"It's not real, it's an illusion!" shouts Antha, shocked that there was someone out here with such skill in the Art to fool them all for even those few precious moments.
Pulling up her mount. And tricks mean Fey?!
When Antha reveals the illusion; Tad blinks at it. It looked real enough but as he stared at it the minor details began to show themselves. He disbelieves the illusion and it fades to a barely visible image.
The roaring noises continue which still keeps the horses nervous but they are not difficult to control as long as you stay clear of the illusion.
Morley keeps his irritation in check, and addresses the air around him. "Ha! Well done! You had us. We are moving on for now, but if we are to be neighbors... we should meet. Name's Morley."
Beginning to realize what was going on, Antha concentrated on the magical energies showing as the image of a troll and - on a hunch - the sounds as well.
Antha called out to the forest, "Whoever and wherever you are, I congratulate you on a masterful illusion! Now that we know some of what you are capable of, we will not be so easily fooled the next time! Perhaps it would be better if you showed yourself so that we can talk in the light of honesty."
Teyran stopped his horse in mid stride and sat for a moment, as though the wind had been swept from his lungs. On one hand he was relieved as he'd expected to die horribly in mere moments. On the other hand, he felt as though his heroic gesture had been stolen from him in the moment that it was upon him, and the reunion that would follow as well.
He thought about addressing these unseen strangers that had conjured all of this, presumably for their own amusement, but he refrained. Surely he would not be as diplomatic as the gunman had been, so there was no purpose in saying anything. Instead he made his way to his fellows and spoke quietly. "We should move now. I am curious to meet these creatures that could do what we have seen, though I wish to see them from a distance, when they are unaware of our presence. At the moment, the opposite scenario seems to have occured."
"First the tricks around camp, and now this. They must be bored."
I'm... bored.
Leaning in to Tad, Did you think it would be so quick?
"'Hurry up & wait'. 't's most 'v life luv." Tad mutters sotto vocce in response to Valseka's comment.
Could have been much worse. None of us are ready for a monster like that. Certainly not unprepared as we were & still are. Thinking once we make our way back to Swordlord Garress' fortification we need to see to it they have a good milking cow...
No,no... So quick the untamed wild would bring them to speaking into thin air. I speak to myself, but that's different.
ahem, Miz Grendolynn, 'oo was raised out 'ere in tha wilds wi' naught but 'er & 'er da."
As Antha takes the time to study the illusionary noises and images from the troll she recognizes the patterns in the magic of a combination of spells. They are fey in nature and beyond her complete understanding without further study on faerie magic, but similar to the arcane spells ghost sound and silent image.
Obvious that you are not convinced by the illusion, the noises and image vanish.
"The grig is up." A small voice says from in the forest canopy above. It is followed by a handful of giggling. Another small voice, this one feminine responds, "That's not funny!" It just prompts more giggling from the first voice.
A grig is a type of good-natured trickster fey about the size of a cat. They have upper female torsos and the body of a cricket.
Who said that?
"Who's there?" Teyran shouted, his hands immediately drifting to his sword. It was a foolish display, the sword would likely not help him if they were in the trees, and perched on his horse as he was, drawing it might be a challenge. He could only take solace in the knowledge that it wasn't a conscious effort.
"We just wanted to have some fun, but you are close to our home. We just wanted to scary you away. No one got hurt. Don't be mean bigginses like that."
A voice says from the tree tops.
Yep, definitely need to get a milk-cow back at the fortification...
"Why don't you come down and speak to us, we wish you no harm. We are new arrivals to the area, and have set out to make friends with our neighbors." Teyran didn't reveal all the details, but these creatures didn't need to know the full story, not yet.
There is silence for a few moment. One of the invisible creatures spoke again, "Okay. You don't seem so bad for bigginses. There are some bad ones in the area... We don't like them much. They try to hurt the forest so we stop them."
In the blink of an eye two flying creatures appear as they fly about overhead. Both of them are cat-like in size, one of them appears to be a brightly colored miniature dragon while the other is a cricket with the upper torso of a woman.
From the saddle, Valeska smiles like a little girl. By the Lords of Light, may wonders never cease!
She holds her arm out.
"Holy s++&, I was right. It's faeries!" Grendolynn stares at the beautiful little beings with mouth slightly agape. They're so small and cute. Why are all the stories about fey so sinister?
Antha blinks in surprise at the sight of the small creatures, and smiles warmly at the pair as they descend from the trees.
"Hello, fair ones. My name is Antha, and these are my friends Valeska, Grendolynn, Tad, Teyran, Erastil, Morley, and Arasmes. What are your names?"
Arasmes nods upon his introduction. Incredible! May the Dawflower guide us to a peaceful union with these little folk.
Tad is notably silent, though his expression shows a measure of sardonic amusement.
Definitely a milk-cow. A blacksmith would likely also be a good idea, just in case.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The dragon seemingly the brave of the pair flies down to land on the outstretched arm of Valeska.
"I am Perlivash." The miniature dragon speaks in a high-pitched tone. The other fey, not quite as brave, lands on the head of Teyran's horse. She looks up at the paladin with forest green eyes, she looks bashful as she speaks to Teyran, "I am Tyg-Titter-Tut"
Perlivash snickers and hoots, "Tyg has a crush!", which causes the other fey to stamp her cricket feet and glare daggers at the dragon, "I DO NOT!" She yells in the loudest voice she can muster.
"I am very pleased to meet you, Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut. Which of you did the spells for the the troll's image and sounds? They were very convincing! Did it work on those 'bad ones' you said were bothering you?"
Valeska bows her head slightly, and speaks in a low voice as if not to interupt Antha. I am honored by your touch. Perlivash... I might nearly call you "Vash", if that does not upset you.
She then turns her attention to the others.
Teyran couldn't help but smile at the two, they reminded him of children. Teyran knew the stories of malicious Fey, but he couldn't see how those stories could refer to creatures such as this. He held his hand out as though he was about to touch the creature on his horse, but then he drew back, thinking better of it. "After some of the other inhabitants of this region we've encountered, you too are a most pleasant surprise. Who are these bad ones you refer to? The bandits in service of the Stag Lord? If so, they are our foes as well."
...and kobolds and trolls and mites, oh my!
"Mites are nasty." Tyg-Titter-Tut says with a sour face. "Mean bigginses set cruel traps that hurt creatures. He leaves them in agony for days before he returns, and he sets more traps then needed. Perlivash didn't like bigginses..." She frowns at that.
Perlivash hangs his head a bit, "I lured him into one of his own traps. I just wanted to scary him away, make him realize how scary his traps were. I didn't mean for it to happen. There are other mean bigginses as well, like the ones that hurt the good bigginses. We try to avoid them. There are kobolds, and trolls, and wolves. Forest is dangerous, but we like to play here. We have our home here. We protect the nice things here."
Morley sat quietly bewildered on his horse... Not wanting to be fooled again, he studied the creatures for quite some time before accepting them as real. As the conversation moves along, Morley hears his opportunity to find a connection with the odd little thing.
"Needn't burden yourself too much about it, I'm sure. Not one to speak ill of the dead, but when a trapper gets caught in his own trap... I'd say his number was up."
What do the kobolds do, besides eat too many turnips?
Both of the creatures look at each other and shrug. "Kobolds are busy with Mites. They are nasty too, but Mites are worse." Perlivash responses.
"So what will you tell us about Mites, mate?" Tad finally pipes up.
Mites take statues! Valeska uses her free hand to reach into a saddlebag for a journey cake morsel. She offers a bit to Vash.
Besides, we already know !"
Tad makes shushing motions to Valeska as he continues to smile encouragingly at the dragon & the...
insect, thing.
"Mites are nasty" Tyg-Titter-Tut says with a sour face again. "We stay clear of the mites. We don't want to be ugly like them. We hide from them and lead them off with images of kobolds."
"Mites kill Sycamore tree with their ugly." Perlivash says with a nod.
Valeska takes a nibble of cake. Maybe kobolds promise to be better if... you help us get their statue from the mites?
"Sycamore tree? Is that where they live?"
"Kobolds are sneaky. Who knows how long they would be good. We don't want to get anywhere near ugly mites or sneaky kobolds." The grig wrinkles his noise in disgust. She nods to Antha, "It was one of the most beautiful trees in the forest before the Mites."
Antha smiles in sad sympathy for Tyg's sense of loss when describing the tree.
"Can you tell us where the Sycamore is so that we can go and do something about the mites?"
The grig points off in one direction. "Sycamore is that way. If you keep going southeast from the turnip fields, passed the Kobold mines, then you will come to the tree. It was once a great guardian of the Narlmarches until the mites infested it." The grig looks up at Teyran and gets bashful, "What's your name?"
Teyran smiled self consciously, how was he to answer that question? Of course the obvious answer was to recite his name, maybe mention his family, but that wasn't what she was actually asking. She wanted to know who he was, and who he was had been irrevokably altered by who he wasn't anymore, and that was something he may never be quite willing to share. Still, it was written all over his face, or painted all over his armor.
"I am Teyran Rilskel, servant of the Dawnflower. If you find yourself in her favor, then we are friends." For a moment, he felt like a newly minted paladin again, speaking with all the pretense that he'd grown up expecting of that order. He even added a little head nod as he spoke.
There is a throttled snort as Tad exerts physical pressure on his jaw to refrain from snide, ribald, or in any other way inopportune comments.
Can the tree be... restored?
The grig tilts her head as if she is thinking, "I don't know. If the Mites are gone then likely it will heal."
Having trouble keeping from smiling like a fool in the presence of the odd creatures, Morley states the obvious... "Sounds like no one round here would miss these Mites. Somethin we'll have to see to, eh?" Morley then addresses the Fey, "Was good to meet the two a'ya. Sure to never forget this day." and bows slightly in his saddle.