Pudge steps out of the reeds, his expression strangely vacant (and this is Pudge we're talking about). Soroza's words barely seem to register with him.
"Leave this place! Leave the sacred mother's realm! We tolerate no trespassers here!"
Initiative Order
1. Pudge
2. Davi
3. Soroza
Pudge murmurs an arcane command, and fires a magic missile at Davi!
"Ow, that stung! What should we do? He's acting kinda weird.." Davi defers her turn to after Soroza's, wishing to move after her lead.
As the bolt of magic strikes Davi, Soroza yells "What the hells, you idiot? There's no need for us to kill each other!"
She draws her whip and steps forward, "I don't know what devil's spit you're on about with 'sacred mothers', but you are done hurting people for today!"
Soroza strikes her whip at the large man's feet, attempting to trip him.
"Don't rush, youngster," Adrac whispers. "There's a black bear inside of the cave. A small one, but still."
[dice=Adrac perception]1d20+7
Indeed, there is a black bear laying in the cave, its back to you. It is breathing steadily, and has two arrows sticking out of its hide.
Anthony crouched low and noticed the bear cub after Addrac had pointed it out. He remained there, pensive for a beat, then decided. He spoke quietly back to his elder, I don't suppose you could calm the beast? He looks injured. Maybe I can distract him for a bit, while you steal into the cave and see if the Wand is still in there?"
Provided Addrac consents and moves into a hiding spot, Anthony will move near enough for the bear cub to see him, then throw a pebble at the bear cub, make some annoying mouth noises (Hey, Listen!) and move thirty feet away from it.
Soroza's whip snakes around Pudge's leg and he falls to the ground! Davi moves forward into the rushes, drawing her rapier as she does so. She thrusts her blade forward, nailing Pudge with a perfectly timed thrust. Pudge, far from the coward he was in the bar room brawl, hesitates for a moment.
"I will defend my Mistress with my life." he says, calmly, despite his open wound in his side.
"Just give up!" Davi groans, but she seizes the opportunity to attack him again as he gets up, harshly plunging her blade into his abdomen and leaving a great wound. Pudge gasps for breath, suddenly ragged and and worn down, but unrelenting. He backs away slowly, out of the rushes, and draws his crossbow.
Adrac shakes his head. "I can barely calm down a horse, let alone a wild bear! Your plan has merit, though. I doubt the bear would attempt a pursuit when he is injured like that. At least I hope so, poor creature is only trying to defend his home." Adrac moves to hide in the underbrush.
The bear roars and lumbers towards Anthony, limping slightly due to a particularly deep arrow in its back leg. Once it reaches Anthony, it rears up on its hind legs and roars in an intimidating fashion, then lunges downwards to sink its teeth into Anthony's shoulder!
Meanwhile, Adrac moves quickly and stealthily into the cave, escaping the bear's notice due to the heavy rain.
Herral & Tarkus
The Halfling and the dwarf move southwest for an hour and twenty minutes. Slow and steady is their motto, and it takes them a full two hours to cover four miles of ground, hot on Aliciette and Derrak’s trail. Derrak in particular is very easy to track, as the dwarf has moved through the trees like a wreckingball, at least to Herral's eyes.
You look up and notice that the trees of the forest are older and grow much taller in this area. Carried softly on the breeze is a strange thumping noise. A massive hollow tree trunk towers above the surrounding woodland – once truly a forest giant. Upon one of its remaining upper limbs, approximately 25 feet from the ground, dangles a bone scroll case, swaying in the wind and thumping against its hollow side.
Anthony cries out in pain but whirls to face the cub, deciding it would be better to stand his ground rather than run. Little guy is surprisingly quick for being injured. he thought. Rather than retaliate, he takes a defensive stance, ready for the next attack. He calls to Addrac, "Did you find anything yet?! I'm getting a little overwhelmed!"
"Anthony! Run!" Adrac runs out, just outside of the cave entrance to entice the bear into changing his focus. He yells at the bear and throws a rock at him, then braces himself for the inevitable attack. The bear turns, and sees another creature threatening its den. It rushes at Adrac, bellowing the entire way. It lunges at the old monk, who nimbly dodges it, as agile as a man many decades his junior.
"Move! I'll catch up!"
Anthony stands still for a bit, indecisive at first, then he turns and runs, reminding himself of the old man's legendary speed. "You'd better get moving too! I have no idea where I'm going!" Anthony starts into a run towards Grelm and Knu's footsteps.
Adrac withdraws, sprinting at full speed from the bear. The young black bear roars and gives chase for a few yards, then slows to a stop once Adrac has gotten suitably away. He snorts, and turns back to hobble towards the cave.
Adrac catches up to Anthony by following the tracks.
"Afraid we'll have to find Hummleblock, or whatever his name is, and his goblin friend to find the wand." He says brightly, not even out of breath. "At the back of the cave was a small shelf, with an open wooden coffer and musty velvet cushion. I saw an imprint of where the wand used to be on the pillow before I ran out of the cave."
"Gods above and below, Davi!", Soroza calls out. "He's a wretched dog of a man, but we don't want to kill him!"
She strikes at Pudge with her whip, hopping it will be enough to knock him unconscious.
With a flick of her wrist, Soroza's whip slashes into Pudge's front, ripping his clothes and exposing his hairy belly. Pudge grunts, but he's tougher than he looks, at least when motivated. Davi swipes at Pudge this time, trying really hard not to hit anything vital. Her strike moves silently into Pudge's leg, hoping to hobble him, but not kill him.
"Okay, okay, I'll try!"
Pudge grunts, and steps back, shooting another magic missile at Davi as he does, but it fizzles as it hits her skin, stopped by some mysterious counter-magic in her very veins. He seems surprised.
Soroza keeps up with the assault, lashing out again with her weapon of choice.
"Give it up, you cretin! Can't you see your magic is just bouncing right off her? Surrender!"
"Ah, my lady, I have failed you! I cannot stop them!" Pudge simpers. He backs up again, focusing on Soroza this time. He murmurs under his breath, and points at Soroza, a ray of freezing ice and air projecting out from his finger at her, but Soroza simply ducks, the beam of ice passing harmlessly overhead. Davi steps forward, keeping pace with the fat man, again trying to avoid any real harm to him, but misses, stabbing her weapon into a tree instead.
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While Herral kept them moving following the Shunned's path, Tarkus kept trying to avoid the ever increasing knots of roots and low limbs of the forest.
~This is why I prefer the mountains any day. No blasted~
His thought was cut short as his heavy boot caught in a partially buried root and he slammed down to the soft earth of the forest floor.
"Thrice damned to every root in this forest!
Picking himself up, Tarkus looked at Herral, who seemed to be looking anywhere but at the fuming dwarf. Hearing a soft thumping noise, Tarkus turned his eyes upwards and saw another scroll dangling from the tree.
"Doesn't anyone just use a book anymore? Or have the birds all learned to stagger messages to each other?"
Dropping his pack and shield, Tarkus looked over to the merchant turned adventurer.
"How hard can this climbing be really? Grab the tree and move up."
Clapping his palms together, Tarkus took a few backward steps to gain momentum...
and rebounded off the tree like a stray rock from a tree. He could feel blood in his mouth where he involuntarily bit his lip during the recoil and he slapped the ground in anger.
"By the Forge Father's blazing balls!"
Getting to his feet and spitting out a bloody mixture of fluids, Tarkus glanced once more to the halfling, who again was wisely looking elsewhere, and back to the scroll dangling above.
"This had better be something good."
Taking a few steps back again, Tarkus ran towards the tree and leaped up, this time his hands grabbing purchase on the hell spawned conifer.
Good job getting up the tree! The question is... can you get down? To do so make another DC15 climb check..... if you fail you fall! If you fall you can attempt a DC20 reflex save to grab the branch! If you fail to grab the branch, then you fall and take 1d6 fall damage (negate with a DC 10 acrobatics check).
(Or maybe you have another idea of how to get down?)
"Well, well, well. A dwarf in a tree! I've been away from Highhelm for awhile now, but this is a first, even for me. I knew you couldn't resist following my trail, Shieldsplitter. I didn't expect you to only bring the hobbit for backup, though." Derrak walks into the clearing from the brush, brandishing his elven curved blade as he does so.
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At the sound of the Shunned's taunt from below, Tarkus tucked the unopened scroll case into his belt, but as he made this move, the slender branch his left foot was bracing on snapped loudly in the suddenly tense clearing.
Thirty pounds of steel and over one hundred and fifty pounds of dwarf instantly began sliding down the tree, the bark biting into every exposed surface of Tarkus' skin until he reached out trying to grab a thicker branch to slow his fall
only to feel it snap as well under his adrenaline boosted strength, as well as his flailing in general.
Twisting as he fell, hoping to at least land near his shield, Tarkus found himself tasting fresh soil for the second time within a twenty minute span as he crashed into the ground with the force of, well a steel encased dwarf falling out of a tree.
Bruised, scratched, and covered in soil, Tarkus felt his anger rush to the surface and he snarled as he stood up and looked at the Shunned.
"Try anything and by Torag's name I will break that silly sword of yours and shove it up your a$$."
Derrak Stoneskull guffaws loudly as Tarkus crashes down to the ground. When Tarkus stands up, and dares to look him in the eye, he is taken aback and shaken. He does his best to hide his discomfort by pointing his curved blade at him.
"Right. The scroll case. Hand it over and I'll let you and your wee lover live." He smirks unpleasantly.
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Spinning on her heel after nimbly ducking the corpulent wizard's magical attack, Soroza uses the spin to build momentum for yet another attempt to trip Pudge with her whip.
Pudge falls to the ground with a heavy thud, crying out as he lands on his bottom. He crawls away, backwards, before clambering up to his feet. Davi takes the opportunity to stab carefully at him as he scrambles away. Her off-speed swing stabs him delicately in the side, and with a grunt, Pudge falls unconscious. He is pretty badly wounded, but he will not die.
End combat.
You hear a high-pitched mischievous giggling come from the spring, a voice that sounds much like a young girl. Treading water in the middle of the spring is a strange little fey, about three-feet tall, with long hair the color of seaweed and webbed hands and feet. "Oh! Cachee likes. Funny fat man go to sleep!" Common is clearly not her native tongue, and she speaks with a strong Sylvan accent. She stares at Soroza and Davi, eyes glinting. "Funny fat man and scary woman try to steal Cachee's treasures. So Cachee makes fat man chase scary woman away! So what do you want from Cachee, mortal strangers?"
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Feeling the blood pounding in his veins, Tarkus drew his axe and gripped it so tightly that his knuckles were white from the pressure he was putting on the blade. Everything in his body told him to strike first, sink his axe deep into the skull of the Shunned and allow the spark of life that Torag put in them all to be extinguished. Tarkus knew though it was not the right way to handle this, but he would be prepared to draw blood if the Shunned could not be reasoned with.
When he spoke again, Tarkus' voice had lost the heat of rage, but carried the icy steel of promised violence.
"Last chance for you to stay alive. If you try to stop us from leaving, I will erase your blight from these woods and use your blade as your grave marker."
Derrak sneers. "I'd love to see you try, little Shieldsplitter." He raises his blade and charges!
Initiative Order
1. Derrak
2. Herral
3. Tarkus
Derrak charges straight at Tarkus, but is surprised when Tarkus parries his blow with his axe. Tarkus swiftly ripostes, finding the opening in his swing. His masterful blow lands with a pleasant thunk in Derrak's side.
Round 1
Herral points up at the tree and a gnarld root takes hi out in the same moment falling to the ground with a thud. Unhurt but embarassed he prepares to stand when Elsie steps on his hand and pain shoots up his arm.
Herral watches the dwarf climb in awe of his determination then whirls at the sounds of Derrak's laughter. He hefts the shield and steps back to cast Desna's favor again.
He also calls on a judgment to help keep him alive.
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Hearing Herral chant something quickly, Tarkus was unsure of what the other had in mind, a drawback of allowing fate to control this outing instead of working through a well organized series of plans, contingencies and fallback procedures, but he had to trust the halfling was there to back him up in this.
Watching the way the Shunned kept the curved elvish blade moving through the air reminded Tarkus of a stonesnake waiting to strike.
~I have to keep him unbalanced and out of rhythm.~
Shifting his grip slightly, allowing the axe to have a lower center of balance in his hand, Tarkus moved in and tried to hammer the Shunned in the side again and further weaken the shoddy armor the dwarf wore.
After Addrac delivers the bad news, Anthony says, "It looks like I was wrong, Sir. I can't believe that bear got the best of me."
He looks under his bleeding cloak to check the damage to his shoulder. He tries to move the arm but gasps in pain. "Hold on a moment." he huffs. Anthony pulls a vial from his belt pouch and drains its contents. He rolls his shoulder a few times and lets out a sigh of relief. "Ahh, thank the Gods for Laurel. She might be a little careless of people, but she does good work."
He removes the ring from his pocket and says, "I found this on the other monolith in Willowroot's grove. I forgot to tell everyone in all the excitement. Do you think its magical?"
Skipping ahead, Anthony says, "I'm going to try and figure it out now. It won't take a minute."
When the strange creature in the water revealed itself and addressed the two women, Soroza became immediately cagey. She suspected it was some sort of Fey, just from stories she had heard growing up, but she had zero experience with the creatures. Virtually every bedtime story she'd ever heard painted them as capricious, however, and she doubted her ability to reason with the thing in the water. Few other options presented themselves, however, so she trusted to her wits as best she could.
"Well met, Cachee. I am Soroza, and this is my friend: Davi. We wish no quarrel with you, but we do seek a treasure, of a sort. I do not know if it is the treasure you possess, but if they are one and the same perhaps we can reach a bargain of some sort?"
Herral & Tarkus
Round 2
Derrak's eyes narrow and he lifts his curved blade to block Tarkus' attack, sending shockwaves through the other dwarf's arm. He returns a swing, but Tarkus dodges nimbly out of reach.
Anthony & Adrac
Adrac smiles supportively. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You did great." He peers at the ring, approvingly. "Maybe, maybe not. Your father was always the one who concerned himself with the magical auras of things."
Anthony finds that the ring is indeed magical, but he cannot pinpoint the type of aura nor its function.
"So. Where do you think we should go next?" Adrac asks Anthony, his bright eyes focused on the younger man's face. "Should we stay on those two ruffians' trail, or should we try and find the others?"
Soroza & Davi
Cachee stares at Soroza, long and hard, before smiling dreamily. "Hello, Soroza! Hello, Davi! Oh, you're so pretty! Pretty pretty girls!" she says at first, acting as if she was dodging the question. She continues admiring the two women for a while, and when she finally speaks again, her tone is far more friendly than before.
"How about... you give me something, and I give you something in return? Nothing is gained, nothing is lost, only, balance."
Soroza relaxes her stance to seem non-threatening, but doesn't like at *all* the way the creature is talking about herself and Davi. She glances at Davi, making eye contact in attempt to convey "Stay on guard".
She clears her throat and addresses Cachee again. "An exchange sounds agreeable, and I appreciate your willingness to deal, but I would know what it is you desire and what it is you offer before I agree to anything."
Cachee looks thoughtful and distant for a moment. "Hmmm. Okay!" She dives back under the water smoothly, leaving barely a ripple on the surface to betray her presence just a moment ago.
When she re-emerges, she has three small items.
- One is a vial made of green glass and clay and sealed with a speckled cork, filled with a clear liquid. A water motif of wave designs decorates the container. You recognize it as the Vial of Pure Water from Professor Krane's drawing.
- One is a golden collar with an elaborate mechanical clasp. It is engraved with carp circling the collar.
- And finally, one is a silver anklet with a simple screw-like mechanism. A silver plate fastened to the chain bears the mark of a raindrop.
Cachee smiles. "Well, Soroza and Davi like one of these? Cachee likes pretty, pretty things. Shiny things. Mean, ugly mortals destroy the woods and fields and rivers. Cachee keeps what pretty things she can."
Soroza's gaze falls across each item impartially.
"They are lovely indeed, Cachee. And what would you like from us in exchange for one of them?"
Cachee tilts her head, scrutinizing Soroza's expression with her big, wide green eyes. Once satisfied, she leans back, floating on her back and swimming in a slow circle about the pool.
"Hmmmmmm. Cachee doesn't know! Something beautiful. Something Cachee can treasure forever in Cachee's pool."
Anthony & Adrac
Adrac smiles supportively. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You did great." He peers at the ring, approvingly. "Maybe, maybe not. Your father was always the one who concerned himself with the magical auras of things."
Anthony finds that the ring is indeed magical, but he cannot pinpoint the type of aura nor its function.
"So. Where do you think we should go next?" Adrac asks Anthony, his bright eyes focused on the younger man's face. "Should we stay on those two ruffians' trail, or should we try and find the others?"
Anthony looks ahead at the trail of footprints, "I think it may be prudent to follow Grelm and Knu. They may lead us to the others more quickly. "
Adrac chuckles at Anthony's attempts to help, but does not admonish him, choosing to make it a teaching moment.
"Look, child. It isn't just about the footprints, you see." Adrac gestures at some broken vegetation, snapped twigs, and disturbed moss. "It's about the trail they leave behind. Though, to be honest, I don't claim to be an expert. It's just when you have been at this for so long, you gain a certain, ah, wisdom, in your years."
"We're lucky these two are in a hurry. Recklessness makes them easier to follow. What do you propose we do when we catch up with them?"
Desna's healing light swirls around Herral as he slowly circles around Derrak to flank him across from Tarkus. Herral swings his morningstar with a banging slam of a blow striking him downwards across his skull, ending with a resounding crack that Derrak never heard as he fell to the ground, unconscious.
The blow to Derrak's skull was stronger than intended, and now the foul dwarf lay dying at Herral and Derrak's feet. Desna's light evaporates from Herral, his Judgment carried out. Without immediate medical attention, he will die. What do you do?
Combat Ends
Herral and Tarkus
The halfling looks down at the elf's head and sighs, "this is not fair. My lady please do not allow this one to die in a fight which he had little chance in."
First the inquisitor tries to heal the man, bandage his wound and stabilise him.
He will cobble together something to hobble his ankles and tie his hands behind his back with the help of Tarkus.
Finally he asks the dwarf to watch him while he cures the man using a greater spell.
The sound of the halfling's morningstar striking the Shunned's head was like a mallet striking a plug in a barrel and then like an oak falling to the axe, the Shunned collapsed to the ground.
"this is not fair. My lady please do not allow this one to die in a fight which he had little chance in."
Securing his axe, Tarkus moved quickly to the fallen dwarf's body and rolled him over to allow his lungs to breath in more than dirt and the broken limbs of Tarkus' previous fall.
"You do your goddess justice Master Hinn, as the Oathbreaker would not be so quick to give you the same courtesy. By dwarven custom, his life is now yours, as you have defeated him in a contest and chosen to allow him to live instead of taking his life and witnessed by another dwarf in good standing of the clan. However this one is an Oathbreaker, one who has turned his back on the teachings of Torag and forsaken the welcome unity of the clan and as such, I cannot enforce the life debt of him to you. I can offer you his arms and armor to do with as you see fit as is proper of our ways."
Stripping the unconscious figure of weapons and unbuckling the crudely made armor, Tarkus then assisted in binding the Shunned's ankles and hands and sighed deeply when the task was finished.
"I did not want this Master Hinn. Even though he is an Oathbreaker, we trained together in our youth and even when angry, I had hoped to avoid striking a kinsman over so trivial a reason as this tube. Much as we potentially left a feral dog in the wilds, so too has this one become and there will be a reckoning."
[dice=Adrac Survival]1d20+3
Adrac chuckles at Anthony's attempts to help, but does not admonish him, choosing to make it a teaching moment.
"Look, child. It isn't just about the footprints, you see." Adrac gestures at some broken vegetation, snapped twigs, and disturbed moss. "It's about the trail they leave behind. Though, to be honest, I don't claim to be an expert. It's just when you have been at this for so long, you gain a certain, ah, wisdom, in your years."
"We're lucky these two are in a hurry. Recklessness makes them easier to follow. What do you propose we do when we catch up with them?"
Anthony felt like a boy again. He was young by most standards, but he felt reminded again of collecting seashells on the beach with his father... the memory though pleasant, came unbidden to him. He shook his head as if it could shake the thought from his mind.
"I must admit I'm a little curious about what its like to be as old as you are. To see the world through the lenses of so much experience and memory.
For example, my limited experience tells me that we should take the Wand from them by force. They don't seem like the type to cooperate and I don't think you or I would do very well in prison... that is err, we might actually be okay in prison, but I don't want to waste 40 years in a cell."
Herral completes the healing and smiles a little uncertain at the dwarf, beginning to understand the intricacies of a dwarf code. He lets the ideas flow inside him and enjoys the new knpwledge, almost as if he had travelled to the dwarflands on Desna's wings.
"I didn't kill him. I didn't enjoy slottin' dem dogs an' taint like me to call him an breaker of Oaths yet. So you 'ave him. Eee cun be a gift frum me. Lets walk 'im back to them others - bettin' them not expect to hear what you did with that there tree. Hah ha!"
"I didn't kill him. I didn't enjoy slottin' dem dogs an' taint like me to call him an breaker of Oaths yet. So you 'ave him. Eee cun be a gift frum me. Lets walk 'im back to them others - bettin' them not expect to hear what you did with that there tree. Hah ha!"
Nodding his head, Tarkus loaded the skittish mule up with the Shunned's gear, making sure to wrap the elvish blade and put it out of sight as best he could among the other items.
~There is no need to antagonize him by dangling it before him like a carrot.~
When everything was ready, Tarkus looked back to the halfling and nodded his head.
"By your words, he will be released to his companions and by your actions do you do yourself and your people proud Master Hinn. Now let us return to the others, but didn't he travel with another when we began following his tracks?"
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Cachee tilts her head, scrutinizing Soroza's expression with her big, wide green eyes. Once satisfied, she leans back, floating on her back and swimming in a slow circle about the pool.
"Hmmmmmm. Cachee doesn't know! Something beautiful. Something Cachee can treasure forever in Cachee's pool."
"I don't think we have anything you'd want. It's really kind of important that we get that vial though. Maybe you could just give it to us?"
Tarkus&Herral
Herral heals Derrak, and Tarkus strips Derrak of his filthy, shoddy banded armor and elven curved blade, leaving him only his underclothes. He slowly comes to as the wound on his skull heals up magically, groaning the whole time.
Finally, he comes to as the halfling and the dwarf wander towards Elsie, frothing with rage.
"TARKUS! TARKUS! YOU GIVE ME BACK MY BLADE YOU BEARDLESS GHERKIN!"
He struggles against his bonds, but it is ultimately futile.
Davi&Soroza
Cachee purses her lips, narrowing her eyes on Davi, before smiling impishly.
"Pretty little changeling, lost in the woods," she sings softly. "No no no. A trade. A fair trade. Nothing gained. Nothing lost."
Anthony&Adrac
Adrac chuckles. "I don't think we are at risk of going to prison, Anthony. The Sheriff is doing the best he knows how, and to do what he does he needs to maintain an air of authority, or it will all come apart. I trust that he knows there is no justice in imprisoning a lot of people over an honest accident."
He pauses.
"But thievery, that is a different matter, now isn't it? Hmmm. Now isn't this lovely?
You come upon an enormous field of black capped mushrooms in a forest clearing.
Anthony looks at the old man. Addrac's optimism is infectious but it also makes him a little ashamed of his own attitude. He hangs his head a little, at the mention of Thievery, but looks up at the mushrooms somewhat surprised.
"Ah, I'm afraid I don't know much about mushrooms, or plants, or anything of that nature. Your father was always the one with the encyclopedia in his skull. Now, Amari always loved mushrooms." He looks distant for a moment, before piping up again.
"Now, prudence dictates that we don't eat them!" he chuckles. "No matter how hungry you are."
Soroza winces at Davi's bluntness. Normally I'd welcome the straightforward approach, but this thing enchanted Pudge: an ethical idiot, but one familiar with magic. Who knew what else Cachee was capable of?
"What Davi means to say," Soroza backpedalled, thinking quickly. "Is that while she may not have something lovely to give you, I might!"
She quickly tucks her whip into her belt then unties her lose ponytail, presenting the silk ribbon with outstretched hands.
"While this ribbon is fine silk, it appears somewhat plain, no? But there is more to it than can be seen at a glance. It is a symbol of my faith: Calistria, The Savored Sting. She is a goddess of passion and revenge, who values honest beauty. It is a symbol of my dedication to her and her ways, and much of the beauty I possess is wrapped up in it's symbolism. Would this gift satisfy you?"
By every god that lives, and Aroden in his grave, that is one of the longest stretches of the truth I've ever woven. I hope she appreciates pretty words as much as she appreciates pretty things!, Soroza thought to herself with a small gulp.
Cachee flips over to float on her back and watches Soroza as she talks from upside-down, wide-eyed and innocent. The rain falls all around her, leaving soft ripples in her pool.
"Mmmm! The Savored Sting? Sending her wasps out into the forests, is she? How strange!" Cachee giggles, clearly not fazed by this information. She propels herself towards the bank suddenly and swiftly, twisting over so she is laying on her stomach amongst the mud and reeds to peer at Soroza's ribbon more closely.
"Ah! Pretty ribbon! Cachee likes. Will Soroza tie it in my hair?" She sits up, and presents her back to her. Her long, seaweed-colored hair drapes down across her back and onto the ground.
Afterwards she twists around to peer at her reflection, beaming. "Cachee likes! Pretty mortals want little bottle, yes? Mortals wait here." She slips under the water, and retrieves the Vial of Pure Water, presenting it in her little webbed hand with a smile.
"Nothing gained, nothing lost. This is fair."