(("Thunda, Thunda, THUNDACATS HOOOOOOOOO!" Except that you're a birdman. D:))
Derm
You take the feather from where it fell and start off on a lovely stroll through the smoldering forest. As you pick it up, you notice yourself become noticably heavier; you leave deep footprints in the hard-packed dirt of the road, and each step requires much more effort than usual. Small patterns of frost form in your footprints and quickly melt away.
1 Frostwisp Feather get.
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Aero
You offer Sinterous a lift out of the forest, but he ignores you. A few moments later, you see that Derm has a large, half-melted spike of ice stuck in his leg, and offer him help instead. He accepts, and you lift him towards the canopy, trying to find a way through. [6] Both of you stare hard at the branches before glancing down at someone...
While you look away, the branches bend and sway, opening a hole for you. Your heads are dusted with leaves.
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Talendir
Apparently unfazed by the flames slowly spreading from the lightning strike, you continue walking at a steady pace along the road.
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Hedric
You beg Derm to give you the feather, offering up your supposed expertise as a fence appraiser. He snubs you, and you try to catch him, taking the feather. After all, if other people want shiny magic items, they must be shiny magic items! [2] v. [5] You utterly fail to reach Derm, seeing as he is currently being lifted through a hole in the trees by Aero, who offers a few words of mediation.
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Sinterous
You stroke your magic ball, whispering to yourself, trying to levitate a chunk of earth from the road as a makeshift flying platform. [2] You fail utterly. You wonder if Levitation is really capable of that sort of physical force.
-4 MP
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Mina
For a moment, you heft your sword to smite the evil, tainted, demonic, unlawful glowing orb of magical light, before remembering the events of the past few seconds. With a mental laugh, you sheath your sword and continue down the road.
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Aero and Derm can see out over the forested hills; the fire is relatively contained, and the forest gives way to more open land several hours to the east. A small village is visible in a shallow valley, smoke rising from chimneys. A number of terraced farms rise up along the hillside above it, further surmounted by a crude wooden watchtower. The sun has begun to sink. Below you, the leafy green ocean of trees is rather thick and foreboding. To the north, you can see the broken stump of an old stone tower rise up through the overlapping branches. A large flock of crows (according to Aero; Derm can hardly even tell that they're birds at this distance) rises from it, circling several times before heading toward the two of you.
You hover for a few minutes, taking this in, and trying to decide what to do.
Talendir and Mina continue down the road, followed shortly by a disgruntled Hedric and Sinterous (the Magnificent!). The four of you walk for several minutes, waiting to hear from the two who flew above the trees, when you come upon a stream flowing near-perpendicular to the road. It is wide, and perhaps six or seven meters across, but appears to be relatively shallow. There is no bridge, but you see nothing to prevent you from walking across. You can't see any footprints leading in or out, but the wagon ruts in the road lead straight in, and a matching set rise from the far side.