Moving through the darkened forest, eyes locked on the lights ahead, neither of you sees the thin line stretched between two trees. Magna is quick enough to catch herself on the base of a large elm, but Talia is not so quick. She falls, arms flailing, into a large pile of leaves. And mud. And something really rotten...
The lights wink out, and far above in the canopy of the trees, there is a strange sound. If a cricket could laugh, that would be it.
Magna drops her axe and moves to help Talia out of the mess.
"What happened? Are you ok?"
She uses her Detect Evil ability to try and pinpoint any enemies around.
Talia's eyes go wide as she sees Magna stumble and catch herself against the elm, and then even wider as she feels the tug of the line against her shin. The noble hits the leaves face first, then opens her mouth to scream, thinking, A trap! A bandit trap!, but instead she swallows some mud, and pears? Are those... rotten pears? Pushing up quickly, the taste and smell hits her nose and taste buds at once, and wretching, Talia's dinner comes up, all over the noblewoman's traveling cloak and lap.
Leaning forward, Talia vomits some more, spitting bile from her lips as her stomach empties. A... joke? This is all a joke? How could Puck follow us unseen from Oleg and Svetlana's?
As the laughing reaches her ears, Talia stands, looking into the darkness above her. Waving her fingers and saying a quick, lilting sylable, the playwright waves her hand over face, and clothes, cleaning them off as if she just showered. Spitting the last bit of flem from her mouth, she whispers up into the canopy, "Puck! You're a very funny jokester, Puck! I am a creative type too, a playwright, mostly of dramas, because I can't tell a joke worth a damn. Come on down, I'd like to talk about your craft - you have much to teach me!""
And then I'll wring your neck, gnome.
Talia puts her hand on Magna's shoulder, steadying herself, and points up to the trees, waving her hand over her head. "I'm OK. You hear that? Puck is in the trees, laughing at us!"
There is flutter of wind in Talia's hair, and a soft voice hisses in her ear: "Who isss Puck?"
Magna can detect no evil, but she can hear the voice speaking to Talia.
Talia freezes and a shiver runs up her spine as something speaks in her ear. Not Puck! Not Puck! Turning slowly toward the hissing voice, hands raised in a non-threatening manner, Talia speaks low and calmly. "Why, I thought you were Puck, but obviously I was mistaken. Puck is, to answer your question, the greatest joke-player I have ever heard of." Nodding in the direction of the rest of the party, Talia continues. "My friend, Dregan knew Puck personally. Obviously, I thought that with your extremely good jokes, you were Puck. But, it makes sense that you are not him - what with your jokes being even better! With whom do I have the honor of speaking?"
Out of the corner of her mouth, Talia whispers, Maaagggnnnnnaaaa...?
Magna mumbles back to Talia.
"I don't sense evil."
Magna stands proud, unarmed.
"Whatever you are, you shouldn't play tricks on people. Someone could get hurt! Show yourself, and we promise not to hurt you."
"No one getsss hurt. Jusst fun! Jusst fun!" There is a quick whiff of air in your faces, and the voice seems to get farther away. From a branch above you, the voice returns.
"Tig no hurtss you! 'sssept maybe your pride! Ssilly human pride!"
"Well, I am no human. So you are called Tig? What are you? Would you help us make fun of some bandits?"
Talia, smiles upwards at the trees, trusting that this... child's ghost being her most current theory... can see better in the darkness than she can. Affecting her warmest voice to go with the smile, the playwright says, "Of course, no one ever gets hurt with jokes! That is why they are so fun, right? And certainly we won't hurt you, Tig. Magna is a knight of the highest moral character, I assure you. And I just want to talk with you about your very excellent tricks! Do you mind if I get a little light going? I can barely seen anything in this darkness."
With another wiggle of her fingers and then a second one, and a couple of magic syllables, a trail of sparks shoot up into the air, multi-colored and fizzling, before a more steady light appears at the tip of Talia's finger, which she raises to the tree in an effort to see what hiding up there...
Magna follows Talia's lead, smiling as gently as she can.
"Please show yourself, so we can become friends."
"Tig? Me not Tig!" the voice above says. There is a light flutter of wings, and the voice comes from another tree, this time above and behind you. "Me Perlivash!" The voice giggles with glee.
In a puff of green smoke and a whiff of cinnamon, this creature appears at the edge of the light. "Sssee? Perlivash!"
Gavriil held himself at the edge of the light as Magna and Talia rushed into the darkness towards the bouncing lights. Damn, we need to stick together! he thought. His worries were made a reality as He heard Talia crumple to the ground. He could not see what was happening, but he could here Talia and Magna talking. It wasn't until Talia caused light to shoot out of her finger that Gavriil was able to see them.
As well as Perlivash.
It was a dragon! With... with... butterfly wings? Gavriil could hardly believe his eyes. He was looking at a small dragon with butterfly wings and puffing out green smoke! Now he had truly seen it all!
It seemed that Talia and Magna had the beast distracted, so Gavriil just kept his eyes on the trees, in case he wasn't the only butterfly-dragon.
Talia stands, stunned, for a few seconds as the little dragon appears. This is not what I was expecting. Is this thing a child, or just child-like?
Giving the creature her best curtsy, Talia points to the three men by the camp."Well met, Perlivash. They are Gavriil, Naralesh and Dregan. This is Magna."
Waving her hand and muttering another arcane sylable, Talia passes her hand over her face and clothes, giving her skin a greenish tinge, and turning her clothes a deep, forest green color. "As you can see, I'm just green with envy at your comedic timing. You'd be welcome to share our fire tonight. Those of us on watch would be happy to talk with you, I'm sure, and we have tea, and food, if you're hungry. But we have a favor to ask you. Tomorrow, we hunt some bandits - very bad men who like to hurt others. We ask you to not play any tricks on us tomorrow, so that we can give the bandits our full attention. Of course, as Magna asked, if you'd like to help us by playing some tricks on the bandits, we'd welcome the help!"
Perlivash flits from person to person, hovering for a second in the face of each. "Talia. Gavriil. Magna - I like Magnitofera better. Naralesh. Nora. Dregan." The little dragon zips over and lands on Magna's head, its small claws gripping her hair. It bends its long neck in an arc to peer into the dwarf's face, looking at her upside-down.
"What about Tig? Tig come to?"
Talia smiles a bit - a genuine smile - as Perlivash flits from person to person and alights on Magna's head. "Oh, I'm very sorry Master Perlivash! I didn't realize that Tig was here too - of course he? She? Would be welcome to come along."
Taking a bit of wax from her belt pouch, the playwright palms it in her hand and again mutters a syllabic sound, and then waves her hand towards the bushes, where the unmistakable sound of a wet, juicy fart rumbles forth. Smiling the whole while, Talia takes on a kidding tone. "Is that Tig over there?"
If only the crew of The Tender Heart could see me now!
Magna raises his hand to pet the small dragon.
"Very pleased to meet you Perlivash. Magnitofera is fine, but you can call me Magna too if you want."
"IamTyg!TygTitterTut!Youarefunnyandprettyandfunny!" A rapid, high-pitched voice sounds in Talia's ear as this creature appears on her shoulder. "Whydoyouseekthebadmenwhorobandsteal? Wedonotlikethemandtrytostayawayfromthemwhenwecan!"
Perlivash hisses at the mention of the bandits.
"Oo! Oo!" Tyg says gleefully, and leaps over to perch next to Perlivash on Magna's head. "TygandPerlseemanythings! SeemanythingsthatBigFolkdonotsee!
Magna raises her shoulders as the second creature gets on top of her.
"Like what?"
Talia offers Tyg her best curtsy. "Why, thank you, Tyg! You are also very funny and pretty! We don't like bandits either. That's why we have to find them - to stop them from robbing and stealing and hurting."
Nodding to Magna, Talia says, "Yes, like what? You could help us stop the bandits if you tell us what you see."
Perlivash launches from Magna's head and makes a loop in the air before hovering in front of Talia.
"We know! We know! The bigginsesss have a camp! A big one! We sssee it!"
"Andtheradishsesdontforgettheradishes!" Tyg adds
"Yess, the radishesess. And the trapses! And the angry bear!"
Ooooothenagrybearissooooangry!"
They both stop suddenly and look at you.
"What?" they ask in unison.
"I think we will become great friends! Please come with us to meet our friends, and then you can tell us about the bad bandits while we eat something, near the fire."
Magna motions to get nearer the fire, and bring the rest of the party to meet they new friends.
Gavriil could hardly believe his eyes. These two creatures were behind the pranks on them, and what's more, Talia and Magna were actually making friends with them! It seemed like it was right out of a fairy tale book.
When Talia introduced them, Gavriil stammered out, "Uh... ummm... yes... I'm Gavriil.... pleased... to meet you."
Then the pair began spouting off information about their surroundings in rapid succession. It was enough to make his head spin. Finally Magna interrupted with an invitation around the fire. Gavriil nodded with a big smile and waved them over while pulling out a trail ration to share with the creatures.
Naralesh smiles at the creatures' antics, highly amused by his companions' reactions to their pranks. "It's lovely to meet the two of you. I'm Naralesh, and this is Nora." The little fox in his lap watches Perlivash flit about with fascination, and hesitantly approaches Tyg in an attempt to lick the strange little creature. "We'd love to know what you've seen of the bigginses bandits. We don't like them either!"
Talia makes her way over to the fire, smiling, and with a quick gesture and syllable, a trail of sparks shoot from the top of her head. Waving Tig and Perl over to the others, she takes a bit of Gavriil's rations and nibbles on it, and gathers her cookpot, asking Dregan to get the fire going again. Taking a little loose tea from her pack, she adds some water to it and puts the pot over the reawakened flames, and sits, waiting for the tea to steep, on a log. "We found some radishes - they are very tasty! Do you like them? Our friend Svetlana may be able to make you some very good radish soup back at her place. You were there this morning when you played that very good joke on us with our packs."
"Do you two live around here? Where does the angry bear live? How about the bandits? Where do they live? Could you show us? What have you seen of them?"
Thus begins a long and - at times - frustrating discussion with the two fey creatures. Eventually you get the information from them. Turns out they are quite active in the region around Oleg's.
They do lve in the area, as best as you can determine, somewheres North-East of here.
The angry bear lives in the old 'horned man' temple, just sS-SE of their nest.
The bandits have a camp "A big one!" "ohyesveryverybig!" due East of here. They can draw you a map if you wish. "We watches them!" But Tyg and Perlivash will not go with you. "Verybigandbadbiggins!" "Yess, we stayss away from the bigginses, just watches."
Taking a piece of parchment from her pack, and dipping her inkpen in her ink vial, Talia smiles sweetly, and despite the late hour and manic nature of the little creatures, summons up another smile. "We would LOVE a map, dears!"
--------------------
The next morning, Talia sleeps a little late and awakes groggy. Setting about to warm some of the tea left in her pot from last night, she breaks into a day's worth of rations, chewing thoughtfully. "Shall we head towards the bandits and then ambush them tonight? Or shall we finish exploring this area, since we're here?"
"How many bigginses are at the camp, friends?" asks the elf. 'Big' is a relative measurement, especially for these diminutive beings, he muses.
"We need to deal with the bandits first, and explore only after we have secured, as much as we are able, the area."
The two fey hurriedly scratch out a map on the ground in front of the fire. With much arguing and changes, and Perlivash's tail ruining the map at least twice, they provide you with what you need.
"Sixes!" "Eight!orsix!oreight!" they respond to Naralesh's question.
Magna thanks the small creatures.
"You are our friends now, so if you need help tell us, and we will come. Wish us luck against the bandits."
Talia nods to Magna. "Sounds good to me." Getting her pack and tying it to Noleski the horse, the noblewoman looks into the woods and thinks about the battle soon to come. I hope we are strong enough to take this bandit camp without losing anyone else. I think we are stong enough...
Turning to Perl and Tig, Talia smiles. "Magna is right. We are happy to call you friends. If you need anything, come visit us at Oleg's. And if it is OK with you, we'd like to visit you sometime too!"
16 Pharast 4707
The morning dawns clear but cold. A stiff wind blows from the North, the trees of the forest swaying and bending as it gusts. At times, the sound of the leaves is a roar in the wind.
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"I agree. This close to the bandits' encampment, it would be foolish to stumble about through the woods, especially now that we have the upper hand. I suggest we attack at night, when they are most likely to be asleep." The elf subconsciously touches the bandage covering his still-tender eye socket, and looks seriously at Talia. "And there will be no mercy given before every last one is subdued, this time." His tone brooks no disagreement. No one else will lose their life because we want to offer them a chance to strike us first, he thinks grimly. Nora bares her teeth and gives a tiny growl to indicate her master's resolve to see these criminals defeated.
As Naralesh turns his attention to her, Talia blushes, shame making her scowl. "Agreed," she simply says.
When approaching the bandit camp Magna will follow Talia's orders, and will try to remain next to the spellcasters, protecting them, while keeping as quiet as she is able (which is not much, with her scale mail armor).
Throughout the day, Talia stays behind Dregan, back a bit, and watches for signs of people. Every hour or so, she climbs a tree and looks out for signs of a campfire above the treeline.
Following Dregan, with the others at a safe distance behind her, Talia marvels at the woodsman's ability to move in and out of the woods. Even though she knows where he is, he still dissapears for a moment in the foliage, silent as a panther as he moves Following Dregan's cues as best she can, Talia points out where there is a noisy branch, a good bit of undergrowth, or a slippery patch of mud.
As the sun sets, Talia keeps her eyes towards the camp, looking out for whatever signs she can see of guards, lights, fires. When darkness falls, Talia says softly, "Naralesh, its time." and watches as the dancing light "lantern" springs to life. As the lantern moves to about 25 feet directly to the side of the group, Talia motions Naralesh to stop the lantern and slowly lower it, trusting the elf's keen eyes to make out her signal in the dim light. With her other hand, she wiggles her fingers and utters a quick whispering chant, trying her best to imitate Hap's shouting voice, which says, "Kressle! The bastards got us! Help, I'm hurt!" Then, a loud gurgling and coughing, and silence.
Grabbing her scorpion whip and buckler, Talia waits to see if the bandits take the bait...
Gavriil awoke last among the group of heroes. Even with the day of rest, he still found himself sore in all the wrong places. But after a quick bite of breakfast, he found himself jittery. The thought of going back into battle had him on edge. The last time they had faced off against the bandits there had been grave consequences.
But times had changed.
Since their first throw-down with the bandits, they had fought a giant spider and had slain kobolds. While neither of them had posed too big of a danger, Gavriil felt more confident in his abilities. He even found himself eager to go toe-to-toe with the bandits. Not to mention the fact that this time he was more confident in their plan.
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Throughout the day, he kept the energy bottled. Now was not the time for awful singing that hurt poor little Nora's ears. He followed close behind Talia, moving as silently as he could (a little difficult considering he was a little more straight forward with his approach usually). He stepped where she stepped, nodded when she pointed out a twig or slick patch of ground. Her advice helped, making him just a little more stealthy under the canopy. All the while, his eyes scanned for signs of the bandits, his heart pumping loud in his ears in anticipation.
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As the sun kissed the horizon and winked out of existence, Gavriil and the others were plunged into darkness. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face, but he could hear the others pushing their plan into motion. The excitement boiled underneath him again, ready to dive into the fray once more. He was ready to be a hero.
Dregan gets up early and finds a spot to tie up the horses on long ropes that will easily allow them to reach a stream for water and then opens a sack of oat and spreads it out for them. Then stows most of his travelling equipment, leaving him with only what he'll need for the day there and back.
Setting off Dregan will stay 50ft or so ahead of the rest of the group following the route to the bandits camp. Once close he'll motion the others to stop and move up closer enough to see the camp and bandits, he'll spend the rest of the day watching them and looking firstly for his brother but also for any opportunities or weaknesses.
Assuming nothing comes up a short time into even he'll retreat to the others and put his armour back on.
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trusting the elf's keen eyes
Creeping through the trees with the others, Naralesh suddenly winces as the group comes within sight of the bandits. My damned eye... he thinks as a spasm of phantom pain reminds him too well of the bite of a bandit's arrow. That won't happen again, he thinks firmly, gritting his teeth. The words to his magic dance through his head, having spent the greater part of the day reciting them over and over. Now is hardly the time for any of them to fail.
The group goes over the plan one last time. It's risky, but it stands a good chance of working if the bandits act as we expect. If not... we'll improvise, he thinks. He looks around at the others, so full of confidence and vigor. They are so young, he thinks. They do not believe they can fail. It's impossible not to feel encouraged by their energy, though. Grim though he may be, Naralesh finds himself optimistic about their chances.
The elf whispers words in the ancient tongue of magic when the group is ready to begin. "Ilnis avore tamok," he intones, cupping his hands as a tiny light flickers into view, a convincing approximation of a lantern. He sends it shooting into the woods to the spot they agreed upon, bringing it into view and lowering it to the ground as Talia signals him.
As the bard's voice rings out from the empty clearing in an approximation of Haps's voice only theater training could provide, Naralesh whispers his second spell, hoping to ensure that his most crucial spell goes off without a hitch.
"Eferi kalamon erised!" he whispers as he simply vanishes from sight.