When we returned to the potion seller after dealing with the kobolds, she told us that at the end of the valley pass a Guide had arrived that would assist in traversing the mountains if we paid him 30 gold each.

According to her there is supposedly a small town that is forming in a “no war zone” that is blessed by the gods to prevent combat among us, they even have an arena ruins that can be used for conflict there to be settled.

There’s many remains of ruined structures in that large expanse that can be used for travelers settling here in Mylen.

Exploring the area and deciding on a ruin to claim for ourselves seems to be a good goal for our group of 3.

Hopefully we can have some other travelers join us as well.

I’m definitely looking forward to building a proper place to live. Thankfully in this peaceful area there is some magical cacti that provides wood. Hopefully we can collect enough to build a house somewhere. As nice as camping can be, I would like a proper home again.

I have to agree, getting a cozy home to live in will be wonderful. Finally able to have a rest peacefully with no concerns, that’s a true paradise. It makes me miss my small home back in the city, it was truly comforting.

These skeletons that we’ve been seeing lead me to a few theories about this area. They are considerably weak which likely means rather than being summoned by something like a necromancer they are likely naturally formed/self animated. At least that’s my assumption based upon what I remember in some books i’ve read regarding monsters that researchers wrote of on Duna.

But considering the quantity of these skeletons, I believe there was likely either a large war that took place here, or a civilization ending calamity of some kind.

Regardless, I’ve headed to the South-east and followed the mountains until it lead to a large forest of what appears to be some massive and ancient trees. I’ve been traveling around the boundary of the forest being cautious of what might be in there.

I also happened upon a very worn and torn apart grimoire that had some details regarding magical familiars, there were some intact, albeit hard to read, pages of a falcor and a treant. I’ve summoned the falcor to assist me for now. I’ve attached a copy of the spells and material list if you’re interested.

I’ve been traveling northward around the eastern edge of the area, and I’ve met an alchemist. He stunk with a horrid smell of booze. He is selling some potions that treat some sort of tree disease.

He also offered to teach some recipes in exchange for caterpillars that live on treants. However, I’ve yet to see any treants, still just the countless skeletons that wander these plains. I probably should have asked where they can be found, but i’m sure we’ll find them before long.

I met with Yu while traveling to the northern edge of the plains, I told her of the alchemist and handed her enough gold for the potion for the cure for tree disease.

I didn’t have enough on hand when I met him, but with our combined gold she should be able to afford it. It’d be a nice pre-caution for one of us to have one on hand in an emergency.

I’ve spotted one of the ruins that we were told of that we could use to build our own homes, it’s quite far from the no war zone so hopefully we can find all of them and make a good choice on which we would like to settle.

I’m running low on food and water, so I was going to start heading back to no war zone, but found an oasis which Yu happened to be staying at so i’ll spend a nice day relaxing and gathering food and water for myself.

Don’t worry about getting food Svetlana. You just relax. I think I’ve really perfected spearfishing. Is there a particular kind of fish you like best? There seems to be quite the bounty here.

I’m not very picky about food, i’ll take whatever you can find… Which seems to be an incredible amount, how did you even manage to catch this amount of fish Yu?

You’ve truly been blessed by Solweig, and maybe this oasis is perhaps also blessed by Valdania to create such a bountiful location of life.

Perhaps, given how those two together allowed life to begin. It would stand to reason. In fact, there are so many fish here that they can’t really get away from me and my spear. And I’m a pretty good swimmer. Are you any good at cooking or do you need me to cook it up for you?

I am self-taught on how to cook since i’ve needed to prepare food for myself most of my life. But with no one to teach me I was left with a lot of trial and error. I left a lot of culinary disasters in my wake, so I can make edible food now, mostly…

Because of that you probably have better skills in cooking than I do, if you’ve been taught how to cook by those that have lots of experience.

I can create us a rudimentary smoker with some nearby supplies, you might be able to prepare us some excellent smoked fish meals for our travels with it.

Well you work on making that smoker. I’ll start slicing up this salmon for us.

I spread some of the wood from the tree I cut down earlier on the bank of the oasis and place a salmon on it. I begin scraping the scales off with my knife. Once that is done I slice the head off and throw it behind me, some food for the crows. I then fillet and gut the fish, dropping them onto the sand behind me. I then take the rest of the meat and cut it into thin slices I place on the side of the board. I continue this with several more salmon whilst you are making the smoker.

Svetlana gathers the resources for a fire and plenty of leaves from the trees to ensure it will produce enough smoke to use, she then digs a small pit for the fire.

When she was passing some ruins a few days prior she found a small metal grate, which she picked up thinking it might be useful. Using that metal as a grill for the smoker she props it over the fire and then using some large rocks she constructs a relatively primitive smoke box.

Satisfied with her work she tends to the fire and prays to Yourick, anticipating some delicious smoked fish for a good while.

Yourick, God of knowledge and science, thank you for this gift of technology you have granted to us…

I place the strips of cut salmon over the grate, smothering it. I place the lid back over the top and then sit back down beside Svetlana. I don’t interrupt you when you are praying, waiting for you to finish before speaking.

Smoking takes much longer than grilling, so we have about an hour and a half before it’s done. I think we should relax for a bit. Maybe Solweig can provide us with a nice sun tan.

Svetlana laughs a little, then takes a seat under a tree for shade

Perhaps Solweig could provide a tan, but I expect i’m more likely to get a sunburn— I think i’ll just relax in the shade that we don’t often get in this place.

I sit in the sun, bathing in the sun as the aroma of the salmon wafts over.

Well perhaps if we find another infirmary you can get a suntan there. Solweig’s light in those places isn’t able to burn you, no matter how bright it is.

That’s true, but I think i’ll be fine without a tan.

Changing topics, I assume you’ve met that drunkard alchemist to the east, Did you buy the tree disease cure from him with the gold I gave you?

The Treants he spoke of which have insects on them, I believe the Treant familiars we can summon do not have them. There is a massive forest of ancient trees to the south east corner of this region. The treants are likely hidden deep within its depths?

When we have finished exploring this large plains area we could maybe try exploring that way, Although it might be better to focus on settling here first.