After the older man completes his scan, he contemplates thoughtfully, and then retrieves the basket.

"Sovereign One, please protect and preserve us as we face the Veil, I pray..."

He sings softly to soothe the creature within, waiting for the ebb and flow of the Veil to recede.

Then he gently places the basket on the ground where the stones are more colorful, and retreats.

And so he keeps his watch, both observing his surroundings, and observing the basket as the Veil continues to ebb and flow...

The waves of the Veil wash over the basket intermittently.  You can judge the obscuring factor of the Veil, and guess that within it, you would have a visible radius of about 15 feet or so.

As for the basket and its contents, nothing happens.  At least, nothing you can currently see.  The creature goes through periods of quiet and other periods of restlessness and whining.  Some parts of the basket are looking worn and weakened, when viewed in the light of dawn.

The older man awakens, and finishes his silent praying before dawn.  Then he goes to greet Derrick.

"Peace to you.  How was the watch?  And how fares our friend in the basket?"

As he listens to the answer, he looks at the current state of the ebb and flow of the Veil, ready to retrieve the basket and the occupant therein at an opportune moment...

“We will pass through”, offered Artor with certainty when he woke, emerging in the bundled cloak and patchwork rags that covered every part of him

“Let it wash over us and through us, but we will remain”

Nodding a morning greeting to the others he picks his way to the basket with the canarium, paying little heed to the Veil itself
This message was last edited by the player at 09:34, Sat 21 Sept 2019.

Artor walks through the trailing end of a wave to pick up the basket.  The physical sense of the Veil is nearly imperceptible, barely a current of air.

The basket itself is a bit damaged, but from the inside.  The creature has been trying to dig its way out after at least a day trapped inside.  There doesn't appear to be any other changes to the basket, but given its condition, this minor alterations would be difficult to notice.

Derrick has kept and eye on the basket throughout his watch, but his attention has largely been focused on the land to the south. He is more concerned about something following them. When the others begin to stir, he keeps his watch until the most of the party is awake and preparing for the day ahead.

When Agatho approaches, Derrick bows his head. "Peace to you. There was nothing of consequence. Just the creatures of the land and of those, none that were a threat to us. I imagine whatever is in the basket is upset about still being in the basket, but it has continued to move and make noise. Whatever threats lie in the Veil, they must lie deeper inside than in this border region."

Derrick watches carefully as Artor is touched by the Veil, but when he seems no more affected than the basket, he nods to himself.

Hoa Sen sleeps lightly and, when she wakes, moves automatically through her morning stretches and katas (though she abbreviates them). She takes an unusually light breakfast. Only after does she offer more than casual greetings to the others.

"We'll try the Veil, then. As soon as we're ready, I think? There's no reason to delay. Every day that passes is another that Canthus must struggle for survival."

Artor nodded with Hoa Sen's words, "Come then, my friends. Follow me"

With that he carefully opened the canarium's basket, hand ready to grasp at the creature within, and - cradling it in the crook of one arm with his glaive held in the other - walked into the Veil

Opening the basket, Artor is assaulted by the smell of og-whirric dung, as well as the offending producer.  The creature scrambles out and tries to flee, but is easily caught by Artor as the damaged container falls to the ground, breaking further.  Its confinement and efforts to escape have weakened it.

The og-whirric is scarcely larger than the Jack's fist and it's scales are still soft, supple, and dark at such a young age.  Calming slightly in Artor's gentle grip, it looks around, blinking, as it is engulfed in the purplish fog.  Up close, glints of light are still visible in the substance of the Veil.

[OOC: Radwa and Hoa would be familiar with og-whirric, but the rest of you really haven't encountered them before now.]

Retaining his gentle grip, Artor lets a tendril of darkness caress the creature's flank as they step onwards

Radwa gathers a few things from the cart and joins the others, refreshed and ready.

"All right - a short explore to make sure it's clear, and then we can come back for the cart and explore some more. That sound like a good plan?" they ask as they follow Arotr and the others through.

Derrick watches the others enter the Veil. He glances back at the cart with a nervous expression and then at Agatho. "I worry that leaving the cart is a mistake. If we are unable to return at first, then we will be without all the supplies." That said, strategy is not the large man's forte so he looks to his companion for advice.

Those stepping into the Veil notice a few things very quickly.  First, it really doesn't feel like much of anything.  While there is obviously ... something surrounding you, it has a mass no more perceptible than that of fog, and likely even less.  It does not seem to be accumulating on your clothing or your skin.  It does not seem to be affecting your breathing.

Second, within the substance of the Shimmering Veil, visibility is very quickly diminished.  You can see clearly only about 10 feet ahead (3 meters), and poorly to a distance of about 20 feet.  This is due to both the Veil obstructing your view and the amount of light that filters through it.  Once you are more than 30 feet or so from the outer border, the amount of light is similar to that of twilight after the sun has dropped below the horizon.  The prismatic blinking continues and is more visible within the Veil, likely due to the lack of brighter lights to compare it to.  If you look back toward the sun, you see the same dimming and scattering effect you witnessed last night during sunset.

The terrain you are on is very similar to what you've been driving on.  Largely flat or gently rolling hardpan studded with rocks of various sizes.  You don't immediately notice any plant or animal life.

The older man nods in agreement with Derrick, and calls to the others as they enter.

"Please stay within visual range, or we may lose each other, our wagon, and our way.  We must stay together, or risk failing in our mission before we've begun."

He positions himself so that he can still see the wagon as well as his companions.

Stretching out his Scanning senses, he then tries to assess what effect(s), if any, the Veil is having upon them...

In or out of the Veil, Agatho doesn't sense anything different than the night before.  The Veil and his companions are the same as they were.

“We need to press on”, called Artor from out front, “Bring the wagon?”

Hoa calls out "Do we dare begin laying the azure cable and reality spikes? We do Canthus no good if we find only our own way through."

Glacing at the cart nervously, Derrick shouts back. "I wouldn't not trust myself to drive the cart. I will fetch the cable and spikes, but I think Radwa should drive the cart." He returns to the cart and begins to pull out the cable and the reality spikes.

When he returns, Derrick looks at Agatho and asks: "The first spike should be placed outside the perimeter of the Veil should it not? We should find a suitable place to drive it in." He begins to look around for a place where the ground will be firm enough to hold the spike.

Radwa finds a spot with a direct line of sight to the entry to the Veil, firm enough to hold one of the spikes. "This should do - we can always retrace our steps and pull up a spike if we need to go back and change our route," they say as they get the cart ready to drive. "The cart will give us a measure of protection while we drive through, though we're not going to be going very fast thanks to the visibility. I hope it's not like that all the way through."

Whilst the others laid the breadcrumbs behind them, Artor watched the mists billow. His thoughts turned to their nature, idly considering their motion of that of the dark fog beneath his own skin. With one finger of the hand that held the canarium, he idly scratched beneath its chin

The group walk and drives forward, cable slowly unspooling behind them.  The substance of the Veil remains as visually impenetrable, and the going is very slow.  Distance becomes harder to measure to those not deliberately counting their steps.

Approximately fifteen minutes of walking elapse when the explorer's path is blocked.  A large, irregular wall of rock grows out of the sandy soil.  Close inspection shows that it is studded with many of the same unusual stones that the ground holds.  The wall seems to be a natural formation, topping out at about fifteen feet tall.  It runs a jagged path nearly parallel to the Veil in this area.

Derrick eyes the top of the strange rock wall. "I think it would be easy enough to climb over this. I can do so. Just to get a view of the other side."

At the appearance of the wall, Artor stopped and waited for the others to catch up; when Derrick volunteered to scale it, he simply nodded, "Climb, and I will pass you the canarium"

"Take some of the spool with you - if you get in trouble we can reel you back with it," Radwa suggests as they get out of the cart, unreeling some more of the spool and offering a couple of loops to Derrick.

"The walker won't be able to climb it, in any case," Hoa Sen says, stating the obvious. The arkus looks up at the wall, then along it, peering as though she can get through the Veil's rainbow haze simply by staring harder. "We'll need to find a way around or through. Hopefully a fresh perspective gives us the necessary insight."