Today is the first day of the New Year. While our families are probably celebrating, we’re traveling through the strange wilderness of Etnyben. Fortunately, our spirits are high, and we’ve managed to maintain civility toward each other despite any minor disagreements. Hibimage did say he’d hoped to be at Atalan by now, but agreed we’ve still made significant progress. In my opinion, we’d better be there before this time next year! I think we’re all ready for this expedition to be over.
We passed today what appeared to be the ruins of an enormous structure. There weren’t any surviving walls, but there were piles of stone blocks and rubble. Considering the other things we’ve passed lately, we’re pretty convinced there were at one time giants in the land, and this must be the ruins of one of their structures. The question that remains unanswered is if giants still live in this land.
Something in the ruins was noticed by Dawn, but she didn’t say what it was. Whatever it was, she decided it would be a good idea for her to scout the land ahead of us. I advised against it, but she doesn’t take no for an answer. Still, her years alone leave her more qualified to scout the wilderness than any of the rest of us. I expect she’ll find us again in several days. If she does get into any trouble, she could always send Hungry to find us.
Tora’Sor and Niahla’Sen collected a few plant samples today. I’d probably never be able to guess their purpose or if the samples are for something other than random study at a later time. Fortunately, they’re carrying everything they collect. Adding to the mystery, the two operatives are drawing in the dirt by the campfire tonight. They didn’t make any effort to hide their drawings, which happened to look similar to the six-glyph recipes they’ve used before. These were different, however, and not the same glyphs Tora’Sor had me memorize almost five years ago. Perhaps they’re making up recipes that might use the plants they’ve recently collected.