:: Lamashan 19 - Mid Afternoon - Forest ::
"Hhhrrmmm... A conquering army eh? Well if they keep up with damaging the forest, then I'll have to make a lot of them work to replant it." Herge says while he was thinking over Carthas' words. WHen Elyas' finishes speaking Herge replies. "If all you want to do is survive here its pretty easy, but you types usually suck at it. I'd rather not have you destroying everything while you try to survive here, so I could help you out a bit if you can help protect the forest."
Herge looks at Nyakala for a couple of moments, perplexed at her attitude, after she asks her question. "I've not seen any fey recently. And if saying you folk generally suck at not damaging the forest while surviving has offended you, that's rather unfortunate."
Annelise would really much rather not fight this thing, so she does her best to smooth things over. "I think we can agree on that. We'll accept your help and do what we can to protect this forest."
”I wouldn’t be too hopeful about getting the chance to make them replant this anytime soon,” Nyakala says, ”but I certainly won’t complain if you help fight. I won’t speak for ‘us folk,’ but this group hasn’t gone around destroying the forest since I joined.”
"We found some caves for the survivors to stay safe and sheltered in, and we would be happy to help protect the forest from the Ironfang Legion. That's part of surviving here, as well."
:: Lamashan 19 - Mid Afternoon - Forest ::
Herge turns everyone's words over in his head for a moment before speaking again, "Well then why don't you take me to these caves and introduce me to your survivors. I can help out there for a while to help them be less destructive."
Still somewhat suspicious of the giant, Nyakala closes her eyes and extends her awareness to Herge's mind. She waits for his surface thoughts to filter in as the others respond, then mentally sifts through them for any evidence of ill intent.
Annelise isn't the trusting sort. Where she comes from, trust gets you killed. She hesitates, waiting to see if anyone else has a better read on Herge's intentions.
Carthas attempts to gauge the giant's intentions. He seemed trustworthy, but it could be a ruse.
"We might be able to do that, although from here I believe it would take a couple days to get there."
Elyas tries to get some sense of if this giant is telling the truth. he did seem to be upset about the damage done to the forest, but it was still quite possible that the giant was working with the goblinoids.
trying to be diplomatic, Elyas says
We are always looking for more allies, as we are badly outnumbered in this fight. we would be willing to introduce you to others in our band to learn from you, but in excnage is there any way you can tell us more about what you've seen happening in this forest?
:: Lamashan 19 - Mid Afternoon - Forest ::
Herge looks at Elyas, a bit confused. "I'm not sure how things work where you come from, but when someone offers to help, you don't generally ask them for more help in exchange for it." Herge's eyebrows furrow and he looks at all of you more suspiciously while slowly backing away. "Someone pokes at my mind with magic, and I've not seen anyone but you today."
Herge's thoughts, Odd... these folk... asking for more help after I offer some... assaulting my mind?.... been no one else in these parts other that the arsonists.... are these the arsonists after all?.... Am I too trusting?....
"I must go. If we meet again then maybe we can continue this conversation, but under the circumstances I would rather leave."
Herge quickly turns and jogs back into the forest.
"Well, that was unfortunate," Nyakala says, not looking particularly disappointed. "I suppose we should finish with the bodies now."
She levitates Elyas to retrieve the remaining corpses, assuming he agrees, then examines them.
Elyas shakes his head, leaving the conversation more confused than anything.
at least they didn't come to blows with a giant.
he allows Nyakala to lift him back intot he trees to finish removing the bodies
Annelise shrugs. "I don't think he was altogether on our side, and we're not completely on his. Going our separate ways in peace is probaly the best outcome."
She helps the others bury the bodies.
"Shame. The muscle could have come in handy, and I'd rather we could confirm that he wouldn't be an enemy. I wonder what he meant by someone poking at his mind with magic." Carthas sets about helping bury the bodies.
Annelise makes a half-smile, that doesn't have much in the way of humour in it. "I prefer muscle I can summon and control. Muscle with a mind of its own makes me nervous."
She looks around the forest, with its shadows and secrets and unseen dread and pulls her cloak aroudn her. "Well, ok. More nervous. The wilderness isn't really my thing."
:: Lamashan 19 - Mid Afternoon - Forest ::
With Herge retreated in to the forest, the group finishes burying the bodies. As night approaches you find a sheltered place to make camp.
.
:: Lamashan 20 - Morning - Forest ::
Morning comes slowly, dark clouds over heads and rain falling since well before sunrise. The steady down pour will leave pretty much everything soaked by the end of the day. In the brisk temperatures this late in the year, weather like this needs to have a set of good sturdy walls around to to hide away from it safely. Unfortunately, you lack those at the moment.
Studying the clouds and the area, Carthas thinks that the next day will likely still be clouded, but with no wind and a bit cooler.
Nyakala glowers up at the rain and shivers, pulling her cloak tighter. "I say we head north for a while before turning east and circling back to Caveholm."
Annelise tries to wring as much water out of her hair as she can, it clings limply to her scalp. She sniffs, and then sneezes. "That sounds good to me. A ceiling - or a roof - is what this place is missing right now."
Carthas draws his cloak closer about him. "I think that's a good idea for now. We don't want to be out in this weather for too long."
Elyas nods along with the others
Yes, we do not want to range out too far if the weather turns on us. we should also plan on returning to the refugees before long to report back. We don't have much to report this time, but we do not want to cause worry by not checking back in with them.
:: Lamashan 20 - Afternoon - Forest ::
The group heads north, rain steadily falling all day. Midafternoon you come to a large glade. At the center of this wide glade is a clear, rocky pond approximately twenty feet in diameter. Seven blossoming
cherry trees lean inward from the edge of the pond like conspirators. Hundreds of small, sharp knots of wood cover the ground around the pond and the trees.
Already irritated by the rain, Nyakala's mood grows even darker as she takes in the glade. "This better not be more fey s+&&," she mutters.
Nyakala begins to scan for magic in the area directly ahead of her as she tries to work out whether a plausible natural explanation for the glade's peculiarities exists.
Carthas looks around. "This is a lovely glade, but such beauty can conceal great danger."
Annelise tries to draw the hood of her cloak over her, but it's soaked through so doesn't keep the rain off anymore. She looks around. "Lovely sight, but quite a lot of this forest has tried to kill us already."
Charles does not really mind the rain other then it may hurt his footing in a combat situation. Still being in the woods is not that bad. He smiles at Carthas comment thinking that the statement could also be used about his blade.
"If its not trying to kill us we might think we are doing something wrong I guess."
Depending on what Carthas comes up with Charles will lead the approach.
Elyas follows the others, likewise expecting some new danger to approach them. still, a source of good clean water could be really important if this area was not a danger to them. he holds his sword at the ready and hangs just behind Charles
"We may wish to circle around this glade. Cherry trees are not native to this area, and they definitely shouldn't be blossoming. These sharp knots of wood are clearly unnatural, and I see signs of owl bears. Let's just go around it."
that comment spikes Elyas' curiosity.
"what are trees doing here that aren't normally here? surely the goblins ahven't brought cherry trees to transplant? you may be right that it isn't natural, but I sure would like to know what caused them to be here.
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Annelise gives a grim smile. "There's always someone who's a bit too curious for their own good. I met a lot of them, back home. It never worked out for them." She doesn't elaborate, and in fact looks momentariky surprised that she has even talked about her past. An unguarded moment, but still not clever.
She sighs. "OK. Watch closely."
Calling on her powers, she summons a small creature - a dog - which appears 30 feet away from her in the clearing.
:: Lamashan 20 - Afternoon - Forest ::
The dog flickers into existence and yelps, acting as though its feet are in pain.
Nyakala watches the dog's predicament impassively. "Well, that was fairly predictable. Regardless, I agree with Annelise. If you want to try that path go ahead Elyas, but I'll be staying out here."
Elyas ignores the comments and watches the dog with interest. it looks like the wood is hurting it a bit, but nothing has come out to attack it or anything yet. he looks at the path with interest.
if he doesn't see anything attacking the dog, he will move forward cautiously on the path, ready to retreat if anything appears or attacks him
:: Lamashan 20 - Afternoon - Forest ::
As the summoned dog continues to suffer, and Elyas walks down the path, Elyas notices the tree across the pond from him shivers a bit, and shifts from side to side.
The tree suddenly shouts out, "How can you just let it suffer! Begone you foul beings! Begone from my home!"
Elyas pulls up short, surprised by a tree speaking.
"Um, hello there! I am sorry we don't mean any harm. we will just be on our way. who are you and what is this place?
Carthas looks at the tree, then turns to Annelise and says, "May I suggest dismissing your summons? This tree may not want to fight us."
:: Lamashan 20 - Afternoon - Forest ::
The tree... stands up slightly, and Carthas recognizes it as a treant.
Treants are essentially living trees that live to protect the forests they inhabit. They can control trees around them to fight in combat and are ferocious in protecting their domain from outsiders they believe are harming it.
Carthas also notices a lot of owlbear markings around the entrance to the trail going into the glade.
"All of your type mean only harm. Cutting trees, marching armies through the forests, setting fires and killing each other!" the treant says, "You summon beings from other planes to be tortured and do your bidding without remorse! Begone from this forest and never return!"
As the treant finishes speaking, the two cherry trees closest to the path begin to shudder.
Nyakala forms a protective lattice of hazy strands around herself and prepares to work more offensive magic if necessary. With a puff of dark mist from her mouth, she whispers in the ears of the rest of the party, "Seems like we should get out of here now, unless someone's really sure they know how to make friends with angry treants."
Annelise dismisses the hound with a wave of her hand, giving Elyas a meaningful look. She sizes up the treant with a look, assessing it.
This isn't something she really wants to fight, espcieally on its own ground. She starts to quietly withdraw, looking at the others and indicating that they should do the same thing.
"Well, we haven't made any friends there, but at least it's not about to side with the hobs."
Elyas spreads his hands in a placating gesture
"my apologies. we have gotten off on the wrong foot here.." Elyas shakes his head, losing his train of thought as he wonders if that phrase means anything at all to a being with no feet... "we will be on our way. we will not bother you any further.
he begins backing slowly towards the rest of the group, but doesn't turn his back on the treefolk.
Charles is intellectually in over his head and is aware of it but still smiles his best.
"Armies marching about, that is one of the problems we have too. Were not so interested in cutting down trees as cutting down one of those armies."
He bows a little.
"If an army of hobgoblins has been causing you hardship you could point us in their direction. They set that fire back there and we don't like that so much."
Lyndis takes a step forward and bows to the Treant.
"શુભેચ્છાઓ, જંગલના ઉમદા રક્ષક. અમે તમને અને તમારા ડોમેનને નુકસાન ન કરવા માંગીએ છીએ. જેમણે ઝાડ કાપવા અને જંગલમાં આગ લગાડ્યા છે, તેઓએ અમારા કમર પર આક્રમણ કર્યું છે, અને તેઓ પણ આ જ ક્ષેત્રમાં કરવા માગે છે. અમે ફક્ત અસ્તિત્વ ટકાવી રાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરીએ છીએ અને કદાચ તેમને આ દેશોમાંથી હાંકી કા વાનો કોઈ રસ્તો શોધીશું. જો આપણી હાજરી તમને પરેશાન કરે છે તો અમે અમારા માર્ગ પર રહીશું."
Nyakala abruptly shifts into her blurred form when Lyndis speaks but remains quiet, the edges of her body pulsing with her deliberately steady breath.
:: Lamashan 20 - Afternoon - Forest ::
Treants are essentially living trees that live to protect the forests they inhabit. They can control trees around them to fight in combat and are ferocious in protecting their domain from outsiders they believe are harming it.
Carthas also notices a lot of owlbear markings around the entrance to the trail going into the glade.
The two trees that were shuddering fully rip themselves from the soil and begin to test out their new freedom, roots pulling them slowly towards Elyas.
"તમે ઓછામાં ઓછી સંસ્કારી જીભને કોણ છો. જો તમે હવે જશો તો હું તમને શાંતિથી જવા દઈશ, પરંતુ જાણવું કે હું તમને જોઈશ અને ખાતરી કરીશ કે તમે વર્તન કરો છો" The treant says.
"Begone now, and trouble the forest no longer!"
"અમે પછી જઈશું. હોબ્લોબલિન્સ સાથે સાવચેત રહો, તેઓ તેમના યુદ્ધ મશીન માટેના બળતણ તરીકે આખા જંગલને બાળી નાંખશે ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ અટકશે નહીં."
"No hobgoblins here, people. Let's go.", she says, backing off.
Annelise scowsl slightly. "Looks like owlbears might be somewhere around, though. Do you want to push our luck and try asking him about them? He seems to like that you speak his language."
"Best we leave while we can."
Carthas turns to the treant and offers a short bow. "આભાર, ઉમદા વન સંરક્ષક. અમે અમારી રજા લઈશું."
"Thank you, noble forest protector. We'll take our leave."
Elyas doesn't understand what the others are saying, but gets the idea from the common being spoken that it is time to leave.
he holds his hands up to show he is not going to attack, then retreats to the others outside of the clearing
Nyakala is more than happy to pull back with the others.