22nd of Arah, Second month of Winter.

  We have had rain the last two days. Cold and wet, we have set up camp to wait out the storm. This kind of storm is rare this time of year, but the last few days have been a couple marks above freezing. The wind is blowing a gale, so I have had to set up a shelter for the horses.

  At least the area is pretty. A high stone bluff that runs north to south, with a seasonal stream that the road follows down a valley that leads to a flat riverbed. There are old trees on the bluff that would act as a windbreak, but the wind is from the north.

  I am surprised there isn’t a village here at the bottom of the valley, but I will assume that it floods too much for one to not be swept away in the spring thaw. Still, a beautiful place. Tomorrow, I think I will take a walk to the river, and see what I can see.

  23rd of Arah,

  The river is nice. It’s wide, slow, and runs deep. It is also some thirty feet deeper than the top of the bank. A bank which is covered with deep rooted shrubs and trees. The lack of a village here has piqued my interest. Maybe we will stay a while to explore after the rain stops. It’s been three days straight of this damnable rain. It’s not like it can rain all the time, right?

  25th of Arah,

  The rain has continued. I have been down to the river twice more to check the water’s rise. It has gone up the bank by about a foot. I don’t know the math to figure out the flooding that will occur downstream, but here it seems like there won’t be too much, as high as the bank is.

  26th of Arah,

  The rain has let up, but the wind still blows. I am concerned about a sudden freeze.

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  27th of Arah,

  It has frozen. There is nothing but ice as far as the eye can see. Last night several of the trees on the bluff exploded from the cold. We didn’t sleep much. I will be setting up the portable forge in the morning to make ice shoes for the horses, and maybe some runners for the wagon.

  28th of Arah,

  The wind has settled down, but the temperature has dropped significantly. spitting outside causes your spit to freeze before it hits the ground.

  The horseshoes are done. The wagon has sunk into the mud from the “heatwave” and rain. I can heat the ground and pull the wagon out, but it’s really too cold to force the animals to work. I think I’m going soft in my old age; but then again, we aren’t on campaign or in a hurry to go anywhere. Semi-permanent hut it is.

  31st of Arah,

  Our semi-permanent hut has been completed. By Brianna. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t seem to make a straight wall to save my life. I can build a boat from scratch and it will sail straight and true, and the lines will be crisp and perfect; but give me a house to build and the whole thing will be crooked and drafty! Grendel thinks it’s funny.

  I should have just grown a tree house.

  38th of Arah,

  With 18 days of the month remaining, the weather has finally broken. Today was four points above, and I am betting it will be around 15 in a couple of days. Still, planting around here will probably be late.

  40th of Arah,

  Fourteen was the high today. The ground is warming up. The river is flooding…well, I assume it is flooding downstream, as it is four feet up the bank here.

  The ground where we are is wet and muddy, almost quicksand in some spots. That would explain why there are no buildings here, they would have sunken in the mud.

  41st of Arah,

  Through what I can only call random luck on our part, where we are parked and have built our hut, seems to be the only stable part of this area. Everything else is mud and quicksand. Today everything is being packed up, and tomorrow I will be making a road so we can get out of here.

  42nd of Arah,

  We made it.

  -

  Max channeled his magic and cast a modified forge spell. Moments later, in the direction he pointed, the mud bubbled and sizzled as the wet turned to steam, and the mud dried into a road.

  “Let’s go!” Max snapped the reigns, and the horses heaved the wagon onto the impromptu road. “The sooner we’re out of here, the better.”

  Love y'all. Take care of yourselves! pm me if you wanna meet up at the con.