Defense, elves! Spells and swords steady! We can't outrun them!
More specifically, Seltyn means fight defensively, go total defense, or cast something that will slow those monkeys down.
I don't think Elorin started her performance, so she'll move to G6 and start inspire courage. +1 to hit and damage for everybody, and next round she can keep it up and maybe fire an arrow.
Reposting initiative:
Elorin 22
Talon 21
Kalthos 19
Seltyn 11
Marlamin stood and healed?
Apes 8
Telethal 4
On his go, Kalthos will withdraw to F2 hoping to get into a flanking position.
acrobatics
Kalthos easily withdraws and avoids any attacks. Elorin may provoke an AoO starting a song--I will check.
AoO for ape
Elorin doesn't stop the ape from attacking but she deftly avoids the swipe of his muscular arm.
Talon withdraws to G11, and gets ready to shoot.
Seltyn will move from E3 to D4. This is either a 5', or counts as a 10', provoking 2 AOs.
acrobatics:
He'll cast color spray south, getting 3 apes in the cone. Will DC 16.
GM:
Talon tried to disengage without being hit.
Acrobatics, AoO, Damage
Then fires an two arrows at the apes
The first arrow slams into the ape injured by Telethal and he goes down. The second arrow narrowly misses the ape that attacked Elorin.
Before Seltyn can act, two arrows come from the jungle to the north at the ape that attacked Elorin--one wounds him significantly.
A huge figure in jungle camo runs at the ape that attacked Elorin and swings a two handed axe brutally cutting him down.
A huge crossbow bolt targets the last ape and slightly wounds him. The remaining ape is ready to run in the face of much superior numbers. Seltyn can modify his action.
The human visible has a wild look in his eyes similar to Telethal's. The arrows and crossbow came from the north of the jungle and Seltyn is closer to their position than anyone else. The attacking human is just north of the ape he dispatched.
Seltyn will 5' left and fire a missile at the last one.
Seltyn will address the man.
Thank you, sir. Your arrival is most timely and most welcomed. Those apes were quite agitated and aggressive, in spite of our efforts to calm them.
He gives Elorin a look to say "You do the talking!"
"Indeed thank you. I am Elorin Silentall, These are my friends. What may we call you?" Elorin smiles softly at the human and lowers weapon before speaking.
Mar watches in no small amount of disbelief as this unknown person singlehandedly saves their band. The realization dawns quickly that he knows far more about this than they do. Desperation in his voice, he addresses the unknown man soon after Seltyn and Elorin.
What is going on? Did you see the other frogs taking a leopard?
Kal rubs his shoulder again, wary of the human rescuers, not liking the thought of owing a human anything. Kal looks to Seltyn and Elorin, hoping to appear nonthreatening, possibly be completely looked over.
Regardless, the ape quickly withdraws to the west (left side of the map). The human says, "We can talk on the way, we must leave now or face worse. I am Merk, these two are part of my band. Watch our back trail, we leave now."
Two human rise from hiding spots, one has a heavy crossbow and the other a longbow. Both have very large axes slung on their back. One of the humans produces a burning torch and lights a patch of oil soaked vegetation and starts a fire that quickly spreads into the northwest part of the jungle.
Merk moves ahead and points ahead to a trail that has been hacked into the jungle that leads almost due north.
"Follow me if you want to live." He takes off at a run.
His two companions wait expectantly.
As the final ape flees and the humans turn out to not be an immediate threat, Telethal lets the adrenaline drain from his system. He gives an inward shrug when the others appear to trust the humans, I guess I trust my teammates...
The first twelve or fifteen seconds of the jog is a struggle for the fatigued Telethal, but he quickly gains his wind and keeps pace.
Ape
Two very inscrutable humans watch their companion rush down a trail and seem to be ready to join him. You notice they have large machetes on their belt too.
Talon's questions fall on empty air as 'Merk' quickly accelerates to top speed once he is on the cleared trail.
A group of three songbirds descend just below the canopy and seem to glance your way.
Mar lopes down the trail behind the group's seeming savior, feeling a slight sense of hope for the first time since entering the forest. At home among the trees, and unhampered by the trail, or lack thereof, he finds it easy to keep up.
The bond to Ingwe hit him like a hammer. He dropped back beside Seltyn, running at roughly the same pace, and panted out a warning to the leader.
Seltyn, this forest is not natural. Its acting out against us, working together. The apes, the frogs... But Ingwe, Ingwe is somewhere, and safe. I get messages that wherever he is, it is good. I dont know who these humans are, but they may not be what they seem. Maybe the forest is protecting itself?
Mar's struggle to comprehend the feelings and visions of a complicated entity like the forest make it difficult for him to put into words what he experienced.
Seltyn, this forest is not natural. Its acting out against us, working together. The apes, the frogs... But Ingwe, Ingwe is somewhere, and safe. I get messages that wherever he is, it is good. I dont know who these humans are, but they may not be what they seem. Maybe the forest is protecting itself?
You think Ingwe is safe? I hope you're right. Let's see if these people can tell us more, then maybe we can get him back.
Elorin hearing Marl's advice on the current state of the Forrest, faced with following armed strangers or a Forrest that may be out to get them, she figures the hard place is better than the rock in this case.
Do we follow? Marl if what you say is true then moving, either with them or to somewhere else, would be best and they may have seen Ingwe. I am concerned they are armed and seem to have the home ground advantage, though we are capable of handling ourselves also.
Noting some indecision, and being unusually upset by the presence of three little songbirds, the two humans quickly retreat down the cleared path to the north.
Seltyn will follow suit. he wonders about the three birds.
Elorin will follow Seltyn.
After a one minute sprint through the jungle you have passed two intersections with another cleared path. Your sense of direction tells you are veering towards the same direction you originally entered the jungle from, but the jungle is too dense to verify this. Merk stops and drags a wall of woven branches and leaves aside to reveal a crawl way under bushes and into a cave. He slings his greataxe and crawls 25 feet into a natural stone cavern.
The instructions Merk manages to convey between breaths on the sprint are: "Jungle is alive, like living creature--animals and sometimes plants too."
The two companions of Merk's hold the camouflage screen ready to replace and motion for you to crawl through the one foot crawl space into the cave. They quickly scan the surrounding jungle for signs of wildlife.
You must explain that more when there's time.
Telethal is too busy sucking wind to join in the conversation. Apparently running to catch frogs, then flooding your system with adrenaline, then switching gears into full flight mode really takes it out of a half-elf.
When everyone crawls into the cave you notice an small antechamber with a rugged-looking human woman in dyed furs and a stone medallion with a claw inside a spiral carved out of stone on a leather string.
"Merk, you made it. We lit a few more distracting fires when you rushed in."
The larger inner chamber is about 30 feet wide and 60 feet deep in a rough oval. In the middle is a pit about ten by ten feet with a shiny and viscous mud. Another woman is cooking skewers of meat on heated stones. There are comfortable fur rugs over woven jungle mats around the chamber. Merk quickly takes a seat and motions for the group to seat themselves.
Merk speaks,"We have been at war with the jungle for years now. It is a hostile force that is preventing us from getting to the ruins beyond. Until we allied ourselves with the divine force opposing the jungle, we had no chance. The Spider God has given us the means to fight the jungle and deplete their numbers, but the jungle can regenerate creatures at an amazing rate. The apes we killed today may be back in a day or days. We need to find the 'Heart of the Jungle' and destroy it. That is the only way to defeat the jungle."
The woman from the front comes in and adds, "I am Hagrid, I have communed with the Spider God. The means of finding the elusive Jungle Heart so that we can destroy it together is among you. Now that you are enemies of the jungle, you need to join us and affirm this with a sacred oath. If you commit yourselves to support the Spider God in this task, you can enjoy some of the magical protection and healing we do."
Hagrid fixes you with a wary eye--"Do any of you know of this Heart of the Jungle?"
The woman cooking brings skewers of meat and hands them around along with a mugs of sweetened water. "You must be famished from your fight with the jungle. Replenish your strength. My you're a strong one." She runs an approving eye over Telethal.
"I am called Amys. With your help I am sure we can win now. No more of this slinky hit and run crap."
Kal sits quietly, wondering what 'destroying the heart of the jungle' might mean, wondering if the 'heart' was somehow corrupted to make animals more aggressive than usual.
Seltyn tries to remember anything he may have learned about this sort of thing.
religion:
nature:
Telethal freezes at the woman's touch. You're reminded of a horse unsure if he's about to be punished or rewarded. At the compliment his eyes shoot to the ground and he seems to try to shrink back, a strange effect for such an imposing guy. "Um... I'm Telethal... um..." He can't seem to string any more words together, so he retreats back to Elorin, eyes still on the ground.
Seltyn addresses the question.
We know nothing of the "Heart of the Jungle," though I gather that it is a real problem, from what we've witnessed, and that you would like our help in resolving it.
Please tell us what you know of it, so we might understand it as you do. We are indebted to you for helping us with the apes, and for your hospitality. Not all humans are so well-disposed towards elvenkind, though, like many folk, there are always some who are.
I'm inclined to help you, but you must be made aware that among our folk, we must seek some consensus. Our long lives predispose us to long deliberations.
So, if you will, tell us all about this malevolence permeating your jungle, and if we decide to help you, that commitment will be sure, and we'll see it to its end.
diplomacy: