The forest was evil, but not very savage. The toughest fight I saw was an undead pack of gray langurs, and as outnumbered as my companions were, they weren't having any problems. So I left them to practice while I practiced how quickly I could set up a sheltered carpenter shop in the rain. It's not worth it; much quicker to dig, then use that as a foundation if you decide to expand. I would've left my companions training longer if I hadn't spotted a glumprong and remembered there was one tile of good hills that may have featherwood. After checking the camp, which was doing well in loot and wasn't threatened at all by the zombie critters, I headed back over.
I couldn't find the place in the dark, so I sheltered in a keep I had previously cleared of bandits. The new companion was a Pike Goblin, the only merc in town who looked fit enough, and was actually more muscular than I. I got them both drunk before going into an overnight poetry slam to develop Speaker. They were both loving it, but during an extended riddle the Goblin suddenly started brawling the Poet, who is still weak but extremely quick. I thought I would let them duke it out, there were already teeth on the floor when I interrupted my poem, but when the Goblin charged me, I decided this unit needed more discipline. I tried to get her to yield, which she did after a kick to the chest left her winded, but the Elf was still swinging on her, and the Goblin immediately became enraged. Now I had to knock her out in order to end this, but in doing so I shattered her spinal column. They both finally cooled down after they became tired, but now that she was dead weight, I had to kick the paraplegic Goblin out of the party.
I went back and finished that poem, and continued until the sun came up, when a vengeful bandit Spearman came after me. Before I could react, the Poet blocked him once and stabbed him in the head twice and came back to listen to the rest of the poem. I asked her how she was doing: "I feel so good!"