Rose blinked blankly at Mehaila's comment. "There were times while growing up, that I wished that I didn't exist. A constant reminder of a painful trauma. Do you know what it's like to raise something wholly unwanted as if it meant the world to you? I never could understand it, until I got quite a bit older and she told us the whole story." She drew her knees up to her chest. "Boogeyman... that's rich..."
At Delan piping up once more, she hopped up, relieved at the possible subject change. "Well if you want to continue to help us and aren't too opposed, getting added to the charter would make those kills you helped us with legit and not come back to bite you in the ass." She said in a sing song tone, with a dangerous edge to it. "But I by all means aren't saying you have to sign if you don't want to. Just looking out for you, friend." She pats his back and gives him the biggest shit eating grin imaginable.
Hiding in plain sight was hard when you were as large or larger than most men. Looking busy and focused usually help. This was not a conversation Moira had a lot of input in. So she looked thoughtfully into her bowl and chewed slowly, savoring every bite. She'd never be able to go back to jerky and hardtack after this. Delan's cooking was spoiling her and he didn't even know it. That was reason enough to keep him around in her book. And maybe he was surprisingly good in a fight. At least better then her. He could heal. Wait...could she heal now? She focused on the tree in her mind and spun it around a few times. Nope. No healing. There was something that warded evil and another that empowered her slightly with divine energy.
Moira spoke out load in draconic, which translated roughly to "Erastil I ask for your blessing, a ward against evil." A thin, light blue barrier appeared over her entire body. She looked closely at it and poked at it but felt no resistance. This was supposed to be a protection of some sort. Guess that meant she wasn't evil.
She spoke again in the same language, the words springing into her mind as she said them. This time it translated to something like "Erastil grant my insight and strength." There was no outward reflection of the spell but she did feel lighter. Stronger perhaps though it was a small thing.
Having run her tests, she focuses back on the conversation. "Unless my mentor was crazy, and will concede to a small amount, drow are most certainly real. Dwarves have issues with them all the time in the deeper tunnels. He says there is a mighty kingdom of them somewhere in the Underdark though no one was found it."
Snaking her head, she sighs. There was just some lines one did not cross." Unfortunately there are no drow. Ive never met one nor met any elf who has. Ask any elf. They are the boogeyman of our race as a tale to scary young children. Why else would we allow an evil race with no redeeming qualities whatsoever to live and procreate near anyone? As a race it would a failing on our part. So no, drow dont exist. Just, move on from this. Let us know each other more, that is the main point here and figuring out who will lead us." It was clear the subject was uncomfortable for Meha, though for reasons unknown.
"I've only known you a couple days," Moira said glaring at Mehaila. "I've known my Mentor, Gromff Hammerhand, for years. Sure he likes to throw some exaggerations around in his stories. Makes them interesting. But when he says they have trouble with drow leading raiding parties of slaves to attack outposts, settlements, and mines in the deeper part of the dwarven kingdoms, I believe him. Call them what you will but they exist. Burying your head in the sand isn't going to make it go away." She could tell this bothered Mehaila. More than a little. But she wasn't about to let her imply that her mentor was a liar. They didn't separate on the best of terms but she still respected him.
Glaring hard at Moira, Mehaila shakes her head. " No. I do not care what anyone has told you, DROW do not exist. Could you honestly say that allowing such a supposedly evil, enslaving, dirty, backstabbing race to exist, does not make you seem less of a race? For what would make me any different from them? I don't enslave people, but I have no issue stabbing someone in the back if it is needed for the church. But do you not think for one moment many humans consider what I do to be evil? That I enslave men and women to my will with my body?! Drow don't exist because they can not exist. Drow would be the single most shameful thing in existance if my people allowed something like that to live. IF you had a completely evil race of humans, who you knew were evil, and none of them wished to change their ways, are you telling me the humans would allow them to exist? That you would not wipe and record or mention of them, destroy their homes and crops?!"She was shouting this, her normally calm and serene voice a very harsh thing to hear loud. Something about her anger over this issue seemed wrong, as if she had personally feelings tied into it. She had her fist clenched tightly, that her normally pale skin was even paler than normal, and she was standing up, with hot tears running down her face. Whatever the issue truly was, it bothered her, and if one took time to think on it, possibly shamed her, even though she would have had nothing to do with it. Or did she?
"But evil does exist in all races though. Just be glad there aren't really any evil elves. There are evil humans, evil monsters, evil creations. Evil exists just as Good exists. Shadow exists just as Light exists. I have peered into the darkness, my sight unhindered and seen what lurks in the corners. I understand that was how you were raised, how you were taught, just as we were raised and taught differently. We don't claim you to be ignorant, we are friends here. Please don't let this tarnish your views of us. We do care, and if it bothers you so deeply, so passionately, then we can cease. I'm sorry Mehaila, denying what you have been brought to so firmly believe." She says at long last feeling that this little spat has gone on a bit too long already. She felt bad for kind of being the reason for the start, but it couldn't be helped when their origin comes into question. It always goes that way when her and Lyra told people, so they just gave up explaining it fully after a while. It hurt too much and caused so much distance and her to be treated worse depending on those views. Lyra always had it easier, she didn't readily look like an abomination. She bit her lip, to keep it from trembling.
"Drow, dark elves, dusk elves, dark-skinned pointy-eared people. Who cares what you call them. Just because they are evil doesn't make them any less real," she says, waving her food around and threatening to coat someone in stew. "If one stabs in you in the gut are you just going to stand there and ignore it?" Moira grows slightly confused as the argument continues. "I never claimed you were evil and enslaving people. What the hell does that have to do with drow existing or not?" When she mentions evil humans she just looks incredulous. "Seriously? We already have evil humans. There called a~!#!$*s. They aren't a separate race, they're just really f*~&ed up. But if they were an actual race then we wouldn't call them human. Just like we don't call drow, dark-elves. They aren't anything like elves." Moira too had gotten to her feet if only to not be sitting if things went south. She had no idea what Mehaila was talking about anymore. Nor why she was still arguing. Competitive nature probably. But this had long since devolved from defending her mentor's honor. And now Mehaila was crying. Perfect. This is why we sit quietly and eat making extra care not to shove a foot in our mouth. Mission failed.
Moira looked around for help but found none in the shell shocked looks of the others. She locks onto the sisters, who claimed to be of drow decent, with a pleading look. "What. Is she talking about?"
Lyra had been silent as the argument raged between Moira and Mehaila. She had watched the elf throughout the scuffle, genuinely confused why she was so vehement. As Mehaila cracked however the druid finally began to understand. She rose and placed a hand on Moira's shoulder, motioning with her head for the powerful fighter to sit down.
Moving next to Mehaila Lyra placed an arm around her shoulders. Quietly in elvish she said "Their existence is not a stain on your species. You are no more responsible for their actions then my sister and I are for our father's actions. What he did to our mother was horrible but it gave her two daughters who loved her more then anything. We choose to honor our mother with our actions and her teachings will filter down to all who join our fledgling nation. We do not blame you for our father, we embrace you for your passion and love of life."
Lyra would hug Mehaila afterwards, communicating through contact what she could not say.
This evening was getting really awkward really quickly. It didn't take long at all before Moira and Mehaila were in quite the argument.
Delan kept his focus on the food, handing it out to those who wanted it while keeping his mouth shut. He understood where Mehaila was coming from. There were an alarming number of elves out there that refused to believe in Drow, that were raised to believe they did not exist. However, Delan was not one of them. His father had made it more than clear to him at a young age that Drow were very real. He taught Delan how to recognize them, taught him about everything he knew regarding their culture and habits. Delan knew just how evil they were. The fact that Rosa and Lyra both had drow blood in them but didn't seem to be even remotely evil, well... that told him all he needed to know about who raised them and the sad nature of their conception.
He didn't like to see them argue, but he knew the more people that joined in the conversation the more likely it was to go on. Plus, there was nothing anyone would be able to say to convince Mehaila otherwise. Instead, he kept an ear to the conversation while turning over what they had explained to him earlier about building a kingdom. Rosa had teased him a bit in friendly fashion, while inviting him to join them. The question was, did he want to? What else did he have to do? The bandits had stolen his life from him. What kind of future awaited him, now? He was giving the offer serious thought, not jumping right into a commitment over it.
The fact that they were willing for him to be a part of this kind of grand undertaking, however, spoke volumes to how much they already trusted him. Or at least liked his cooking. He smirked to himself at his own inner joke. When there was a break in the argument, he told Rosa, "Maybe..." He spoke to her mostly because she'd been the one to extend the official invitation, but anyone would be able to hear him. "I don't have anywhere to go, anymore. It would be nice to once again be among a group of people that I like, and respect. That don't scare or threaten or hurt me."
He bit his lip a moment in thought before quietly telling them, "But I do have a duty I need to take care of, something that needs to be a priority for me: My father was from Kyonin. He left long before I was born, but still traveled back occasionally and had some friends and family there. It's my responsibility to let them know he was murdered, and that those who killed him followed my parents into the grave. I'd like to do the same for my mother's family as well, but I don't really know anything about them. The only thing I know about her past is the region where she was born and raised, so contacting anyone that might care to know about her death is more of a pipe dream than anything else. Still, I would like to meet with my dad's loved ones from Kyonin and tell them what happened. They deserve to know."
"As long as I can make some time to do my final duty as their son, and as long as we eradicate the bandits that orchestrated their deaths... then yes, I think I would like to join you."
Started speaking back to Moira, " Moira, think about those actions that cause them to be evil! You have the luxury of knowing your actions will not change who you are. But imagine if that is what caused it. And what if you were so close to that line that sometimes YOU DIDNT KNOW IF YOU CROSSED IT!" She was fully crying now, and an observant person who knew anything about drow might realize their cleric was scared she crossed that line sometimes. She tried to be good, but one never knew. She knew the others gathered didnt have to worry about their surrounding environment corrupting them into something they hated. She was surprised when Lyra stands up and even more shocked when she hugged her, but Mehaila would let her. She buried her face in Lyra's shoulder, glad for the comfort from someone else who at least knew what she meant when she said what she had, because the truth was she truly worried about that sometimes. She didnt know how her mother or the other priestess kept from thinking these thoughts. She fully knew that Drow were real, and worse she knew how one became it. All it took was her to slip from it being a holy calling of a Calistrian priestess to reveling in the death and chaos that was sometimes needed.
After a few moments and the sobbing stops, she whispers to Lyra back in Elven " But how do you know I will not do that one day? You and Rosa know I can not speak the truth of your father, anymore than another elf may. But surely you have heard the rumors of how they are made. I fear I am not so different some nights." The issue seemed to drop some, but one day it was something she would have to share with her companions, however she knew the betrayal of her race would have to be handled carefully.
"To enter into the darkness isn't what triggers the transformation. To dance in the darkness, to revel in glee, to marvel at pain and become excited at misery. Those are the steps needed to turn your skin as black as your soul. Anger often is an instrument of justice so how could that corrupt you? Violence is a tool of both the just and unjust so that alone will not corrupt you." Lyra said quietly back.
Pushing Mehaila away slightly so she could place her hands on either side of the elf's face, Lyra emphatically says in common "You are not a bad person and we will not let you become one."
Wipes her eyes with one hand and blinks those large emerald green eyes. She felt like a small child being comforted by her mother. She says softly in Elven " Thank you for your belief in me. Its a touchy subject with three of us, perhaps we just bet not speak on it." She was honestly glad others thought she wasn't a bad person, for that meant she wasn't. She would always be close to that edge, but with solid friends like those around her, even Moira, it would be easy to stay on the proper path.
Moira sat and turned away sullen and chastised. She even flinched as as the normally calm elf yelled at her. First Vetra now Mehaila. For a long moment she thought to blame last night's divine intervention. She could now cast magic even though she didn't have a lick of training. It must have altered something in her head to do that. But no. She'd had he same issues plenty of times in the past. Most of them ended like this too. She couldn't really say she had any friends outside of family and mentor.
Best Day Ever would have to be re-categorized as Most Dramatic and Emotional Exhausting Day Ever. Her two favored forms of stress relief where not an option either. First because no forge second because everyone probably hated her now after what she said. So number three. Just so that, if nothing else, she could get away for a bit. With a mumbled thanks to Delan for the food she grabs her greatsword and walks some distance away. She then proceeds to murder invisible enemies until her body is as exhausted as her mind.
An errant swing with too much power strikes a tree and gets stuck. She gives a few half-hearted tugs but drops to her knees in frustration and tiredness. Damn it. Can't do anything right. She stays they for a long time, just breathing and staring at the sword. With a feral growl she grabs the sword and viciously yanks it out of the back. Then with a terrifying yell she swings with all her might fells the stupid plant with one strike. Satisfied, she slumps against the stump and waits for everyone else to go to sleep. Only then does she head back and collapse into her tent.
Vetra honestly didn't know what to make of the discussion and how it derailed so quickly. When it stopped becoming about the settlement they wished it to be she had backpedaled out of the conversation quickly. She couldn't understand Mehaila's reasoning with the Drow, she's heard stories from her clan but never seen one herself but the blatant denial of their existence because of the evil they represent hurt Vetra. She couldn't help but wonder if that's how most people view races who are 'evil' then them. She frowns and silently eats her stew before getting up from the campfire as quickly as she could before taking a little patrol, watching the area's as the conversation divulged into the argument at hand. She made sure to be away from that as far as she could for now.
She was happy to know that Delan would be sticking around, why? She rightfully couldn't put a finger on it but it made her calm to know that he wouldn't be leaving them any time soon. Her thoughts then drifted to Moira, frowning as she almost felt guilty, guilty for the fight she caused with her but she just couldn't get a read on her. She didn't want to be enemies with anyone here but she felt their relationship was strenuous at best and it only bothered her further.
Starting from her thoughts when Moira let out a yelled out, causing her to jump slightly but she kept her eyes on the woman for just a moment before letting out a slow sigh. She was thinking of approaching her but she didn't know if now was the right time. Out of just fear of being attacked again, she would end up taking the first watch, regardless of who else was keeping a lookout and would poke whoever was next before crawling into her own tent to try and rest.
Domitian tries to make himself as invisible as possible as the argument heats up. He looks back and forth between everyone, looking for some way, any way, to diffuse the situation. I should be better at this. Diplomacy involves conflict. Calm down and think. When Mehaila starts yelling, Domitian's eyes widen and he is taken aback. He just sort of sits there, opening and closing his mouth, as the whole conversation just flows on without him.
He was quite glad that others were not so frozen as he. Lyra seemed to help calm Mel down, even though Dom had no clue what was said between them. He frowns deeply, though, when Moira walked off, clearly upset. Domitian stands up, and walks over to where Mehaila is. He lays a hand on her shoulder, meets her gaze, and says "I don't know much about these things, but I know you are not at all a bad person. Don't believe that for a second." He gives her a smile, then moves to follow Moira.
He comes up on the fierce woman just as she finishes chopping down the tree. "A peace offering for Mehaila?" he asks, a slight joking tone in his voice. He walks up and sits down next to where she slumped down. "Something changed with you last night, didn't it? You've seemed... different today. Unsettled a little. Want to talk about it?"
Either after she declines, or after they talk some about Erastil and newfound magic and all sorts of fun things, Domitian will rise to his feet and say "I hope you don't let that spat back there get you down. We've all had a very packed day or two, and everybody is probably on edge. And I think some of that stuff went a lot deeper than the actual words said. I'll help you get this chopped up for firewood tomorrow, to avoid Lyra's wrath." He gives her a smile, then heads back to camp, allowing her some privacy.
Bowing her head before her companions, she wipes at her eyes one last time, and says to those gathered "The twins can explain better why this subject upsets me so, for I can not talk about it. They know more than they let on, and it is not my secret to share. Just.. let us not speak on this again. Mayhaps we speak about leadership and our settlement on the rode tomorrow. I am going to sleep, and pray. I suggest you all pray to your own deity. We shall need it soon." and with that flourish she would go to her bedroll and follow through with her words. She would sleep until morning, and when they got back on the road, she would approach Moira and explain what she said about she can not speak on the subject, but Rosa or Lyra could. It was a weak apology, but Moira would be able to tell that Mehaila wished it to not come between their friendship. Though the cleric would sneak a peak at her boobs, still confused how they didn't give Moira back issues
Still breathing heavy, Moira gives Dom an annoyed glare. "Well she isn't getting any wood from you," she snarks. She then immediately regrets it and looks away. And there's the other foot. Damn it. Reel it in. "Sorry," she mumbles. Solid recovery. Moira grumbled to herself as Dom sat down, slightly surprised he didn't leave. After a long pause to get her thoughts in order she starts off with a heavy sigh, letting her anger go with it.
"Yes and no. Something happened but none of this is because of that. Erastil gave me his blessing." She almost said 'even though I didn't want it' but that my be bad to say to a paladin of the deity you tried to snub. Progress. "Said my pursuit of perfection in craft was akin to the hunt and it was fun to watch. And we saved the souls with the whole tree fiasco so I got a blessing. And a horse. Horse companion that is. He's Courage by the way," she says pointing him out.
"Nope this is all me," she says thumping her chest with a painfully fake smile. There is a long silence before she continues and even then it's practically a whisper. "In all my 19 years this is probably...definitely the longest I've been with people other than my family and mentor. I had no freinds. No rel I have only ever really cared about three people in my life. And she kinda insulted one of them. So yeah."
She sat in silence until Dom finally spoke back up again. He mentions the fallen tree and she looks at, eyes going wide in fear. Shit. Blessed by a god. Immediately break his shit. Good move. "Forgot Lyda I might have just pissed off my own god. Know any good prayers?"
Domitian snorts just a little at her crack, taking it in stride, though he does blush just a little. "No problem" he says with a quick grin.
He nods along as she describes her experience with Erastil. "Erastil said? An encounter with the old man himself? That is rare indeed. Not unheard of, but his emissaries are more common. I myself had, maybe a vision? I dunno. I saw the Great White Stag, right after the lightning struck Lyra. Never seen the man himself, though. He must like you." He smiles encouragingly at her. "Courage is a good name. Mine is named Benjamin. Erastil's blessings abound."
He nods sympathetically as she describes her family and mentor. "Makes sense - I'd have a hard time responding kindly if someone insulted my mentor. Shows good wisdom, coming out here to vent."
At her concern and question about the prayer, Domitian just laughs. "I don't think you have to worry too much about that. You've clearly gotten his attention and favor, and I'd imagine your fire is part of that. So long as we make good use of it, I think we might avoid Old Deadeye's ire." If she was still worried about it, he would offer up a quick prayer out loud over the tree, before heading back in to camp. "Best get to sleep, busy morning ahead of us."
The next day dawned bright, windy and warm, the sea of grass around the party undulating in hypnotic patterns. Anyone still asleep as the sun crept over the edge of the hill would be awakened by a thudding noise as Lyra swung away with an ax at the tree Moira had fallen the night before. She had chosen not to berate the fighter when she took out her anger on the innocent tree the night before but there was no way she was going to let the wood go to waste. Part of respecting nature was not letting any part of your prey go to waste, animal or plant. By the amount already taken off the tree it was obvious the druid had been at this for more then a hour.
Having chopped off the limbs and tied them in a bundle the druid was hard at work splitting the trunk into smaller, manageable pieces. Already a stack was placed next to Moira's horse, Courage with the clear intent that he would be carrying it instead of a rider today. Behind him was an already completed sled made from narrower sections of the tree that could hold far more wood then the horse could carry and a growing pile of wood was stacked next to that as well.
When Lyra saw Moira she would give the fighter a sunny, sweaty smile. “Good morning! I'm so glad that you decided to get us some firewood! You can WALK next to your horse today!” she said in a sing-song voice while pointing at the work she had already done. “Just give me an hour and this will be all ready to load onto the sled!”
Rose yawning and awaking to her sister's... conviction, felt the realization slowly dawn on her what happened and why she was acting the way she was. "Fine with me sis, I think my extracts have turned." She dumps out the useless and separated liquids watching them slowly evaporated as she carefully builds her Alchemist's Crafting Kit to prepare once more all the extracts she wished to be able to use. Once she was done with the task, she carefully put all her potables away. "I can't wait for being able to set up a nice cauldron at some point. Get some concoctions brewing and bubbling for consumption." She says wistfully, listening to the thwacks of Lyra working diligently at the felled tree.
Mehaila stretches as she awake in the dawning light. Her headache from last night was still present however, most likely due to the emotions and other feelings. She was glad that Dom had went and spoke with Moira, and as she was getting ready and packing her bags, she would try to relax some. But she still had a splitting headache, and there was that damnable banging noise. After looking around she notices Lyra aggressively using all the parts of a tree that looked recently fell, and she frowns. She doesn't remember that tree being down last night, and goes over to help. "Do... Do you need or want help? I... I can't say I'm one to chop a tree but I can help maybe?" Her voice seemed a bit uncertain, and her body language would say she wanted to help, but she was also ready to get on the road and go. She remembers Lyra's kindness from last night and it gave her a funny feeling, and she wasn't sure how to work through it.
After following whatever directions Lyra gives, Meha goes and assist the others in getting ready to move on, but she makes only small talk, a few jokes, but nothing really showy or overt like normal. When it came time to assist Moira, Meha doesn't even look at her or make a mention, not really sure how to approach the groups resident bad ass. She just silently helps her, and then scurries away to await the rest of the group to head out to the southeast.
Domitian groggily awakens to the sounds of the ax thumping into the tree. Assuming Moira to already be at work, Domitian gets up and going, remembering his promise to help her. He digs into his own gear for his handaxe, and comes to the tree site, only to find Lyra working away at the tree instead of Moira. "Good morning, Lyra" he greets her, giving her a friendly nod. He then sets to work on another part of the tree, trying to work in concert with her.
When it comes time to load up all the wood, Domitian speaks up. "I can put some of the wood onto Benjamin, to help even the load a little. No sense putting all the weight on one horse."
Lyra gave Domitian a quick laugh. "Of course, I had no intention of making Courage carrying ALL of it. But if someone is mighty enough to fell a tree with a single swing, someone is mighty enough to walk for a day." she said while pointedly looking at Moira.
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After a hard ride, long swim, furious hacking, and a roller-coaster of emotional drama Moira was suitably groggy and slow in the morning. Enough so she slept all through the noise and past her usual wake up time. Back sore and mind hazy she exits her tent to wash up at the pool and grab a bite for breakfast. Slightly more awake now, she notices Lyra chopping a log...and loading a sled next to her horse. She walks over, intent to find out what is happening.
When Lyra saw Moira she would give the fighter a sunny, sweaty smile. “Good morning! I'm so glad that you decided to get us some firewood! You can WALK next to your horse today!” she said in a sing-song voice while pointing at the work she had already done. “Just give me an hour and this will be all ready to load onto the sled!”
Moira bit down on the first comment that popped into her head. Something about replacing the stick up Lyra's butt with the one she was chopping. More progress. Huzzah. But that didn't stop her from looming over the shorter woman with a glare that could quell a bear. A look that left no doubt as to who was the predator and who was the prey. For a few minutes she starred. And Lyra starred right back. Moira looked for some kind of weakness, a crack in her resolve.
There was none.
Oh she was scared alright. Eyes slightly dilated, slightly shorter breaths, hands griped tight on the axe so as not to give away shaking. She saw herself in those pretty amethyst eyes and recoiled internally at her own reflection. Lyra was willing to face her wrath to call her out on being a b*%~#. And she was right. Her father would never approve of taking her anger out on a tree and leaving it. That was disrespectful to Erastil and a waste.
Huh. This is new.
With that thought her anger faded almost instantly. She stood up straight and cocked her head at Lyra, no longer glaring. She nodded and said, "Don't bother." She walked over to the long log that was left and hoisted it up on her shoulder with a small grunt of effort. "Sled will be good for the legs. This will be good for the back. The awkward, shifting weight will mean I have work extra hard to keep it balanced while walking."
She puts the log down next to the sled and stares at her horse. "You didn't even try to stand up for me did you? Just going along with the druid and her scary cat? Big baby," she says, tone happy. She wasn't actually mad at him. Talking to him was probably going to be a thing now. Oh well.
As Meha comes over to quietly help Moira watches her, confused. The Calistrian cleric doesn't say anything or even look at her but continues to help quietly. Moira takes extra care not to scare her off and says nothing so as to not accidentally set off another argument. Should she apologize? Or would that be worse? Eventually the work is down and the elf scurries away. She couldn't leave it at that. "Hey," she calls out. "This is how you handle back problems," she says, pointing at the log. "Build a stronger back."
When they are ready to leave, Moira hoists the log and puts the sled's rope around her waist. She smiles despite the load. Was it weird to think Lyra looked pretty when she was angry? Meh. Purple sure is a pretty color.
With any possible argument forestalled the party's movement was slower as the horses walked along placidly and had a chance to munch on the long grasses. The day was particularly beautiful with a stiff wind and clear skies that provided perfect vision for miles around. Herds of deer stared at the slow moving group in wariness and Lyra's tiger Shirak entertained herself by stalking up to and then scaring the deer into flight, watching them run away in abject fear before trotting back to the group with a pleased look on her face.
As mid-day came and went the group noticed something growing on the horizon. It remained stationary and at first people would mistake it for the peak of a mountain but soon they came close enough that the atmospheric lensing effect cleared up and they could see the top of what appeared to be a tree. From the rate of growth however it was clear that it was no normal tree as it continued to get larger and larger and larger.
After two hours of watching the tree grow on the horizon the party would be seemingly no closer. As the group began to climb a large hill their vision of the tree was blocked and Moira's legs collapsed as her prodigious strength finally hit a wall. Her horse Courage would stop as well and nuzzle his master's shoulders as he had weathered the stack of firewood on his back with very little issue.
As the group moved closer to the tree, Mehaila would get a bit more nervous. This wasn't any normal tree, and it certainly was no moon. She edges closer to Dom until their legs would touch, and just the slight touch made her jump. She was thinking the tree was just a normal tree standing alone. This was a different matter. " I... I want you all to know... That if I do not make it out... in my saddle pack is letters to my family.. please send them." Her flirting had stopped earlier the day when the tree had been spotted, but this morbid mood seemed to sit ill on Meha's shoulders. She was even slumped in her saddle and seemed more like a pale image than her normal flirting self.
Rose chuckled, though felt guilty about Mehaila's reaction. "Don't worry, you are among friends. We won't let the tree get you." She said with a soft smile as the massive tree continued to grow with their approach towards the base of it. "It's amazing Lyra, ever thought you would see anything like it?" She asked, awestruck by the sheer size of the tree.
Lyra wouldn't say anything, slowing only to pat Moira on the shoulder before moving past to the top of the hill. What she saw made her drop to her knees in shock and awe.
Over the hill a vast valley stretched out out for miles with the grass making the distance look a green ocean as it undulated in the wind. At the center of this valley, so large and heavy it was actually the cause of the creation of the valley, was a tree. It was a tree like no other however as it stretched several hundred feet in the air with a trunk wide enough to encompass a city center. Immense roots that arched dozens of feet into the air spread for a hundred feet around the tree before burying themselves into the soil. It was clear from the lack of any plants besides the grass that the gargantuan tree robbed the soil of all the nutrients larger plants would need.
The top half of the tree was obscured by the enormous crown of leaves, each of which were several feet across and bright green. The branches visible through the leaf cover were easily ten to twenty feet thick and could resist anything short of hurricane strength wind. The valley floor was currently littered with several fallen leaves that had been ripped off by the windstorm only a couple days ago.
"Wonder of wonders. How? How can so much be hidden away in such an area that could go unnoticed for so long? Why has fate conspired to lay so much on us? What are we?" Lyra looked back at the group with something akin to despair on her face. "Why us?"
Rose cocked her head. "Fate being fickle and toying with us? Pinch yourself to check if you are dreaming. Maybe it is a series of various coincidences, or perhaps the formulae that make up the universal constants all interacting with each other in a particular way to lead to this series of events. Perhaps pre-engineered machinations that swell with each cycle of events." She turns to Lyra and moves closer to put a hand on her shoulder. "You see it as fate conspiring sister, I see it as opportunity. We hoped for something big to be apart of, that we were just a mistake, an error, a floating point value to be rounded off." She points at the tree, and smiles. "That is just another sign that we were meant to find all the wonders of these lands. You said yourself you didn't think Brevoy had any real claim to the strange and powerful forces and landmarks here. I agree with that sentiment, entirely. This is a wonderful place and I want to keep discovering all the secrets that it can possibly hold." She would say with an air of giddy excitement. Everything in this land has be strange, unique and wonderful and she wanted to observe it all. This is exactly the kind of place she needed to find and further her studies of the natural and magical worlds.
For six hours, Moira bore her burden without complaint. That stopped during the last hour which devolved into a litany of "Cave", Mithril", and "Remember the Cave". As her knee gave out halfway up a hill she ad to stop. "F+#! the cave." She tried to stand again but there was no strength left in her legs. She rolled the log off her shoulder and caught her breath. As Courage nuzzled her shoulder she feebly pushed his head away. "Show off. Let's see you take the next 7 hours."
Without the weight, it was still a struggle to stand. "Alright. I give. Tag out." At the momentary lack of response she looks up sees them all standing at the top of the hill. Slowly and stiff legged, she walks up an takes a look to. "Whoa." It was hard to grasp just how big it was standing on a hill miles away but there was no doubt it was the biggest tree, the biggest thing she'd ever seen. It was so big people were getting philosophical about it. And she couldn't blame them for that. She beginning to question her tiny, short existence in the face of a likely centuries old behemoth. A living record of the land around them. Long after she was dead and gone and even the memory of her faded this living fossil would endure and thrive seeing the passing of whole ages if left alone.
Then she remembered it was just a tree.
She also remembered what the kobolds said. Enemies living under the great tree. "Those little f@&$ers. They sent us on an impossible quest. There's got to be a whole city of little blue men under that thing. Probably in the tree too. They could keep an army in there."
"Wait. What's a tree from Castrovel doing here?" Saying this, she looks up, expecting to see the green light of Golarion's neighbor planet in the sky. But it wasn't visible during the day. She looked back at the tree and wondered how it got here? Or even how it survived in an alien environment? Probably a powerful mage running an experiment to see if it would take in foreign soul. Mages always doing weird experiments.
For anyone that asks, she explain it's a Giant Kapauri which is native to a whole other planet.
Lyra grasped her sister's hand and used it as an anchor point as she took several steadying breaths. She couldn't explain to the group the source of her fear as she felt they wouldn't understand. Both trees and the cave were to be protected by the young druid or she would be forsaking her vows. But how could she care for such an immense plant with her meager skills? Did the Elder Tree even NEED her care? It didn't matter where the tree came from it had become part of the local biome and was as worthy of veneration as everything else. "Blessed Rose why do you test me so? This is too much." she would whisper to herself before mustering her resolve and standing up.
Staring long at the immense tree to solidify her courage she finally turned away and retreated down the hill to help in setting up camp. Once things had been set up and the cooking fire was blazing she would sit down with her drawing tools and continue working on the map. Casting several spells on herself to aid in making the map as accurate as possible the druid stared hard at the land around them.
When she unwrapped the map however the sight elicited a gasp from the druid as she saw lines drawing themselves on the map of this new location, complete with a detailed icon of the giant tree. Everything they had encountered was already drawn on the map including the Tree of Souls, expanded forest boundary and the Wondrumm Umgor. Lyra gently touched the map where the Cave was located and almost dropped the parchment when the image shifted and zoomed in on the small glade itself, showing the pond and even the first 60 feet of tunnel that Lyra had seen in great detail.
In the lower right hand corner of the map was a stylized compass rose that sat at an odd angle to the rest of the paper. When Lyra looked up at the direction the compass was pointing she realized the map was orienting itself to the north at all times. Turning her body a giddy smile plastered itself to her face as the compass turned to always be oriented to the north. Looking closer the druid realized that all of the writing was hers, even if she hadn't written anything beyond the glade with the Tree of Souls. Somehow the map had become magical.
Rose took a seat at the camp after helping out with anything asked of her. She smiled as she watched sister casting spells and pulling her map out. "Deciding to map things out now? Surprised you didn't do the cave of wonder." She teased, but she was shocked when she heard her gasp. Curiosity getting the better of her, she approached to see what was up with what she was doing. "Something interesting with the map? I did see it flash for some reason. I was going to mention it when you decided to map next, but you didn't until now you silly girl." She said, tongue and cheek and a big grin on her face and her eyes closed. "Sooo, you know what it does?" She asked in earnest.
Having been a bit more quiet since the group approached the giant monster tree, something one of the group said bothered her. Moira had mentioned Castrovel, which for some reason she could recall the name but could not place. She got off her horse and paced a bit, turning the word over and over in her mind, muttering it softly under her breath. It called to her, this strange word, and she knew it had a meaning, but what? She kept trying to puzzle it out until she finally just digs in her saddlebags and pulls out her letters, looking for something that she thought might contain a hint to the words mysterious origins.
The group might find this strange, but all would recall Mehaila every so often recording what seemed like a diary, along with loose sheets of paper. She searches for one, her long fingers deftly moving as she mumbles about ” I know mother has said that before” and for anyone who could read Elvish, From the Marchioness of Greengold to her eldest is emblazoned on the front of the envelope in flowing feminine writing. She opens it up, skimming over the scribble elven script and growls out her frustration. After a few more muttered curses, she tells the group ” Moira mentions Castrovel, which is strange. I do not recall any elven holdings near here, and yet I know Castrovel is an ancestral homeland for my people. We may not just find mites, but either something that would drive out elves… or worse. It is also possible that we find a tribe of wild elves that will use Dom and Delan for studs.” She didn’t wish to scare the group, but there may be wild elves, and with males in the group, she wasn’t sure how well she could vouch for all of them. She knew of rumors from the southern elves, and while never confirmed, she knew that most elven gossip had some truth.
Rose would listen to the word be throw out again and again. Castrovel. "Well I do know of a Castrovel, but you aren't going to like it." She says simply, but then points to the sky. "It's up there, there is a distant place named Castrovel that you can sometimes see at night like a green star." She then shrugged, and crossed her arms. "I could be mistaken for what you are thinking of, but that's the only one that I know of." She took a seat, leaning back to look up at the sky.
As the sun fell below the horizon the night sky was clear and bright with starlight as the moons were down. In the sky to the east was a solid spark of green that did not flicker as the other stars did. The meal cooked by Delan was filling and had a hint of subtle flavor but did not spark the taste buds like some of his other meals. The heat of the day had soaked into the savannah and a gentle wind caressed the grass into a gentle hiss that drowned out all other noises in a gentle whitewash. With such a pleasant evening Lyra would spend the night out under the stars cuddling up next to Shirak after inviting everyone else to join her in a shared sleeping experience. With or without a watch the night would pass without incident.
The next day dawned bright and clear with a wind that jostled the clothing and hair of the party but left the savannah silent as the grass stood untouched and unmoving. It's a balmy 65 degrees.
Rose would enjoy the meal that Delan prepared, always appreciative of him willing to cook for them. "I'll join you Lyra." She smiled and took Lyra's offer, feeling nostalgic at the experience of sleeping together outside under the open sky watching the stars until they both fell asleep when they couldn't keep their eyes open any longer. Waking up still near Lyra and Shirak she would yawn and stretch, out beside them. Sitting up she looked around enjoying the warm still air.
She would once again dump her spoiled extracts to harmlessly absorb into the ground nearby, and then setting up her kit she once again mixes and prepares her extracts to be available to her once more. Upon finishing she would once again pack away her kit and then grab her staff and walk around for a bit around the camp looking at the various things within eyesight near the hill.
The next morning Lyra would dress in a fine white linen shirt with sleeves that ended at her elbows and tucked into tight black leather pants with embroidered rose vines in green thread along the leg that hugged her hips and left little to imagination. Over the shirt she wore a green leather vest fitted with multiple spell component pouches and brass buttons. To protect her hands and wrists she wore thick leather gauntlets with little ornamentation that went almost to the elbow. She would unconsciously reach to her neck multiple times, obviously missing the handmade green scarf that had been lost in the lightning strike.
Pulling on a heavy green cloak she would take a stave in each hand and confer quietly with Rosa. Shirak would already be at the top of the hill staring at the immense tree. Lyra would hesitate by the small camp table and pull a holded note from a vest pocket. She placed the note on the table and weighted it down with a rock before pulling the hood of the cloak up and walking over the hill with Rosa and Shirak.
Pity the hunted, not the hunters.
With love and friendship,
Lyra
As Lyra had been assigned morning watch everyone else would still be asleep as the sisters headed towards the massive tree on their own. With a snap of her fingers Lyra sent Mylee high overhead and shooting ahead of them, vanishing as it's blue feathers blended perfectly with the azure heavens. As the two sisters got closer to the tree there were two streaks of blue as Mylee took out both mite sentries without a sound, her claws opening their throats.
With the hawk standing on the corpse of one of the sentries it was easy for the sisters to find the entrance to the mite burrows. Before they went in Lyra would cast a flurry of spells on herself to gird her for the battle ahead.
Whispering Shirak ahead of her Lyra ducked into the tunnels with a staff in each hand, both crackling with energy.
Rose carefully listened to her sisters suggestion, nodding as she rattled off her plan to perform an early strike on the mites. She looked around at the campsite one more time before turning back to Lyra. "Alright, I'm in." She agreed, gathering her things to join her sister in her attack, pulling up her hood as they began to make their way.
Following Lyra towards the tree, keeping up with her, as she used her own staff as a walking stick as they traveled. Upon reaching one of the entrances she watched as the two sentries were easily taken out by Mylee. She had to marvel the brutal efficiency the hawk performed the executions with.
Standing beside her sister, she finally was able to try out all the extracts and spells that she has been preparing for since they first set off on their journey, adding to them as she gained stronger with experience.
She took one final look behind her as her skin started to harden and her limbs become like supple willow branches, she turned back to the tunnel and ducked to follow Lyra inside.
Lyra would duck down into the nest and go to the left. She came around a corner and saw several mites playing with three giant centipedes. Before any of them could move she raised the bronzewood staff and spoke a single word. A tiny red bead of energy shot forward until it was in the middle of the group before detonating with a thunderous explosion. As the dust began to settle all that would be left is a pile of charred corpses and ruptured shells.
Shirak would crouch down next to her master's side and wait for any mite to get close. "Get ready." Lyra would say to Rosa as shrieking sounded throughout the nest.
As the alarm went off in the nest Rosa would see a tangle of mites in the room behind Lyra look up from numerous workbenches containing all manner of unfinished contraptions. At the back of the room was a large hole going down. The mites all screamed in anger and began climbing over each other in a pile in a mad effort to get to the intruders.
Rose did as her sister instructed, ready to launch any variety of her attacks on her foes, she just waiting to see the moment they would enter her vision to suffer her wrath. Considering the sheer number of them, she readied her bow and prepared to attach one of her explosive compounds to an arrow to fire at them as soon as they were in range.
As they come spilling out so close to where they stood, she affixed her compound to the arrow and fired it. She watched as the arrow flew swift and true, burying itself into the eye of a mite in the center of the swarm building. Upon striking the mite, the arrow detonates in a horrendous, fiery explosion, engulfing and charring all those immediately near the one she struck.
After the twin explosions the shrieking the nest went silent as the mites realized the danger they were in and began to come together to present a united front to the invaders. Where Lyra and Rosa stood there was silence as the smoke and smell of charred flesh began to waft up the tunnel outside. A long minute would pass before a horrendous hissing noise slithered out of the hole in Rosa's room and an enormous centipede somehow boiled out a hole that was far too small for it's bulk. As it came through the hole it's body expanded and soon the creature began to fill the entire room.
Lyra's head whipped around when she heard the horrendous hissing noise and her mouth dropped in amazement at the enormous bug. Then she let out an evil chuckle as she aimed the black iron shod staff at the creature. "At this range I can't miss."
Electricity crackled on the staff, snaking over the druid's hand and making her wince in pain before it launched out in a bolt ten feet wide and made the entire room go blindingly white. The fury of the storm from earlier in the week danced over the convulsing centipede as smoke began to pour from all of it's joints and it's innard were superheated from the plasma spilling out of the staff.
Before the last sparks of electricity trickled from the enchanted wood the centipede curled up into a huge coil and stopped moving. "My apologies powerful one but know that your sacrifice will feed the Elder one above us."
As the team waited for several minutes after the lopsided battle against the huge centipede it was obvious the mites were not going to come to them.
Rose turns to Lyra after waiting and listening to the sound of silence for several moments. Her wooden appearance looked even stranger with her look of puzzlement. "Guess further we go into the breach?" Gesturing to her sister with an 'after you' motion.
"Let's be careful, I think they're ready for us." Lyra whispered to Rosa before moving into the room where she had detonated the fireball. She tiptoed very carefully around the burned corpses before coming to a steep slope at the back of the room and peering down into the next room. From the collection of beds and tables it was obvious that this had been a barracks of some kind, able to hold over fifty small creatures.
The walls narrowed halfway back to a natural chokepoint that was only ten feet wide. The entire opening was blocked by a shield wall consisting of shields made from the shell of some enormous seed pod. Behind the wall the sisters could see bulbous blue heads hiding of the mites as they presented a united front.
Lyra sighed and brought up the black iron staff as it began to crackle with energy. "Just so you know it was your viciousness and lack of mercy that brought about your doom. We hold no animosity towards you."
Lightning exploded from the end of the staff and punched straight through the shield wall, vaporizing the shields and setting the mites to convulsing. It hit the wall behind the mites and bounced off at a different angle, turning into the next room and vaporizing the defenders who waited there. At the next turn the immense bolt of lightning bounced straight back the way it came and flew back at Lyra.
"DUCK!" she would scream as white light flooded her vision and she dropped to the floor. While she managed to dodge the brunt of the lightning she still hissed and convulsed in pain as a small portion of it overcame her innate resistance.
"Ow."
Rose nods, still carefully tip-toeing along following her sister, carefully stepping among all the charred corpses. She was about to admonish her sister about blindly firing spells into unexplored rooms, but it was already too late as Lyra unleashed yet another powerful lightning spell. It wasn't too long though before it appeared to start streaking back towards them. When her sister yelled duck, she would leap backwards and around a corner, watching the bolt completely sail past her. Peeking once more inside at her steaming, fried sister. "Now what did we learn?" She said, trying to stifle a giggle. "You just have bad luck with lightning." She softly tutted at her.
"Feth you. Feth you and the fething horse you rode in on. Ow." Lyra growled as she pushed herself to her feet and eyed the merrily crackling staff in her hand. It was almost as if the staff was laughing at her mistake. Just in case she hit the orb of crystal against a wall in admonishment. "Quiet you."
Moving carefully she stepped up to the pile of small bodies at the choke point and risked a quick glance around the corner. Seeing it was clear she stepped into the room with both staves at the ready. "You know this will be over a lot quicker if you just came out and died with some dignity!" she called into the next room.
In response a snarling unfamiliar diatribe in a high pitched voice came from around the corner as it sounded like someone was quite upset with the antics of the two sisters. Lyra would look at her sister and give her a look of Dufeth are they saying?
Rose shrugged at her with a look of How should I know? You speak most of what I do. She would creep forward to the next opening to the room where they were shouting from. Looking into the room she saw another large cluster of mites, gathered near another that sat upon an enormous tick. Bingo! She thought and set up another explosive compound, nocking an arrow, and fired it upon the giant tick and hoping to catch as much as she could with the explosion.