The party heads west, attempting to cover more unexplored territory. After a few hours, they once again find the western plains, clear of trees and some wild game running around. The party camps for the night after having explored and mapped the area. It is a quiet and starry night.
In the morning, saddlebags are packed and the party heads off again. Circling west, they decide to cover the edge area to their assigned territory. Once again, the Narlmarches are upon them, and a thick canopy is above everyone's heads. The forest seems quiet.
Midday, it is once again time to head east. The forest opens up to an off clearing. A 15-foot-tall statue of Erastil stands near the edge of the Narlmarches, partially overgrown at the base but towering above the surrounding shrubbery. Once the stony sentinel standing before an old hunter’s lodge, the lodge has long since vanished after a fire and centuries of growth, but the statue remains.
An odd feeling surrounds the area. Looking around, seems like no wild animals approach the statue. No birds, squirrels or even insects inhabit the immediate surroundings of the statue. Norn, Bingo and Kaeso all feel a sense of peace here.
"Huh, I wonder what happened here... Since it's rather close to the temple, maybe it once was a guidepost of some sort."
Mornaura examines the statue and the remains of the hut.
"Seems I have A big battle ahead of me, So many monuments of Erastil," she sighs and than clutches her holy symbol and than puts on her smile
"Break to have lunch"She asks as she smiles.
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It does seem like even our boys have all been drinking Erastil's Kool-Aid. If you are not familiar with Kool-Aid, it is a deceptively sweet poison that is legendary in my land. It drains the drinker of his will and forces him to mindlessly follow insane leaders.
Look at them. So peaceful. Not a care in the world. Clearly something terrible has possessed them.
On to the boggard tomorrow then?
Bingo scowls at Dris, "Don't be mockin' Ol' Deadeye, lass. He's not one of yer warm 'n fuzzy gods. Yer settin' yerself up fer a nasty surprise."
"Erastil is not so bad, Ionnia." says Norn with a grin. "I mean Shelyn is a bit more aloof and care-free, but what would you expect from a godess of art and music and such. She even has Paladins, which means our interests are not that misaligned. Halflings like Bingo even revere him as more of the god of community and family than nature and the hunt. Very nice fellow. Of course, it looks like he DID turn that old cleric into a bear... Does seem kind of harsh for a good deity."
Norn goes and enjoys some lunch.
" I know, though I have issues from some of his doctrine, he all in all is a good deity, I just have come to spread the word of my god to these people and want to do it though the preaching of unconditional love" she un wraps her meat pies and hands them out. They are still warm and snlhe smiles.
She than walks a little ways from the state and kneels as she prays silently to her goddess contemplating how to win the people to her goddess.
"Umm, I don't know much about gods and all. We didn't get to temple much, which I guess was bad, but it seems to me that 'good' is in the eye of the beholder." Kaeso pauses for a minute, thinking of the best way to get his thought into words. He brightens as an analogy occurs to him: "It's like a pile of manure. It's bad, if Drispeera here were to step in it and mess up her shoes, but it's as good as gold to a farmer. Or a fly! Erastil may be like the manure."
Wait a minute! Did I just compare Erastil to a pile of manure? Kaeso nervously takes a few steps back from the statue.
Ionnia laughs a bit and looks at Kaeso." I know not all people are as devout as me and Norn, but I hope and pray my goddess can bring her love and joy to the people of this harsh lands here. I want to bring my daughter here as well and maybe raise more children with the man or woman I choose to be with" she says as she walks over and smiles at everyone.
She looks at everyone in the group and sighs" Does any one here wish to know more of my goddess while we travel?" a look of eagerness across her face as she looks over her comrades in hopes some one here could help her keep her resolve and keep her from doubting her mission.
After thanking Ionnia for the meat pie and voraciously devouring it (with a little unneeded help from Faron), Mornaura looks at Drispeera and decides to try to calm her before the religious debate goes on.
"Before you become too twitchy because noone answers your question," she says, chuckling slightly, "let me say yes, let's make a short trip to the boggard tomorrow before we go on with our western border plan."
Slowly rotating around herself to estimate the remaining daylight time and to screen the vicinity again, she adds, "We could probably make it to him today, but not back. So we should probably explore the rest of this area and then return to camp right here, because there's an abjuration effect radiating from the statue, which is most probably keeping all the animals at bay - and who's going to refuse a full night's rest without mosquitos, hmm?"
Kaeso takes a look at the remains of the hut, just to see if he can find anything interesting.
Perception:
Gathering their things, the group decides to pack and head down to see their Boggard friend. After about 4 hours of riding through the woods, the group has no trouble finding the old ruins the boggard called home.
As you unmount and the horses and tie them up, the boggard lets out a loud croak that wakes up his sleeping slurk pets he grabs his club and once again steps outside his house.
He utters some incomprehensible croaking sounds towards the group as they approach.
Ionnia smiles and walks towards the Boggard head bowed and stabds about ten feet in front of you and than gets on her knees. She pulls out a meat pie and rests it out in front of her as she bows down at you.
Diplomacy
"Offering....Peace" I say offering a meat pie and trying to get him closure so i can touch him.
The boggard seems to have lowered his weapons thanks to Ionnia's cunning diplomacy skills. However, he still seems quite wary of getting any closer to you. It looks curiously at the pie, although he is not looking excitedly hungry for it.
"Well... Let's all lay down our weapons. Ionnia, since you need to touch the Boggard to cast Share Language on him, you or Dris should probably activate one of the Comprehend scrolls. That'll make calming him easier, and you know if he says something like 'I rip your head off if you touch me'. Just in case."
Casting Comprehend languages from a scroll.
Kaeso grumbles "This is taking so long. I could just grab him for a minute and you could touch him. . . "
Once the Comprehend languages is done I step closure and set my weapons down where I was and walk forward with the pie in hand. As i walk i begin to cast Share Language.
"Shelyn grant me the gift for me and our froggy friend here to understand and know each other" she says and than follows it up by offering the pie again, closure and unarmed.
When he grabs the pie i will activate the spell
He backs away just a tad as Ionnia get closer.
"Whuh? What? Why is she coming over here, Morgogo? I think she believes I like her food, but I don't think there any bugs in there! It smells like meat from here. How gross is that! These humans can seriously eat anything. Here, in our kingdom! Offering us food made of meat instead of bugs!"
Bingo squats down and starts hopping around. "Ribbit, ribbit"
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At last something amusing! Dris muses at Bingos antics. But this all needs to hurry along. If we're to play the fools so be it.
Attempting to appear helpful Dris will come and stand right behind Ionnia. When Bingo begins his next round of croaking, Dris will spin to look and "accidentally" hip chuck Ionnia into the Boggard.
Oh my! I am soooo clumsy today!
The boggard seems intrigued when Drispeera moves closer.
"Look, she is getting closer! Oh my, if I could only talk to her. Maybe she would like to stay and rule with me! Curse me for being born in a swamp!"
With a bump, Dris pushes Ionnia forward (who I assume uses the opportunity to touch the guy:
Ionnia's spell goes off transferring the Common language to the Boggard. The meat pie flies into the air, and *SPORTCH* lands on Ionnia's back a few seconds later...
"Oh Spirits of these lands..." the witch groans, "Did the little folly show work out, at least? Let's hope he understands us now and doesn't consider all that an insult or something..."
She prepares to use her slumber hex on the Boggard, should he try to attack someone.
Kaeso attempts to stifle a chuckle, turning it into a cough.
"Dris Why did you do that! I now have a perfectly good meat pie on me" she says as he knows the spells go of her and smiles.
"Hi I am Lady Ionnia, this lady is Drispeera, the halfling is Bingo, Our cougher is Kaeso, the other man is Norn, and the lovely lady with the bird is Mornaura we come to ask you of your kingodom and the lands about it?" she says as she smiles.
Diplomacy
Confused, the Boggard replies "What? Well if you could speak with me earlier, why didn't you do so before? My name is Garuum. These are my subjects, Ubagub and Morgogo. These buildings behind me are my kingdom..."
"I was once a member of the greater boggard tribes found to the west in the Hooktongue Slough, but I made a terrible mistake the day I decided he should be the one to rule my tribe. In order to prepare for my coup, I gathered and devoured several dozen of the tribe’s sacred blue dragonflies, hoping to gain great power and skill from the insects. Alas, while the feast bolstered my self-confidence, it looks like it did nothing for my battle skills. I rode my slurk into the center of my tribe to declare war, whereupon the tribe’s priest-king immediately captured me and sentenced me and Ubagub to death after a day of humiliating punishment."
"Fortunately for me, luck had not entirely deserted me. I was placed in a pen, but my captors soon lost track of me after growing insensibly drunk on bog whiskey. Late in the evening, after the moon sank to shadow, I escaped my bonds by using a rock to pulverize my left hand in order to tear it free from my manacle, then freed Ubagub and fled eastward into the Narlmarches. Following my escape, the priest-king branded me an exile and demanded that I be slain on sight should I ever return..."
"So here I am, tribeless. But, I like it that way fine. As I said before, I no want no trouble. Just leave me alone and you may come and go as you please as long as I am not disturbed. You don't seem like bandits, so I am ok with helping you. I already killed enough bandits."
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It is most gracious of you to offer us safe passage through your lands, mighty Garuum. We are also enemies of the cowardly bandits and appreciate your might in vanquishing them. We came across some slain giant frogs in the Northeast. Do you know what might have killed them? Bandits perhaps? And do you know anything of this so-called Stag Lord?
After listening to any information Garuum has to share, Dris will turn to her comrades.
Where next, me hardies? Are we continuing with our plan to explore the western border?
"Bandits is my guess, yes. Maybe the same that plague me. All the ones I kill have this." the boggard pulls out something from his loincloth and it lands at Dris' feet. It is a small silver stag skull cloak-pin.
"If you have come in peace, then I have no quarrel with you. I just want to stay here, peaceful. Finish my exile here with my Slurks."
" You are such a benevolent host Garuum, and thank you for letting us pass through your lands. We will respect your rule here, and as long as no violence is wrought between either party, Shelyn willing, we have a long and fruitful relationship. next time I will bring you something you like to eat and I can teach you the blessings of Shelyn, Sound good" She asks as she smiles and giggles.
I begin to sing a hymn of Shelyn to him.
Perform
"Uh, ok lady. I dont know who Shelyn is, but she sounds important to you. Is she your mom-spawn? You are her tadpole? Well, anyway, good day then. You are welcome to leave anytime. Garuum will not turn down free food in future. Just please respect Garuum's land."
"Shelyn is my goddess Garuum,she protects me and gives me the power to heal! If you want I can teach you of her. And I promise I will bring you something you will eat" As she smiles.
Diplomacy
"I'm glad we're after the same people. We will visit you again after we have finished our expedition and rid these lands of the bandits. Oh, and before we leave, I feel that we should tell you that we haven't been able to talk to you before. We had to cast a spell on you that allows you to understand our language for a while. Just so you don't wonder when we meet again and don't understand you at first - we might have to cast the spell again then."
Mornaura nods to the Boggard and gets ready to leave.
The party packs their horses and bids farewell to the boggard. While finishing up their maps of the area, everyone makes it back to the statue of Erastil, a very nice camping spot. The next morning, fully recovered, the party heads back south into the woods.
The stink of moldering plants and a strange quiet in the sound of birdlife surrounds a somewhat sunken clearing in the woods here. At the center of the clearing, the soggy ground becomes an insect-infested, stagnant, swamp-like pond, and sprawled at the pond’s southern edge is what appears to be a dead horse.
"Maybe we should bring Erastil's statue over here for a while..." the witch mumbles, heaves herself up in the saddle and cranes her neck to get a better look at the dead horse and the pond.
"Shouldn't there be more birds around this extensive insect buffet? Perhaps there's enough manure gas to kill them or something..."
Bingo dismounts and cautiously approaches the body. He examines the ground around the corpse and the corpse itself.
Purrcy actually will not go into the blighted area for some reason. Further investigation reveals the creature to be a dead unicorn, its horn broken off at the brow and its body strangely untouched by insects or other necrophages. The stink of mold comes not from the body, which is weirdly odorless, but from the fouled water of the pond. Mornaura sees now why there are no more birds of prey or carrion birds around: the body is not decomposing. At least, not yet.
"Maybe there's something living in the pond?" Kaeso looks nervously around. The dead unicorn and the lack of bugs is seriously creepy.
"By the spirits of these lands...", Mornaura mumbles when she realizes that she's looking at a dead unicorn, her face going all pale. She climbs off her mount with strangely robotic movements, walks over to the corpse and slumps to the ground next to it. Visibly shocked, she sits there starts muttering "Who does something like that..." a few times.