"You am burning trees to make new home? What am sort of home you like?" Kereek is gawking in open admiration of this ravishing beauty.
"A new home," she replies with a wild laugh. "One where the land has been razed and renewed, ready to grow wild again."
Kereek nods. "Kereek am finding new home just yesterday! It am tower where Kereek am meeting bad woman who am making Kereek stare at her and making Kereek dumb. It am not far! Maybe pretty elf fire lady come visit Kereek sometime?" Kereek lays on his best kobold sexy look. "Wait, how big am new home pretty fire lady am making? Because this land am going to be Hartsland, which am kingdom where King Jon-Jon am King. Hartsland am nice place, but pretty fire lady can't burn all of it. But if pretty fire lady am just burning this part, maybe pretty fire lady can stay here and be part of Hartsland!"
"What am they saying?" Prazil whispers harshly, plainly loud enough to be heard by everyone, as he leans toward the nearest human.
The woman gives the kobold a wide smile, flames reflecting off her white teeth. "Sometimes the fire has a mind of its own and gets away from me. Who knows how much land I shall have for a home?"
Treshiell looks at Kereek as the kobold approaches the fey and starts to talk with her in a foreign language. The witch frowns when the faerie responds and quickly retrieves small handful of dirt from one of her pouches (). Treshiell swallows it in one gulp then rides up beside Kereek. "What is your name?" she asks the faerie.
"<Insert the name the faerie gives> is speaking of a new home. Kereek has invited her to visit him at the keep, then he raises some concern her home might interfere with the growth of Hartsland. He goes on to say that she is welcomed in Hartsland if she does not burn to much land.", she tells Prazil.
"I am Danau," she replies.
"Danau am pretty name for pretty fire elf lady." Kereek sighs, his eyes making heart shapes in his face. "Well, am you minding if Kereek and Kereek's friends stay and help make sure fire am not getting too close to anyone fire am not supposed to burn?"
"What am Kereek for saying now? Him am having weird look in face. Prazil has seen look before. Kereek am having it just before him am accidentally-on-purpose set chief's big-chief-is-chief-feast on fire." Prazil then shifts back into the harsh whisper that's loud enough for all to hear, "Him was trying to get attention of Yimmiyak, but she was not for being impressed by burning. It was sad-sad. We am not supposed to talk about it."
"Inviting her to visit? Agnar murmurs to his companions in disbelief. "She's a damned force of nature. You don't invite a wildfire to run through your garden or a flood into your kitchen." Agnar shakes his head and begins a silent prayer to Erastil to provide the kobold with wisdom and guidance.
"YIMMIYAK AM EGG-SUCKING SOFT-SKULL! KEREEK AM TELLING YOU NEVER TO NEVER SAY EGG-SUCKING SOFT-SKULL NAME NEVER AGAIN!" Kereek turns and shrieks in high-pitched Common at Prazil, while actual flames begin appearing all over his clenched claws!
"What? Yimmiyak? Who- Prazil am not for talking about Yimmiyak! Nope! Not Prazil! No Yimmiyak here? Hee hee heh. Heh. Nope nope!" Prazil's eyes widen in fear as he glances furtively to his big-feet friends. He adds surreptiously out of the side of his mouth, "Uhoh! This am bad. This am for maybe being bad-bad."
Kereek glares at Prazil for a long moment, before turning back to the burning elf hottie and smiling lizardly. "He am saying bad things from old memory. Nothing important. Danau am very important and am much more burny than stupid egg-sucking soft skull."
"Don't worry, little kobold. It's like smoke on the wind, not a spark in a dry pile of leaves."
She seems content to have you wait while she dances though the heat only continuing to grow . However, after a short time Orin, Prazil and Agnar fear the fire is beginning to spread beyond the glade...
Agnar:
Kereek:
Orin:
Prazil:
Treshiell:
"Uhhh... Kereek? Kereek! KEREEK!" Prazil taps the red scaled kobold frantically on the top of his head as he points with increasing panic toward the tongues of fire that seem about to spread beyond the glade. "She should be for stopping right now, Kereek! Stop her stop her stop her!"
Kereek sighs. "Danau. Maybe fire am getting too big? Forest needs fire, but forest also need trees or else am not a forest, am just grassy. Maybe it am time to stop? For Kereek, yes yes?" Kereek gives her his most winning kobold smile.
"He likes you", Treshiell adds to help in Kereek's conversation.
Orin steps up to the fey and begins in Sylvan "Enough. Your flames are beginning to get out of control. You have frightened the animals nearby causing them to flee from your destruction. If you wish to lay claim to this glade then do so, but do not destroy the forest around it. Stop your flames now or we will stop them for you."
Orin seems to cow the fey woman, for the moment at least.
"Do you also rage against the storm?" she asks, pouting. "There's nothing I can do to stop it until it burns out"
"If it could be spoken to and reasoned with we would. What do you intend to do with this land?"
Kereek looks distinctly uncomfortable with the conversation, still staring intently at the fire lady. "Maybe if you am helping us make a place where fire already is burned, so there am no trees for fire to burn?"
"We am needing to save these trees NOW! This am looking bad-bad!" Prazil begins look back and forth from the tongues of flame licking at the edges of the glade, Danau, and then to Kereek with increasing rapidity. "What am we for doing?!"
"I shall live here," Danau responds with a laugh. "It shall be my new home. Nothing to burn? Why would I want that? Fire cannot be caged!"
Agnar looks nervously at the spreading flames. He puts a hand up to his symbol of Erastil while the other trails down to rest fingers on the pommel of his cold iron dagger.
"Lady," he says, having to resort to the common tongue. "There are many who make there homes near here. Our own people are not far off. There are children, new lives, easily extinguished. While your flames may renew the growth here, it will take life there. This we will not allow. Please control the fire, or return from whence you came."
Seemingly still intimidated by Orin's earlier outburst, Danau pouts at Agnar's words.
"I can't go back to my old home, the beast ruined it. But if you don't want me here, fine. Though I already told you, I can't do anything about the fire already here."
Taking one last look around, she takes to the sky, leaving the ring of burning woods behind.
Treshiell takes to the air shortly after the fey. ”To what beast are you referring? If you have been wrongfully ejected from your home I believe it is our duty to rectify the situation. If you come back down we would discuss it.”, she asks in flight.
Treshiell takes off after Danau, as the rest of you remain in the burning mess, which continues to slowly spread.
"Oh no, I am happy to move on," she says. "There are so many interesting places that I've never seen. The bird-bear can have my old home. And I don't think the scary one down there liked me at all. I don't think he would help."
Prazil does his best to help keep the flames from spreading, directing Spike to sweep any bracken and loose undergrowth a safe distance away from the encroaching fire.
Kereek signs loudly when Danau flies off, then frowns when Treshiell flies off after her. "One day Kereek learn to fly. And maybe out out fires..."
Orin pulls the folding shovel and saw from his saddlebags and, tossing one to someone nearby, begins to create a firebreak as best he can.
Agnar begins casting, dumping gallons of water at a time over as wide an area as possible to slow the spread of the blaze as well as he can.
Your efforts prove effective, and after a short time you're convinced that the fire has been dealt with, only one small grove destroyed.
"Oh no, I am happy to move on," she says. "There are so many interesting places that I've never seen. The bird-bear can have my old home. And I don't think the scary one down there liked me at all. I don't think he would help."
Treshiell tilts her head as the fey didn't her the answer she was expecting. "I think he would not be able to refused you, should you ask for his help. He would not be a very good warden otherwise", she says then ends her spell sending her falling down landing softly thanks to her magic.
Your return to Thronehold is uneventful, and things seem in good condition when you arrive. It takes some time to catch up on your duties, which have piled up during your absence, but after a week or so, you feel as if you're able to take a breath again.
You're just starting to feel like things are going well when you hear a disturbance in the courtyard. Rushing you, you discover a guardsman, who's clearly ridden hard to get to you, his horse, covered in lather, collapsing as he dismounts.
"Trolls!" the guardsman cries out!
Given a few moments, the man, who identifies himself as Melnick Elrino, explains a group of about 25 trolls have taken residence in a small cluster of farms in your land to the north, near the fangberry thicket, grabbing food and livestock and even people! He begs you to sally forth and drive the trolls away.
Kereek's nose begins to twitch, as he smells the opportunity he's been waiting for to burn large numbers of things in fiery, fiery fun!
"Trolls? Hargulka has broken the truce! Time to put this menace to rest. First we deal with these invaders in the north then march on this troll "king" and finish what should have been done long ago."
"Have you witnessed this? Why did they not take you?" Treshiell asks the guardsman.
Agnar runs a hand through his beard. "That's a lot of trolls. We're going to need some backup. We barely made it past Hargulka's door guards the last time." He goes to his saddlebags and begins taking stock of his gear and readying weapons.
Jon thinks a moment. "I'm loath to risk anyone, but perhaps we can take a day and raise a militia, to even the odds a little."
"Kereek! You am should call fire lady from glade to be for helping!"
Treshiell looks at Kereek. "You know how to call for her?" she asks.
Kereek looks confused. "Maybe if I am making big fire she am seeing?"
Treshiell tilts her head thinking about the idea. She scans the landscape of Thronehold for something suitable to burn.
Kereek will find and saddle Pork-Chop and get ready to leave. To Jon:" Yes yes! Jon Jon am raising mil-itchers and Kereek am going to scout out troll place. Keep mil-itchers here until Kereek am sending bird with message. Just in case trolls am faking and trying to attack Thronehold, yes yes!"
"If you build a militia we can build a pyre. It could attract Danau here, if she saw it. Perhaps somewhere at the edge of town." Treshiell suggests.
Baron Jon considers and then nods.
"I can try to gather a militia, and set a pyre, if you want to go out and scout," he says, "see what we're up against."
Prazil nods enthusiastically and prepares Spike for a brave and noble foray out into the wild. He makes doubly sure Thronehold's banner streams majestically from a mounted pole affixed to Spike's saddle.
"We am for finding troubles if troubles am for finding!"