Even if finding herself back to Buddy's side was somewhat frustrating, she was glad to be learning something important. She did try to make conversation with him, but it did prove to be difficult since he didn't remember much of himself, and thus his own opinions. She answered his apology, "It's alright. There's no need to apologize. If anything, I'm still learning a lot from this," She made a mental note to get him a book to read.

Oh wait a minute...didn't she have books from Cassari? That's right, she hadn't had a chance to read those yet! Perhaps she and Buddy could read those together at some point.

Sylvia then gained an idea. Since she couldn't really ask him questions, she figured why not share the story that Shortfang had told her, and maybe a bit of One Thousand and One Nights with him. She asked Buddy, "Oh! Buddy, were you able to hear Shortfang's story at all?"

”I’ve been outside this whole time, so I’ve not been able to hear whatever happened inside. At least nothing that wasn’t loud. If ser - I mean if Shortfang told a story, I would not mind listening to it. Just be aware I am also keeping watch.” Aside from walking around to do some patrolling, Buddy didn’t really do much but stare out into the darkness. Sonhe would be able to listen to your tales even if it seemed like he wasn’t paying attention.

Sylvia nodded and answered "OK. That's fair," So, she decided to retell Shortfang's story to the best of her ability while following Buddy on his patrol. While she didn't have very many props to use as a...ghost? She did her best to make the story as entertaining as it was for her, Pylia, Andrews, and Elena.

Whenever Buddy got close to the house, Sylvia decided to try something. She told Buddy, "Oh, let me try something real quick," She then tried to phase through the wall of the house and see if she could take a peek inside. Maybe she can check on everyone, and on her own body? Or would it be like last time and it would just turn out to be her and Buddy in this...gray scale world.

You spend some time retelling Shortfang’s story about Pun-Pun. Unlike the kobold your grasp of common made it more concise, not to mention you were able to tell it in one sitting. Your curiosity would also soon be answered as you phased into the building and to your surprise, you would see everyone this time. Andras and his family sleeping in their part of the room, Ferric and Mica sleeping in bedrolls in their side, Shortfang curled up next to the now fading fire place, and Pylia who was also asleep and fully covered herself with her bedroll. And of course there was you.

Your body was very still, though if you went to check you can hear and see yourself breathing. You could see your body was asleep even as your mind was having this literal out of body experience. It was unusual to say the least.

Sylvia was surprised to see everyone here this time around, and she had to admit, it was surreal when she went to check on her own body. She was relieved to see that she was still alive, and it wasn't like she wasn't breathing if she was going through this experience.

Everyone else seems to be fine. But there was one other point of curiosity that Sylvia couldn't help but remember.

Muriel...

Sylvia simply decided to stay by her body and look towards where Muriel's bed is. She hoped to see that Muriel is also asleep like everyone else...

Muriel was gone. Her door was closed and locked, which didn’t matter for a ghost like yourself, but no one was one her bed. Her tiny window was open but the woman herself was not at home. There didn’t seem to be any signs of a struggle or fight. Everything was neat and orderly. The only thing that would seem the least bit odd were the presence of black feathers near the window.

When Sylvia went to check on Muriel, she was surprised to find that she was gone. Where could she have gone? Sylvia grew concerned and so she investigated the room, only to find that there were no struggle, and there were...black feathers near the window?

...Was it possible for people to turn into animals here? Sylvia wasn't sure, but she couldn't think of any other explanation for the feathers and the lack of a fight...

She tries looking outside through the window to see if she could see anything, or anyone, nearby the house.

Now that she thought about it, wasn't there a trap door in the house as well...? Sylvia considered investigating beyond the trap door as well.

Aside from Buddy and the mules there wasn’t anything amiss outside. The rain had stopped by a mist was rolling in, causing Buddy to be on very high alert. He mentions not having a good darkvision, so he must focus intently if anything planned to use this mist to approach the house.

As for the trap door you would be able to go down there easily, though there wasn’t much of note. There seemed to be some sort of butchered animal carcass hung down here along with other temperature sensitive food stuffs. Seemed that this trapdoor led to a cellar. But there was one thing of note down here. Sitting on a table nearby was a mask. It looked like you’re typical plague doctor beak mask. It was clean, if damaged, very well worn.

Sylvia answered Buddy, "Alright. Shout if you need help Buddy. I just checked the inside and Muriel's gone. I'm gonna look around a little more," She then headed back inside and investigated the interior of the trap door.

So far it just appears to be a normal cellar door. However, she then spotted the plague doctor mask. As Sylvia looked at the mask, she asked to herself, "Why would Muriel have this?"

...Was this Muriel's mask to begin with? And why would she need a plague doctor mask to begin with?

She headed back outside to meet up with Buddy to help keep watch. She also wanted to keep watch on the inside as well, just to make sure that her own body and her friends aren't in danger.

The night would pass uneventfully. A few hits later the sun would rise through the mist and all seemed to be well. You’d feel yourself feeling faint, tired even, as if you need to go lay down. Perhaps when your ghost self needs to sleep, your body will awaken. Or something. Either way it doesn’t seem like it will rain today, so aside from rough roads it should be a clean day of travel. ”And So morning comes. Shall I go awaken the others?”

Sylvia was relieved to see that nothing bad happened over night, but oh man. She felt tired, which was very confusing! Her ghost self needed rest? But wouldn't her own ghost self be active during the day as well? She had so many questions. She answered Buddy, "Don't worry about it, Buddy. I should be able to wake them up," She yawned and she told him, "I'll see you in a bit, Buddy,"

She then decided to try and wake herself up. If her ghost self felt tired, maybe just closing her eyes and going to sleep will wake her body up? Sylvia wasn't exactly sure how this worked.

Regardless, if or when she does wake up, she'd get to waking everyone else up so they can continue on their way to Gransys. She'd rather not stay at this house for longer than necessary.

The idea of waking your body up was strange indeed, but this is a strange world. The moment you touch your body you open yours eyes and find yourself laying on your bedroll. It seemed that waking yourself up was as easy as a touch. Unlike your ghost form you don’t feel particularly tired, quite the opposite you’re fully rested. It wasn’t long before the others got up too. And perhaps most surprisingly, Muriel came out from her room, yawning a little as she headed towards her cellar.

“Please, before you leave, allow me to make you some breakfast. It isn’t much, but it is the least I can do for my guests.”

Sylvia blinked rapidly as she woke up. She felt well rested, and she sat up as she yawned. Thankfully the others got up. She was somewhat surprised to see Muriel was up and about as well.

...It was interesting how she came out of her room like she had actually been asleep in there. But Sylvia knew that she had been gone when she checked on her...

And she was heading to the cellar....with the animal carcasses and the plague doctor mask.

...Now, Sylvia wasn't one to judge, but a lot of things were odd.

She recalled how embarrassed Muriel was yesterday when she refused the sandwiches, and she was hiding a bulge in her dress. It still begged the question as to where Muriel went last night and what she did, but at least there weren't any hostile intentions behind Muriel's actions and words, which came to a relief to Sylvia.

The only way to answer her questions would be to let Muriel prepare breakfast for them. She answered Muriel, understanding her desire to be a better hostess, "Oh, thank you Muriel. That is very kind of you. Perhaps, I can help you cook?"

Had she been hostile, Sylvia would have suggested leaving immediately, but thankfully that wasn't the case.

“No no, I shouldn’t make my guests make my meals. I shall prepare breakfast for you all. It would seem some need your help anyways.” Sure enough Pylia was trying to wake up Shortfang but he wasn’t budging. The healer tries to lightly slap his face but all he did was roll over and continue sleeping, making Pylia exasperated. “Shortfang, if you don’t get up I will toss you into a puddle. I know you can hear me!”

Sylvia raised a curious eyebrow at the last sentence before turning her attention back to her friends. Ah...Now she sees what Muriel meant. Sylvia wondered if Shortfang was having a vision, or if he was just simply sleeping in. She joined in on trying to wake Shortfang. She called to Shortfang, shaking him gently by the shoulder, “Shortfang? Rise and Shine, bud. It’s morning. If you don’t wake up, you’re gonna miss breakfast!”

Shortfang mumbled more and didn't seem like he wanted to get up. "Shortfang sore... Shortfang sleep more..." Pylia was getting impatience as she rolled up her bedroll and wielded it menacingly. "I'm sure beating him with a bedroll won't hurt him too badly, right Sylvia?" Pylia seemed to only be asking you to threaten Shortfang, but it's possible that she's also looking for your permission to lay a smack down. The others at least were able to muster themselves easily enough, and Muriel began cooking some sort of roasted meat with nuts and berries.

Sylvia couldn't help but smile as she held back laughter from the antics of her friends. She answered Pylia, now in a teasing mood, "Now, now. There's no need for violence," She teased Shortfang a bit more, with a bit of fake, drama queen-esque, sadness, "I guess we'll just have to live without knowing how the tale of Pun-Pun ends! Oh the humanity!" She then shrugged and teased a little more, "Oh well, more food for us!"

It wasn't long before everyone started smelling something rather delicious. It looked like Muriel moved the roasted meat into a pot to be braised in a soup made of smoked nuts and berries, giving off an earthly sweet scent. Smelling this got Shortfang sitting up. "Uh.... Wait for Shortfang? Shortfang... Needs a minute okay?" The kobold got off the hard ground with some difficulty, stretching himself out as best as he could. "Ah, next time Shortfang sleep outside. No used sleep on hard floor." Pylia booped him in the face with the bedroll, however he caught the bedroll tightly and pretended to fall asleep while grasping onto it. "Shortfang I will toss you off this cliff if you don't wake up!"

After a few more minutes of foolery, Shortfang does put away his things and escape Pylia's wrath. Muriel was almost done cooking as everyone else went outside to prepare to leave once more. They take a little while longer however as Andras came up with an idea to put chains onto the wheels of the cart and wagon, so that they'd have more traction going up the wet slopes. Ferric did have some steel-link chains, usually for sealing doors and such, and wasn't against using them since he didn't really make much money selling them. It was around this time that Muriel was finally done cooking and offered everyone to have one meal with her before they'd leave. She created a braised goat with mountain nuts called Harspud and some wild berries, served with a bowl of wheat gruel and a mug of cold rain water.

"I must apologize for making my guests cook yesterday, all I had was a bit of meat which I knew wasn't going to satisfy everyone. I usually live here alone, so a bit of goat over a fire is enough for me, but guests should have something finer than that. Fortunately I left early this morning to forage some berries and nuts to add to this otherwise bland meal." It wasn't half bad. It was rather salty, but the the sauce from the nuts and berries gave the meat a tender flavor that could be described as a sort of sweetness to it, almost like a jam but much more runny. The gruel was oddly pleasant with a hint of sweetness in it. A few more bites and you may realize that the gruel was made not with water, but milk.

Sylvia caught the scent of the meal as well, and she felt her mouth start to water. She couldn't help but laugh a bit and take part in the tomfoolery. It was especially hilarious how Pylia booped Shortfang with the bedroll. Eventually Shortfang does indeed put his things away. She too put her things away, as Muriel finished cooking for everyone. When Andras mentioned using chains on the wheels, Sylvia agreed as well. She had heard of people putting chains on car wheels back home as well.

Then the meal was ready. She accepted the meal from Muriel with a "Thank you,". When Muriel apologized for making her cook yesterday, Sylvia waved the apology and answered "Oh, it's fine. I mean, we did come to your home without any sort of warning after all," She tried the meal and she complimented, "This is really good, Muriel," She never ate goat meat before, and she did realize that the gruel was made with milk instead of water.

"Thank you. It's made from a local wild mountain goat called a spiral horn. They're quite capable climbers, and for the lucky few who can catch them, their horns are quite valuable and their fur make for resilient clothing. I used to see more of them around here however since this pass had been abandoned, instead of the goats flourishing more monsters have moved in and driven many of them higher towards the peak." Muriel sighs softly as she finished her meal. She didn't have much as she gave most of it to the guests. "If you go further down the mountains, do be careful. I've heard that a tribe of goblins have taken up residence in the ruined fortifications. I'd go clear them out myself, but they're smart enough to hide if they don't think there's anything worth taking. They'd ignore a lone warrior or hunting but they would be more willing to go after caravans or travelers like yourselves."