After finishing dinner, you relax for a while in tavern before making your ways up to your rooms for the night, where you get things ready for the morning and eventually go to sleep (although Sasha keeps Lorenz busy for a while). Before heading upstairs, Jask ask Briga to make certain you're awakened before dawn.
It's still dark outside when Briga bangs on everyone's doors. she hollers. "There's grub waitin' for ye downstairs. Get it while it's hot! Since ye're heading out into the wilderness, it's the last real food ye're gonna get for a while!"
Ishirou is already downstairs, outfitted and ready to go, before any of the rest of you get down there. Jask comes down shortly after. Aakif also comes down. "I'll come see you off at the city gates," he says. Sasha takes a bit longer to emerge. She looks tired, but happy and eager to move.
"Wise man heeds the call to grub." Mahjik's looking fine, considering the hour. "Wise Irori, who guides our path, please let there be bacon."
"It's contrary to Desna's teachings to get up before the sun," Douena grumps down the stairs. "She could be trying to send me an important dream right now, and I'm missing it by being awake."
Jask gives Douena a sympathetic smile. "My apologies, Douena," he says. "But if I understand things correctly, we're supposed to meet our guide at dawn, which means we need to be up before dawn. However, if you ask nice enough, maybe Makoa would be willing to carry you to the gates while you sleep some more."
"Bout time you all were up." Urza says while stretching the sleep from his limbs. "Can we finally leave this place?"
"Don't neglect Briga's efforts - she's been up well before most of us to make sure we get a healthy start to the day." Mahjik surveys the smorgasbord, "What you got for us today?"
Urza is embarrassed at his unwitting rudeness. "Of course. A good meal could be just the thing." He quietly goes to breakfast.
Lorenz stretches as he strides into the room, rolling his shoulders and yawning. "Good morning, all. Are we about ready to push on to adventure?" He sees the food. "Ah, I'm starving!"
"Wise Irori, who guides our path, please let there be bacon."
Alas, breakfast is just more fish. It seems Briga hasn't yet used up all the fish Pezock caught the other day. Speaking of Pezock, he's the final one to emerge. He strides over to the table, scoops up his plate in his hand, practically dumps it in his mouth, and gulps it down, all seemingly in one fluid motion. he declares loudly and begins moving to the door.
"Pezock!" Sasha calls after him. "Give us a moment to finish, would you?"
Pezock pauses at the door, turns around slowly and glares at the group while you finish your breakfast, sighing loudly several times.
Finally, the last of you finishes up your breakfast. "Well, best of luck to you all on whatever it is you're doing back out in the jungle," Briga says as you prepare to leave. "I hope to see ye again if you're ever back in the city. And be sure to pass on the name of the Sargava Club to other travellers ye meet!" She slaps Mahjik on the back. "It's been a pleasure!"
As they leave, Urza says to Makoa, "I've been so focused on all this mess that I think I may have missed an opportunity. Perhaps when we return I can make up for that oversight."
"Opportunity?" Makoa asks. "Perhaps you can."
"You looked quick to try killing that man yesterday." He states simply.
"Truth is, we've not been more welcome in Eleder anywhere but here," Mahjik replies earnestly, but smiling. "Thank you."
"Pezock! You looking like a fine specimen today! We've got some 1000 miles to cover. How many days you reckon it'll take us?"
"Who cares? At least we'll be doing something!" Pezock replies. "Which is more than we're doing right now. We go!" With that, he turns and walks out of the Sargava Club.
Lorenz eats hugely, consuming as much of the fish and bread as he can. Finally, stomach straining at his sword belt, he stands and smiles at Briga. "We'll be sure to recommend you and your inn." He says with a jaunty wave. "The food alone is worthy of that!"
Gathering his supplies, he makes his way out of the inn with the others. "And that's probably the last good meal we're going to get for some time. On to adventure!"
"Ha! You could always join me for a bite of whatever I catch on our travels, Lorenz! Won't even need to cook it if you got the stomach!" Makoa grins, revealing his impressive set of teeth. "A hunt is just what I need after being in this city, good food or not."
You set out from the Sargava club towards the city gate out at the southeast side of town. There's a glow low in the eastern sky now as dawn approaches and the city is starting to waken with a few people already on the streets going about their early morning tasks.
Pezock sets a brisk pace, but not so brisk that you have any difficulty keeping up. Alton, getting bigger by the day it seems, flies over top, occasionally landing on buildings up ahead to wait for you to catch up.
The gate itself is heavily fortified and guarded, but the inside is presumably less intimidating than the outside. You quickly catch sight of Shokambe leaning against the wall several yards to the right of the guard posts. He is whittling away at a piece of wood--a new piece by the look of it. He notices your approach and comes forward to meet you.
"Everything is cleared with the Pathfinders," he says with a smile. "It looks to be an interesting journey." He puts the piece of wood into a bag at his side and pulls out a finished carving, which he tosses to Douena. "Not a butterfly this time. Just another monkey. But perhaps the next one."
Still drowsy, Douena is startled awake by the flying monkey. She juggles it between her hands for a moment before she is able to get a firm grip on it. "Look, Pezock," she holds it up for the tengu to see. "A monkey! What do you do with all your monkeys?" she asks Shokambe with interest. "Do you have a whole army of them somewhere?"
Lorenz blanches a little at Makoa's suggestion. "Thanks for the offer, Makoa, but I prefer my food to be cooked. My teeth are a lot smaller than yours, after all." He bares his own small teeth in a grin.
Once they catch sight of Shokambe, he relaxes a little further. He's glad that someone traveling with them would know what they're doing.
He waits until the initial banter between the guide and Douena have paused and asks, "Is there anything we should expect or prepare for today?"
Mahjik yawns a little as he walks, but strikes up conversation regardless. "Urza! You'll never guess what clever little trick I got for us. I'll show it tonight, when we set up camp."
Still a bit surly, Urza responds. "I can't wait. I'm sure it will be spectacular.
Still drowsy, Douena is startled awake by the flying monkey. She juggles it between her hands for a moment before she is able to get a firm grip on it. "Look, Pezock," she holds it up for the tengu to see. "A monkey! What do you do with all your monkeys?" she asks Shokambe with interest. "Do you have a whole army of them somewhere?"
Shokambe gives a slight shrug. "Some I give away. Some I manage to sell for a tiny price. Most end up in a box in my home. Oh, and there's a whole box of them out there somewhere I don't know where. My home got robbed once while I was away and the thieves took my old box of carvings. Either they didn't open the box before taking it, or they liked wooden carvings of monkeys." He chuckles lightly. "Of course, they're not always monkeys, so maybe the one or two other things interested the thieves."
He looks to the group as a whole. "Are we all ready?"
At that moment, there's a shout from down the street, and you see Gelik running towards you, clutching at his hat to keep it from flying off his head. "Don't go just yet!" he calls.
He reaches the group, huffing. "I just...wanted..." he gasps between breaths, "to say...goodbye." He takes a moment to catch his breath. Then he holds his hand out to Lorenz. "Good luck, my friend. I envy your opportunity to get to the city before me."
After shaking Lorenz's hand, he shakes everyone else's in turn, even Douena's if she'll let him. Pezock only grudgingly does so.
"The main group will be just a few days behind you," he says afterwards. "A week at the absolute most, but hopefully less than that. We'll eagerly look forward to any reports that you manage to send back."
"Good luck on your part of the trip too, Gelik. I'll try to leave a trail you can follow and a few warnings if we encounter anything that thinks we're lunch."
Lorenz grins, pleased to see Gelik arrived before they began their journey. "I'll tell you everything when next I see you," he promises as he shakes his hand. "It looks like we're certainly going to be getting our tale of adventure after all! Fare thee well, my friend."
Aakif steps forwards. "Well, my friends. I guess this is where we say goodbye. I wish you the best of luck on your journey. Maybe we'll see each other again some day." He clasps everyone's hand in turn.
Mahjik firmly graps Aakif's hand. "Wise man don't do partings well, but I wish you the best of well-being and a safe journey to where your will takes you."
Mahjik firmly grasps Aakif's hand, "You've been good for us, I hope your feet will guide you safely on your journeys to come."
Goodbyes stated, Shokambe leads you to the gate. Behind you, Aakif and Gelik give a final wave before turning away back into the city.
The guards at the gate watch you carefully as you pass through, but they say nothing and they make no effort to impede your way. On the other side, you can see there is a line-up of people waiting to get in. The line consists mainly of farmers with carts full of fruits and vegetables (mostly pineapples) to be sold in the markets.
Beyond the line-up lies a swarm of tightly packed, crude, mud-daub huts and dusty streets. "This is Outerwall," Shokambe says, "sometimes called the Zenj Slums. It's where most people in Eleder actually live, huddled along the south side of the city, but not in the city itself. Most of the people here live in poverty. Hunger and disease are rampant." He sighs. "But I won't dwell on that. We will only be passing through a small part of it. Oh, as a guide, I find that some people like me to describe everything we see. Others prefer I remain quiet and only lead the way they need to go. If you feel I am talking too much, just tell me to shut up. I won't take offence."
As Shokambe said, the road you are on only passes through a small portion of Outerwall before reaching a short stretch of pineapple fields and then the wilderness. To the north, you can see the mountains rising up against the sky. To the south lies jungle. The road stays more or less right between the two. It's still early in the morning, but the heat is already starting to rise, and it becomes more pronounced the farther from the water you get as the cooling sea breezes become more and more scarce.
Lorenz looks sadly at the mud-daub huts and the suffering of the people who live there. "Are the people who live here slaves?" He wondered if this was the kind of treatment the crazy man of the day before had been ranting about. If so, perhaps he wasn't quite so crazy as he appeared.
It's a relief when they reach the pineapple fields and the misery falls behind them. But it isn't long before he starts missing the sea breeze and wipes at the sweat dripping down his brow.
"Ugh. I hadn't missed the heat while we were in Eleder."
You stick to the trail heading due east away from Eleder. From the jungle to the south, you can hear the sound of monkeys chattering. It's muted here outside the jungle proper, but it reminds you nonetheless of the constant monkey chatter on Smuggler's Shiv. At one point, Alton flies back carrying a monkey he's killed for his lunch.
"That's the Laughing Jungle," Shokambe says. "Called that for the sound of the monkeys. I often wonder if its closeness to Eleder is what causes me to carve so many monkeys. Such large numbers of them must send out some kind of psychic field or something."
Around noon, you stop for some lunch. Shokambe recommends breaking for a few hours to wait out the heat of the afternoon, and you're reminded once again of the Shiv.
Lorenz smiles at the monkey Alton flies back with. "I guess Alton isn't going to have any trouble finding food as long as we're near the jungle!"
He appreciates the break during the hot period of the day, looking for some shade to block the merciless sun.
"Shokambe! On the grounds that you might be a wise man, please don't hesitate to describe and say whatever you think is appropriate," Mahjik tells the guide with a half-serious face. The convenient break over the thickest heat helps balance his expectations for the journey.
"Indeed a guided tour might be a welcome change from what we grew accostumed to." Now that the troupe was out of the city and its politics, Urza had began to relax some and enjoy the journey a bit.
"Ah, but this trip might not be as exciting as our last. What are the chances of coming across a bunch of moss people, I wonder?"
"Along the road, not high," Shokambe answers, looking up from his whittling. "Once we're into the plains and then the jungle, who can say? There are some strange creatures out there. You never know what me might meet." He goes back to his whittling, and over the couple hours you are stopped, the block of wood in his hand slowly starts taking on a shape that is not very monkey-like. It's too rounded for that. Shokambe looks rather pleased.
Much like on Smuggler's Shiv, the heat breaks with a brief downpour in the afternoon. It's not quite as dramatic a downpour as it often was on the Shiv, but it does lessen the heat's intensity somewhat.
You grab your things and set out for the second half of the day's journey. Shokambe points out things to see along the way, but while the view is really quite impressive (particularly the mountains to the north), it doesn't change much over the course of the day, so there's little for him to point out. Regarding the mountains, he says, "Those are the Bandu Hills. They call them hills because they're not as tall as other mountain ranges in other parts of the world. Or so I'm told, at any rate. To me, they look pretty big and might as well be mountains. If you ever have to travel through them--not that I'd recommend that as there are many dangers within--but if you do ever travel through them, they have the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets. The way the sun's rays peek around the the sides and tops of the mountains is truly breathtaking. When we swing around the east side of the mountains in a few weeks, you might get to see a bit of what I mean."
Eventually, the sun gets low along the western horizon and you stop to set up camp for the night. On the Shiv, you pretty much had the set-up and take-down of camps down to an art, so it takes very little time now. Jask and Ishirou help set up the tents, while Sasha offers to do some hunting for dinner.
"You'll find the best hunting near the jungle's edge," Shokambe tells her. "Don't go too far in, though. It can be tough finding your way back out again."
Sasha nods. "I'll be careful. If I get lost, Alton can help me find my way back out again." She heads off.
Shokambe watches them go. "I have never seen anyone with a pet dimorphodon before. How did she come about that?"
"The Smuggler's Shiv is a strange place, but it has some nice things about it." Makoa says as he sets his pack and shield down before following Sasha and Alton. It was good to be on hunt again.
Lorenz nods to Sasha. "I'll go with you. It'll be nice to do a little hunting again."
Mahjik laughs at Shokambe's words: "You have no idea what unlikely pets destiny was shy of showing you." He indicates Douena with his eyebrows, "The little one here has very nearly adopted several creatures that people who look at the world through mundane eyes would call dangerous." A bit seriously he adds, "I think she's looking forward to having a pet, actually, so if you know anything about miniature flying elephants, you should tell her."
"It's not a di-murphy-thing," she explains kindly. "It's a flappybite. They live all over Smuggler's Shiv. Urza likes to eat them, but he can't eat Alton. He was only an egg when we caught him. I created a distraction," she says proudly, "and Sasha grabbed the egg. Like this." She demonstrates by creating a sudden downpour of two gallons of water over Mahjik's head. "Hm, that's wetter than it used to be. Desna must like me more."
Shokambe laughs at the sudden downpour of water. "A flappybite?" he says, turning back to Douena. "How interesting. I guess I and many others I know have been using the wrong term all these years. Flappybite is certainly a descriptive name, and much closer to the literal translation of the Polyglot word. Dimorphodon is a Taldane word that really doesn't mean anything so far as I can tell. Then again, does the word monkey really mean anything? At any rate, I shall do my best to call them flappybites from now on. As it happens, we're not likely to see many on this journey. They're more coastal creatures."
He pauses for a brief moment to whittle at his wood a little more, then continues, "As for miniature flying elephants, well, I'm afraid I don't know anything about those, but I'll be sure to tell you if I ever see or hear of one."
Lorenz, Makoa, and Sasha enjoy a very fruitful hunting expedition and bring back a collection of quails for dinner. Jask immediately begins plucking them for cooking.
Urza will take a late night watch where his dark vision will come in handy.
Makoa sits down across from Jask to help with the plucking, occasionally popping a quail egg into his mouth and tossing the empty shell away.
"Been a while since I've had quail. Anyone going to want eggs for breakfast?"
"Whoa Douena. That's loads more water than normal. Have you been dam'ing it in Eleder and let it all out in a gush now?"
Mahjik takes the first watch.
Most of the NPCs are willing to take any watch given them without any fuss. Only Pezock is at all particular. He insists that he will only take a watch with Douena, Lorenz, Makoa, or Urza. If pressed for reasons, he points to each person in the group with an explanation.
To Jask: "He's boring."
To Shokambe: "He talks too much."
To Ishirou: "He doesn't talk enough."
To Mahjik: "He's always trying to dance and looking really stupid as a result. Plus, he's a coward."
To Sasha: "She's too obsessed with that animal of hers."
To Makoa: "He's wild. I like that."
To Urza: "He has his priorities straight."
To Lorenz: "He's the Beast Slayer."
To Douena: "She's fun."
Lorenz enjoys his meal a great deal, taking great satisfaction from a dinner that he'd taken part in providing.
After the filling and delicious meal, exhaustion starts to set in, and you settle down to sleep, Mahjik and Ishirou doing their best to remain vigilant for the first watch.
Having climbed to the top of one of the tallest trees, she looks out over the jungle and notices a great city. The city looks ancient and ruined, but there are shapes moving through it and living in it. Then she notices other people arriving at it in separate groups. Leading one, she recognizes Amivor Glaur. Leading another, she recognizes Dargan Etters. The others she doesn't recognize, but one group is led by a woman in red armour with a red helmet/mask shaped like a mantis. The others she can't quite make out.
But the groups of people seem to be unimportant. They squabble amongst themselves while a darkness begins to spread from the centre of the ancient city, moving outwards, coming up from deep below.
At that moment, she hears a hissing and suddenly realizes that she's on the ground again. Beside her is a massive snake rearing up out of the underbrush.
"heh," Mahjik grins at Ishirou, "just like old times a month ago."