Weaving supplies sounds reasonable.
Othniel smiles at the question of sustenance. "My lady, as Lord Alexander's Royal Enforcer, I can say with certainty that anyone assigned to your care would be sentenced to death. Minor criminals can be dealt with through fines and corporal punishment in the capital. Only those we wish never to see again would be handed over to you. Use them for labor to repair this place," he says with a wave of his hand "take sustenance from them as often as you like. They would be yours to use as you saw fit for as long or short as you like, so long as they never trouble us again. As for guards, I think that the assassin vines we have faced in this place would do an excellent job of deterring escape. Do you have some still living, or a source for more? I doubt any other guards would be needed. Prisoners would likely be few in number, easily confined out of sight so as not to disturb the beauty of this place." he says, though in his (unvoiced) opinion the place's beauty pales in comparison to that of its mistress. "As lady Andrea says, I see no reason weaving supplies or a wardrobe would be problematic."
Alexander shrugs without turning, This all sounds fine to me. I'm sure Othniel and Andrea can handle the particulars. Swear to us and you will find yourself well rewarded. Clothing, food, and yes...let us send you workers to fix this place up.
"This sounds like a suitable arrangement for me. I will swear myself to you."
"I also assume that one of you will serve as liaison between here and your capitol? Visiting as needed?" Her gaze will fall on Othniel during this last question.
She seems quite taken with you Othniel. Andrea prods.
Beaming, Othniel turns to the Lady. "Lilandria, it would be my pleasure to liaise with you whenever my duties do not demand my attention elsewhere." A way to dispose of miscreants and the gratitude of a beautiful fey woman? Sign me up!
Radomir scowls but keeps his counsel to himself. Instead, he gestures with his glavie at the woman. Should I untie here, then, milord?
Alexander nods, Yes, yes, of course.
The knight boeys his master's command, but keeps his glaive at the ready. Have a care, madam They may trust you, but I do not. And, my glaive is very sharp
Lilandria slowly gets up from the floor. More so due to her injuries than worry over Radomir's threat.
"I will make sure that the traps by the main gate are rendered safe and will await the arrival of your workers."
Andrea casts Cure Moderate Wounds on Lilandria
A token of good faith.
Alexander smiles, I suppose we should leave your...art...if you are to stay here. We'll take some, of course, to pay for the servants we will send. But that which we cannot move easily, you may keep. He pauses and looks around, And, of course, the clothes.
The man stands near the window, one hand resting on his sword belt. Well, if we're done here? It was a pleasure to meet you, Lady Lilandria. You'll have to come visit us at the castle. We'll have a party, Alexander finishes dryly. With that, he excuses himself and gets the horses ready to leave.
Andrea follows Alex down. So more exploration?
Lilandria will escort your group to the gate and even make sure that the trap is currently disabled for your passage.
Finnegan heads down with Alexander and makes sure the horses are ready to go.
Let us visit the drayd and hopefully things will not get too violent.
Seems as fine a destination as any! Alexander says as he mounts up.
Bidding farewell to his new friend the first of many fruitful visits, I hope Othniel mounts up with the others.
Lilandria bids you all farewell and you begin your trek northeast to investigate the dryad and her grove.
The ride through the forest is rather peaceful as both fey on either ends of this route keep most dangers out of their territories. After a ride of roughly five or so hours, the trees part to reveal a peaceful forest glade dappled with sunlight. A small pond lies placidly at the roots of an enormous oak tree with a scattering of leaves floating upon its surface. Birdsong twitters from the branches high above and wildflowers are found in abundance.
Birdsong isn't the only sound that your group hears as you enter the clearing. The faint sound of pan pipes floats through the clearing and you can also hear the sound of someone weeping. The source of the weeping is easier to find than the pipes as you can clearly see a female figure kneeling in front of the pond with her hands to her face, apparently unaware of you arrival as of yet.
great. More fey. Radomir grimaces and readies his Glaive. My lord, command, and i shall ride it down
We seem to be about 50/50 with the fey. No reason to just attack straight away. At least not with those odds of finding an ally, Eduard muses.
No need to be outright hostile. Andrea whispers. If she is in distress, this is an excellent opportunity to get her into our debt.
Finnegan looks to Alexander before whispering, "Should I, perhaps, seclude myself somewhere out of view?"
Alexander nods, Yes, go ahead and find yourself a good position. No sense in not being careful.
He turns to others and nods curtly before entering the clearing. Hello? he says, with his hands raised. M'lady. Are you all right?
Attempting to form a good first impression, Alexander cautiously approaches.
The beautiful fae woman lowers her hands to look up to see who speaks to her. Her body tenses as if she is prepared to flee, but slightly relaxes when she realizes Alexander is not offering any threat to her. "No sir, I am not and neither is anything that lives in my forest. A monstrous Scythe tree has moved into the area and has already hunted down and eaten anything it can catch. It's path will take it straight to my grove here and I am unable to move far enough away from my tree to avoid it. I fear it will devour me and destroy my tree!"
That certainly sounds terrible. Alexander says, with sympathy in his voice. We happen to have experience cutting down such trees. Perhaps we may be able to help. I am Alexander, and these are my friends. Why don't you tell us more about yourself and this problem and we can come up with a solution.
Andrea mutters to Alex. I think we fought something like that oh...quite a while ago when we first started exploring.
Radomir audibly gasps as the woman turns around, but quickly recovers. Fair maid, he slips from his saddle, and pats Czernabog on the neck before continuing. As my Lord has said, we have slain a creature such as this earlier in our travels. Could you point the way to this scythe tree and we can say whether we have felled this monster or if it is a threat we shall tend to?
Finnegan steps into the foliage, not putting forth much of an effort to hide himself. Once Alexander opens peaceful dialogue with the dryad, he leaves his hideout and stands, relaxed, bow at his side, making no threatening motions since this seems to be a peaceful situation.
The sound of pan pipes playing ceased when Alexander began talking.
The lovely fae thinks a moment before responding. "Falchos said that the foul tree is a mere two miles from here to the north west and is trying to make a grove there of its own. He was injured during his scouting attempt and almost did not make it back to me."
While you are talking, a Satyr limps to the edge of the clearing opposite you, clearly concerned for the fey lady you are know talking to.
Such a being would be a threat as well, so I say we go deal with it.
Eduard turns to look at the satyr, How long has this thing been in the area? He shakes his head, It is a shame that those things are too destructive to generally be reasoned with.
The Satyr moves forward and responds to Eduard. "Just a few ago it moved into the area and took over a grove belonging to Tiressia's sister. When I last saw the grove, Marissia's had be been chopped into tiny pieces and there was no sign of her."
Radomir nods. Aye, I agree my lord. This tree would upset much we establish here.
"I concur as well. These scythe trees could be very problematic for us."
The Fey woman speaks up again. "A scythe tree setting up a grove in this area would make it inhabitable for everyone and make even just trying to cross this territory very dangerous. It would surely be in the best interests of everyone if you would deal with it before it becomes established here."
Alexander's smile is warm, his tone filled with sympathy. Of course we'll destroy this tree for you. And you, Falchos is it? Would you be able to guide us to this monster? Or are you too injured?
Andrea sighs a bit. If he is, I can tend to his wounds.
"Yes, my name is Falchos. And yes, I am able to guide you to the monster. Though I fear that I am of little use in battle against it, the plant is immune to my charms."
We will take the lead in dealing with this creature.
Othniel nods his agreement. "We have dealt with one such tree before, and can deal with this one as well."
Falchos bids farewell to Tiressia and leads your group down a small trail. After traveling roughly two miles, Falchos comes to halt and points up ahead. "If you look about forty feet ahead of us, you can see where the trail opens up into another clearing. That is where the Scythe tree is setting up its own grove. The monstrous tree is usually in the center of the grove and is encircled by several of its saplings. I can't even begin to think of how terrible it would be for the denizens of this forest if all of those trees are allowed to grow up."
Finnegan nods and draws forth his machete, remembering that his arrows would do little to the plant.
I still have some flaming bolts and a bless spell. Andrea loads her crossbow
Don't bother with the flaming bolts. Only the fire will affect the creature and that's not what makes the weapon so effective. Alexander chuckles as he continues, and those things are expensive!
We are certainly going to need to invest in anti-plant weapons and magic if we keep facing killer trees.
"This seems to do the trick, although I'll admit an axe would probably be better," Finnegan says, hefting the machete. "Not sure about magic, though. That's outside my area of expertise."
Andrea will Bless the group