"I can fly there with Glaza and put them to sleep one by one. They will never suspect a bird perched in a tree of enchanting them into slumber."
"Not a bad plan, then how will you let us know when it is time for the rest of us to come along?"
"Glaza can come back and tell you." She nods at the thicket. "Shall I?"
"Make it so! We shall show our enemies why it is a mistake to challenge us!"
Furiel summons an elemental in front of the group. The earth elemental will begin his tunneling forward in a bit.
Sonechka ruffles her black, feathered cape and shrinks into a black and white magpie, which flies up and over the trees.
"Haaaah, a fine idea Furiel, we shall attack them not just from the front, but from above and below as well.
The chaos of the battlefield will be on our side this day."
"If, before we start, you can give me a rough idea of the situation, I can go around, and be ready to charge from the other side. In case things go south."
Wikipedia image of what the thicket is composed of
You're able to make out a male teen(?) voice "C'mon Lacy... hurry!", the young girl's reply "But there's is spiders down there!"
Sonechka returns after putting the three visible youth to sleep. You soon find the trail where they'd entered the thickety stump patch. The young ones had slipped through without breaking many of the slim low branches... they snap easily as you make your way through. You pass several briar patches within the area before you reach them.
They appear to be human children.. a boy and girl both under ten, and another boy mid-teens. Twenty feet beyond them is another briar patch growing over (and obscuring) rotted and weathered flooring and stubs of 4x4 support posts.
As Sonechka had put the first to slumber, the nearest went to her side, and the third soon arrived to investigate. As a result, all three are asleep grouped together.
You smell salty coppery tang of blood all around you within the thicket. You think you see movement out of the corner of your eye, but when you look, you see nothing.
At the sight, The Green Man chuckles to himself.
"Like little angles...but the smaller they are, the fiercer they fight."
"I smell the scent of blood throughout this thicket!!"
"Oh? Then I guess we are not done with this after all..."
The Grin disappears from The Green Man's face, and he grips the earthbreaker more tightly.
After a moments hesitation, he moves to stand protectivly over the children.
As Furiel cries out the warning, there is movement around you - tiny forms become visible. They look like children - too small to be human.. pale with impossibly wide eyes.
There are at least six at the edge of the briar patch beyond the sleeping children. More and more come into view surrounding you... at least a dozen each to the north and south.
"we protect.. keep safe.. and feed them.. so little we ask in return.. "
The one speaking steps into the light enough for you to see the elongated arms, and thorns studding its entire body.
Basic Knowledge check
"You protect the children? A noble thing, what is it you seek in return?"
"Only what gives us life... a few drops of blood." Its arms - which easily reach the ground - writhe like snakes as it speaks...
"If not for our.. efforts, they would have been killed.. and eaten by trolls... consumed entirely."
"If we give you blood, how do we know you will honor your bargain?"
Sonechka, still in the form of a magpie, caws out a warning to Glaza, who croaks out her message to the group. "Wicked fairies. Watch out!"
We seldom meet anyone NICE do we?
Hefting his massive weapon, The Green Man looks towards the fey, waiting for an explanation or a denial of the accusation.
"Huh, so much for my earlier comment..."
"Wicked bird... " The one who'd been communicating with you makes a sound and convulsion like a dry heave... a large thorn protrudes from its open mouth - pointed toward Glaza. It looks to Green then, and inhales it again.
"We make a bargain... not fight. But can... we will fight if you force us."
It pauses a moment, then...
"Young humans need us, and we need them. Kill trolls, and young humans need us no longer. Lure troll here, we help... with broken troll, we need no one else. Blood for us forever."
"Hmmm...blood enough to sustain you forever?
Then what? What will you do then?"
Luring a troll to feed the blood thirst of dark fey? That was exactly the kind of deal Sonechka liked. If she hadn't been in the form of a bird she would have laughed delightedly. As it was, the black and white magpie merely dances happily back and forth on its branch.
Norton whispers to Green.
"Blood drinking fey and trolls, making a pact to keep them under control? I've seen lots of similar pact back in my youth, that never ends well, to much baggage, too much hidden fees."
"Who cares about one stinking troll? Good riddance, if you ask me..."
The Green Man whispers back to Norton.
"Don't worry, I may look simple, but I'm not stupid enough to take everything they say at face value.
But I still want to hear what they have to say."
"We go on living... here until we can return to the lands of our ancestors."
It extends its thorny tentacle-like arm - pointing to the northwest... "The trolls have made the human lair their own."
"Sooo, your ULTIMATE goal is to leave forever? And with the troll you would have enough blood to never bother anyone else until that time?"
I think we should take the deal, at least until we have the children safely out of here...
The black and white magpie twitters at Green. It isn't the most melodious sound in the world, but between that and Glasya's cawing "Do it! Do it!" it is clear what Sonechka thinks.
Furiel shrugs. "They are untrustworthy, but predictably so. "
"Looks like we have a bargain, now we just need to figure out a way to lure the troll here..."
Surreptitiously, The Green Man turns a little so he can wink at Norton without the fey seeing.
"We'll talk more in private" the look seems to say.
The small fey creature "slithers" back into the briar patch atop the ruined building "Good. There are many... smallest is enough." The others back away as well - most out of sight.
You exit the thicket of coppiced tree stumps, and return to where Green left off following the tracks. After fifteen minutes of travel across increasingly rugged terrain, you come within a few hundred feet of where Glaza had spotted smoke. It is likely that the "human lair" will be within sight soon after you crest this gulleytop. You can smell smoke and char in the air, but do not yet see any fire. On either side of you - catching sun from every rare break in the canopy above, you see small plots of leafy crops growing.
Not seeing anything of interest near the group, Sonechka the magpie and Glaza fly to the top of the gulley to peer down at the "human lair."
Furiel casts to create some friends.
celestial dogs to scout
Perception
The Mage notices nothing out of the ordinary.
Hmmm, my boots look pretty worn, I should consider getting a new pair....
An enormous boar moseys out of the root cellar, and sniffs the air.
Soon after Furiel's conjured dogs materialize, they emit a low growl - both in the direction you'd been heading, and to the right - east along the gully.
Furiel says:
"Get em boys!!"
He follows them up with more friends, getting some air support.
Sonechka flies back to the group and tweets to Glaza, who translates for Green and the others. "Three buildings, one with troll-size hole in it. Huge boar, too!"
"Well, we walked right into that one...lets just make sure we walk out in one piece."
One of Furiel's summoned dog moves toward the structures, and barks - the other sniffing to your right moves to join him - they advance on the boar.
The grizzly-sized boar hooves at the ground, lowers and shakes its massive tusked head.
The Green man moves forward, to make himself the obvious target, also calling on his spirits to shield him from harm.
Dolgrym casts Shield and pulls his axe, advancing on the boar.
Tuskgutter snorts and charges at the dog out front. The boar slams into it - goring deep.
There are grunts and growls coming from the cave-like crumbling entrance to the root cellar. Two trolls crawl out, and scan the group of invaders. One speaks a phrase in its rumbling and coarse guttural tongue over its shoulder - into the dark of the root cellar. (They seem to be on the small side for trolls...)
You see a hulking blur of foliage scramble from the gully to the trees east of the human dwelling.