Snow crunched noisily underneath shod hooves as Silas's mount navigated the snowy plains with the rest of the party, letting the short Half-Elf's wagon clack on in the vanguard. Silas himself took the rear, giving himself a good view of Lydia's as she bounced in the saddle. Of course, as good as he could see at this point; The tender flesh around his eye had already begun to swell, reducing him to a squint through a reddened eye while the flesh practically burned with bruising,<em><strong>at least the damn weather's cooling it off</strong></em>Silas noted sourly, looking around at the vast expanse of dull, featureless snow-covered plains. Worse yet, no one seemed to be in the mood for conversation, letting their ears be filled with the sound of crunching snow, the occasional whicker and the light breeze. It was even worse than the jungle; at least THAT had the distinction of new sights, sounds and smells.<br/><br/>"<strong>I'm bored</strong>" Silas complained, even his declaration of boredom sounded dull, "<strong>and... And this weather still doesn't make any fuckin' sense</strong>" Silas gave a sweep with an open hand at the plains before them, "<strong>I mean <em>look at this</em>, one day and a couple dozen miles ago I was sweatin' my balls off, and now Nature wants to freeze 'em? The poor things need some rest, they've been through a lot this past week.</strong>" Slumping in his saddle, Silas concluded with a mumbled curse, "<strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 6pt;">somewhere some deity or spirit is laughing their ass off at all this...</span></strong>"<br/><br/>Silas's mood osscilated between relief and frustration as Bokken's hut came into view; the place looked like it has been disused for some time now, "<strong>great</strong>" Silas said as they approached the hut, "<strong>this - this is just <em>fantastic</em>, we spent a few hours riding here for this? For some ghosts and echoes? Bokken better be alive and kickin' in there.</strong>" Finding a place to tie up his horse, Silas slid out of the saddle and walked mannishly to the hut's entrance, "<strong>hey Bokken, you in there? The Oleg's told us to talk to you about potions</strong>" he asked as he knocked on the door, white ephemeral clouds puffing with every word.