The time for departure had finally come after way too many days of waiting. Ambigious was walking in the middle of the group, leading his horse Breakfast through the underbrush of the jungle. Shadow had taken the lead and was clearing away the plants ahead of them using what looked to be Wither magic.

Unchosen and freeZe were walking ahead and behind of Ambigious respectively. Unchosen was leading Flower and freeZe was leading Rust. freeZe had mostly recovered from the wound she had received in Rockhaven, she now only occasionally suffered from shortness of breath.

TehLulz stayed behind in the base just like they had said. Ambigious would have liked to have him along for the ride but he saw that in the state he was in there just was no point.

Fire, Unchosen and Ambigious were wearing their usual firesteel armor, since out in the field there was little reason to wear anything else. Shadow and freeZe had exchanged their mage robes for outfits more fit for riding.

Ambigious had had a look over a map in Fire's base and apparently their path would lead them through quite a variety of climates so he doubted that these outfits were all they had. Then again, Ambigious suspected that whatever Shadow was wearing were just her shapeshifted robes. If they could turn into a dress, why wouldn't they be able to turn into other things?

They took a similar path out of the jungle to the one they had taken when they departed to Rockhaven, presumably because it was the most direct way to more horse-traversable terrain.

According to Fire they had more than enough food and water, apparently he had packed double of what the estimated travel would require. Ambigious definitely had gotten a taste of what the server could throw at them so he was glad to have extra food.

After a bit more walking they exited the jungle and immediately mounted up. Ambigious instinctively knew what to do, a fact that still made him slightly uncomfortable seeing that a couple of days ago he hadn't had any experience with horses whatsoever.

They rode along the biome border between the jungle and the savannah. The environment was quite hot but not unbearable. The horses seemed to manage just fine.

###

They rode for hours, only occasionally stopping to eat and drink. Eventually they arrived at a fork in the biome border. Ahead of them was a taiga biome.

Fire declared: "We ride straight ahead. There should be a road about three hours in. We'll ride for two hours, then set up camp for the night. That should lower our chances of being ambushed."

freeZe said: "Which won't be more than an inconvenience, I'm itching to use my magic again now that it's back in full."

Shadow said: "It may just be an inconvenience but it's enough to disturb your sleep, which will delay us going forward."

Ambigious wasn't used to his sister being so… aggressive. Normally he was the one eager to start a fight. He wasn't a psychologist so instead of trying to understand the reason for the change, he simply decided to keep it in mind.

Before they started riding again freeZe opened the bag she was carrying and put on an additional layer of clothes in light of the colder climate ahead of them. Shadow's clothes just remained as they were, Ambigious supposed that there was no reason for her to change, considering her nature.

Once freeZe was done, they mounted up and rode once again. Luckily for them the taiga ahead of them hadn't seen snowfall in a while. The ground was covered by soft moss and occasional shrubs. There was enough space between the spruce trees to ride in a more-or-less straight line.

If anything, this was one of the most relaxing travels Ambigious had had on the server. During their run from the quarry nothing had ever been relaxing. Their journey to Rockhaven had been largely on foot or in some kind of vehicle and the same was true for the return trip. This journey may not be the most physically relaxing one either, riding on a horse took more than just sitting and letting the horse do its thing. However Ambigious found that having the landscape go by with the wind on his face a far more mentally relaxing experience than any other method of travel so far.

###

After the two hours of riding had passed they once again stopped and dismounted. They quickly set up camp using a series of magically expanding tents and freeZe used her magic to light a campfire.

They sat down to eat, the horses meanwhile roamed around the camp eating some of the moss on the ground. Ambigious took his piece of salted and dried meat and started chewing.

Between bites he asked: "Why didn't you bring any magically preserved food by the way? Not complaining about the meat, it's tough and salty as all hell but it's still good."

Fire replied: "One reason is that we didn't have much of it left and preserving new food takes time, another is that we don't know what the End portal, and the End in general, will do to that preserving magic. It would be unfortunate to have to make the trip back having to forage for food all the time."

"Makes sense."

Unchosen remarked: "This is by far the most conventional adventure I've been on. That is, until we jump into a portal to fight a dragon in space. This'll make a great story to tell my daughters."

freeZe looked up and smiled. "Careful about those death flags Unchosen."

Unchosen shrugged. "I'm not worried about death on principle, at least not in here. As long as respawning is possible I can raise all the death flags I want… I wish I had some photos and a retirement coming up to complete the set."

Fire said: "As long as you're with us, all of that shouldn't be a problem."

Fire then took a map from his inventory and spread it out on the floor. It was the same map, or a copy at least, that Ambigious had seen in Fire's base. It seemed to cover the entire central continent of the server's world.

Fire pointed at a spot. "We're about here so we're making good time. We should be through the taiga in another three days. After that, the plains should take us only two days. The remainder of the time will be taken up by mountains surrounding our destination. Fortunately there is a main road we can ride on, so we won't have to do much navigating. Weaving through those valleys will still take a while though."

Shadow said: "The people from Whitegravel really should invest in tunneling through more of the mountains but I guess they like their relative isolation. Their farming is going well enough to sustain the inhabitants and traders come to them anyways."

Fire added: "I also heard someone make the argument that their town being inaccessible adds to the pull for the adventurers. As much as they may dislike them on an individual level, the adventuring tolls for the stronghold ruins are a good part of their income."

They kept talking for a while before deciding to go to sleep. Riding was quite tiring in the long term and they'd have to do a whole lot more of it in the near future.