It was just another day. Nothing really going on. Frankly, I was getting a bit bored. So when I heard from Thorpe that he wants to go hunting for poison and asking if I want to go along, I decided to accept. Lyria also was going along. In retrospect, I suppose that should have been obvious. After all, who better than a healer to identify poisons?

The place we were going was an old abandoned copper mine up in the mountains. Not played out, just full of mushrooms. Sounds like a healthy sort of place. We rented a boat from the Backwater Gang, which made travel a lot easier, at least until we came to where the river feeds down from the mountain. From there, we trekked onwards. Easy hiking, until Thorpe heard a few people in the trees. We could have fought, but if there's a few in the trees, there's more elsewhere. Maybe we can take them, maybe we can't. Either way, people would get killed. So we backtracked a bit and crossed the river. No bandits there. Nighttime comes, and we set camp.

As we're getting everything set up, I see a flash, and hear a bang. And again, flash, bang. I turn and look. It's Lyria, happily lighting pinecones and throwing them over her shoulder. I tackle her to avoid getting caught in a forest fire, and Thorpe stamps out the burning cones. Then, with damage avoided, it occurs to me that these pinecones could make a very nice weapon, so we collect as many as we can.

Now that I think about it, I'm starting to wonder about that house that caught fire while Lyria was nowhere to be seen.

Continuing on, we encounter a mountain lion, who leaves when I start beating on a nearby tree with my staff. I should have gone into the army to be a drummer. Thorpe finds a bunch of blue flowers that can apparently be used as a perfume. He doesn't have any interest in them, but Lyria collects a bunch. That night, we've gotten well above the tree line, so I don't think anything can sneak up on us. Nothing did, so the next day we continue on.

Over the mountain and back down into the woods. We get to the river and set up camp. I set up rather nice hammocks in a tree, so we wouldn't have to worry about ground predators. Dinner smelled tasty. And the wolves apparently agreed. Seeing imminent starvation and/or death in our future, first we hung our food bags in a tree so they couldn't get at them. Then, bit by bit, lighting pinecones and throwing them at the wolves, we made our way to the tree with our hammocks. I was still worried about burning the forest down, but Lyria assured me that the grass was too wet to catch fire. Well, if anyone knows fire, I'm sure it would be her.

We get to the tree, as the wolves occasionally try to get to us, thwarted by burning pinecones. Up we go. Well, almost. Lyria, unable to make it off the ground, has to be lifted into the tree by rope. Thorpe and I just climb up, and wait as the wolves gather beneath us. Fortunately, we may be stuck in a tree, but trees have a lot of ready ammo waiting in their branches. After pelting the wolves with loose branches, they back off a little, but just far enough that we can't drop branches on them anymore. A few hours later, they go away frustrated, and we finally get a little sleep.

Next morning, we collect our stuff, and wash our dinner pan. Sorry, wolves, you don't own this pan anymore. From there, with little difficulty, we make it to the mine. There are mushrooms everywhere. Some poisonous, some not. We decide to wait and make a go of it the next day. The miners' barracks are mostly empty, except for a few mice.

So, morning comes, and to the mine we go. Two pounds of poison mushrooms are collected right at the mine entrance. But who can look at a mine without exploring it. In we went. Thorpe sees better in the dark than me, and Lyria can't see in the dark at all. At the first offshoot, there was a pile of ash and a sign saying not to let the fire go out. And if the fire is out, to get the foreman immediately. We decide it might be a good idea to light a fire there, and so go out to find some wood. Which suits me. Creeping around in the mine was giving me a headache. Getting out helped, though. We gather wood, set up a wood pile. And we decide to try to light it from a distance, just in case. Lyria has the best throwing arm, so she gets to light a pinecone and throw it in. In it goes. BOOOOOM!!! Yeah, I guess it was a good idea. No one got incinerated.

When things clear, we continue in. A little ways in, we hear the sound of feet shuffling, and smell dead bodies. That doesn't seem like a good sign, and might explain why mine was abandoned. A little further on, we see what looks like a couple of people, except they seem to be made out of fungus. They don't look friendly. Thorpe takes one down. I attack the other, who gets a couple of hits on me. I don't like being hit by walking mushrooms, so I give it a good wallop and knock it down. Thorpe's attack doesn't penetrate its armor, so I stab downward in a sure kill, but slip in the slime and fall on my face instead. Lyria comes up for the easy kill. A quick treating of my wounds, and on we go, me with a glowing rock from Thorpe in my pocket, in case of emergency.

Thorpe slices, dices, and mutilates a spore-spewing mushroom. We hear a shrieking down one of the passages which sounds like someone in trouble, and hurry along. It's just a mushroom, though, no one in danger except us. I get jumped on by an invisible man, who doesn't much care for getting stabbed in the face. Lyria manages to kill it. I'm thinking she's a lot better at killing than healing.

After that, things are pretty quiet. I pick up some copper to bring back, and away off we go, back home. This time, the trip is uneventful. Maybe we're getting better at this hiking thing. Still, I think I'd rather stay in or near the city.