The dinosaur crouches by the statue, running claw-tips over it curiously. "It's been here..... a very, very, long time. Thousands of years, I think. At least."
The rhinoceros snorts and snuffles at the pool of water before disappearing from this plane... "--oh, yes, thank you!" Zay calls out as the rhino ceases to be. Or to be here, at any rate.
"We got lucky, I think. That could have gone much worse. Shall we go back outside and try and follow those tracks? No one got hurt? That's good."
"We should," Tettia says with a frown. "Sarine? How are you feeling? I know those things carry a nasty curse and one of them clawed you. Do you feel strange at all?"
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Primrose is aghast that anyone would even consider wearing this ring. "Are you kidding me? You mean to say you would choose to smell like feces. On purpose? This is beyond me. Please do not wear this ring near me."
Oh sure, as Sarine how she feels. Not like I wasn't covered in thousands of bites and had all of my blood leeched away by these annoying little pests and wasn't an inch away from dying on this stupid place!
"I'm fine, thank you for asking Tettia." Primrose answers while totally keeping a straight face. "And yourself? How are you holding up? Are you-"
She gasps, holding a hand to her lips "I'm so sorry. You said Sarine, didn't you? My apologies. Oh my." she says before turning to Zay. "Yes. Definitely. We should go that way."
Sarine grimaces. "Yeah...it isn't as though I like the idea of smelling awful. But if it can help us rescue our friends...if there's even a chance it could help...I have to try it, right?" Sarine seems extremely bothered by the prospect, but takes the ring and tries it on.
"And thank you, Tettia. I'm...not fine. I never want to feel like that again," she looks down at her leg where the monster delivered a shallow gash. "I don't know how to describe it. How does it feel to start not being you anymore?"
"It's gone now, though. Let's follow those other tracks."
Tettia turns to Prim intent on defending herself, but when she opens her mouth to state her case ... nothing comes to her. Red-faced, she closes her mouth with a snap and looks away. "I was just ... nevermind," she says, pushing past Prim on her way back to the cave's exit.
Aurelian -- certainly never one to think that someone like Prim is being a bit self-centered -- waits for the others to make sure they're ready before continuing to follow the crocodile -- or whatever the others said they were now -- and the tracks.
The group makes their way through the forest as it becomes increasingly dark outside, and after about forty minutes of travel from the cave (1 mile of forest) you emerge from the woods. Broken remains of ships and boats on the shore form a perimeter around heaps of barrels, crates, and other items that look like salvaged cargo. Additional ladders, nets, ropes, and weights have been attached to the ships and boats. A crimson flag on the mast of the largest ship proudly blows in the wind. Not long after you emerge from the woods, an arrow whizzes past the group. Those of you trained in combat can tell that it was meant as a warning shot—a warning that the following arrows will not miss.
About 60 feet away, from atop the heap of remains, a figure made of wood that stands maybe three feet tall shouts out to the group. "Reveal your true form, spies! You can't fool us!" The figure moves to draw another arrow and awaits action from the party.
Wyrwoods are magical, intelligent constructs resembling humanoids that were created as servants and warriors long ago by a group of wizards. They rebelled and destroyed their masters, but not before they learned the secret of how to create more of their kind. They are one of the most populous races on the distant continent of Arcadia.
"That's a wyrwood!" Tettia exclaims, excitement filling her voice. She hops up and down a little. "Can we talk to it rather than bash it with swords? Please?!"
Not waiting for an answer, the arcanist steps forward, waving one hand over her head in greeting.
"Hello! My name's Tettia Tuditanus and these are our true forms!" she calls out. "We would love to talk. May we approach, please? We won't attack you with swords and fire unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Aurelian Fache is no spy, little tree man!" the swordsman calls back. "Many men and women have seen his true form, but not if they are shooting at him!"
While unsure of Aureluan's efforts, Sarine tries to support him. "We are humans, hailing from a colony on Ancorato. If the spies you speak of are shapeshifters, they are our enemies as well! They have taken some of our people."
"Yes. We have sworn vengeance against them!" Aurelian adds.
Zay is wise enough to grasp that trying to explain how this isn't their true form but they're still not necessarily having to fight may not be the BEST course of action. They decide to stay quiet and act like a dinosaur. A pet dinosaur. Lurking next to Primrose like an overly-large, scaly, well-trained dog, the counterpoint to a demon cat.
The wyrewood archer stares at you holding the bow and arrow at the ready, but not drawn back just yet as it calls out to you "Your words could just as easily be lies, give me some proof you are not one of the faceless or I will end this talk with my arrows instead!"
Zay continues to play dumb, thinking how many arrows would likely immediately come in their direction if they tried to change back to a more humanoid form right now. But Zay wonders to themselves what evidence would satisfy the tiny wooden warriors...
"But that's a logical fallacy," Tettia says, speaking up. "We can't prove that we aren't something. I can tell you that my name is Tettia Tuditanus. I have a twin sister named Taldera. We shared a room until we were nine and then Mother determined that we were old enough to have our own rooms. Toddy would still sneak into my room after we were sent to bed until Mother found out. When she charged the upstairs maid to keep us in our own rooms I cried for a week." She looks away. "But that doesn't prove anything."
"My mother's name is Gwendolyn Price Tuditanus. She is the second daughter of Lord Marcus Price. My father's name is Theodore Tuditanus III. He is the eldest son of Lord Robare Tuditanus. But that doesn't prove anything." She looks back at the archer. "Nothing I can say can prove I am who I say I am."
"In my Applied Logic class at university, I presented a paper on logical fallacies and I covered proving a negative quite extensively." Her voice grows softer. "I only got sixty three out of a hundred marks on it." Her voice grows stronger again. "But I appealed to the academic board and they overruled the professor and gave me ninety two out of a hundred. The professor was embarrassed that I had proven one of his arguments in class as false. That still doesn't prove who I am though."
Her face grows sadder.
"So barring you having magic that can determine the truth of what I say, then I guess you'll have to shoot me. I only ask one thing. My friend Wallace hasn't done you any harm and doesn't deserve any of this."
She reaches down into her pouch and produces her toad.
"I would consider it a kindness if you would let him go on his way unharmed. He's been a good friend."
Brrruuuppp!
"You hush," she says to the toad and sets him down on the ground. "You don't need to be here for this."
Brrruuuppp!
"Go on, I said," she says before giving the tiny amphibian a small shove with her toe. She looks back up at the threatening archers. She then closes her eyes and waits for a decision to be made.
The wyrwood narrows its eyes as Tettia gives pieces of her life story before it calls out another question "No creatures like you live around here. Where’s your ship?"
Tettia cracks open an eye when her execution is delayed. "Um ... we came on a boat and it's ..." She looks around for a few moments to orient herself. "I think it's over there," she says, pointing. "We're from Talmandor's Bounty. It's a new colony over on the other island."
"It would be odd if the shapechangers were to approach you in the guise of someone that you were unaware was in the region, wouldn't it?" Sarine spoke up as she moved forward.
"But ultimately, what Tettia said earlier is true. You can't know whether we are tricking you in just the same way that we can't know that you are tricking us. That is the nature of our foe. We have to choose whether to trust each other."
"It also requires your trust, but if you will permit it I might have another solution." She unslings her greatsword and extends the weapon without drawing it, "Has been known to glow in the presence of creatures such as them. I do not fully understand its workings, but if it does not glow then we can both be somewhat reassured of each other's identity."
Aurelian nods at Sarine's words.
"Yes, Aurelian can not let you shoot Tettia," he admonishes the thing. "If someone must bleed for proof, it will be him! (But he will do it himself -- nobody makes him bleed his own blood!)"
Though it had been nearly an hour since the feces-ring incident and prior combat, Primose still wasn't able to let that go as quickly as she should have. She was distracted when the wood creatures had fired the warning shot and the party had began to engage.
The group had done a fairly decent negotiation so far, but they were missing one of the core tenants of this tactic. "Tell us what you would have us do to prove this to you. We come with no ill will toward you and seemingly share the same common enemy. What would you have us do to demonstrate our alignment?"
The wyrwood considers Primrose's words a moment then replies "Bring one of the faceless here before us, dead, and I would believe your claim. They do not kill their own, in this I would know for certain you are not one of them."
Aurelian nods.
"We can do that, in the morning," he replies. " ... Do you know where we can find one? Or a safe place to rest while we look?"
Primrose has yet to actually see one of these faceless herself, so she has a hard time agreeing to it... for about a half of a second. "Sure, no problem." she agrees. "Like Aurelian Fache states however, we would need to find one first. Is there an area you have seen them or perhaps an area that is a problem for you where you suspect one might be?"
She hopes this is not the area that it recommends that they rest.
The wyrwood shakes his head "No place particularly safe, except maybe here. The ugothols are many in these foods, but most are smart enough to stay out of our territory. You wander the woods long enough here you are bound to run into some, but maybe you already know this?"
Sarine turns to confer with the others in a quiet voice. "The tracks we were following led here though. Our pursuit doesn't start somewhere out in the woods."
Primrose looks between her companions, wondering what the likelihood of this creature being one of the faceless are. She turns to the creature and asks the awkward question "As a sign of good faith, if we are willing to show us your blood would you be willing to show us yours before we engage in this hunt?"
The archer shrugs and then nods "Very well, but you would all need to show me to make sure there were no faceless among you."
Primrose nods, "Seems fair enough to me." She turns to her companions, "Anyone have a problem with this?"
Tettia's eyes widen. "All of us?" she asks as she pales. "Even m-me?" With tears already brimming in her eyes, she continues, "Ok. C-can someone ..." She holds out her hand, without another word and clinches her eyes tight shut as her lip begins trembling.
"Don't worry, just a little prick. We can heal it right up when it's gone if it's bothering you."
"It's going to be fine."Primrose will use the tip of her dagger on her own arm before holding Tettia's hand to do the same to the arcanist.
Tettia flinches when Primrose takes her arm and the bard can feel her trembling. When the blade pierces her skin, Tettia cringes but doesn't make a sound. Her eyes stay firmly shut through the entire process.
"Are you done y-yet?" she asks in a thready voice.
Zay plays dumb, and silent, but hangs near the others to be pricked if the wyrwoods require it of the dinosaur as well.
Primrose releases Tettia's arm and pats it gently, "Yes. All done. See, that wasn't so bad, was it."
She motions for the others to do the same so that they can see that their wyrwood friend wasn't a faceless.
Aurelian frowns -- a rare expression to cross his face -- at Tettia's obvious fear and the fact she has to be hurt. Once Prim is done, however, he pulls a dagger a strides forward a few steps, slashing his palm so it's clear the red blood of Andoren runs through his veins.
As soon as her arm is released, Tettia turns away in an attempt to compose herself.
Burrruuup
The young woman turns back around at the sound from her toad, who's still sitting in the exact same spot she put him in. She wipes her nose and tries to contain her sniffles.
"I'm sorry, Wallace. That was very cowardly of me," she says as she reaches down and picks him up. She closes her eyes and holds him to her cheek. "Do you forgive me?"
Burrruupp
"Thank you. You're too sweet."
After a quick peck on the creature's head, she stows him back into his pouch. She waits quietly for the others to finish their demonstration.
The wyrwood seems to nod as each of you show your red blood in turn and then focuses its gaze on Sarine, seemingly ignoring the dinosaur present.
Sarine pulls out her dagger and draws a cut along her arm.
I hate that it has come yo this, but I probably better get used to cutting myself. With the enemy we face, there isn't a lot of options. Maybe if we can ensure that my sword glows in their presence reliably...
After each of the party members draws blood the wyrwood takes one oh its arrows and does the same. While it doesn't bleed red blood, it definitely isn't green like the faceless, instead it is a brownish-amber color very much like tree sap. Seemingly appeased it motions for you to move forward and it climbs down from his defensive position. Three other wyrwoods pop their heads up, obviously prepared for an ambush if a fight had started and watch as you approach.
As the first wyrwood comes to greet you it bows slightly. "I apologize for all this, but I am sure you understand our caution if you know of the faceless. I am Xalin, I will take you to our village elder so that you can speak."
It will lead you onward past the opening that leads into the complex of broken and beached ships. It leads you to the one ship with the flag flying overhead and motions for you to enter. Here another wyrwood waits, this one appears much older, the colors of its wood faded compared to Xalin. As you enter it bows its head to you as it speaks in Azlanti
When the wyrwood speaks in Azlanti, Tettia's ears perk up.
She translates for those that don't speak the language and then replies in the same tongue - introducing everyone first and then moving on to answer the question.
"We're hoping to find some fellow villagers that we believe the faceless ones have taken as slaves for their master," she says.
The older wyrwood shakes her head "The faceless are a scourge but we have seen no people like you here for some time. Most of those who wash up on our shores are already dead. The few who survive, we send away. You look mostly unharmed, and that is why the guards thought you must be spies."
"They are not dead," Aurelian says. He grinds his teeth for a moment, his usually genial nature still being strained. "Where do they go when you send them away?"
And what are you? He wants to ask, but knows it would be rude, even if Tettia's identification of them left a little something to be desire. What is a wyrwood?
After her own introduction, Sarine pauses before motioning toward Aurelian and translating his question for him.
Locwudu motions out toward the island in general as she replies "We do not allow them to stay and send them back to the beaches or the forrest for them to find their own way. If you know anything of our people, you would know we do not have a pretty past with the other 'civilized' races who once enslaved us."
Zay imitates a dinosaur. And eyes the demon cat. The shoe is on the other foot NOW, isn't it. NOW who is larger and who is the apex predator. Oh yes, I see you.
"Aurelian Fache does not know anything of their people, or their past. Perhaps they could explain? Perhaps he could help them start a new past?" the swordsman suggests.