Ardainn tries his best to wipe himself off, and to find the humor in the trick. After bear traps and logfalls and everything else, he knows rotting berries are fairly harmless, but still ... ech.
Farfadet can't uniquely identify the type of voices he's hearing. These voices sound playful, both are high pitched. Both appear to be capable of flying and moving silently through the trees.
They didn't respond to Asha's call.
While there was no obvious response to Asha's call, you think they're considering the proposal. You think some form of present or offering would be enough to draw them out.
Farfadet looks enthralled by the giggling voices echoing through the woods. Looking up, he whispers to his companions. "Asha, they're definitely considering your proposition. Maybe some kind of offering would be appropriate. Feys love gifts!"
Joining a gesture with those words, he takes a leather pouch out of his backpack and extracts carefully a pair of dice from it. Laying them in a handkerchief, he offers them to the powers of the woods.
Asha nods to Farfadet as he lays down the dice, while not understanding his words she also addresses the creatures "See we can be friends and if you are creatures of the woods you have our deepest respect. We could use the aid of such as yourselves."
Vors huffs, "Gifts for pranksters," trailing off into a mutter, but does pull out and spit-polish a silver piece that he sets next to the dice.
You see two tiny creatures cautiously emerge from the woods. One has the lower body for a grasshopper and the upper body of an elven woman -- a centuar of insect and elf, if you will. The other looks like a miniature dragon. The pause on the edge of the clearing, looking at you, at the gifts, tensed and ready to bolt.
Asha bows her head a bit and steps back from the gifts, motioning the others to follow. "What may we call you?"
Farfadet beams a wide smile as he is at last able to behold the two creatures. He has a hard time refraining from approaching them, though he seems to realize all too well that a sudden approach may result in their fleeing.
Vors mutters something unintelligible, but does back away with his hands out to the side.
Ardainn sees the two small creatures emerge from the forest and grins, chuckling softly and nodding to them, acknowledging their joke. He attempts to identify them and smiles.
"It was very well played, little ones," he says, wiping more of the muck off himself. "We certainly fell for it. I wonder if you might know of other elves, like me, that have passed this way?"
You can identify both of them. The cricket lady is a grig. Grigs are known for attempting to vanquish evil and ugliness.
The other creature is a faerie dragon. Known to be invenerate pranksters, but good at heart.
The tension leaves their faces; you see a hint of a smile on the dragon's face as the dice Farfadet offered levitate into the air and are rolled.
"Eight, that's a good number right, Perlivash?" asks the little lady.
"Yes, I think it is, Tyg-Titter-Tut. But six would have been better, as there is four of them and two of us."
"Maybe their horses count a little?"
"They seem nice, lets go talk to them"
"Well they are very colorful!"
The two approach cautiously. Tyg settles down to look at the gifts, while Perlivash hovers briefly in front of each of your faces, before settling back besides Tyg.
"Hi! You seem nice! Not like the mean trapper. I'm Tyg-Titter-Tut and this is my friend Perlivash." You see that she carries a very small blade, one that could of triggered the log trap prematurely
"Yes, yes we saw the elves. So pretty and graceful, but more serious than they should be. Are they your friends?"
"Yay, you're closer to our size! I bet we could have lots of fun together. What type of tricks are you favorite? Do you play music or paint? Are you here to kick out the mean bigginses? We can tell you more about the area!"
Farfadet takes a moment to enjoy the feys' presence, visibly overjoyed.
"Tricks, I love tricks! Do you know how to walk on your hands? That way you can see the world upside-down. See? I usually can manage it!" To illustrate his words, the gnome suddenly puts both palms on the ground and project his legs up to the sky.
"Can you do it?" he says, as a challenge, not only for the fey, but for his companions as well.
Ardainn breathes a sigh of relief.
"The elves you saw were my friends," he says. He smiles, his face brightening and seeming unusually pleasant. "One was going to be my wife, and I must find her. Can you tell me where you saw them and when?"
He grins at the gnome and bends down, lifting his feet over his head as if it's something he does every day.
Vors finally chuckles at the capering, but waves his hands. "Such things are beyond me when I am thus armored."
The two tiny creatures relax even more at the show of dexterity and friendliness.
"A wedding! Oh those are fun, of course we'll tell you what we know. Its been a couple of weeks, right Perlivash?"
[b]"Yes, that sounds about right, that's when we first found the biggenses camp and saw the elves there. We could tell they didn;t want to be there."
"We had such fun with those nasty biggenses! Making their fire explode and then cutting the bonds of the elves in their panic."
"They elves ran off to the south, last I knew the had found the dryad to the south. She was sheltering them and helping them heal up. She's good, but a little weird, even for us!"
They both look at the four of you, judging you a little.
"You seem nice, and strong, but big and loud and noisy. There's more dangerous things down there. Your lady is safe with the dryad."
"Yes, yes! Train and study and get rid of some of the closer biggenses first and then it should be safer to go to her!"
"We're small and Pervlivash and even disappear! We can take a note!"
They are also excited to tell you about a few other points of interest in the nearby forest.
Ardainn grins when the little ones tell how they helped his people escape. When they tell that she is safe, he closes his eyes and nods his head, and for a long moment, he says nothing.
"Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut," he says after a long while. His throat is tight, and when he opens his eyes, he looks at the sky first. "You have given me the best news imaginable. My lady is Istiel. I will write a note for her, if you would deliver it, you will be my friend for life."
Scratching with an arrowhead on a piece of birch bark, Ardainn writes a brief message to Istiel. He thinks long and hard about each mark, and several minutes pass before he smiles again, and holds the message out to the grig.
Istiel, my love. I live. Keep yourself safe with the dryad. I will come for you."
Farfadet appears relieved. "That's wonderful news Ardainn! We should train like they say then seek them out! Many thanks, kind spirits of the forest. You're both so amazing... why don't you come with us? WE'd do many discoveries together!"
Then to his companions: "Where to? Ohhh, hot springs, these sound wonderful! The temple also sound nice."
"Hear, hear! Good news indeed!"
---
Vors looks over the map with Farfadet. "Hmm, perhaps the temple, first. Signs of civilization are certainly of value to the Swordlords."
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Asha looks to the creatures after the conversation "The camp you mentioned we've already dispatched. What other 'biggenses' do you know of in the area?"
"Go with you?"
"That could be fun! But we like these woods, they're our home."
"Yeah, we're not sure. Let us think about it, you can always find us here!"
"The other biggenses comes from the south,"
"Yes they resupply from somewhere else, we haven't seen where"
"Further south, huh? That's where the woman bandit ran off to."
"I'll definitely come back and visit, then!"
"Well, let's be on our way to the east, then."
"Yes," Ardainn says. "We should go east, and we will return to visit you soon, friends."
Asha bows her head to the fey briefly before joining back with her companions on their way to the east.
As they ride, Vors asks, "I wonder what kind of temple this is to be so deep in the wilderness?"