The elf lets out a cry of pain as Arryn stretches his arm, and tears fill his eyes, but he sighs as Aramis heals him . "Thank you," he says, flexing his wrist to see it work.
He drinks deeply from the waterskin, more color coming into his face as he does. He looks around, as if unsure what to do next.
Unfortunately, the rangers don't seem to have any trinkets that would identify them that Arryn can find. If they did, the hobgoblins took them.
Dregg shakes his head at Aramis' question of food, "I didn't bring anything along. Shouldn't be too much trouble to find some game though. Think you can hang on for a bit longer there, Treetop?" He then turns to Garrivek, "Hey, Beltbuckle, you any good at cooking? I see what I can find if the rest of you want to start pitching camp. Here's as good as anywhere."
Dregg returns a short while later, shaking his head ruefully as he produces just a couple of hares. "Meh. Enough here for two of you. Sorry it's not more. Nobody tell Feathers about this."
"Hey, there. I'm Garrivek. What's your name?"
When Aramis asks after food, Garrivek nods. "I've got some rations left. Hang on." He digs through his backpack and passes the elf some food. "Here you go."
Garrivek nods at Dregg. "Sure can! I spent some time as a cook. I know a thing or two. Let's see... What do we have here..?" Garrivek shuffles around, setting up camp and prepping a fire. When Garrivek arrives with the hares he preps them and cooks them over the fire.
When its time for bed he whips off his cloak and lays it down with a flourish, turning it into a comfy tent large enough to hold four medium creatures.
"There! Looking good. Some of you are welcome to join me. Plenty of room in here."
Arryn wrinkles his nose at the cloak tent and says, ”Feels like a warm night. I volunteer to stay outside.”
Quietly to Aramis, out of earshot, he adds, ”I thought you magi-cleaned him this morning! How on earth does he already smell this bad?”
"Vardalel Prennder, though you can call me whatever you'd like, since I'd be called dead if you hadn't come by and saved me," the elf replies as Aramis' third channel seems to restore him back to full health .
He gratefully tears into the food, mouth full as he tries to tell you a bit more about how he ended up in the tree, though most of the elaboration doesn't change the basic story he mentioned a bit earlier.
The night passes uneventfully as you settle in to camp, and you wake in the morning, a clear, crisp dawn taht seems to perhaps bode well.
Vardalel stretches, showing off a physique not often associated with elves, but one probably necessary for his line of work.
"Now what?" he asks.
”We can take you with us, but we’re on a scouting mission to see how far the hobgoblins have moved on from Phaendar. We can’t guarantee your safety.”
Garrivek packs up his tent as it magically transforms back into a cloak, and clasps it on over his shoulders. She spends a while reading his book and studying his gloves and compass.
"So, where are you from?" Garrivek asks the elf. "Do you typically harvest lumber, or is that a temporary job?"
"I'm Nirmathi, of course" Vardalel replies.
"And, yes, I've been working the trees for longer than you ... well, maybe not you, he says, looking first at Garrivek, and then the rest of the group, "but the rest of you have been alive."
He looks dubious at Arryn's words.
"I'm willing to risk a lot, but I want to stay as far away from anymore hobgoblins as I can."
He looks around, as if he's not quite sure what would be safest.
"Nirmathis? Well, that narrows it down..."
"Yeah, avoiding hobgoblins is a good plan. But, probably easier said than done."
”The other option is to part ways as friends, but that leaves you alone with hobgoblins between you and your home, wherever that is. We have no intention of engaging any hobgoblins in battle, unless forced to by fate or an opportunity of ultimate richness.”
Dregg shrugs at the elf's indifference, "Listen, Treetop, groups are almost always stronger than not. You want to give yourself the best shot of getting out of these woods in one piece, find a strong group to fall in with. Doesn't have to be us, and you can do what you like, but Angel did already offer."
Aramis bustles around in the morning, ensuring everyone has food and water, but noticeably not eating herself.
"As they said. You're welcome to come with us if you want. We can get you someplace safe after we finish scouting. And if not, we part as friends and I wish you the best of luck."
She offers the elf a handshake, though whether its in agreement or farewell is on the elf.
"Come if you've the will. Don't if you've the will to leave by yerself," Isabella says, addressing the Elf for the first time. "Pick one."
While not outright malicious, her voice is also certainly not friendly.
He shakes his head.
"I don't know where you're scouting, but ... I just want to try to find somewhere safe, I think. I'm sorry, but I'm not ... I'm just a lumberjack, not any type of warrior or soldier. I never really fit in in the militia..."
Remembering his own time in the militia, Arryn offers a farewell with one of the types of salute that’s ingrained into every recruit, to see if he can trip him up into revealing something.
"Yeah, I've tried many paths myself, before finding my true calling. I understand." Knowing he only just joined the group, he doesn't give the elf directions to the refugee camp. That was the duty of those who founded it.
Aramis looks down at her outstretched hand. Her skin had taken on a sickly, greenish yellowy hue over the past few weeks -- malnutrition, perhaps -- and her once blue veins looked black beneath her skin. She supposed it did look unhealthy. No wonder the elf didn't want to shake it. With a shrug she lets the hand drop. She grabs her pack and puts it on, adjusts her belt and pouches.
"Well, time to go." She looks to Isabella, letting her orient the group. Then follows her off into the wilderness.
If it looks like the elf isn't following them, she waves goodbye. "Nice to meet you."
"This way," Isabella says after looking at some of the trees and the sky above. "Come or stay as you will."
The surly Half-Elf sheathes her sword, unslings and loads her crossbow and sets off.
Dregg works his chin side to side for several long moments as Isabella and the others begin to pull away. "Didn't ask you to fight with us or for us, Treetop. That's my job. You strike out on your own though, you'll have to eventually and you'll be doing it without anyone to back you up."
Garrivek nods in agreement with Dregg. He drums his fingers on his armour. "We know a safe place. We can take you there after the scouting mission."
Vardalel seems torn, but finally he nods.
"OK, hopefully it's safer with you than on my own. I'll stick around if you don't mind..."
He shrugs at Arryn's salute. "Sorry, like I said, I never did really fit in with the militia..."
You continue north, hoping you'll manage to stumble on the forts or find some other clue as to the rangers' location. Eventually, after you've managed to put about 10 miles behind you, you come you realize the forest here -- just to the east of a rocky ridge -- suffered a severe but localized fire. Ash coats an area devoid of undergrowth, while the larger trees are badly scorched. At the center of the devastation is a large oak tree, killed by the fire and standing like a blackened skeleton. Two bodies are lodged in its branches, burned beyond recognition.
It looks like the fire occurred only 2 days ago.
Looking around, you notice several shattered flasks that contained alchemist’s fire.
You spot several arrows along a switchback path and realize there's a
clear line of sight between the burned tree and the arrows’ locations.
You also spot similar boot prints in the soil beneath the ashes.
[spoiler=DC 23 Knowledge (arcana)]
The fire here was quelled by magic.
Arryn was about to head over to examine the burned tree, then stops quickly.
”Arrows. Looks like somebody was up on that ridge, firing down here. They might still be there.”
"Fire were about two days ago," Isabella says. "Glass on the ground. Bottles of alchemist fire, more'n likely."
Arryn floats an arrow over, to see if it looks like hobgoblin make, or more refined.
Aramis nods, trusting their assessment. She waits to see if Dregg or Garrivek have anything to add while she looks up at the ridge...
Dregg squats down just outside the scorched ground and works his jaw side to side as he sweeps his eyes over the scene. It's only after the rest of the group has pulled back and is huddled up discussing their findings for several minutes that Dregg at last rises. He sighs once through his nose and shakes his head as he approaches the group.
"Goggles is right about the alchemist fire. Lots of glass everywhere round the tree. There're foot prints too, coming down from that ridge and then headed back up it." He shrugs, his face dark with the memory of the burned out town they'd come across and avoided about two weeks back. "Seems like someone set a nasty trap and sprung it."
"Poor buggers," Garrivek says, looking up at the corpses. He shakes his head, then begins to cut them down.
"Poor buggers," Garrivek says, looking up at the corpses. He shakes his head, then begins to cut them down.
The arrows appear finer than the typical hobgoblin-made shafts, though there's no way to be sure who fired them.
Arryn puts on a poncho, motions for the others to stay put, and creeps out towards the tree, keeping low.
At first nothing seems to happen as Arryn makes his way to the tree, but then he notices some movement from about 250 feet away, on the ridge. A tree seems to dissolve, revealing in its place a pale, sharp-eared giant. Its large brow gives it a somewhat primitive visage.
It's a wood giant, wardens of the deepest, wildest portions of the world's forests.
It pulls back its bow string and a huge arrow comes flying toward Arryn. It slams into him, but seems to dissolve into an array of butterflies that flow over him, and he can feel his eyelids begin to droop
It bellows, "Surrender now, tree killers!"
Arryn yelps as the arrow impacts, then starts to say, ”But we didn’t...” before his eyes roll back in his head and he drops to the ground, snoring peacefully.
"This wasn't us!" Aramis shouts at the giant as she hurries over to Arryn. "We didn't burn these trees!"
She starts to drag Arryn back into the brush.
"You do know there's hobgoblins running roughshod through these-here woods, don'tcha?" Isabella asks -- albeit with hands raised in a non-aggressive gesture.
"A wood giant," Garrivek gasps...
"This wasn't us!" Aramis shouts at the giant as she hurries over to Arryn. "We didn't burn these trees!"
She starts to drag Arryn back into the brush.
”No, nanny. Just ten more minutes. It’s too early,” Arryn mutters in his sleep.
Dregg rushes out to help Arryn too, only for another arrow to come flying, slamming into both the half-elf and the half-orc.
"Herge said surrender!" the creature booms out again. "You won't be burning anything else now!"
Garrivek knows wood giants tend to be good creatures, tough, though they have no special resistances.
Dregg spins around, his face darkening with fury as his knuckles whiten around the haft of his axe. ”Ok, Angel, the code for me to run over there and cut that lump in half is for you to not move and to keep drooling.” The half orc grins as Arryn remains asleep but as he turns to charge he looks at his thigh in surprise to see an arrow still quivering from the strike. ”Hey now that’s un-“ thump
Dregg collapses in a heap beside Arryn mumbling softly about a smokehouse and bacon.
"We. Are not. Burning. Bloody anything!" Isabella shouts. "Gods! We en't even attacking ye! Stop shooting!"
Garrivek holds up his hands and steps out into the clearing. "I know your people protect the forest. You're good people, doing good work. I surrender! We did not burn this grove. We only just arrived now! Hobgoblins have been attacking and destroying nearby settlements, towns, and the woods. I'd wager the hobgoblins burned this grove, as well. Please! We mean you no harm, and I have no desire to fight you or your kin. May we speak of this?"
"Dregg!" Aramis gasps as he also falls to the floor. As the butterflies swirl around her, she scowls at the giant, and pointedly keeps trying to drag Arryn back out of the grove.
The giant hesitates.
"It wasn't you?" he asks, stopping shooting for a moment. "How can I be certain of this, hmm?"
"If you've got any woodcraft, ye could tell we only just got here," Isabella says, clearly barely holding her temper.
"I saw small figures burn the trees!" he thunders back. "It is not my fault you all look alike!"
Garrivek steps forward to wake Arryn.
"No," Aramis replies to the giant, trying not to sigh. "This wasn't us. We would never do something like this."
She steps over to Dregg and shakes him awake. "Enjoy your nap?"
"I'm a Ranger. Heck, I'm a Half-Elf. See the ears? I like trees. Forest's my home. I wouldn't set a fire like that unless there were a zombie horde or something equally as bad."