There were gnolls there Felix whispers urgently. In the hut. S'latch, is the clan there in trouble or would they be aiding the gnolls that massacred your tribe?
The group heads toward the woods far enough to be out of earshot or eye sight of the lizardman tribe.
S'latch joins you guys.
S'latch nods that this clan could be in trouble, I think that they were spared cause they knew the way to the man bull cave. perhaps that is their goal? I don't remember the way to the tree but I have been to the cave once.
Then when the gnolls and their masters find the bull cave I don't think they'll have any problems with carrying out another massacre. We should take care of this now. Any ideas on how we can kill the gnolls without putting the lizardfolk in danger?
I recommend we sneak back. Watch for some of the gnolls to come out and then begin our assault. Might be able to drop a few of them and give the lizardfolk a chance to either run or help us fight.
S'latch looks concerned over the plan,
I think we should seek the guardian first. she can help. I have seen the monsters fight, you are strong, but they are stronger.
he pleads with you guys, please, find the guardian first, maybe she will know how to help.
"Hey Felix, how many gnolls did you see?" Tatsuo asks in Common.
He then continues first in Common, for his companion, and then again in Draconic. "The chief said he sent the group to the guardian, so they're currently split up. Can you tell us more about this guardian? I just don't want to go after him/her/it only to find that these intruders have killed it, and we missed our chance to hit them while they were split up."
Mickey listens silently. He is a tactician by no means and is just listening as people make plans.
I just saw the one, in the hut behind the chief Felix answers Tatsuo. The chief seemed more worried about us than his own people. Maybe... it's best to go to this Cieba Tree Guardian. The tribe seems to be keeping the gnolls peaceful... for now.
S'latch turns to answer Tat, What I know is that the guardian is that she is a human looking girl but has skin like the skin of a tree, and leaves in her hair.
I have been told she can turn into a tree.
Then let's hurry. She might need help.
Tatsuo shrugs. "Unless she a powerful spellcaster, she doesn't sound like much of an ally. But if everybody else wants to see her first, let's go." Tatsuo heads out with the rest.
Mickey follows, looking around the area. He takes a deep breath on through his nose as they take on speed to fond the tree lady.
He holds his Quarterstaff behind him, leaning in to the run with flowing rope belts billowing behind him.
S'latch leads you as best he can, fortunately Felix manages to keep you on track.
eventually you come to a small clearing. A female form lies on the forest floor just a hundred feet ahead, maybe less. she appears to be perfectly still, at least from this distance.
you manage to make out some older gnoll tracks heading toward the clearing.
Felix casts Guidance on himself and checks out the area.
If he doesn't see any trap or danger he will proceed cautiously forward.
There are older gnoll tracks here. S'latch. Is that the guardian?
Felix will also cycle through his Detect Alignment special abilities.
First Detect Evil
Then Detect Chaos
Then Detect Lawful
Then Detect Good.
Tatsuo grumbles something under his breath about "some ally" and then walks up to her to check if she's still alive.
Meanwhile, Sora sniffs about for lurking gnolls.
she detects as Good
As you approach the form lying in the grass you hear moaning.
this woman appears very ill.
this woman is in fact a fey creature probably a dryad
the previous spoiler plus...
she is dying, she needs to be back at her tree, or perhaps the tree itself is damaged.
she has symptoms similar to being poisoned
She's a dryad seems like and she's dying. If we can get her back to her tree she should recover. Unless the tree itself is damaged... Come on. Let's pick her up. If we keep following the elder's directions we should be able to find the tree.
Felix taps her gently on the shoulder. Miss... Miss.. Where is your tree?
"She seems to have been poisoned. Does anybody know if that's likely due to her leaving her tree? Or was it gnolls?"
While Sora continues to stand watch, Tatsuo starts checking her over for any obvious wounds or puncture marks, starting with her neck.
Melina lifts her head to see who has come, her face and skin are very pale. she definitely looks sickly.
there are no signs of any wounds upon her.
when asked about her tree, she points down a trail to your left.
when you look in that direction you can make out the tree that you are seeking.
this tree looks like it is dying but can still be saved.
The tree is probably about 300 to 400 yards down the path.
Well let's carry her to it at least. Maybe that'll fix her. Don't know much about trees though so don't know what we can do if it's not right.
"I think I'll leave the carrying up to the rest of you; there's not enough room around her for us all to try, and I think someone like Conner would be of more use."
Tatsuo gives a low whistle, summoning Sora back to his side. "We'll scout ahead a short ways: for all we know, she's over here because she was running from the gnolls. This way hopefully you'll at least get enough warning to put her down before getting ambushed."
With that Tatsuo and Sora take off at a light trot towards the tree.
Hoping that she's not too heavy, as he isn't particularly strong, Felix will help carry her towards the tree.
Miss... do you know if your tree's alright. If not could you tell us what's wrong with it?
As the group approaches the Ceiba Tree, there is another body lying on the ground by the tree.
the leaves of the tree are turning brown, the bark is peeling, something definitely is not right with the tree.
The body appears human, a youthful looking man, very lithe with dark hair and dark eyes. he looks like he was in a fight and lost. there is blood on his clothing and hands.
Felix carefully lowers the girl to the ground and examines the body.
As Felix tends to the man, Tatsuo continues scouting the nearby area. He circles around the tree looking both for obvious signs of why it's dying or gnoll ambushes.
The individual on the ground is alive, he seems to be just unconscious.
his clothing is bloody, but not all of it is his blood.
nearby the body (was hidden by the tree when you first arrived) is the body of a gnoll, it is definitely dead.
there are no signs of a gnoll ambush.
the tree is being poisoned, most likely a nearby water source.
Mickey casts cure light on the new guy.
He checks the area around the tree to make sure there are no more hostiles.
He does so without saying anything, relying only on intuition.
Tatsuo jogs back to the group. "Found a dead gnoll but no sign of others about. No idea what's wrong with the tree. Did you manage to wake the bloody guy up or is he dead?"
He's alive. Mickey seems to be taking care of him. Something is very wrong with the tree though. Maybe he'll know what we can do, otherwise this young lady isn't long for the world
Mickey tries casting detect poison to follow the trail to the source, right after he realizes that's one of his favorite spells and he could actually be using it for the first time it would've been applicable.
the unconscious man slowly regains consciousness after your healing.
You definitely see that the tree is being poisoned from a water source. somewhere off to the North, it is beyond the range of your spell.
If you concentrate and move in that direction, you could be able to track it to the source.
"If tree is being poisoned I can follow the trail. Bring them."
Being the man of few words that he is, he conveys that they should follow him in rather terse language.
He waits for people to get ready, looking at the trail with the purple glow in his eyes.
Felix crouches next to the slowly recovering man Hey, how are you? What's your name? Do you feel like you can walk?
As the young man slowly returns to consciousness he begins mumbling in a low voice.
"Sicut laetantium et omnes nepotibus wacky...."
His eyes go wide as everything appears to finally come into focus, his hand drifting toward an axe at his belt before stopping short. "You're not a gnoll. Where did you......how did.......where's Melina?"
He shakes his head, an exaggerated gesture to clear out the cobwebs, then looks back up at the warrior in front of him. "Sorry, whatever they hit us with took a lot out of me. Let's see..." The man staggers to his feet, leaning heavily on the tree as he gets up. He is wearing high quality studded leather armor armor with several pouches and straps holding various gear and light weapons.
"I'm Delkaneth, an explorer from the mainland. I was at the lizardfolk village when they were attacked, I managed to escape and meet up with the dryad before we were attacked again. We drove them off but now there's something wrong with the tree......." Delkaneth looks at the tree, then turns his head to check the area. "Whatever it was, it hit Melina pretty hard. Is she OK?"
Not waiting for an answer he retrieves the two bloody axes from the ground nearby and makes his way over to the dryad's prone form.
I'm Felix. That's Connor, and Mickey, and Tatsuo. Felix introduces the group Her tree's being poisoned. If we can figure out from where then we can save her I think. Mickey's leading the way. If you feel up to it then we can carry her with us.
Tatsuo raises a hand in greeting to the new guy. "Which lizardfolk village is this? And if Melina is the girl, she seems pretty bad off. But I'm not sure we have a way to fix her past following Mickey to try to fix the tree. We should probably hurry after Mickey if we want to help." With that Tatsuo moves to follow Mickey to the source of the poison.
"Melina is the dryad, yes, and she is definitely connected to her tree."
He pauses to consider the other questions. "I've only been to the one lizard village, but this one was taken over by gnolls and their wizard employers. The lizards were defeated and forced to cooperate. Guess that didn't include me so the elder helped me sneak out before the wizards took me out." His gaze turns back to Melina. "Can he help the tree? I grew up in a city, woodslore is not something I'm good at."
I've got some tracking experience. But hopefully we won't have to do anything more than remove whatever is poisoning the water to help the tree start healing. Mickey is heading to the source. We should follow. Do you need more healing Delkaneth?
Felix will grasp the dryad from one side to help carry her after Mickey.
Mickey tracks the poison source (via detect poison) he can see that not only the tree has been effected, numerous other plants are feeling the effects as well.
it almost makes a trial to follow.
after nearly 300 to 400 yards away the group arrives at the base of an incline. with an opening that leads to some underground cave. the opening seems to have been covered with fallen tree branches and shrubbery but it is obvious that it has been cleared out.
before anyone has the chance to investigate in detail, there is movement off to the right.
S'latch looks in that direction and slinks away behind the group in fear.
two gnolls flank a pair of humans. A man and woman.
its them
Del recognizes them as Daresh and Tur from the ship that brought him here.
the woman speaks first. raising her hands I wish to speak to you. I believe that we each have something that the other could use. I believe the term used is, ah, Parley?