Til Next Time, Shadow Grove

we’re not far frum camp, soon ta reunite wifh freunde. bricky shares hims experience in der dreamscape, how he took da form of hims maker. all our friends were in pieces, n i was kept asleep in a tank.. bricky seemed ‘bout as horrified at dis as any of us, at dis twisted ‘terpretation of hims motto. but apart frum da horror, he also learned sum imformation ‘bout hims shadow. he goes by “5” n wants bricky ta find hims brother “9.” drexla offers der ring she found a while back as a clue, but no one recognizes its emblem.
i also share my dream, how it started so happily i wanted ta believe it at first. like any other day, i attended hebe as we fished fer da village. then everythin turned bloody, n hebe pleaded wifh me why i did as she asked, as if das not how it really happened. miguel was also there, ta tell me moar about what a selfish scourge i am.. so i felt like i hadta ask my friends if its all true, am i really just a monster wifh taste fer flesh? tobias says monsters don’t tink about bein bad, they just do it. i remember hims werds whenever i smell how someone must taste. knowin is half of it, n doin is another.
 
wifh a deep breafh ta shake off our nightmares, da group goes ta meet again wifh elder farrah who has not stopped her ritual prayers. she greets us, but is sad when we tell of nariah’s betrayal. in disbelief she tells us how pure nariah’s dreams were, n even after tobias shares da memory of our encounter elder farrah believes nariah’s corruption could be reversed. i just cant understand how she could ever trust someone liek dat again. at least we can reassure her dat der strange deaths in shadow grove should stop now.
on our way out, tobias asks if farrah would liek him ta heal her blindness. ta hims surprise, she laughs! she assures him she is quite happy dis way, as she is da one who traded her eyes fer a diff’rent kind of sight. she believes she can help moar people dis way.
 
outside her tent we’re met wifh grateful villagers, but da mood remains heavy n dere is no feast of celebration tonight. is ok, i guess fer most pepol funerals arent very appetizing.. (i’m not most pepol tho, so ima ask tobicat fer extra portions tonight~) instead of feastin, drexla asks where we can find experts in da village, n we are told of a musician, an herbalist, n a shady salesman. mr.v n drexla leave ta track down dis sneaky dealer, known as kai-el. bricky tags along with me n luna as we visit elara da herbalist, n after we follow him to see lyra da musician.
since we leave in der mornin, lyra offers ta teach bricky alls she can tonight. luna n i set up nearby ta distill n brew wifh what we bought at elara’s hut. at some point we head back ta camp, but bricky don’t come back til after we wake der next day. he says lyra was so happy ta receive a student, she wanted ta make da most of hims lesson n stayed up all night wifh him! she sent him off wifh a book of bardic lessons to boot!
 
sham-la-tam departs fer da shifting sands waystation. it takes us 5 days’ time ta reach der sandline, during which we all got some crafting done. i attempted ta werk wifh da new ivy i found, but it’s tricky. luckily it didnt put me ta sleep dis time, but i wasnt able ta harvest any spores either. i’ll have ta ask fer luna’s help, or fer advice frum another herbalist, but i’ll keep practicing!
on our arrival, we look out at da expanse of sand. we’re told dis used ta be a lush place, one dat provided fish fer da tabaxi tribe. but dat was a long time ago, when hebe was in her prime.. now it remains as a last stop fer those in training, a homage to da battlemaidens dat came befoar. since da land is comsidered holy, only da trial-takers are allowed ta travel further. as drexla, v, n bricky prepare, i give my potion of agility ta v just in case.
befoar dey leave bricky takes me aside, seeming troubled by what he wantsta tell me. i say he dont havta worry, i wanna hear it no matter how hard it might be. so he comes out wifh it, revealing dat hims special eye belongs to one of doze litch lords.. da bad doctor who made him. dats why hims dream was how it was. i exhale, knowing my response will disappoint him, n tell how dis news dont surprise me. it aktually makes sense wifh how dat eye has made special blinks n colors at key points of our travels.. now it makes me feel liek hims eye could be making signals to dis litch. bricky cant answer dis fer me, all i can tell is i was right about disappointing him. i give him da biggest hug i can, hoping im wrong in my theory n wishing him luck in dis final trial.