The little sprite grumbles a little in the backpack. "Nasty mean humans. Abusing Vosi. Vosi is Mistress's loyal servant. Vosi's people not betray mistress. Stupid bandits are only traitors. Vosi will show you where to find them. Let them bleed for their betrayal. Let Vosi out and he'll show you where to go."
Morgraine beckons Eve over to her out of what she hoped was earshot of the backpack. Leaning in, she whispers.
Eve nodded a thanks to Morgraine broke returning to the fey.
"If you are truly loyal to the Mistress you have no issue swearing an oath that you will obey me and my allies, following our orders to the fullest to your abilitis and never take action that will endanger or injury us."
Eve opens her pack to realse the fey once he was out she examined her gear to make sure the prisoner hadn't damaged anything.
The fey grumbles a bit more.
"Vosi promises that he is truly loyal to his mistress and will not endanger mistress's servants and their allies. He will follow their orders to the letter and not act to endanger or injure them. Vosi swears" As the backpack opens, he shoots up into the air, shaking out his wings and hovering in midair for a moment. "Happy now human?"
Tiferet's busy sharpening her axe as Nathara comes back from her ablutions. "Good morning" she replies to Nathara, smiling warmly. "Need a hand doing the laundry?" she offers, picking up her muddy backpack and instantly turning it clean with a gesture of her hand.
She nods silently as Eve explains her plan, and once more, more subtly, when she says that someone should be ready to neutralize him in case his loyalties switch once again.
When she hears Vosi's oath, she can't help but snicker. He's smarter than I thought she thinks, but deep down she makes up her mind to keep an eye on him at all times.
Nathara smirked. Liars like Evelyn were one of the most powerful weapons of war. She did not quite feel comfortable, though. This truth would not last if they had to fight the other fey.
"We'll be happy once we dealt with those human traitors. I am Nathara. Would you like something to drink? I am afraid we only have molten snow... and here, you can share my ration with me. We're almost alone amongst humans after all." The almost was accompanied by a glance to Inire, who was human, but not only human.
She added an elven saying: "Metsä on kaikki. Mikä on minun on sinun", curious of whether he would understand that.
The sprite swoops down to Nathara and sits comfortably on a little pile of snow, obviously unbothered by the cold. "At least some humans know how to treat a fey." He snatches a piece of dry fruit from her rations, nearly as big as his head, and begins to nipple on it. He just cocks his head at her elvish and gives her a blank look, then shrugs and goes back to eating.
She nods to Tiferet on her offer. "A little help would be most welcome."
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Nathara could not help but smile and had to remind herself how dangerous this sprite was. "Technically I am an elf, if not a very typical one."
She was tempted to ask him about the tactics, weapons and armour of Rohkar's people, but she didn't want to give anything away.
The sprite shrugs again. "All of you long legs look the same to me." He doesn't seem particularly concerned about it.
"When thinking about the marvels of the Arcane Arts, it's usually fireballs or reality-altering spells which come to mind. Me, it's the plain old basics I've always been most grateful for. Patching wounds, mending clothes, being able to clean myself even when covered in mud – I don't think I'd have ever left Oppara if not for these" she half-jokingly muses as she works. "Though truth be told, I'm not even close to being able to cast anything resembling a fireball, so I'm probably a bit biased in that regard."
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Tiferet watches as Nathara tries to strike an unlikely friendship with the sprite. She couldn't say how genuine her intent is, but she's ready to bet it's more sincere than even the Tiefling herself would care to admit. The teachings of Goddess of Redemption resound deeply in her, she thinks. I only hope Sarenrae will dispense me from being forced to strike down someone she has developed an affection for.
Inire uncurls and pulls her makeshift bed back around her and fastens it as the others go through the motions of dealing with the fey and conversing. She listens to the others as they speak and begin to tuck into their meals, digging into her bag to pull out her journal once more, and begin scribbling, sitting in a modified indian style to use her legs as a sort of desk, while she tries to simply blend in to the scene.
"So. When do you say we can get a sneak peek of that gazetteer you're writing? When I said I was looking forward to reading it, I'd never have thought it could have been so soon. Then again, I'd never have thought Irrisen would have come to Southern Taldor, either" Tiferet quips, approaching Inire as she's busy writing in her journal.
"If you have nothing against it, I mean. I understand writers are sometimes loath to share their work before they've had the chance to properly polish it."
"It's basically just... a lot of notes. And shorthand notes at that. I write in a combination of elven, sylvan, taldan and skald to save paper space." she says without looking up. "It won't be a gazetteer until I wrap it together, really." she says, "I've got notes on each person, and notes on various topics. I like the gazetteers that tell me about the locals and travelers more than the others."
Evelyn watches the Pixie stretch his wings and once she's sure he won't run off she nods."Close enough to happy but you've still got to lead us to the hide out and get us the girl -unharmed-."
Once she pack up and checked over her gear she'd help anyone else that needed it to pack up and get ready. "Everyone ready to head out?"
The sprite manages to eat half of the fruit in only a minute or two. He looks up at Eve. "Yes, yes. Vosi will take mistress's servants to stupid bandits. Then Rohkar will pay for his betrayal." He demolishes the rest of the piece of fruit and pops up into the air again. "Come on humans. Time to hunt bandits. First we must cross the river."
Eirikr isn't entirely sure if they should be trusting the fey. He hasn't heard a single mention of wishes since it started talking which seems like a bad sign. He remembers how his mothers stories went: good fairies are good but bad fairies are the worst. Still, between the six of them he was pretty sure they could crush one measly sprite, and then at least Ashen would get a nice snack. He nods at Evelyn's question and silently prepares to follow the rest of the party towards the river.
Inire nods, packing her book into her bag, and slipping it back on, as she rose from beside the mostly-dead fire. "Would you mind telling us about Rohkar's undead? I'm pretty sure we're all in agreement that we want them dead again." she says, speaking to Vosi.
The fey huffs, tapping his foot against the air as he waits for the party to be ready to go. "Rohkar claims he is a necromancer. All of his men are frightened of his powers, even though he only raises simple mindless zombies and skeletons. He bartered for more magic knowledge as payment for his services, but Teb thinks sneaky Rohkar has been working on his powers on his own."
"Claims he is a necromancer? Do you think he's lying?" says Eirikr, wondering what the fey could mean. "If he's raising the dead, doesn't that make him one?"
"He calls himself wizard, necromancer trained by others in dark arts. But he has a familiar feel about him... Vosi doesn't know. Something foul, but different from wizard magic. Need other mage to know for sure." Vosi scowls, clearly unhappy with not knowing. He flies back up to the trail and points down it. "Trail leads straight to river crossing. Should take use to lodge. Fawfein guards."
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"Those are my favourite too, the ones that make you feel as if you're travelling along the chronicler while you read them. I'll leave you to your work, then" Tiferet replies, secretly wondering if there's going to be a paragraph about her too buried somewhere among Inire's opus.
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As they set out on the trail once again, Tiferet never once averts her eyes from Vosi, watching out for any sign of potential betrayal – a term which, though used very loosely, still sounds better in her head than 'sign of an imminent axe cleaving through his head'.
"Lead us to Fafwein, then" she urges as he points the way. "I'm confident we'll be able to avoid a second unpleasant... incident" she says, a little hesitant as she looks for the right euphemism.
"For what is worth, I regret things turned out as they did yesterday" she adds, handing him a small portion of dried cheese from her own rations. "I hope we can all have a fresh start after today." She isn't so sure she really means the words she's saying, but if Nathara could show a friendly face to the mischievous sprite, there's no reason she shouldn't do it, either. Plus, if there must be cooperation between us, keeping it civil can't be too bad an idea, she figures.
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As the others finish eating and getting ready to go, Inire slips silently into the woods... then manages to not entirely make a fool of herself by virtue of her skill. Even still she's nearly as loud as would be expected of someone who was simply moving through their own home. Inire was very obviously a city Mouse.
She hadn't expected to be so distracted by such a minor thing, either. It had barely been more than a day since she'd eaten. Then... she'd been used to three meals every day when she was with the Pathfinders. Mmmm.... what she wouldn't give for a steaming bowl of stew. She thought briefly of looking for berries to eat... but that would slow them down even more, and she'd likely wind up poisoning herself in the attempt. If they were still out here come tomorrow, she was definitely going to try to share a watch with Eirikr, so he could teach her a bit about the wilderness... maybe.
Vosi glares at Tiferet for a moment, then snatches the bit of cheese from her hands. "At least humans can learn manners," he mutters as he begins nibbling on the cheese. He seems to cease his near constant grumbling under his breath as he leads the party down the trail. The sprite flies ahead a bit, but always stays close enough that the party can easily keep up with him. The walk is rather long, as the path twists through the woods and the snow slows your progress. As you pass through a thicker patch of trees, you see what looks like a person lying in the snow beside the trail.
Inire slips quietly back to Nathara's position, while the others catch up. She stays in the trendline for cover as she looks over to the body. She keeps her voice low. "I very much doubt they're alive... and if I were planning an ambush..." She shrugs a little. "But... we can't just leave them, right? Because there's always a chance..." her voice is small and meek... as has come to be expected of little Mouse.
Nathara looks a little helpless around. She had hoped to avoid Fawfein's folks, but it was true that that it may prove difficult to keep both their masquerade up and avoid the fey. It would not last forever though, and there was a fair chance that they had to fight the fey down at the river - if not at once then as soon as they managed to get to the Lady Malassene.
This game of intrigues they were playing had been quite successful with Vosi so far, but the uncertainty of what might happen next made her claw tips feel like turned inside out.
"Stick close to us, please, and avoid unnecessary attention, lest a scout of the traitors notices us", she whispered to Vosi. "Should thinks get rough..." How to put this? "Stick to us, we won't let you down."
Then she slipped into the forest to follow Inire in yesterday's formation.
However, it appears that her own unrest is robbing her of her focus as well, since she is by no means more subtle than Inire.
Seeing Inire stop to confer with Nathara a few yards ahead, Tiferet carefully approaches the vanguard of the group.
"Is there something wrong? Did you spot something?" she whispers.
"Looks like someone met their end," Vosi says as he flies back to the group. He flutters down next to Nathara, hovering in the air next to her. "Another dead human."
Evelyn approaches slightly quieter than her allies as she moves to join them "Work of the necromancer's group?"
Vosi shakes his head. "Nasty Rohkar took as many bodies as his men could carry. Wanted material to work with. Don't know what this is."
"Might be a trap... but we'll never know unless we check."
Eirikr scans the area, trying to see if he notices anything suspicious about the body or the ground around it.
"I... guess we should approach. We know they've got an ambush planned, but... any sort of information we can have on what we'll be facing is better." Mouse says, looking towards the body, squinting against the snow.
"I'll have a look. Give me cover" whispers Nathara. Slowly and ducked low she approaches, her sword in the firm grip of her right, the other anxiously waiting to unleash a spell.
Nothing seems to be moving in the woods as Nathara closes in. As she gets closer to the body, she can see several spots of blood on the snow and a trail of footprints coming from in the trees rather than the path, though they are partially covered by the constant snowfall. The man, as she can now tell he is a man, is face down in the snow with a longbow and quiver slung over his back. He is dressed in fairly commonplace clothing for the region.
This reeks of a trap. Or the start of a fairy tale thinks Eirikr as he trails behind Nathara. When they reach the body and no ambush seems forthcoming he looks around to see if he can guess where the attackers came from and went, and if there is anything strange about the trail--after all, they've fought zombies and fey since this all started.
"No... it seems to just be an unfortunate person who arrived at the wrong place, at the wrong time." Mouse says, shaking her head. She slips from her concealment to turn him over and get a good look at him, so that she can describe him in the event they're unable to find him later, memorizing a few key details... or any striking features.
"I agree" says Tiferet to Inire. "A hunter, perhaps, given the bow. Though I wonder what led him into this frozen hell in the first place."
Crouching down to inspect the prone figure, the Ulfen woman searches for any clues of his identity. Slowly and deliberately, she untangles the bow and quiver from the dead man's body before turning it over so that she can see his face.
Morgraine watches from behind as the others paw at the corpse. While her companions focused on the unfortunate man or on the trail, she keeps an eye out upon their surroundings. It wouldn't do to be similarly ambushed after all.
Nathara kneels softly down besides Tiferet and reaches for the man's neck with her left, while her right keeps holding her sword, trying to feel a pulse. With wetted fingers in front of his mouth she also tries to feel breath. "Sometimes there can be life left in a body, even after the core temperature dropped far. Or so I've heard..."
She has little hope, though. It has already snowed over his tracks.
She tries to make out the wounds he succumbed to as well. It appears he was bleeding by the blood on the track. But whatever attacked him did not seem to have followed him... A fey ambush? She had to fight herself in order to avoid casting a look at Vosi.
Mouse, having helped to turn over the body, slips back and away from it once everyone starts getting handsy with it. As she slips towards the woods once more, she responds, "Face down in snow means he's likely to have suffocated regardless, I think." She waits quietly in the corpse of trees afterwards, simply watching... and hoping her logic hadn't stomped on hope... and indeed, hoping she was wrong.
Mouse really didn't like the idea of clumping together, and felt like she was in the way, so moving back and keeping watch over the scene seemed better for now... there wasn't anything she could do to improve the situation, after all.
Tiferet liberates the bow and quiver from the man's body. With them in her hands, she can tell that the bow is reinforced to allow a strong draw and a powerful shot. and there are a dozen arrows in the quiver. He also has a dagger on his hip in particularly fine condition, with a mark on the hilt. Looking at his face, he seems like a fairly ordinary Taldan man. He appears a bit over middle-age and his hair is going grey.
Morgraine looks around for any sign of anything else nearby, but the forest still seems peaceful. There doesn't seem to be any kind of ambush or anything of the sort.
Nathara kneels next to his body and begins to examine him. He is very clearly dead, and has been for a while. She finds nothing for a few moments, then finds tiny pinpricks that must be either fey arrows or swords. Ice crystals gather around a number of the wounds.
"Dansby." Inire says from the treeline as the face and insignia begin to make more sense, and match up in her mind.
"He's local. One of the groups in the tavern was talking about him. Someone was after his crops. He's ex-military." She says, motioning to the dagger. "A couple of the Pathfinders had them. It means he'd retired." She continues as she looks over from the woods, sharing what she'd eavesdropped and had learned. "So whatever killed him was likely a good fighter or mage. I don't think it would be bandits, as they'd have taken his belongings; they're in good condition."
Nathara silently indicated the fey arrow wound to Tiferet. Clearly Fawfein's scouts have gotten him. She wanted to say something to reinforce their cover story, make it sound like the dead man was an enemy spy and that he had been caught a good thing, but the only thing she could say was an Azlanti phrase she picked up during her studies.
"De mortuis nil nisi bene." She made a gesture of closing his eyes and looked around, paying particular attention to the crowns of the trees in the direction from where Dansby had come.
"We better move on..." the longer this takes, the more people get killed. She had no idea what to do with the presence of the winterly fey or the winter itself, but the problem at hand was the abducted Lady Malassene. They had to free her before she was brought out of their reach.
Tiferet silently nods as in confirmation of what Inire said, and once again as she postulates the bandits' non-involvement in the deed. Indeed, she's quick to catch what Nathara's trying to show her, and quicker to cast a rapid glance at Vosi.
"...ne inauditum condemnes" she whispers mechanically, as if to conclude her adage.
Standing up, she tries pulling the bowstring a couple of times, appreciating the strong resistance it offers.
"Ehkä hän on sukulaisen Heldren jotka saattavat oikeus vaatia tällaista hieno ase. Sillä välin voimme käyttää sitä vastaan hänen tappajia. Pelkään olen kaukana parhaista ampuja ympärillä, vaikka" she says looking at Nathara and Inire, figuring those last words had better remain unheard by fey ears.
"Voisin laittaa sen hyvään käyttöön, sillä useimmat tontut todennäköisesti voisi, mutta toistaiseksi olen ollut yksi tulla hyödyksi kaikki aseet löydämme. Minulla on vähän loitsu valmis ryhtymään kantamalla. Se on parempi kuin ei mitään, mutta ei erityisen voimakas ja todennäköisesti vähän apua vastaan keijut." Nathara replies thoughtfully. Taking things of the dead was not a good thing, yet getting the job done had priority right. One needs to remember that the ends do not justify the means, though.
Inire watches Tiferet test the pull of the bow and just shakes her head, holding up a single hand and waving it in protest as she shook her head, eyes slightly widened. It was definitely not for little Mouse.
"Either way these nothing we can do about it, we need to stay focus on the traitors grab his gear and let's go." While she hated to be so cold about another human but couldn't risk the fey catching on and she doubted "the mistress" was the kind to return sentimental items to the family.
Nathara reaches her hand out for the bow and quiver. "Indeed" she replies, hoping this charade would soon end.