"Given our companion's... vulnerabilities, I'd feel much more confident staying on dry land," Isamu states. "I'd rather not cause Lady Lanuola further misfortune by accidentally splashing with an oar."
"Hm. Yes," Rex says, walking out from under the table as dignified as possible. "All Corgyn are natural swimmers but, um, not in armor. And I'd rather like to keep it on."
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Their decision made, the group sets out for the western edge of town. It is a short walk. They pass by several locals from Barlily, who stop ordinary affairs to watch them leave. Some even react in unexpected ways. One daring young woman—daughter of the town's smith, and barely known to most of the travelers—runs up from behind to wordlessly place a flowering lilypad upon the petite Yeldrid's hatted head, scampering off blushing bright red before anyone can react. A small group of children follow Rex and Lanuola for a short ways, seeming caught between a near-irresistible urge to pet the dog and sheer wonder at the two-dimensional "Mourning Monarch". Baylily's leshy is, as ever, eyed with superstition, but a few old friends do lean in to give her well-wishes, and she finds herself confronted with a large cloth-covered basket. "For when you're feeling peckish," chirps the lady providing it. "Make sure to share some with the fox. He's not got half enough meat on his bones." She winks at Isamu.
And then the group is not in Barlily, but not quite in the forest, either. Between the town and the wood lies a tall sunset-leafed maple, the sole feature in a band of golden grasses that separates the two worlds. Nearby, two large buzzards have gathered around a pile of fetid offal that has been unceremoniously dumped on the ground.
The old forest looms above them, twisted and unfriendly. The path beckons, a humble little thing, twisting and writhing like a serpent seeking to avoid attention.
The band feels a strange sense of foreboding. Very few in town have journeyed into this forest in the last twenty years, much less in and out the other side. A step onto the path is a step into another realm, another story. But the sun above is climbing ever-closer to its apogee, and it is time to go.
Yeldrid looks about himself as he walks along the path, wringing his gloved hands, and tail flickering. "Back home, we never had anything like trees save for small, white gnarled things. Like dry finger bones digging into the sand. But I've been in a few forests. This feels different. I keep thinking these trees will reach out and take me..."
Yeldrid stands closer to Samson the mule. He is clearly a bit on edge with his surroundings, and might be regretting having so strongly suggested the path originally.
Isamu's hand rests lightly on the hilt of his rapier. "There is an odd feeling here, yes," he agrees. "I wonder if there's some sort of enchantment...?"
Baylily graciously accepts the offered basket, carrying it in her arms, "Oh, thank you. I'll make sure we are well fed. May the spirits keep you safe."
*shiver*
"This is not a friendly wood. Watch your steps."
The group enters the Writhing Wood.
The paths of the Writhing Wood are dark, but not as dark as some of the travelers had expected. The old maples are twisted, yes, branches spiraling up into the air like hideous claws, but the leaves are just starting to turn, and it's actually sort of pretty with the limited light filtering through green, yellow, orange and red. It might be reminiscent of old cathedrals, if any of the travelers are familiar with such things.
The ground is porous from dead leaves, and the path is overgrown by great, ponderous ferns. Only an occasional hoot, click, whistle or chirp disrupts the sounds of feet pressing dimly into dry ground. Otherwise, the forest is quiet.
After about ten minutes' travel, the party comes by a black, gnarled maple. All of this tree's leaves have prematurely fallen, and its branches, rather than climbing upward, slope downward, forming a cage-like shape around the trunk. A small southeast-bound stream trickles beside it.
Perceptions
Additionally, Baylily notices a small burlap pouch resting right next to the trunk.
And old Cutter Maria tried to cut it,
Cut it down!
But it took her little hatchet
and it spout it back to town!
Can't cut it, cut that tree,
For its bark is tough as metal
And you'll set the bad ones free
If you meddle with its fettle!
At last, as the sun begins to rise, Lily Shadow finds two strange tracks that gives each of her many eyes a sudden fearful twitch. Close to a pond, where the ground is muddy and willingly holds prints for a time, she finds a hand print. It is very small, like a child nearly fell down and had to catch themselves. Nearby, and filled with water by now due to its depth, there is a single massive pawprint.
Lily is unsure what the latter could be; it reminds her somewhat of a coyote's track, but many, many times larger. As she's starting to get too tired to function, though, she decides to fall back to her humble hideout and take a short rest. The orcs' search will slow with the rising sun. Even gangles must sleep, after all. This will give her some time to collect herself.
Besides, if her hunch is correct, the child's handprint can only mean one thing. The halflings to the west never enter the forest, and no child from Barlily could have gotten more than a day's journey into the Writhing Wood without her hearing about it. There is an aasimar in the Writhing Wood. And such a child will be heading towards Barlily. Perhaps it is best to wait. And watch.
Isamu paused at the odd tree, glancing down at the broken branches.
"Interesting..." he muses. "I think someone's using this for shelter. See here?"
He points out the broken branches. "Whoever it is must be small. I could fit in if... oh!"
He looks over at Baylily and Lanuola with a bit of a sheepish grin. "I suppose I haven't let you in on my little secret yet. Since we're traveling together, it's only fair if you knew..."
Isamu's face suddenly elongated into a fox muzzle as a tail sprouted out behind him.
"That I am not human," Isamu finishes. "I'd already showed Yeldrid and Rex, and so it didn't even occur to me that I hadn't shown the rest of you. However, the relevant part is that, in addition to my true form that you now see, I can also take the form of an ordinary fox, which might be less threatening to whatever poor soul might be hiding out here... though now that I've talked so much about it they might know if they're listening."
"This is the Tree of Souls. It is a cage housing the souls too weighted by their evil thoughts and deeds to be carried by the current of the Styx. There is even a children's song about it."
At Isamu's revelation, "My goodness. That could come in handy.", she tries to get a closer look at the trunk of the tree, "It looks like there is a pouch near the trunk of the tree. Could you slip between the branches to investigate?"
"Evil souls? I believe this is a job for a paladin," Rex says confidently. He draws his blade and approaches the opening carefully. He peers in before grabbing the pouch and tossing it back.
Yeldrid leans over to Baylily. "I bet an iron pot it's a bag full of shiny stones. What do you think it's gonna be?"
Rex struggles, but is unable to fit between the branches with all his armor—he keeps getting caught and snagged.
"Ah, Rex..." Isamu says, wincing a bit. "If you'd like, I could try instead."
"You can certainly try," he attempts to free himself but gets nowhere. "But you will have to remove me first."
Yeldrid chuckles and moves to help get Rex out of his predicament.
Rex finds himself inside the tree "cage". He feels a strange sense of unease looking out between the branches. The pouch lies at his feet.
Rex looks around under the tree and feels a mild sense of unease. Like the tree was watching him. He keeps his sword forward as he bends to pick up the satchel. He then tosses it out of the opening and slowly backs away. When he gets to the gap...
he sighs as he gets stuck yet again. "Little help please...again?"
Isamu opens his mouth to speak, only to realize he doesn't quite have anything to say. After a moment, though, he thinks of something.
"Rex, maybe before you..." But he's too late, as Rex gets himself stuck again. Isamu sighs. "I was going to say, before you try to get out, maybe check all the way around the tree and see if there's something or someone on the other side. But I suppose right now getting you un-stuck is more important."
He does his best to assist.
While Isamu handles Rex's predicament, Yeldrid is going to grab the bag and bring it over to everyone else not currently trying to pull a paladin out of a thicket, excited to see what's inside. First, he gives it a good whiff with his sensitive nose. Then, if he doesn't detect anything alive inside it (like bugs or something), he opens it.
Rex detects evil coming from the tree.
Isamu and Rex struggle to get Rex out of the tree, but he's just slightly too large, too bulky.
The bag smells strongly of slightly rotten cherries, and when Yeldrid looks inside, he sees a large quantity of small translucent red drops. They are sticky to the touch, and might be edible.
"I smell" *sniff* "evil." *sniff* "But I am not sure" *sniff* "from where." *sniff* "Hang on."
2nd Round: Number of evil auras (creatures, objects, or spells) in the area and the power of the most potent evil aura present.
If you are of good alignment, and the strongest evil aura's power is overwhelming (see below), and the HD or level of the aura's source is at least twice your character level, you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends.
3rd Round: The power and location of each aura. If an aura is outside your line of sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.
Isamu stops trying to help Rex out while he sniffs about, hand uneasily going to his sword as he glances around. "Is there someone else about?"
"I think Baylily is correct about the tree. It smells rotten. And not in the dead tree since. If there is something else here, it is not evil. And if it wishes not to reveal itself, I am fine with that." Rex takes his time to getting out as nothing was currently threatening him. He pauses halfway there to rest and asks, "So what was in the bag?"
"It seems to be...cherries? I'm not quite sure. They SMELL like cherries, but rotten and like they've been left in the sun." He hands the bag off to someone else, pretty keen to be rid of it.
"This all seems a bit off to me, mates. We should shoot through this forest before something jumps out of it and grabs us."
Rex detects no evil on the cherry drops.
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The group continues on through the Writhing Wood, leaving the ancient tree behind. Their pace is fairly slow, since Baylily and Rex are weighed down by armor, and shadows are taking on a twilight aura as the group draws near a tall pie cherry tree. They hear a loud snarl, and loud frantic shouts in a sibilant tongue.
Two gangles are dangling from the cherry tree. They wear sheepskin cowls and hooked skullcaps vaguely reminiscent of acorns. Each has a falchion strapped to their back, but they seem to have no intentions right now of using those swords. That's probably because of the snarling grizzly clawing at the trunk. The two gangles are shouting to each other.
"It'll only make it madder, you fool! Bears know no fear!"
"What do you know about bears, you f—"
"Quit screeching! It doesn't like those noises!"
"Throw your shoe at it!"
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
Isamu freezes, then glances over at Baylily. "Think you can calm the bear down?" he whispers to her.
Lanuola suddenly broke her silence, glancing between Isamu and Baylilly.
"What? wherefore? i believeth not yond the beareth hast seen us. P'rhaps we shouldst simply avoideth this unf'rtunate circumstance. I cullionly not to beest needlessly cruel, but how doest this involve the likes of us?"
Lanuola had spent the last few hours considering her circumstances in a state of quiet shock. Her painted eyes had scrutinized over every detail of her flat form but had learned little besides the fact that her peripheral vision was horrendous. I wilt not loseth heart. These individuals seemeth to beest valorous heart'd but too much heart can prove a foolish trait.
"If we can help, we should," Isamu states, as if it's a fact. "Besides, wouldn't it be useful to talk to someone who lives in the forest?" He nods at the gangles. "They may not usually be the helpful sort, but if we save their lives, they might be convinced to tell us something useful as thanks."
Yeldrid nods "We can hit two birds with one stone. Get safer passage through the forest, and make some new matess instead of enemies. But that bear sure does look big. Worse case scenario, I think I have an idea in case we can't get it to settle down."
Yeldrid pulls out his folding pole and a torch from Samson's saddle bags.
"I've used this to scare off alpacas. Most animals hate fire, so a bear shouldn't be no different."
To Isamu she replies, "I don't have a way with animals as much as I do plants. But, I am willing to try. I hate to see the poor thing all upset."
Baylily steels herself and prepares to approach the animal. "Give me a minute," she glances at the torch Yeldrid holds, "we very well might need plan B."
Baylily slowly approaches the bear and starts making what she assumes to be bear noises while making herself bigger than she appears.
"Growl. Grrr. Rumble-bumble"
Jerm follows closely behind Baylily, wary of the aggressive bear.
The bear turns to Baylily and gives a snarl, rearing up on its hind legs. The warning is unambiguous.
"That did not sound good." Rex places a hand slowly on his blade but does not yet draw or back away.
Yeldrid nods to Rex and Baylily and begins assembling the folding pole.
"Someone get the torch and be ready to tie it onto the pole."
Baylily backs up a step, "I usually avoid the bears! Maybe she's hungry. Did you bring any food, Rex?"
"It would not be enough," he says, confident trail rations for someone his size would be a single bite.
Isamu nods at the gangles, his hand tense on the hilt of his sword. "Can any of us speak with them? I'd think they would know more about what's going on."
"My rations are meat. Dried and salted but still meat. I could tie the bag of meat to the pole instead of a torch. Should be good enough tucker for the bear." He's liking the sound of this plan if they can pull it off.
He looks up at the gangles and listens to their voices.
The gangles seem to notice the party, and start yelling again in their rasping tongue.
Yeldrid yells back in Goblin.
His goblin isn't perfect, but apparently his gangle is even worse. He might have implied that his boots are filled with porridge and that he is going to walk roundabout and back, a goblin phrase of endearment towards another's longevity, but could be taken sarcastically given the circumstances. It might also imply that they will be back once the bear has gotten them so that Yeldrid can steal their things. Suffice to say, Yeldrid sounds quite confused.
The gangles each blink at Yeldrid, exchange looks, then start screaming. Loudly. The grizzly bear looks increasingly agitated.