch shift but they do no mischief. They just observe the party before disappearing at dawn. Breaking camp the party packs up, eats breakfast, and gets on the path. Now at the base of the mountain moving towards the waste. The mists have not yet begun to cover the land and the party can see a distinct path about a chart wide worn into the barren landscape. It's brown and sparse with large patches of petrified tree jutting up at weird angles from the ground. It's a stark contrast to the lushness of Timbergove and even the odd woodland covered mountainside on their decedent on the Ellyrian side. This wasteland the direct force impact from where the city fell still miles ahead. 

"Two days," Zira says sighing loudly. "The mists are clear for now but they tend to build up at about midday," she explains edging towards the head of the party behind Dolan again with Gen-ga behind her. "Would someone like to ride with me to start the day," she asks the party curiously.

OOC: We need a travel day roll before moving forward. Also the marching order. Order: Dolan, Zira +1?, Gen-ga, Vanya, pack mule, Areon, pack mule, ?, ?, Garth +?.

"Terrible color!" commented Trixi the wasteland ahead. "But with that mist and if you squint enough... No, still terrible! Two days of that before we reach the city?!" This morning she woke up in a bit grumpy mood and for some reason spent good ten minutes staring at her own armor. Then, with a sigh, she put it in her backpack, mumbled a few words and again froze on place listening to her feelings. Well, at least it was easier to move.

Since there was more travel to be done, Trixi walked to Garth's horse as if it was an obvious thing to do. Garth did not complain yesterday about the passenger and she, though normally talkative, today would appreciate a tacitum company. If he did not mind - she would gladly ride on his horse again.

Ragnar's mood isn't much better than Trixi's. The dry desert ahead, so unlike the coast and the sea, made him feel as far from home as he ever head. Added to that was the constant echoing of 'Dreadbane' he still heard in his head. 

"How wrong would it be if that damnable bird had an accident?" he asks Trixi as they're getting ready.

He then takes a few moments to center himself and focuses on the hammer amulet around his neck. Then, with no reason to change, Ragnar steers his horse into the same spot as yesterday, behind the last pack mule.

He does his best to watch for anything moving out in the wastes, but it all looks the same to him.

Perception: 14     

OOC: No, I used Erika and Areon rolls for the last two travel days on the mountain with the sprites appearing both days. I'm keeping track. I need two more travel day rolls. You've now been on the road for technically seven days and there's two travel days will be through the waste left. You lost two days from the storm then the attack slowed you down. After the two days in the wasteland it'll equal the "week of travel" from Holbright Institute to Ellyria.

Garth nods to Trixi helping her ul behind him.

"I'm going to eat that bird," Garth breathes gruffly to Ragnar with a smile which surprises the cleric. Garth usually keeps his opinions to himself!

"Come along everyone. No time like the present," Gen-ga calls falling behind Zira who's waiting for Ted to join her or Areon.

"Dreadbane, Erika...we're waiting," Zira calls with a jovial expression smirking.

Erika hops up on Viggo, just like yesterday.

Perception (adv) 8, 21

OOC: Sorry for the short post. Packing for a road trip and way behind.

Ted hops on the back of Areons mule. “Hey partner, ready for another days travel? Gen said this was punishment, but this is great! I don’t have to steer and I get to hang out with you, who actually has a personality. Do you think Garths parents knew when they named him what a bore he’d be, I mean, the name fits right!” 

As they move along, Ted sends Echo up in the air to keep an eye ahead from above. Looking through his eyes periodically as they ride. “This is amazing, I can see the top of our heads, and the view is great. I wish you could see this.” Perception 5

Roll for the day 53

Roll for magic miscast: (high) 90

"Would not work," Trixi shook her head to Ragnar's and Garth's words. "Echo is a familiar - if they die, they don't really do it, they disappear and return to their world." She could retell more fun facts from academy's "Book of Familiars" but had a feeling Garth was not really into it and Ragnar knew anyway.

There was nothing really to see around but nothing to do either, so she scanned the surroundings not really searching for something but to pass the time.

As she follows behind Ragnar on her own horse, she thinks a moment. "With Ted's new pet, makes me wonder. There was always an old raven who cawed from the gates of Hofstaoir. The  crones in the mead-hall always thought it was the witch in the mountains spying on them, and would chase it away. I wonder if there was truth to that after all."

"Hmmph. Perhaps some day I will get the ability to see home from such a vantage. Become the witch they made me out to be."

Moving at a good pace the party passes many hours without incident but then at midday the mists begin to roll in. The party sees in the distance a strange looking large boulder. It's about 75ft ahead setting near the path they are heading towards.

"We need to make a plan. We usually tether everyone together but I'm open to other suggestions. Soon we won't be able to see the person in front of you," Zira explains taking out of her pack what looks like a stick shaking it as the liquids inside mix and begin to glow. Zira rides along giving everyone one of these sticks that give off 20ft of dim light like the flame of a blue candle. "This is so you know friend from foe," she adds next.

The mist is building. It's snaking around the legs of the horses shifting and writhing around the party. Off the horse it would be about waist high.

 "If it worked before why change things?" Trixi accepted the glowing stick and would as happily take the rope, leaving Garth to guide the horse safely. 

Ted takes his stick, and calls Echo to sit on his shoulder. “Tied together? I’m not one to be tied down, what if we are set upon? If we can make it to that rock we should be able to feel the path by our feet right? Maybe I should have made echo a bat, the name would have been more apt too!” 

Ragnar eyes the strange looking rock up ahead. Not being familiar with the barren wastes he's been suspecting every shape out here to either be a magically mutated creature or the hiding spot for an ambush. Ted's hesitancy to be tied together in case of a fight heightens Ragnar's unease.

"I lean towards what Tedbane is saying," Ragnar says. "Being tied together could make us easy prey."

(Perception - focused on the strange rock to make sure it's a rock or if there's any sign of ambush around it: 11  

"How long do the mists usually last? Can we wait it out and travel later in the day?" he asks Zira.