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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7466312" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 182They got an early start the next day, at Shreskra’s urging.  By the time that the faint rays of scattered sunlight that penetrated down through the canopy reached the forest floor they had already covered several miles.  The forest was much the same as it had been the day before, though they passed several places of particularly dense growth where Brightbriar had them take detours rather than try to force their way through.  Even so there were plenty of obstacles that had to be negotiated, from gullies thick with clinging brush to ridges that rose up out of the forest like the spine of some vast buried creature.  Occasionally the Rangers had to break out ropes to help them clamber over some particularly difficult terrain feature, but for the most part they defeated them through simple persistence and effort.Glori felt fairly well-rested.  Shreskra had refused all offers to help keep watch, and finally the bard had just shrugged and accepted her full night’s sleep.  Her legs were sore but not unbearably so; before their extended stay in Severon she’d been in pretty good shape and that conditioning was returning quickly.  The insects that had bedeviled them the day before quickly returned as the day grew warmer, but she was getting used to that as well.Around midmorning they came to a stream a few paces across.  They paused to refill their water bottles and wash some of the dust from their faces and necks.  The water was cool and bracing.  Glori would have enjoyed a chance to soak her feet, but it felt like they’d barely stopped before Shreskra was urging them up again.“The sooner we get there, the sooner we get back,” the Ranger leader said.Glori needed little urging—the fate of Javerin was never far from her thoughts—but she found herself resenting the elf woman’s attitude.  Shreskra’s reluctance about the mission had gradually changed to an exaggerated paternalism that had nearly provoked the bard into a sharp response.  Glori had faced far worse than what the Refuge offered in the Silverpeak Valley, though she’d had the rest of her friends with her there.  Ultimately it was their absence that had her holding her tongue; she could imagine Bredan and Quellan’s reactions to any tirade she might make, and that helped her keep her cool.It was around midday and her stomach was staring to grumble when they entered a particularly impressive part of the forest.  The trees around them were massive, ancient sentinels that rose hundreds of feet into the sky.  Some were so thick around the base that Glori doubted that all of the Rangers together could have joined hands around their trunks.  The presence of those giants thinned their rivals around them, which allowed a bit more of the sunlight to filter down from above.  Motes of dust glowed in those bright rays.  It was almost like being in a cathedral, and for a long moment Glori could only stand and stare at the natural beauty of it.  In that moment, she could better understand Brightbriar’s attitude from the night before.  Even the Rangers appeared to be affected by it, though they never fully let down their guard.As they resumed their trek forward, the wonders of the vaulted canopy had to give way to more prosaic concerns.  The added sunlight also meant denser undergrowth, and soon they were all cursing as they pushed their way through scratching bushes and clinging weeds that tugged at their leggings as they passed.  Only the Tender seemed to be unaffected, and Glori was starting to wonder if he had some magical trick that was letting him win past the forest’s wiles.Majerion began softly strumming a traveling song, perhaps to lift their spirits, but Shreskra quickly silenced him with a harsh hiss.  Glori paused to pick burrs out of her trousers before they could work their way down into her boots.  She started to turn to offer a comment to Kosk—the dwarf, being the shortest of them, likely had the most reason to complain—but paused as she heard a faint rustling sound from the bushes beside her.“Did you hear that?” she asked.  She started to reach for her lyre, but her fingers had barely brushed the surface of the instrument when a huge form exploded out of the undergrowth and came charging toward her.It was at least twenty feet away when she saw it, but it was coming so fast that she barely had an instant to react.  She only had time to register a hulking, four-legged furry form before it was right on top of her.  A scream issued from her lips as she leapt aside.  For a moment she thought she’d gotten clear as it surged past her, but then something clipped her hard on the side and spun her almost completely around.  She fell to one knee and barely kept herself from going all the way down.She looked up just as her attacker came to a sudden stop maybe five paces past her.  She hadn’t gotten a clear look at it before, but could now see that it was some kind of giant bear, its shoulder coming almost to her chin.  There looked to be something odd about its fur, especially at the front of its body, but she didn’t have time to consider that before it twisted around to face her.The face… while attached to a body that still looked bear-like, the face was that of a bird, with wide eyes under a ridged brow and a hooked beak that opened impossibly wide as the thing surged forward again to crush her.</blockquote>

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