We take rest comfortably. As we rise in the morning, the mercenaries are already packing and making breakfast. Ready to depart. As we break camp ourselves, the Thayans come out, Zagmira is last to rise. "I was wondering one last question each before we depart". Kailyn Tharamor – "Why the additional question?" Zagmira – "I think it is an interesting opportunity to talk with people Kailyn Tharamor – "Ok" Zagmira – "What is the true reason for you seeking the soul monger?" Kailyn Tharamor – "I believe our goal may shadow your own, we wish to reverse or halt the effect it is currently having beyond chult if possible" Zagmira – "But that is not your why, that is your what" Nisus Ben-Har – "Our reason should be obvious" Kailyn Tharamor – "I don’t want to die before learning much more, if it is on I don’t get to come back and I would rather be able to come back. That is my reasoning" Zagmira – "Have you ever been to Thay" Yesne Brightstar – "That’s another question" Kailyn Tharamor – "Should you beat us, what do you intend to do with the soul monger?" Zagmira – "I have been told to seek it out and control it for at the moment it is influencing an element of our senior members. Maybe you will have to figure out why that is important to our senior members" Bjorn Lovehammer – do we count each other as friends for the time being Zagmira holds out her hand – friends it is then. The weather continues to be hot with no rain in the sky at all. Nisus Ben-Har remembers a dream he had last night. He dreamt of a beautiful lagoon with a waterfall at the foothills of the mountains. He is very insistent that we head there now. Yesne Brightstar asks why, but he cannot give a reason why. Fang confirms it is in the general direction of where we are heading and so we decide to head that way. Though Nisus Ben-Har cannot be sure even how far we will be needing to travel. Approaching midday the weather remains unchanged. Fang climbs a tree to check which way we are heading. We are slightly further North then where we thought but not off course. As we progress Fang notices the land starts to incline (which fits with heading towards the mountains). A tree comes crashing down, it’s pushed over by a ginormous hand! Infront of us is a Frost Giant, a male with a completely shaven head. The second giant behind us comes out, he has distinctive braided hair. Baldy “who you?”. Nisus Ben-Har “well met man” Baldy “I am no man” B : we are looking for someone Fang - (in giant) who might that be? B - you speak giant devil sprite? Fang - I do B – we are here to search for a human, he’s got something of ours Fang – what does he look like? B – small, human, brown hair, beard, cloak, has a dragon friend with him Fang – no, doesn’t ring a bell with us Elonast talks to Yesne Brightstar, they’re looking for Artus Cimber, also something to your right…. A wolf Yesne Brightstar leans forward to whisper this to Kailyn Tharamor. Nisus Ben-Har – giant sire (to braidy), you are plagued by the tiny biting creatures Braidy – it’s full of them Nisus Ben-Har – may I offer you salve and repellent, Br – yes, pass it over Nisus Ben-Har – ok. He passes it over Br – what about the rest of you Yesne Brightstar – what about us Br – the one who speaks giant says you’ve never seen Artus, Kailyn Tharamor – we haven’t seen him no Yesne Brightstar – we’ve seen lots of people Br – he has an item that we want Yesne Brightstar – a ring (Braidy doesn’t hear her fortunately) Kailyn Tharamor – we did encounter a small group travelling in the jungle, a day away from here – South Easterly direction. Around 6 of them Yesne Brightstar – yes, they’re with the wizards, red robes Br – Thayans… Yesne Brightstar – yes, horrible people, I didn’t speak to them Baldy whistles and the wolf steps out of hiding Kailyn Tharamor – they were heading south, looking for a temple Wolf sniffs – I smell him on her (Yesne had hugged him) Braids – where is he? (angrily) Yesne Brightstar – we saw him at the ziggurat Br – tell us everything NOW Yesne Brightstar – starts to regale with the story, saw him there, he was looking for answers, he wants to find his wife, she likes rainbows just like me, then we were teleported here and bjorn landed on his head and was sick…. Br – STOP!!!! You will take us to him Yesne Brightstar – but we don’t know where he is that was two days ago and we don’t know where he was going to after the ziggurat Br – take us to the ziggurat then Yesne Brightstar – but he won’t be there anymore Ba – give us all your stuff, COOK THEM Fighting ensues – Bjorn Lovehammer calls to Moa but Moa does not answer. Wolf Yields, eventually we let it – Name is Ryjax . The Wolf says he can tell Drufi they are dead, as are we. I surrendered for my own preservation. Fang says they are far from their landing, wolf agrees. Fang wonders if they know where to check. They’ve tried East and now forging West, some other scouting parties said there had been sightings of the pair in this area. Belief it’s advantageous to tell Drufi all are dead, he agrees. He needs to take their necklaces as proof. He can smell Artus on Yesne Brightstar from 60ft. Says that there were 20 giants and 4 winter wolves landed. He is aware several have lost their lives. The Storm king will not allow them to leave the jungle until they have retrieved the ring. Though why he needs the ring is beyond him. Ryjax looks at Kailyn Tharamor - I see you seethe with an anger towards me, you have any glass containers? Kailyn Tharamor pulls one out – told he needs two. The wolf breathes into them, far longer than when in combat. He uses his full lung capacity to do so. Kailyn Tharamor puts the stoppers on. The vials are icy cold to the touch. Maybe now if we meet again you will remember we are not enemies for I always side for those who can win. This is all I can give. Kailyn Tharamor says ‘ you’ll find out if next we meet’. And Ryjax leaves. 192 silver, 220 gold, 28 platinum. 1 rough cut diamond, 2 identical cut emeralds and a golden statue of a tabaxi, in quite a simple formal stance (idol like). Nisus Ben-Har recognises the idol as a religious item, not sure it will be solid gold, but is coated in gold. It is very old but feels like an idol of worship. Will have been something they found along the way. Nisus Ben-Har questions Bjorn Lovehammer who is looking despondent. Bjorn Lovehammer says he feels he has made a mistake but is unsure what. The day progresses without rain and the sun begins to set. When the canopy breaks we begin to see the peaks of the mountains. As night begins to fall we set about looking for a camp. Fang finds a small treehouse. We are able to climb the tree to the treehouse. More of a platform than a treehouse. On investigating there is a carving of a stags head side on – this is the Emerald Enclave. The roof has the ability to catch water. Yesne Brightstar presses the stags head and a door clicks open. Inside smells sweet. Stacked around are little wooden oiled pots. Yesne Brightstar takes one out. It is full of dried figs. After trying a few there are various well preserved fruits and nuts. Kailyn Tharamor sticks his head in the hole to have a rummage. Whilst doing this Elonast suggests now would be a good time to jab him in the ribs. Yesne Brightstar suggests it would be funnier to sting him in the bum….. and so Elonast does so. Yesne Brightstar finds it very funny. Nisus Ben-Har gives Yesne Brightstar Mage armour for a day – AC is now 18 Yesne Brightstar talks to Bjorn Lovehammer on first watch, she is worried he won’t eat and is sad. He believes he’s done something wrong and so Yesne Brightstar tries to figure out with him what that could be. Whilst talking we think maybe it is because he shook the hand of the Thayan and then let them go. He thinks Moa would be cross with him for not taking action or even just abstaining. Yesne Brightstar tries to establish that had he not allowed them to leave then we would have died. The wizards are far more powerful than we are. Power that is beyond anything I have ever seen. It would have resulted not only in Bjorn's death but in ours too. Bjorn Lovehammer thinks maybe he needs to have a think about how he can help.