Welcome back to Legend Lunchbox. Last time, the crew recovered their missing Aziron cradle and continued through the forest to the Weeping Mother, an ancient tree honored across Lazuno. They left offerings, learned more about the Uhbokt, and Squawk received a rare pine cone, which Rolo turned into a very large necklace. Now the mine is only a day away, but the forest ahead is full of noise, stolen metal, and watchful eyes.
Guide (Chris):After leaving the Weeping Mother, the path gets narrower, and Nixley is quiet for a while. Checks the cart wheels, he watches the old trail marks, and he keeps glancing back to make sure everyone's still together. The trail keeps going, but it barely feels like a trail anymore. By evening, Nix finds a dry rise under a cluster of old roots. And he looks at Ferd, and then the path ahead and says, this is probably about as far as Ferd's gonna go today.
Guide (Chris):So you make a simple camp, and the forest is still noisy. But tonight, it sounds a little bit more familiar instead of threatening. So do you guys wanna do anything else? You wanna just go to bed? What what do y'all wanna do?
Rolo (Phil):I think we should light a campfire so Squawk can tell me all the things about her life.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh my gah. Finally.
Lysander (Jay):Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. I mean, it's not the same without s'mores, but but, you know, I'm into it. So somebody light a fire. I don't do fires. Feathers.
Rolo (Phil):To get the vibe for you to tell me your backstory, we need s'mores.
Squawk (Madeleine):We need, I mean...
Rolo (Phil):This this just gets more complicated.
Squawk (Madeleine):It's... It would help, but I I can make it work without.
Rolo (Phil):Now it'll be s'mores and a specific kind of lime juice? And then it will be s'mores with lime juice and a ballad sung by... Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Make a campfire. Make a campfire.
Squawk (Madeleine):Can somebody wizard up a campfire?
Rolo (Phil):I'm a wizard, and I'm taking sticks and putting them in a pile. Ta da. Does anyone have a match or a flint and tinder?
CAM (Tito):Yeah. I think we had it from the last camp, didn't we?
Guide (Chris):Nixley's got some supplies. I'll get I'll get it going.
Squawk (Madeleine):Go, Nixley.
Guide (Chris):So he gets the fire going and and he looks like, well, at least it's not as big as the one you guys made last night. Good lord.
Rolo (Phil):That was not on purpose.
Squawk (Madeleine):We weren't gonna talk about it. Remember? Acceptance.
Guide (Chris):Well
Rolo (Phil):Okay. Okay. Squawk.
Squawk (Madeleine):Do we really need to hear...
Rolo (Phil):So I lean back and put my arms behind my head. So, Squawk, what's uhm...
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Well, I I feel very I feel very on the spot now about my secret telling, so I think it only works if we all tell a secret. So I'll go first, and then we have to go in turn. The friendship rules are everyone has to tell a secret, and it has to be an equally good secret. You can't be like, sometimes I wear socks that don't match.
Squawk (Madeleine):It has to be like a real secret. That is how friendships are forged. Okay. My secret is I failed flamingo school because I'm not a very good flyer, and that's pretty much one of the only things flamingos do. So I had to leave my lagoon because I got kicked out, and my best friend, said she was so embarrassed and that she would never talk to me anymore.
Squawk (Madeleine):And I got so, so, so mad, I accidentally destroyed their lagoon. So they're all homeless now, and I can't go back. I don't wanna talk about it anymore.
CAM (Tito):How do you destroy a lagoon?
Squawk (Madeleine):With rage. Ugh.
Rolo (Phil):It is now polluted with rage. They try to drink from it, and they're like, ugh. It tastes like rage.
Squawk (Madeleine):You guys, I just... I poisoned the vibes is what I mean, obviously. Because, flamingos are supposed to be, like, serene, and, like, we flutter around, we just eat shrimps. And I got really, really, really mad, and now things will never be the same because I poisoned the serene Lagoon vibe. Everyone said I wasn't a very good serene flamingo, and I wasn't even a good flyer, and I wasn't allowed to go back.
Squawk (Madeleine):And so... And then I got a job. I don't wanna talk about it anymore.
Rolo (Phil):I give Squawk a hug. It's okay. Yeah. It'll be okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Thank you.
Rolo (Phil):I too have ruined the vibes from time to time.
Squawk (Madeleine):But I do have fighting skills.
Rolo (Phil):Despite wanting the vibes to be cool. I just ruin them.
Squawk (Madeleine):It's hard. It's hard to to assess vibes appropriately. Right? Yeah. So, anyway, that's when I learned my fighting skills because, you know, if I can't be serene and flamingo y, I better have something to offer the world.
Squawk (Madeleine):So, you know, knives. Okay. So now this...
Lysander (Jay):So how many fights have you gotten into?
Squawk (Madeleine):Listen. Not any yet. However, I am very confident that when the time comes, I I mean, I have a luck pine cone now. Don't even worry. I have done so much kung fu practice in my mirror.
Rolo (Phil):Woah. That's a... That's even more of a bombshell than the...
Lysander (Jay):Wow.
Rolo (Phil):Than the rage poison.
Lysander (Jay):So that's what you've been doing.
Rolo (Phil):You never fought anything?
Squawk (Madeleine):I've done so much practicing. Yeah. It's...
Rolo (Phil):You're our only line of defense.
Squawk (Madeleine):Listen. I know these are... These arms, these wings look scrawny, but I do, like, three push ups every day. And I have no fear, my friends. It it...
Squawk (Madeleine):I I can handle it. I can handle anything. I'm very confident.
Lysander (Jay):It's good that you have no fear because we have it all.
Squawk (Madeleine):No. I believe in myself. And as far as I know, that's all you need to succeed. So so, yeah, we'll find out if I'm wrong. Oh, we...
Squawk (Madeleine):I'm not wrong. It'll be fine. But I have a head spike, okay? I bought it on sale.
Squawk (Madeleine):Head spike.
Lysander (Jay):But you haven't used it yet. Right?
Squawk (Madeleine):I have practiced, again, as I say, very convincingly. Do you wanna see some moves? Sure.
Guide (Chris):Oh boy. CAM, you better get your mend spell ready.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay.
CAM (Tito):I'm just waiting for Squawk to get her head...helmet stuck in a tree somewhere.
Squawk (Madeleine):A second thought, maybe I will preserve my energy in case in case an attack comes in the night and I am forced to step up to defend my friends. But, yeah, the moves will come. Just wait for it. Just believe. Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Someone else's turn for a
Rolo (Phil):secret. I say Lysander.
Lysander (Jay):Well, you already heard my my secrets. How I brought the pirates to my homeland, and they destroyed it and took all the resources.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. But that's just what happened. We need something about feelings, something really embarrassing or shameful or sad.
Lysander (Jay):I scratch my head. I don't know if I have anything shameful or sad.
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, that's nice for you.
Lysander (Jay):Well it's sad that what happened to my my people was because of me. No? That's not sad?
Squawk (Madeleine):I guess it's sad. It's sad. You're right. That's pretty sad. I got kicked out of lagoon school.
Squawk (Madeleine):You... Yeah. That's sad. Yeah. You're right.
Lysander (Jay):I got kicked out of my land too. Well, I got taken from my land. I ain't kicked out. They captured me, and they wanted to use my skills to hurt other people.
Lysander (Jay):I didn't wanna do that.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. That's a good call.
Lysander (Jay):So that's my story.
Squawk (Madeleine):Thank you for sharing.
Lysander (Jay):Now I'm all sad again.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh. So I go and sit beside Lysander, and I put a wing on his shoulder, I give him a pat. I'm sorry. I don't have any more shrimp to share with you. You can have my biscuit.
Rolo (Phil):Alright. Now it's CAM's turn.
Squawk (Madeleine):CAM's secret secret secret.
CAM (Tito):I am one years old.
Rolo (Phil):I'm sorry. What now?
CAM (Tito):I I I was only built a year ago. I'm I'm a new model.
Rolo (Phil):A new untested model?
Lysander (Jay):K.
CAM (Tito):Yeah. It hasn't been... I mean, we've been testing for about a year.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. Great.
Lysander (Jay):Are you a one of one?
CAM (Tito):Currently, as far as I know.
Squawk (Madeleine):So you're an infant?
CAM (Tito):I guess technically.
Rolo (Phil):So you've not done a lot then.
CAM (Tito):Well, I have a lot of knowledge, and I have been trained very well. But
Rolo (Phil):But it's all book learning. No street smarts.
CAM (Tito):I had some patients.
Rolo (Phil):He's gonna need lots of patience to deal with us. Yeah. Oh, see what I did there? Good joke. Okay.
Lysander (Jay):So we have we... So we have a fighter who's never fought. We have a physician one year old kinda thing that's never really cured anybody.
CAM (Tito):I've I've cured plenty of people.
Lysander (Jay):Oh, you have?
Squawk (Madeleine):That's your secret. Hmmm. That's not a very embarrassing secret. I'm just gonna say, I feel like mine was still worse. But Again,
CAM (Tito):I've only been here for a year, so I don't have a lot of stories.
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, I just, you know, I just was hoping some... For some more. How do you feel about your one year of life? I know you're a robot, but if you weren't, like, do you feel so excited that we're your friends? Do you feel hopeful about your future?
Guide (Chris):Did you have a one year old birthday party?
CAM (Tito):I did not.
Squawk (Madeleine):He didn't have a party.
Guide (Chris):You need to have a party.
Squawk (Madeleine):You guys.
Lysander (Jay):A one year party.
CAM (Tito):Wow. I I guess the equivalent of my one year party would have been an an evaluation.
Guide (Chris):Oh, I don't know you enough to evaluate you.
Squawk (Madeleine):I think when we get our ship running and we get our fancy wood and we get back and we sell our long johns and we are rich, we throw CAM a party. That's what's gonna happen.
Lysander (Jay):That's right.
Squawk (Madeleine):Rolo, are you on board?
Rolo (Phil):Absolutely.
Squawk (Madeleine):It's gonna be such a party. I don't know much about fighting, but I know about parties.
Lysander (Jay):How many parties have you had?
Squawk (Madeleine):Like, I'm having a party right now. This is a party. There's so many parties. It's part of how I got kicked out of flamingo school. Too much partying was...
Squawk (Madeleine):Wasn't the right vibe. The... Like I said, they lounge. They're serene. They catch fish.
Squawk (Madeleine):I wanted to party. So I found you guys, and now life's a party. I mean, not yet, but I think it will be. It will be. We just gotta get our fancy wood.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Rolo's turn.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, no. I think we're good. Good night, everybody.
Squawk (Madeleine):Rolo...
Rolo (Phil):No. What?
Squawk (Madeleine):Come on.
Rolo (Phil):No. Dude, I think we're all pretty tired now.
Squawk (Madeleine):But we'll feel so bonded.
Rolo (Phil):I I think... I'm glad you guys bonded. You know, I'm I'm I'm good, man. I'm just... I'm fine.
Rolo (Phil):I... Okay. Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Give it to us.
Rolo (Phil):I can't surf. I don't know how.
Squawk (Madeleine):Ever?
Rolo (Phil):No, man. I was supposed to build this awesome beach house slash hotel. And it was gonna be like a surf school. And I was gonna learn to surf so that I could teach other people how to surf. But I built it in a swamp, and there's no surf in the swamp.
Squawk (Madeleine):That is so sad.
CAM (Tito):You were surfing on that piece of wood a couple days ago.
Rolo (Phil):It's really not that hard to surf on wood, man. Especially if wood is floating in a straight line.
Lysander (Jay):But where were you before you came to the swampy island?
Rolo (Phil):With the... I was with the other I was with the other beach elves.
Lysander (Jay):And what did you do on the beach?
Rolo (Phil):Well, we, you know, we we did volleyball and, you know, like beach stuff, sandcastles, and, you know, we just work... We're gonna get to the surfing, but I just... I never learned. And then, you know, I thought I'd go it on my own and just get out there and leave the coven, which is what we call a group of beach elves. And we...
Rolo (Phil):I would start my own thing.
CAM (Tito):Isn't that what you also call, like, a group of witches?
Squawk (Madeleine):Don't mention it.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. It's witches and beach elves. It's it's, you know, we spell it different.
Rolo (Phil):We we spell it with two u's. C-U-U-V-E-N-E.
CAM (Tito):Cuuven?
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, maybe when we have CAM's birthday party, it could be a surfing party, and we can...
Lysander (Jay):Can have a beach party.
Squawk (Madeleine):We could have a beach party, and we can all learn to surf together.
Rolo (Phil):So down.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah.
Rolo (Phil):I'm very excited about that.
Squawk (Madeleine):We... That is we...
Lysander (Jay):We have to get... Do you have a surfboard?
Rolo (Phil):I did. Left it on the on the planet that got eaten by the bugs.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh. It's okay. You are a surfer who can't really surf. I am a fighter who has never yet fought. Main thing, good vibes, friendship.
Rolo (Phil):Gotta surf, man. Gotta surf. We also played a lot of hacky sack. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Lysander (Jay):And what is a hacky sack?
Rolo (Phil):Oh, you get a sack of something like...
Guide (Chris):Like potatoes?
Rolo (Phil):No. No. Not potatoes, dude. You break your ankle.
Guide (Chris):Oh.
Rolo (Phil):Just... It's small. And and you and you hack it with your ankle. You're like this.
Rolo (Phil):You, like, lift up your leg like that. And then you... I get I get something off the ground like a rock, and I'm doing it with the rock. And I'm like, ow. Ow.
Rolo (Phil):But you see what I'm doing. Right? Ow. Ow. It's like that.
Lysander (Jay):And how do you win?
Rolo (Phil):Oh, you don't win, man. That's the whole point. And you also... If you if you kick it out, you don't say sorry. So...
Rolo (Phil):Because it's totally cool, man. Just pick it up and rejoin the circle, and you just keep hacking, dude, and that's it. There's no winners, no losers. Just like life, man.
Lysander (Jay):So so why?
Squawk (Madeleine):I feel like we're getting hung up.
Rolo (Phil):I don't I don't know.
Squawk (Madeleine):A minor detail.
Rolo (Phil):Never really asked that question.
Guide (Chris):You just broke Rolo's brain.
Squawk (Madeleine):There could be...
Rolo (Phil):Dude, I guess it's because it's fun.
Squawk (Madeleine):We will have also hacky sack at CAM's birthday party. It's gonna be great. I don't know I don't know if I can anatomically as a bird, but I will support any hacky sack activities.
Rolo (Phil):Can you bend your leg like this?
Squawk (Madeleine):Can I bend my leg? That's like the main thing. Like this?
Rolo (Phil):Like... And I go and I lift my ankle, like, parallel to the ground in front of me.
Squawk (Madeleine):Cannot do that, actually. But I do have a beak, so I feel like that's gonna be a key asset.
Rolo (Phil):No. Beaks are out, man. You can't hack with a beak, dude.
Squawk (Madeleine):What? I was hoping for some more acceptance. But
Rolo (Phil):But you could do... You know, just lift your leg for a second. You just... Yeah. You know what?
Rolo (Phil):You could do it. You could figure out birdie hacks.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Birdie hacks. It won't be very powerful.
Rolo (Phil):The birdie hack.
Lysander (Jay):Oh, you could only use your feet.
Rolo (Phil):Well, feet, ankles. Actually, I guess you can use, like...
Rolo (Phil):Maybe you can use your beak.
Squawk (Madeleine):Wing elbows?
Rolo (Phil):I'm trying to remember the rules that they taught me. Yeah. Oh, beaks beaks are good.
Lysander (Jay):Okay.
Rolo (Phil):Totally good. You can totally use them. Absolutely.
Squawk (Madeleine):Works for me.
Lysander (Jay):K.
Squawk (Madeleine):This is great.
Rolo (Phil):I just forgot that we collectively had that rule. I forgot it.
CAM (Tito):Well, you... you probably didn't have a lot of people with beaks.
Lysander (Jay):Yeah.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah.
Rolo (Phil):We we didn't have... No. They're all elves. No beaks.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay, there's a lot. A lot has happened.
Lysander (Jay):Wait. Nixley, what are you? Are you an elf?
Guide (Chris):Yeah.
Lysander (Jay):Do you hacky sack?
Guide (Chris):No. I don't even know what this surfing thing is either.
Rolo (Phil):But, you know, Nixley beach elves. Right, man? Like beach beach elves. You heard of beach elves, right?
Guide (Chris):No, ah...
Rolo (Phil):Beach elves, Nixley. Beach elves.
Lysander (Jay):Just say yes.
Rolo (Phil):You've heard of them. I'm nodding my head. Yes. And I'm looking at him very intently. Beach elves.
Guide (Chris):Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They come here all the time.
Rolo (Phil):See, Nixley has heard of them.
Guide (Chris):I I think I'm a little part beach elves too.
Rolo (Phil):Yep. We all are, Nixley.
Guide (Chris):Oh, okay.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah.
Lysander (Jay):Nixley, are you alright?
Guide (Chris):Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine. Okay.
Guide (Chris):I I... I'm part beach elf, I guess. So Alright.
CAM (Tito):So how far are we from the mine at this point?
Guide (Chris):Oh, we're we're probably... We'll get there probably tomorrow afternoon. So it shouldn't be too long. I mean, we got a little bit more travel, but not a lot. So if you if you guys wanna just crash out, I mean, you can just kinda...
Guide (Chris):Party kinda dwindles out.
Lysander (Jay):Yep.
Guide (Chris):Everybody find somewhere to to lay down, crash out.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. I get a... I make a little nest.
Lysander (Jay):Is the box still in the cart? The crate?
Guide (Chris):If you go look, yes, it is. Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh, yeah. Good. Good. Let's make sure. Sneaky box.
Guide (Chris):So you wake early the next morning to pale light and warmer air. The cold drizzle from yesterday is gone. About an hour later, you cross an older, wider road that looks familiar, and you're pretty sure this is the same road you followed from the crash site towards the timber camp. But before you can get your bearings, Nixley leads Ferd across it and follows a small trail back into the thicker forest. By late morning, the forest starts getting noisier. Not animal noisy, but object noisy. Hear little taps and scrapes and rattles and metal clinking against wood. And Nixley stops and looks up at the branches, and he sighs and says, oh, man. Sap runner country. And Ferd snorts and kinda stamps once. Unhappy about the noise ahead. What do you guys do now?
Rolo (Phil):Did you say sap runner?
CAM (Tito):Sap runner?
Guide (Chris):Yeah.
Rolo (Phil):Information we could have used at any point leading right up until this moment, Nixley. What's a sap runner?
Guide (Chris):Sap runner. They're like little small creatures. They got fur. They're about, oh, about so big and he kinda holds up.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, the sap squirrels. Okay. That's fine.
Guide (Chris):They're called sap runners.
Rolo (Phil):We're cool. Just just keep everything tied down. We'll be fine.
Guide (Chris):Yeah. There's a big nest up ahead. So, you know, you gotta you gotta be careful.
Squawk (Madeleine):Can we detour? I don't wanna go by a squirrel nest.
Guide (Chris):I I mean, we can, but the nest is pretty big.
Squawk (Madeleine):Ugh.
Guide (Chris):And it... It's gonna be harder to get the get the cart through the woods.
Lysander (Jay):Are they afraid of anything that we could kinda, like... loud noises or fire?
Squawk (Madeleine):Fierce fighters?
CAM (Tito):Well, I mean, they're not really paying much attention to us if we just keep moving.
Guide (Chris):Yeah. We just try and... try and be quiet.
Squawk (Madeleine):Let's try and sneak by. That's good. I can be quiet.
Guide (Chris):Nixley leads you further down the trail, and the path bends around some low hills into a patch of shorter weeping woods mixed with dark evergreens. And at first, you notice one shiny thing and then ten and then dozens, and there's bits of metal, buckles, bolts, wires, spoons, polished scraps glittering from the branches, some hanging from twigs, some are wedged into holes in the bark, and others are stuck in place with sap needles and tiny paw prints.
Guide (Chris):All around you, you see small nests clinging to the branches and the tree hollows, and the nests are made from twigs, sap, and stolen shiny things. Most of them are occupied, and small masked faced sap runners stare down at you. And for one long second, the forest goes still, and then the chittering starts. And they just start all chittering at you. They're still up in the trees and everything, so what do you guys do?
Squawk (Madeleine):I thought we were being so quiet. What happened?
CAM (Tito):I'm gonna light a torch.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, what's going on?
CAM (Tito):We're about to be ambushed by the sap squirrels.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh. I don't like these things. Can you tell me how many there are?
Guide (Chris):There's couple dozen nests, and most of them have... Seem to have one or two of the sap runners in them, and then there's also some just around the branches. And so you're guessing 50-60'ish.
Squawk (Madeleine):But we don't necessarily know they're gonna do anything to us. Right?
Guide (Chris):They definitely seem to be agitated.
Lysander (Jay):And how far are we from the mine?
Guide (Chris):Maybe half a day.
Squawk (Madeleine):I mean, we gotta get past these guys. I...
Lysander (Jay):That's right.
Squawk (Madeleine):I'm getting... It's kinda... They're making me mad. I don't like people chattering at me. It reminds me of the lagoon.
Squawk (Madeleine):Everyone's squawking at me because I was ruining the vibes. So...
CAM (Tito):Well, we know they don't like fire. So when we made the big bonfire, they kinda ran away from it.
Squawk (Madeleine):This is true.
CAM (Tito):I'm just gonna keep this torch lit and near me. Maybe everybody should get one as well.
Squawk (Madeleine):Let's all get torches.
Lysander (Jay):We all get torches.
Guide (Chris):Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):I was gonna say I would attack them, but but if you think maybe we should try the torches first. Well, it's called a wild attack if you have never heard of it. So...
CAM (Tito):Yeah. I have heard of it. Last time you did it, you missed the squirrel.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh, yeah. Yes. But I am so much more experienced now as a voyager.
Rolo (Phil):Why why don't we start slow?
Squawk (Madeleine):Let's go slow.
Rolo (Phil):Squawk, you know, go for maybe two opponents before you just dive right in at 50.
Squawk (Madeleine):I I said I've been practicing in my mirror so hard. Okay.
CAM (Tito):Where where do you have a mirror?
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, back in the not here, but back where I was doing my job.
Rolo (Phil):So you haven't practiced in a while then.
CAM (Tito):Exactly.
Squawk (Madeleine):I practiced every day, though, for hours.
Rolo (Phil):Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. First, we'll try the torch thing. Fine. But I'm keeping my knives ready. So we'll do the torch thing.
Guide (Chris):So, Rolo, as you guys are slowly creeping...
Rolo (Phil):Uh oh, why are you singling me out? What have I done, Wrong?
Lysander (Jay):Your turn.
Guide (Chris):So as you're creeping through the nest and keeping an eye out, you catch the curve of a familiar lettering on a bit of bronze covered metal acting as the roof over one of the lower nests. Oh. It appears to be longer, rectangular, almost like a plate. And while it's half buried and covered in sappy paw prints, you can just make out the characters r e s s on the end.
Rolo (Phil):Hey. That's the end of the word Distress. I totally think this is our stuff, dudes. Bad squirrel. I grab on the plate thing and I... Here, Squawk. Hold my torch. Hold my torch. The sap is flammable.
Guide (Chris):It's about 15 feet up in the air. So, I mean, it's it's low, but it's not... You you have to climb the tree.
Rolo (Phil):You know what? I'm gonna take my torch back, and then I'm gonna take Squawk's torch and say this is probably better suited for someone who can fly.
Squawk (Madeleine):I also would prefer not to hold torches because as we all know, feathers
Rolo (Phil):It's okay. I got your torch too now.
Squawk (Madeleine):Thank you.
Rolo (Phil):I'm holding your torch.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Here we go. So I'm gonna fly up. Check things out. Bonk. Bonk. Bonk. Ouch. But I get there. I do get there.
Guide (Chris):So as you do that. The the sap runners are shrieking a little bit and starting to scatter around, and couple of them land down on the ground and start running towards you guys on the ground.
Squawk (Madeleine):Hey. Those are my friends. Get away. I try to make myself look really big and threatening. I try, like, puff out my feathers as I'm flying up to check out the stuff.
Guide (Chris):So you fly up there and you definitely see some... It's not like you've been on the ship that long, so you can't be a 100% sure all this is your stuff. But there's definitely some things that you do notice. It's like, hey. That kinda looks like something from the ship or something that was from a ship.
Squawk (Madeleine):That is stealing. That is not nice. So that's like... So what is even gonna be left behind? They've been just casually taking apart our ship this whole time.
Squawk (Madeleine):While we've been trying to go get stuff to save our ship, they've just been wrecking it. I really wanna attack something.
CAM (Tito):I mean, this is probably from the first night that they were pillaging our ship and just...
Squawk (Madeleine):It could be. It could be.
CAM (Tito):Stealing everything they could.
Squawk (Madeleine):It's a lot of stuff.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna propose a plan. As the once and future captain of the ship, what if we go and we get this Aziron stuff. Right?
Rolo (Phil):And then on the way back, we're like, hey, dudes. Look over there. And then we take all back all the rest of our stuff, and we just book it back to the ship. Because we take it now, we're gonna have to put it down to get the Aziron. You know what?
Rolo (Phil):They're just gonna take it all back. Mhmm.
CAM (Tito):Yeah. I think it's a good plan.
Lysander (Jay):Sure.
Rolo (Phil):Yes!
Lysander (Jay):How are we gonna do it?
Rolo (Phil):Well, I don't know. We got a long time after we get the Aziron to come up with a plan
Lysander (Jay):Oh, okay.
Rolo (Phil):To get our stuff back. I think we could... We should cause some sort of distraction that will distract them.
Lysander (Jay):Like a big fire?
Rolo (Phil):No. No.
Squawk (Madeleine):Like a dance party?
Rolo (Phil):No, Lysander, no. Dance party's good.
CAM (Tito):We could just put them all to sleep.
Rolo (Phil):We could put them all to... That would probably be the best plan. That would be the easiest plan.
Squawk (Madeleine):This is... Why why doesn't that just get proposed right away?
Guide (Chris):Lysander something suddenly hits you in the head.
Lysander (Jay):Ow, what the?
Guide (Chris):A little... Like, you reach up to try and grab it and your fingers stick to it. It's like a little ball of sap.
Lysander (Jay):Oh, man. In my hair. What is this?
Guide (Chris):So suddenly, a couple more of them start coming out of the trees at the rest of the group.
Lysander (Jay):Oh, they're throwing sap balls at us.
Squawk (Madeleine):Rrrr...
Lysander (Jay):Better get out of here.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. Let's run.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you guys run. And you just run out of the clearing, you know, and a few more sap balls come flying at you and hit the ground. And few of them hit you guys, but nothing too nasty.
Lysander (Jay):You know how long it's gonna be to get this out of my hair?
Squawk (Madeleine):I will help you.
Lysander (Jay):Thanks.
Guide (Chris):So once you get away from the sap runners, you still hear the clinking of metal and the chittering of the runners behind you, sort of like the nest is just arguing about what just happened. So Nixley checks for Ferd and then the cart and then his own gear, and he looks behind him back towards the nest. Alright. Everybody's still got everything?
CAM (Tito):Yep.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. Mostly. Except my pride.
Lysander (Jay):Do you still have the box? The box is in the cart?
Guide (Chris):Yep. Okay. Yeah. I don't think they could have pulled... I I mean, maybe all 50 of them could have gotten it out of here, but I don't know.
Guide (Chris):Ferd don't like sap runners, so he probably would have run off.
Squawk (Madeleine):I don't blame him.
Rolo (Phil):Not again, Ferd, come on, man.
Squawk (Madeleine):I know what Ferd's...
CAM (Tito):Focus, Ferd. Lock in.
Guide (Chris):It's probably safer that we just left stuff there anyways because, you know, if if we start grabbing stuff, they may get more interested in us and see what else we got. So I think we should we should probably get going. The mine road's not too far. It shouldn't be too much longer. And he gives the tug on the reins of of Ferd and starts leading again.
Guide (Chris):So you leave the sap runner nest behind you, and you keep moving. And by midday, the narrow forest pass spills out onto a wider road. It's old and badly neglected, but it was clearly built for heavy carts once, and roots have cracked through the stones in several places. And for a while, the road runs along a clear river, and the water's cold and fast. And for the first time today, the land around you feels somewhat inviting and pleasant.
Guide (Chris):The road crosses an old stone bridge and starts climbing into low hills. And as you near the top of the rise, you see the forest ahead of you seems to stop. So Nixley slows down. He checks Ferd's harness and then the cart, and he double checks that the cradle's still there. So while he's checking the rest of the cart, do you guys do anything else?
Guide (Chris):Or...
CAM (Tito):You said the forest just ended here?
Guide (Chris):So it looks like up beyond the ridge of the hill, you don't see any more trees.
Lysander (Jay):Are we close to the mine?
Guide (Chris):Yeah. We... We're... It's just up... Just a little way above us.
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, I wanna go check that out.
Lysander (Jay):Yeah. Why are you suddenly checking everything?
Guide (Chris):Well, I'll just... I wanna make sure we didn't leave anything before we get over there.
Lysander (Jay):Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Can I fly ahead and look?
Guide (Chris):Sure. So as you reach the top of the hill, Squawk, you fly over the ridge of the hill. Ahead of you, you see a wide field of dead stumps, cracked ground, and and amber stained dirt covered in sinkholes. You see rotting trunks lying in piles and mounds of broken soil rising up between the stumps. Whole place looks less like a forest that was cut down and more like the trees died when something was torn out from underneath them.
Guide (Chris):The old road continues down into a scarred field, ending at a group of collapsed buildings with rusted mine equipment near a dark opening in a low hill. You see four small figures moving around one of the broken buildings, and they wear yellow and brown armor with hard masks. They have tools hanging from their belts. And Nixley creeps up towards the top of the hill, and he peeks over the top of the rise as you're flying up there, and he pulls Ferd... Hold up.
Guide (Chris):Those are Uhbokt. And he kinda pulls Ferd back down. So, Squawk, what are you doing? Because you're still kinda... you flew up over the ridge.
Squawk (Madeleine):I immediately run back and tell all my friends word for word everything that I just saw, including the part about the Uhbokt. Who... Like, I look... They look... I could take them. I'm pretty sure. There's only four, by the way. But it... But... Yeah. Now we're all informed.
Guide (Chris):So Nixley's like, well, I mean, if if those are Uhbokt, and they look like it, I I don't know what they're doing, but I'd rather not surprise them.
Lysander (Jay):So we don't surprise them.
Rolo (Phil):Why don't we introduce ourselves as we come over the hill?
Squawk (Madeleine):So far, that's gone pretty well. Even with ornery Trevor.
Guide (Chris):Well, I don't know. I mean
Lysander (Jay):We're pretty likable, guys and gals, and flamingos.
Guide (Chris):I mean, Nixley clearly seems nervous about...
Rolo (Phil):What... What are you not telling us, Nixley?
Squawk (Madeleine):Nixley? Nixley. Now's the time.
Guide (Chris):I... It's nothing. I just... I'm not hiding nothing. I just...
Guide (Chris):I don't really know much about them and, you know, just all the stories the folks in town say about them. I I just... I don't know. I I don't know if they're bad or good or what, but I... I'd rather not find out the wrong way.
Lysander (Jay):Well, let's go find out the right way.
Squawk (Madeleine):With Long Johns.
Lysander (Jay):We have an expert fighter with us.
Lysander (Jay):What could go wrong?
Squawk (Madeleine):And long johns, so we can trade.
Rolo (Phil):Well, I think that was a dig. I mean You just gonna sit there and take that Squawk?
Squawk (Madeleine):Excuse me. Excuse me.
CAM (Tito):We don't necessarily need to be fighting anybody right away. We don't even know why they're here.
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, how about I use...
Rolo (Phil):Where do we go?
Squawk (Madeleine):How do I use size up? Because that's gonna give us a little information here as a fighter that I could use in our defense.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. Good call.
Squawk (Madeleine):I'm gonna use size up. I would like to evaluate their their capabilities of this. Yes. Tell me some stuff.
Guide (Chris):So you've never seen an Uhbokt before. But just from your training, you can tell from this distance that they do have this pretty... It looks like the armor is pretty thick in most places. I mean, they're about your size, maybe a little bit shorter. So they're not that big, but they they just seem to be very focused in on what they're doing.
Squawk (Madeleine):But what about their... You told me what they look like, but what about their capabilities?
Guide (Chris):They don't seem to be... At least you don't recognize or notice any weapons on them. They do seem to have tools and stuff hanging off their belts, so you don't think that they're very combat oriented
Squawk (Madeleine):Mhmm.
Guide (Chris):If that makes sense.
Squawk (Madeleine):This does make sense as a natural fighter. I can recognize and sense danger, OK.
Guide (Chris):So you're, like, you got your neck and your beak and stuff. You're just kinda peeking over the crest of the hill.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Guide (Chris):What are the rest of you guys doing while Squawk's, like, crouched down looking over the top of the hill?
CAM (Tito):Looking at the tree stumps and the the sinkholes.
Guide (Chris):Yeah. So the land is... It looks very destroyed. So, again, it looks like the trees have not only been cut down, some of them almost look like they've rotten and fallen over. And, again, it looks more like...
Guide (Chris):It's not like they were cut for timber. It just seems like the trees mostly died. And then maybe they were cut down after, you you know, either they were already dead or or that sort of thing.
CAM (Tito):Can we tell what used to be under them?
Guide (Chris):It's just...
CAM (Tito):That was removed?
Guide (Chris):You can't really tell, but as you're sitting there, Nixley's... Makes a comment like, that's from the... that's from pulling out all the resinstone from underneath them. It kills off the trees.
Lysander (Jay):Is this the mine?
Guide (Chris):Yeah. Well, yeah, the mine's over. He's peaked up over the the edge of the hill too, and so is Ferd. Ferd's got his snout up on the top of the hill.
CAM (Tito):So this resin stuff is a product of the trees?
Guide (Chris):Yeah. It's the the resinstone. It gets down into the earth. Like, it comes down through the roots, and it gets really super hard in the ground. Like, you guys have...
Guide (Chris):You said you've kinda messed with it a little bit, like, coming out of trees. The stuff that's down in the earth is, like, super duper hard and strong. So that was what the old guild used to used to mine was pulled all that resinstone out, and then they would make stuff out of that for ships and, you know, construction and all sorts of stuff.
CAM (Tito):But why does that kill the tree?
Guide (Chris):Well, because they gotta rip out the roots to get the resinstone.
CAM (Tito):Oh. Yeah.
CAM (Tito):So why didn't they use the trees for lumber instead of just letting them rot?
Guide (Chris):Well, they they took a lot of the lumber, but, I mean, the tree trees usually die. I mean, the resinstone's worth way more than the lumber. We got trees everywhere. I mean, I wasn't even around back then. So I I...
Guide (Chris):You know, this was before my time, but I I don't know. So as you guys are peeking up, you see the Uhbokt, like, working near the mine entrance, and they're they're doing a few things for another moment. And then one of them turns towards you and looks and then just raises a hand, kinda palm out towards you. And Nixley goes, oh, man. I think they saw us.
Lysander (Jay):I stand up and wave back.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. Why don't we all wave?
Guide (Chris):So they wave, and then they gather up their tools. And then before leaving, you see the one that... The first one that waved, he sits down a small wrap bundle next to the mine entrance, and he looks back towards you. And then they... After a few moments, the four of them disappear and start walking away.
CAM (Tito):Into the mine?
Guide (Chris):Nope. They walk out towards the stump field.
Squawk (Madeleine):Maybe it's snacks.
Rolo (Phil):Do they leave while singing a song of any sort?
Squawk (Madeleine):That would be ideal. Yeah.
Guide (Chris):No. Nothing that....
Rolo (Phil):Are you sure, Chris? I'm I'm pretty sure they were singing... I could have sworn I heard them singing a song as they left.
Squawk (Madeleine):Mhmm. It was jaunty.