Aramis spends the next day searching for stray livestock.
Arryn repeats his plan of heading off like he’s looking for food, then sneaking back and hiding in a tree.
That evening, you return to the camp, eating more than it feels like you've had in ages. Spirits are high in the camp, with people seeming as happy as they've been since they first fled -- it's a wonder what a hot meal can do.
After the meal, the camp falls silent and Aubrin steps forward, looking at the five of you and smiles.
"We wouldn’t have made it this far without you,” she says. “Everyone wants you to know how much we appreciate what you’ve done for us. We’re going to keep pulling together until we find a place to call home. With you on our side, we will find that home. In the meantime, I’ve got something to show you.”
Aubrin picks up a staff and holds it upright in both hands. A crossbeam has been tied to the top of the staff and a green scarf hangs down like a banner. Two bristly pine branches lie across the top, tied down to the crossbeam with twine.
“We decided we needed a symbol,” she says proudly. “Something to rally us. What do you think?”
”I like. Greenery, life, connection to the forests that shelter us, opposite of everything we’re fighting.”
Aramis smiles, more touched than she lets on at being thanked for her efforts. These people were her only family. She had fought hard for their survival. She made mistakes, and had regrets... Two murdered in their own camp, food stolen... And she never managed to get Phaistea's parents, or her little buddy Orm to safety... But, she had still done good. Somehow she and the others had managed to keep this ragtag group of refugees alive.
"It's perfect."
Dregg looks up from his spot at the fire, a wooden mug with some steaming liquid in one hand, and regards Aubrin stoically. His armor is back by his bed roll, as it is almost anytime they're not marching or expecting immediate trouble, and it leaves the unsettling scars crisscrossing his entire body plain to see.
After Arryn and Aramis offer their thoughts, Dregg simply looks at Aubrin and asks, "And what do you think it means, Priestess?" His tone isn't confrontational or challenging, more curious. He knew orcish culture featured totemic symbols often, but this was his first exposure to anything like it.
"I think it's a symbol of renewal, and triumphant life," she says with some though. "I'm not an Erastilian -- this is more along those lines or the Green Faith than of Cayden -- but we share a belief in the need for renewal. Things grow and survive winter and hard times, and hopefully this reminds us that we can do the same."
Her speech draws a few scattered cheers from among the other refugees.
Aramis smiles. They could, couldn't they?
"Well said. And well done, everyone."
"Looks decent," Isabella says after some thought. "Strap on an antler or two, and you add the message that we'll turn on whoever tries to bring us at bay."
Dregg doesn't nod, but neither does he shrug off the sentimentality of it all. He does chuckle at Isabella's suggestion, then squints at some of the greenery on the icon. "Huh. Is that hemlock? Just as good as Goggles' antlers if you ask me. Heh. Nice choice."
”I like it just the way it is. There are some people around who would scoff at the idea that we villagers have a connection to the forest, but we know it’s there. Phaendar was there for me when I was having a very rough time and needed a place to live, so it is my honour to pledge to seeing Phaendar restored.”
"It's perfect and beautiful."
Despite her obvious admiration for the little community's new standard, she seems distracted and soon wanders off toward a small clump of trees nearby.
She doesn't return until nearly an hour has passed. When she does she is different. Her eyes are ablaze with twinkling lights, so much one could imagine small sparks escaping from them.
She walks over to stand by the other community protectors.
"My ghost is real. I had never really believed it could be. There are many other, kinder spirits around us too. More than you imagine. We have spoken and touched. They will help us."
Clover says this as she looks about, as if she is dividing her attention between her announcement and things that cannot be seen.
Dregg looks at Clover with bald confusion furrowing his brow, ”Huh? A ghost? Who’s a ghost? Where?”
Clover giggles at Dregg's confusion. "The ghost who follows and bothers me. When things were moved around, or I felt something near me when I couldn't see anything I'd always thought it was my imagination, but it is really there. I don't know why."
"But that one isn't the important part. Other spirits around us will help. There is one in me now. A spirit who knows the night sky and the stars. One who has seen the Black Butterfly. Today she will walk in the daylight to see all the colors she has nearly forgotten with time."
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Dregg blinks a few times at the little halfling as he tries to follow her explanation. After a brief pause, he nods in hesitant understanding, ”You have the ghost of a colorblind butterfly in you. Heh. Gotta say, that is weird, little bee shepherd. But what do I know about ghosts and butterflies?” He shakes his head again, but then the grin fades and he adds more earnestly, ”It doesn’t hurt, does it?” His tone at this last suggests he’d try to find a way to fight this spirit out of her if it was harming her in the slightest.
"No no, She has seen the Black Butterfly. You know, the Black Butterfly? She isn't a butterfly herself. And she isn't colorblind. It has just been a very very long time since she has seen all the colors of the daytime."
Clover shrugs, as if there's no better way to put it.
"It feels a little odd I suppose, I can see more now, things that can't be seen with regular eyes."[b/] She looks about her surroundings again. [b]"But it feels wonderful!"
Aramis raises her eyebrows. "O...kay.... That's great, Clover." She looks at Clover for a moment, as if she wondering if the poor thing was hallucinating. After a moment she shrugs. "Eh, we need all the help we can get. Tell your spirit friends we welcome the aid." She smirks. "I mean, I shoot vines out of my hands. Who am I to complain? Right?" She chuckles.
Aramis looks up at the sky and smiles. "Man, that sun is invigorating today, huh? We ready to get a move on?" She eats a nibble of porridge and takes a sip of water. "Wow, what'd you do to the porridge this morning, Jett? It's so filling! I'm stuffed!"
Aramis has barely eaten, and the porridge is no different than usual.
”Yeah,” Arryn says. ”I’m the only one of us who’s completely normal.”
He says that, but he too is changed. Almost like with Clover, the loose folds of his clothes seem to ripple on their own and the air near his skin seems thicker with its own currents of force.
Aramis bursts out laughing. "Says the guy who tosses stuff around by staring at it. Ahahahah! That's funny." She claps Arryn on the back.
"Who or what is the black butterfly?" asks Isabella, whose appearance has not changed in any noteworthy way.
Dregg's eyes slowly move from Clover to Aramis, then to Arryn, then back to Aramis again, his forehead furrowed in growing confusion once more. He takes a breath as if he were about to say something, then stalls before turning to Jet and adding, "Yeah, Pigtails, what did you put in the porridge this morning?" He glances down at the worn wooden bowl beside him suspiciously before looking back up at the others. With a shrug, and before Jet can answer the question, he sets his mug down and continues to eat his porridge. "Doesn't taste funny at least."
Jet looks surprised at Dregg's words.
"Hey, don't blame me! I just put in the things you brought. Maybe you got a bad mushroom? But Aramis barely ate any of it!" she says.
Eventually, though, you realize no one is ill and you begin setting out again for the caves, following the directions from Veld and the map from the centaur.
As you get closer, Aubrin suggests the bulk of the refugees wait as you explore what's ahead and the five of you leave the mass of people, who wish you luck.
"Remember," Aubrin says urgently, "we need to find a place to stay! We won't survive for long if we can't spend more time trying to make sure there's enough food and being at risk of discovery by more of the hobgoblins."
Creeping forward in the direction of the map, you see beyond the tangle of roots shading the cave entrance, a narrow tunnel slopes sharply down. The tips of tree roots protrude from the ceiling like stained teeth. Faint light from outside catches on a streak of cloudy teal crystal running along the length of one wall. Bulbous brown and purple fungal growths sprout from the ground, and an unpleasant, faintly sulfurous odor hangs in the air.
The mushrooms look suspiciously like shriekers, which briefly emit a piercing sound whenever there is movement or a light source nearby.
Aramis waves the smell away with her hand. "Well, that's pleasant..." she remarks sarcastically. She looks over at Isabella. "See any signs of recent use?"
Before they head inside Aramis chants a few strange words, causing a magical green aura to spring into being around her, before fading away. Then she pulls out one of her magical wands and chants over it. She blows on the wand, and it begins to glow brightly.
"I'll check," Isabella replies while she loads her crossbow.
Clover is starting to get a little flustered. She doesn’t want to try explaining again or to give a lesson on religion. ”It’s true! I’m serious! Just watch, I’ll show you.”
She looks among the others and settles on Arryn. ”You move things about Arryn, you’ll understand. You won’t mind volunteering right? This won’t hurt you a bit...”
Clover points at Arryn and then flicks her wrist, to point to a new place. Arryn blinks out of sight as if he never existed. Simultaneously he reappears in the new spot, about thirty feet away.
”See? Just imagine if that centaur shows up now! Not even he’s as fast as that!”
”Don’t go close to those mushrooms. They will shriek if anything gets near. No light on them either please.”
Dregg nods approvingly at Clover's demonstration, "Ha ha! Nice trick! Didn't know butterflies could make people do that, but there you go." He grins, holding up his bowl, and offers the halfling a wink before finishing his breakfast.
----
As the group approaches the cave, Dregg catches everyone with a hiss as Clover explains what they are. "Little bee shepherd is right, those're shriekers. If that worthless sack of horse hide is inside, those things'll let 'im know we're here."
Stepping back away from the entrance, the half-orc grumbles under his breath as he starts fiddling with the straps of his armor. After a little bit, he lets it fall to the forest floor at his feet with a muted series of clunks.
Twisting from side to side at the waist, he tests his range of motion with a few high steps in place. "There. It's nice not getting shot and all, but I hate how that stuff slows me down. I'll at least be able to give that horse-man a run for his money now if he bolts."
He then picks up the harness for his axe and straps it back on over his bare, scar-riddled chest. "I don't suppose any of you have any magic that can stop arrows? If not, eh." Dregg just shrugs the possibility off, not really caring either way.
HP: 29/29
AC: 11 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 17
F/R/W: +6/+3/+2
Rage rounds used: 0/7
-Ongoing Effects-
Rage: +2 to hit, +2 damage, +2 Will, -2 AC, +2 temp HP
Accurate stance: +1 to hit
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Arryn starts some form of expletive as he’s disassembled but doesn’t finish when he reappears.
”Now if only you could disappear the centaur and not bring him back.”
Later...
Arryn stares at the strange mushrooms, trusting his friends know what they’re talking about. ”Are they also why it smells bad, or is that just because Dregg took off his armour?”
Dregg chuckles approvingly at Arryn's insult but then shakes the amusement away as he recalls his train of thought. "Do we want to go in now or try to sneak in after dark? I don't think shriekers are all that good at noticing things if they don't have a lot of light. I say just go in now and let the things make whatever noise they want rather than everyone trying to stumble along, groping about in the dark."
”If we’re going to take them out, let me pull some rocks from the slope above them. If somebody comes out of those caves to check, they might think it just a fluke of a rockfall.”
Aramis nods in agreement. "Yeah, I'd rather go now."
"I kind of like Arryn's idea. It's quite clever really. We would get some idea about who watching the entrance, if anyone is, when they come to check. Since it was falling rocks they shouldn't have much reason to look around further. We keep getting into violent scrapes and, to be honest, we haven't been doing so well. Any advantage before trouble might start sounds like a good thing to me."
Arryn takes a moment to gather power around himself, the clothing that flutters snapping rigid, and small pebbles around him rise a few inches from the surface. He reaches out with both hands to grab the largest rock from the slope above the cave he can, and then flings it at the mushroom.
That probably sets off the mushrooms, so he quickly repeats the process a few times to throw more rocks from the same area of the slope.
(maybe)
A few moments after the rocks trigger the shriekers, two reptilian humanoids emerge from the cave, their scaly hide a dull gray. Its frame resembles that of a cave lizard, with a long tail and crests on its head and back.
They're troglodytes, feral, savage cave dwellers.
Was he able to damage any of them (shriekers, not lizard people)?
To continue with the illusion, he reaches out with him mind to grab a few smaller rocks and start them tumbling down the slope.
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Dregg hangs back a decent distance, trying his best not to spoil Arryn’s ploy.
Arryn is able to stay hidden as the two creatures look around.
Eventually they shrug and retreat back inside.
Aramis waits for Arryn to give the all clear for them to move in...
”One more...” Arryn mutters, before concentrating again, and flinging one more rock at the shrieker, as well as pulling down some more small debris.
He then waits to see if the guards return. If they don’t, he motions the others forward to attack the mushrooms.
The reptilian guards do return, looking around again. Again, they don't seem to notice Arryn or any of you.
They're still troglodytes.
Arryn reaches out again, this time tumbling a large rock into one of the lizard dudes.
Clover waits, but grips her spear ready for a charge if that's where things are going.
Arryn reveals himself as he throws a rock toward the first of the lizard men, crushing it completely before it even realizes it's in danger. The other, however, lets out a cry of alarm and raises its spear.
Arryn snatches another nearby rock and flings it at the lizard man.
Not wanting Arryn to face the enemy alone, Aramis pops out of hiding and fires a magic missile at it from her wand.
Aramis waits in hiding to see if any more troglodytes appear...
Isabella breaks cover, aims her crossbow at the trog who gave the armcry and squeezes off an arrow. The bolt has barely flown before she is reloading!
Dregg bounds from his hiding spot and crosses the intervening distance with alarming speed, bringing his axe to bear in a huge, overhead chop, either at the troglodyte or the shrieker, whichever is still moving the most upon his arrival.
HP: 29/29
AC: 11 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 17
F/R/W: +6/+3/+2
Rage rounds used: 0/7
-Ongoing Effects-
Rage: +2 to hit, +2 damage, +2 Will, -2 AC, +2 temp HP
Accurate stance: +1 to hit