Upon the return of the party, Ilyra gets mobbed in the barracks by her fellow privates and recruits and urged to recount her experience.

She recounts the experience, gesticulating: "It was myself and Pirith guiding 3 casters. Normal wastelands experience, cold and white. The magic gang noticed something coming from over the next hill where we had paused. Seemed too easy, so of course this huge goliath came out of no where and tries to eat Jaeson, I guess he looks like an appetizer."

She floofed out her hair and arched her back, like a cat trying to make herself bigger than she was.

"It had seriously tough hide and the miasma slowed our arrows, or blew them off course...SHUT UP TORVAK! YOU WERENT THERE!" She yelled at the laughing dwarf. "Only magic seemed to really work on it, til the Halfling blasted it with that weird gunpowder device. I thought it was going to cause an avalanche in the distance, so loud it was. I guess it scared the creature to death, because it fell over, slain."

She laid on the ground in repose.

"Then the pool of corruption starting acting strange, so the spell squad used a scroll to eat it! Apparently the Archmage has a flair for the dramatic. Maybe he should tell this story and not me. Long story short, it's scary out there, the beasts are mean and tough, so like, watch out and bring a buddy, ok?"

"Knew ye were all talk wi' yer fancy shooting, lass!" Torvak roared with laughter, slapping his knee. "More misses than hits!"

"YOU. WERENT. THERE! I swear I'll get Jaeson to build me a device to lob you over the wall, old dwarf!" she sticks her tongue out at him

Ilyra has another crowd of Privates and recruits about her again.

"So the dwarven engineers building the tram line called for a force of Wardens to help them clear out some pests. Simple right? They didnt know what they were, just that they were big, and their eyes glowed in the dark, and sometimes...when things were too quiet...and engineer would be dragged in to the darkness!" She waggled her fingers dramatically.

"So me, Jaeson, and Snow ventured in to the dark to flush out the critters. I figured it was goblins, But no! Out of the ground burrow...RATS!" A young recruit afraid of rats screams.

"Not just any rats. Huuuuge ones. Arrows fly, bullets bang, magic sprays, but they keep burrowing away, then bursting out trying to drag us in. I lost both Snow and Jae at one point, but were saved before being dragged to their doom to join the engineers. It was a long fight with a lot of hurt, but we killed the big'uns, only to walk down their burrow tunnels and find a whole nest of regular rats. Luckily, the engineers said they'd take care of that part. So the lesson is...watch your feet. Rats are waiting to burrow up and gnaw them off and drag you to its young....oooo!"

The paladin of the flame listens silently, making a mental note to leave the dealing with rats to rat hunters while the caravans get protected.