Red Rose Wanderer

Game Master Bane88

Shaun chuckled. "If fear is healthy, then as a coward, I'm an immortal." he jokes at his own expense.

The forest seems less hostile than before, even downright pleasant. The air is warm and the early grey of dawn is lighting up the trees. Unhindered the pair travels for nearly a day.

When they reach the edge of the lady's domain the change is apparent. It is like a wall of unrest. The forest goes in a matter of yards from cheerful and inviting to dark and foreboding. A fairy sits on a branch.

She calls out in a small voice, "Oi! You there! Best to be turning back. You should know better faun." she laughs a bell like twinkle.

"Not safe for mortal ken in the hollow these days. He's in something of a mood."

Rose bowed slightly to the fairy, giving it a flourish as she did so. "Thank you for your advice, fair one. I regret that I cannot heed it, for I am here to put the Lord back into good cheer, but I truly appreciate you going out of your way to warn me. If I may be so bold, can you tell me anything about why he's upset? If there's a wrong, I wish to set it right."

The fairy flies from her perch and hovers like a humming bird in front of Rose so that she can speak lowly. "This hollow used to be guarded by a group of druids, friends of the Forest Lord, I don't know what happened, but the dryads whisper that they were murdered." she looks around.

"Horrible business that." She shakes her tiny head. "The Lord has decreed, the people of the villages and Andorians in general to be enemies of the ancient forest."

"Is there any evidence that it was actually humans who did it?" Rose inquired. "A large group of humans might be able to overpower one or two of nature's guardians, especially if they were too inexperienced to be able to escape, but a group of them with experienced members and all of nature's power at their disposal? A group of villagers couldn't do that. You'd need a much greater power - an outstanding mercenary company, a great wizard... or perhaps a powerful fey, maybe one who wanted to direct your lord's anger for their own reasons."

The fairy pondered Rose's words. "You may be right human. Or, it maybe a person they trusted killed them. You humans can be just as tricky as we fey."

Rose nodded, not willing to dismiss the possibility out-of-hand. She was doubtful, but doubt alone was no reason to reject the ideas of others. She'd come here to investigate and be fair in her dealings, not stubbornly cling to an idea when she had so little evidence to go on. "Well, one way or another, I hope to get to the bottom of this - with a little good luck, your forest will soon be back to normal." And her deity tended to support those who made their own luck. With that, she glanced back to her faun friend and nodded. "Let's get going. I think we need to investigate this clearing before visiting the Lord of the Forest."

She broke off a bit of her food as she did so, offering some to the fairy (not aggressively, of course - it was entirely the fairy's choice to accept or not, but SOME kind of small gift was in order, and an offering of food was traditional).