Gaius looks about, not sure what to look for. Could Longfrond be one of the trees among us already? Hiding in plain sight is something I'd do if I was in their shoes.
________
"Oh Looooongfrond! I brought friends with me! They want to be your friend too," Flopsy calls out after Lily's overture. Doing cartwheels through a series of caltrops she snags one and tosses it through the clearing.
"Come ooooon, don't keep your favorite Pooka waiting now, you know how I get when people keep me waiting," she warns mischievously. "I'll remind you how long it takes for Owlbear poop to wash off bark with only the rain!" she continues, giggling. That was a good joke, Longfrond was so mad! Could smell him a mile away!
Undari waits quietly and respectfully at the border of Longfrond’s demesne.
Flopsy's frolicking leads you to a game trail devoid of the caltrops, leading deeper into this part of the forest, ultimately leading to an idyllic glade.
At the center of this wide glade is a clear, rocky pond approximately twenty feet in diameter. Seven blossoming cherry trees lean inward from the edge of the pond like conspirators. Hundreds of the small, sharp caltrops cover the ground around the pool and trees.
After Lily calls out her entreaty, two of the seven cherry trees begin to violently sway and move. Their roots start to pull up from the moist soil around the pool.
Thorek startles when the trees start to uproot themselves, tightening his grip on the dorn-dergar and only barely stopping himself from wreathing the weapon in Angradd's holy fire.
"Ooooo cool your a cherry tree. I like cherries. Ummmm.... Please don't attack us. We even rescued this fuzzball from an evil dragon," she says awkwardly.
Sidling up to the pooka she says," Can you vouch for us? "
Flopsy snaps a sharp salute to Lily. "Roger that, ma'am!" she reports, before leaping as hard as she can over the caltrops. Just as the arc of her jump should reasonably begin to drop, she floats on and over towards the uprooting trees.
"Longfrond! Your favorite Pooka is back! But only because I made new friends who saved me from those dirty, under-bitey, Gob-Hobs!" she explains, hovering now a sensible distance from the trees. "I'm also really sorry about the poop prank," she confesses. Those with keen eyes see her tiny little fingers crossed behind her back.
Why does she keep mentioning poop? How bad was this prank of hers? Gaius' face is twisted in mild confusion and concern as they wait for what they hope is Longfrond to make themselves known.
Naturally, he sticks to the back of the group as the situation develops.
________
As casually as she can, Esperanza places a second hand on the haft of her glaive, and adjusts her grip. Just in case.
Undari steps forward slightly, addressing the trees in the language of nature.
"We are friends of the forest and of Longfrond. Be calm."
A voice calls out from among the trees, sharp like the cracking of branches.
You train your ears upon the source of the voice speaking Sylvan, and you identify the smallest of the seven cherry trees as the treant, Longfrond. The two trees that are currently moving are ordinary cherry trees that she has temporarily animated, one of the abilities possessed by treants.
Based upon a number of observed characteristics, you also recognize that she is very young for a treant. Thus, she may have very little experience with humanoids, explaining the reactionary way she receives your arrival.
"Oh, but these marauders are trying to kill other marauders! I hopped around their home for a bit, I don't think they even want to be here, but those ugly, grey-skin marauders broke their homes. They want to get them back and I bet they'd move on and out of the forest if they did!" Flopsy says. "I, um, I tried to tell them peace was better than payback, but they didn't listen and are super keen on it. Not that that's a very nice thing to do, even if someone deserves it," she adds nervously. If Longfrond is still bitter about my joke, I don't want to convince her that giving me a whack or two is the best thing to do! I wouldn't ever do it again if she did though and where's the fun in that?!
The Pooka turns in lazy, airborne circles as she seemingly converses with the grove.
"Who speaks Sylvan again? Flopsy is negotiating on our behalf... I think," Gaius whispers. For better or for worse, not exactly painting us in the best light there.
"If it, uh, you know, comes to blows," he continues, trying to gesture subtly to the smallest cherry tree, "that's Longfrond. Treants like her can make other trees move, makes for a good decoy. We're lucky in a fight since she's likely pretty young for a tree, but unlucky in that she probably has nothing but horror stories to go off of when it comes to knowing about people like us."
"Gaius," Esperanza says in a quiet voice, "I had hoped that you could speak Sylvan."
Undari nods, pulls out his holy symbol of Erastil where the trees can see it, then goes and kneels a respectful distance away from the smallest cherry tree Gaius identified as Longfrond with arms open and head bowed.
"We come as friends, we defend ourselves against the Ironfang attackers. Let us converse peacefully."
"Spare me your babble," the treant scoffs at Undari in Common Taldane. One of her animated trees lumbers closer and swings at the air with one of its pink, whip-like branches in a warning gesture. "And you, too, Flopsy! At least your misdeeds can be washed away. Whether marauders or marauders of the marauders, they still leave the forest scarred and burnt. The pink humanoids, the gray humanoids, the green humanoids..."
As the treant continues to ramble on and conflate humans, hobgoblins, troglodytes, and others, it becomes clear that the young treant's inexperience is compounded by a difficulty - if not inability - to tell different kinds of humanoids apart. Longfrond's metaphorical myopia can be likened to a human's difficulty discerning the difference between gray, black, or brown squirrels.
"Nooooo Wait wait wait... The green humanoids are trying to destroy the forest. We're trying to save it. Its a common misunderstanding because we're all shaped the same. Green ones evil. Look seriously I brought you flowers thinking that you would enjoy them,' she says rather panicked.
" Gaius speak sylvan. Esperanza speak sylvan. Udnari sure," she says frantically casting tongues on everyone.l except Thorek
"Do you want us to show you the difference? I can show you the difference between the people who want to burn down the forest and us," she adds hoping she can reach the tree.
"We're not--I mean, I'm not..." Esperanza stammers, clearly flustered at the thought of having to negotiate with a talking tree.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Are we to understand," Thorek begins slowly, suspicion creeping up on him. "That you had something to do with all those owlbears? Were you hoping they would kill or drive off our people?"
Looking up to Longfrond, Undari reasons, ”Would you attack the oaks for something only the pines are guilty of? Or destroy the cherry trees for crimes of the poplars? So it is with us. We are friends to the forest, not its foes. We strive to defend it from the depredations of the green-skinned humanoids, the ones we call the Ironfang Hobgoblins.”
As Lily makes her plea, the animated cherry trees slow their erratic movements. They stand for a moment, swaying with uncertainty, before they begin shambling back to their places around the pool. They dig their roots back into the disturbed soil and settle back into their plots.
Longfrond remains silent and still as Thorek and Undari add their own contributions to Lily's attempt to reach the treant.
In a subdued tone, the treant asks you to leave her glade. She promises that no more owlbears will come near your home.
Undari stands and bows to Longfrond, saying, ”If I may, please allow me to bestow Erastil’s blessing on your grove.”
If accepted, Undari will pray to fill an unfilled slot with Plant Growth, then cast the spell (Enrichment Version), then prepare to leave as requested.
"I do speak Sylvan, I didn't know if I needed to translate or not, you see, Flop-" Gaius begins by way of defending himself to Esperanza before things get tense.
As words begin to slow, he looks at the others. "Sounds like a win to me, I say we back away from Longfrond's glade and enjoy our distinctly Owlbear free future," he insists, already taking a few steps away from the Treant's domain.
"Flopsy, come on, no need to antagonize your, um, friend any further," he calls out.
"Hey now," Flopsy snips back, frowning at Gaius. "I'm not one of your little doggies or something! I'm a Pooka," she stresses, the name apparently enough of a justification for her. Regardless, she completes a few more lazy loops in the air before alighting near him.
"Have fun eating the sunshine Longfrond!" she shouts into the glade, waving a paw up and down at the Treant.
Longfrond offers no objection, verbal or physical, when Undari makes his offer and invites the touch of natural magic upon the glade.
The young treant's reaction to the gesture is hard to gauge.
Undari leaves reverently and quietly after offering the blessing.
”Come everyone...We have given Longfrond a lot to think about.”
Esperanza releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and nods. "Off we go, then."
"...wait, that was it? Some flowers and now its going to leave our people alone after multiple unprovoked attacks? What in the Hells was all that business about the owlbears then?! Someone could have been killed!" Thorek lets himself be led away from the grove, though he casts a glare over his shoulder at Longfrond and makes a mental note to keep a close eye on the treant.
Back at Hidden Hope, the dwarf calls a meeting. "Everyone, Aubrin has correctly pointed out that the folk we've gathered are more than these caves can handle. To resolve it we're going to move some folks over to Fort Trevalay and resettle them there. There's some concern--from myself and others--that the Ironfangs already know about Trevalay, so this second community would be much more vulnerable, and that makes Hidden Hope more vulnerable too." Thorek pauses and looks around at the assembled group, feeling his heart swell with pride at how these strangers have pulled together and accomplished so much.
"That's not wrong, so I think our solution is for the Hemlock Company to expand our area of operations. We already know the Ironfangs are planning an assault on Longshadow. It's my opinion that we should join them--if the hobgoblins are tied down besieging well-fortified towns far from here, they have fewer troops to spare harassing civilians here. It's time for us to take the fight to the Ironfangs for a change! What say you?"
Thorek's call to action rouses the Nirmathi spirit in the refugees. Just as they have fought off the Molthuni for generations, so too do they resolve to drive back the Legion.
"Bree and Cedric were talking with the wood giant, Herge," informs you after Thorek's appeal. "He's agreed to help transport supplies to Fort Trevalay. The big fellow's also offered to teach some of our people better forestry skills. He probably wants to make sure that we take good care of the forest as we try to take care of ourselves."
Lily just looks at Thorek and says,"I think that's a good idea. If we can get to the town before they assault it I think we stand a good chance pushing them back. A large amount of their advantage is the element of surprise. Remove that and it's a far more even battle."
"Before this, all any of us could do was run, hide, and hope to escape their notice," Esperanza says quietly. "Not anymore."
"We've all seen the horrors the Ironfang would inflict on all of Nirmathas, the pointless cruelty of it. I've fought men like them before. Those men are all gone now, but I am still here. It will be the same with the Ironfang."
Are you still there, Eurydicia?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Agreed, removing surprise will give the Ironfang more than they bargained for! With how unfortunately quickly they've managed to cut through the area, I'd wager they are only sending a few more than they think is necessary to take the town. We just might be able to tip the scales in our favor!" Gaius adds. And if Flopsy and I get enough time to put my flute in order, we'll be even better off!
MILITIA ACTIONS
Step 1--Training Attrition
Step 2--Notoriety Penalties
I don't think we do anything here since we're under 100, but GM please correct me if I'm wrong!
Step 3--Treasury Shortage Penalties
We have 94gp at the start of the turn, so our Training Score doesn't decrease.
Step 4--Increase Rank
After Upkeep we’re at Training Score 45, which jumps us all the way up to Rank 6(!!), with maximum possible rank of 8 at this time.
Step 5--Deposits & Withdrawals
I vote we make a 200gp deposit (40gp from each party member) to bring the Treasury to 294gp. We'll want to start ranking up our existing teams and recruiting new ones, and that will cost money so we should start preparing now.
Upgrade Team (250gp)]1d20+6
Upgrade the Patrons team to a Merchants team!
Rank 5 Award: +1,200XP
Rank 6 Award: 750gp gift
As you transfer civilians and supplies to Fort Trevalay, more of the surviving rangers trickle out of the woodwork to join the fight against the Legion. They bring with them offerings to the war chest, money recovered from ranger caches or taken from slain hobgoblins.
They also bring two peculiarities to report.
These rangers, functioning as lone wolves or in small teams, have been easily picking off the small pockets of Ironfang soldiers, unskilled in woodcraft, that remain in the Chernasardo. However, two patrols have gone missing in the past week, around an area called Blooder's Bend.
The second report concerns another potential group of refugees. They number almost two dozen strong, and they were seen traveling northeast from the direction of the Gristledown ruins. They appear very inexperienced with wilderness survival and seem to be wandering aimlessly.
"Didn't you say Gristledown was destroyed?" Esperanza asks the others, her brow furrowed in confusion. "They must have come from someplace else, but where?"
”Well we can’t leave out there as prey for Ironfangs or monsters. I suggest the Roughnecks guide the refugees to Fort Trevalay, while the rest of us check out Blooder’s Bend as soon as possible. I don’t want to leave a threat at our backs as we depart for Longshadow.”
"No, of course not. Is Blooder's Bend on the way to the refugees?"
"Yes, you would pass Blooder's Bend on the way to their last sighted location," Cobb Greenleaf confirms. "It's a dry creek bed that serves as a useful landmark when navigating the western reaches of the forest."
"And if they are just wandering the woods, should be easy enough to pick up their trail," Gaius points out. "Blooder's Bend though..." Don't want to know how it earned that name, but if two patrols have succumbed to it... He shivers.
Not eager to stew on his thoughts, he collects his things and prepares to leave.
________
Sorting through the poultices and tonics he has had a chance to prepare over the last week, Undari asks, ”Does anyone want a fresh Ironskin poultice before we set out?
"I still have the last one you gave me, Undari, but I'd take a spare."
"I still have the last one you gave me, Undari, but I'd take a spare."
"I would accept one gladly, Undari."
"I would accept one gladly, Undari."
Undari hands out the requested poultices and thinks about what he knows of the region...
On the way, he keeps an eye out for threats or other natural obstacles.
While the others sort out poultices, Gaius racks his brains for anything useful.
________
"Hey! What are you going to do with all that goopy-goop?" Flopsy asks, trying to clamber onto Undari and reaching for the paste with her grabby fingers. "Looks like troll spit, but doesn't stink like it, I want to touch it, GIMMEGIMMEGIMME!" she whines, tugging on the Druid's clothes while rocking back and forth.
________
"Flopsy," Esperanza chides, reaching over to pull the pooka off of Undari. "That is not how we ask for things."