I dunno why, but I was expectin' these backpacks to feel heavier.

They felt heavier pickin' em up, but like this, they don't feel bad at all.

It's because of how they distribute their weight.

Normally, backpacks focus their weight on your shoulders, but with these, the waist strap focuses the weight there.

The shoulder straps are more to keep it upright than anything else.

Huh. Does it really make that much a difference?

Your legs are designed to hold weight better. If the weight was focused on your shoulders, eventually you'd lose feeling in your arms.

I guess that makes sense.

If we're haulin' around all this stuff, we'd want to make it as easy as possible.

What kinda stuff we carryin' other than food, anyway?

Everyone has an assortment of emergency tools for various purposes, climbing rope, sleep supplies, and individual tents.

I've also stocked a bit of emergency supplies to help with any encounters we may have. Things that should scare elementals away, distract beasts in the cave, and so on.

When we make camp later tonight, I'll show everyone how to assemble the tents! Can't be sleeping with the wind on our faces, you know.

I'm surprised ya two aren't doin' your fennic stuff to make this easier for ya'selves.

It's probably important we conserve our magick for anything that comes up. We don't know if we'll have to fight anything today, and our food won't really restore our magick.

Look! Over there! Aren't those elementals?

Looks like a Ball Lightning and a Graupel elemental arguing.

As long as we stay a bit away, they should keep fighting amongst themselves. Let's veer right here a bit to give them a bit of space.

Do they just spend months like that?

Time doesn't have meaning to them like it does to us. They aren't self-aware enough.

They don't have any understanding of death, either, so they just do what comes naturally.

I wonder what the elementals around the other Nexuses are like. If they fight like that.

Also if their size has anythin' to do with how aggressive they are. Seems like it.

They aren't like an average rogue elemental, though. They're just fueled by the energy of the nexus, so they manifest in a larger form.

Large elementals further from the nexuses usually are the result of a del trying to make something aggressive.

Or something like a powerful storm. But they're generally short-lived.

I've had enough fightin' elementals for my whole life, I'll tell you that for free.

I'm not entirely clear on what 'graupel' is, but I can tell ya just lookin at em I don't want any of it flung at me like that.