Khostas seemed older. He went through that archway and disappeared for a few moments. I asked him about it, and he got a faraway look. He said he had been gone for what felt like months. He described birdsongs of impossible beauty. Tyhe wanted to go, but Tomund said without an invitation, we'd likely be trapped in the fey realm until we died of old age. Khostas agreed, and they both tend to know those things.
"I know little of the Fae beyond that one should avoid making deals with them. I will have to rely on the expertise of others. It is fortuitous that we stumbled into each other."
"It seems though it is our lead. Find a river leading to seven stones under the shade of an oak tree. That I leave up to you. Once you point it's direction out to me I can then walk that way." She motions to the others. "You have eyes. I do not."
Gos up to tree high to see if she can see what they talked about
"Back in Dawn's Vale, fey sightings were pretty frequent. Many of the villagers, my parents included, kept iron sticks and bread about to ward them off."
Peacock's stomach lurches at the memory of his encounter with the bakery on that fateful night. Realising that he'd would never be able to enjoy a fresh bun or a nice slice of a warm loaf of bread again, he felt a deep pang of regret.
"... It's still pretty hard to believe I was the one those would end up warding off."
Sphene: It's hard to tell, but you believe that as the valley bends to the southwest, you notice a peak in the canopy that might be due to a very large tree. However, you also see a fair amount of brown and gray leaves in that direction, as if there were large swaths of the valley that were sick or dying.
Sphene comes back.
"I can see something but I am still to weak to get height. It looks like a high point in the trees or one big tree. I can also see large swaths of the valley trees that were sick or dying. Something seems wrong here.
She lands and looks at them.
"Bread?" Kane says, confused. "Fae do not like bread?"
"I can't speak for all fey, but those that dwelled near my village were revulsed by it. Seems I inherited that along the other things. The one time I was near a bakery since my transformation, I'm pretty sure I came close to vomiting my guts out."
"Large swaths of the valley dying? That could be do to poisoned water, lack of water in this heat, or many more things. You will have to take me to the spot and maybe we can have clues. The dryad herself may know and if we assist in fixing the problem then she may help. I personally don't like the idea of the valley dying." She would move towards the direction sphene had indicated.
Peacock things for a moment. This isn't his battle to fight, but what else does he have?
"I agree. This has nothing to do with me, but I have no itention of not raising a hand to help, especially since I have this magic. You can count on my help."
Picking the direction of the large tree, the party follows the flow of the rushing stream which cascades over and through the rough valley floor. It is slow going, because the ground is broken up by large water-worn stones, fallen trees and undergrowth. Jazzai, especially, needs assistance to navigate the often slick stones. The uneven ground frequently requires crossing the streams from one bank to another.
By midday, the party is wet, muddy and tired. But they have started to notice a change in the dense vegetation; brown patches on leaves or strange bulbous growths on trunks. The bird calls also seem to have dropped off, and if it weren't for the rushing waters, the valley would be much quieter.
Jazzai would stop from time to time sniffing at the patches, touching the various growths and smelling them. Her worry increasing as she tried to identify what was going on.
Not being much of a woodsman, Kel was happy to let Jazzai's suggestions pick their path. It was slow going, what with the blind leading the dumb, but Kane found that he was enjoying himself.
As signs of corruption set in though, he became tense and even quieter than usual.
Jazzai still finds nothing to help her identify the source of the decay. However, every so often she'll detect a trace of a foul rotting odor that does seem to come from ahead. As the group pushes on, the stench grows enough that everyone can now detect it: the smell of rotting fish or raw meat. Before long, there's an accompanying drone of carrion insects around.
The canopy is thick in this part of the valley, and the area you find yourself is shrouded in dense shadow. A fair amount of undergrowth still flourishes, but it is far different from the usual assortment of shrubs and ferns. Instead, there are large mushrooms, puffballs, and bizarre, broad-petaled flowers on ropy stalks.
Beyond them, you see in the distance a massive, hoary trunk of a tree and looming dark shapes.
Jazzai would stop short and wrinkles her nose. "That is a plant that stinks. Not a true carcass. What ever it is that is rotting is plant based."
She would try to see if she could identify where the source of the smell was coming from lifting her nose and sniffing.
Jazzai growled slightly. "Something is moving ahead...about 25ft ahead. It doesn't feel like animal, just a tremor of movement on my senses. There are also five sources of the rot ahead. A good distance." Since she can't see the plant life of mushrooms and such she can only give them what her senses tell her but she was expecting trouble and they saw her hair rise slightly along the back of her neck giving her the look of having a ruff of fur standing up.
"If it is plant life it may be fungal in nature and that can be dangerous."
Sphene flaps her wings, she's in no state for a long fight on the ground, She take to the Air going up 50' move and gets her breath weapon ready.
Kane nods and moves slowly in front of Jazzai, his curved pole arm leveled before him, moving toward the movement.
Peacock stays back at the ready, hovering about three feet off the ground behind Kane and Jazzai, following instincts he doesn't consciously realise he has.
The others train their senses in the direction that Jazzai points, but none can point out the actual source of the danger from the varied forms of plant and fungal life.
Jazzai would look at them. "Sorry, double that distance. I can't tell what it is but it isn't animal." She would say. "Can you guys see anything?"
She would would stay where she was as Kane moved foward, only having her hearing to follow Peacock. Sphene was hard enough to follow considering the distance but she guessed she was up somewhere.
Sphene go's up to 150 feet and starts to cyclical 150' the area Jaxxai has indicated slowly.
Dragon Senses (Ex):
Dragons have Darkvision 120 ft. and blindsense 60 ft.
They see four times as well as a human in dim light and twice as well in normal light.
Fly up above the trees
Sphene, you manage to avoid the largest boughs and limbs, but crash through smaller bunches of leaves, sending birds scattering. You reach the top of the canopy and are bathed in brilliant sunlight, dazzled for a moment. But Kane is right, your aerial position doesn't aid in spotting anything on the ground. Furthermore, the great oak still rises, its leaves and branches towering above you.
Sphene flys around over the top of the canopy looking to see whats below.
It too looks sick. Many of its leaves have brown patches, but many still are green. Whatever has afflicted it is either recent, or the oak is fighting it.
Jazzai would follow behind Kane trying to keep about 10 ft between them hoping getting a little close will reveal something to her senses.
Sphene Calls out
"Peacock!! I need you with me, we have to find out what is doing this before we walk into real trouble, if we know whats going on we can try and help"
Once there she flys around it to see if any one is on it, keeping her distance, she is not risking getting hurt again.
She calls down to the others
"what ever is doing this has affected the great oak, fire may our best tool here. Burn out the sickness"
Sphene Calls out, Peacock!! I need you with me, we have to find out what is doing this before we walk into real trouble, if we know whats going on we can try and help.
She then starts to fly to the great oak, circling around it in a wide circle. The traces of the disease appear throughout the massive tree's canopy.
"Don't go too far! We don't know what's causing this!"
Peacock says, going after Sphene, but keeping to a lower altitude. As the menhirs come into view, however, he stops right in his tracks, marveling at the sight.
"Whoa... How did these end up like this?"
"Do you know this place Peacock? Whats wrong here?"
Sphene flys lower close to Peacock
Hearing them leave she sighs and would edge closer to Kane as they moved forward cautiously.
"Sir Kane do you still see nothing?" She asked pausing to pinpoint where those five strange things were. Her voice showed her nervousness, as did her shaking hands. It was one thing to be in a group of four, but two had flown off, far beyond what she could easily hear unless they shouted loudly. Now it was her, carrying all the extra gear they had found, and Sir Kane. Though she believed he was great in a fight, she had never even been trained on weapons, and wouldn't even know how to use them.
Pausing to cover her face with her shirt as she pointed where the strange feelings were coming from.
She say in a low voice to Peacock wile flying close.
"I can feel someone on the tree trunk, just there. 25' up, facing the stones, They don't seem to be moving, you can go unseen go have a look, see if it's our dyad"
"Good idea," Peacock replies. Without another word, he lands in the canopy, feeling for the essence of the breeze and aligning his own alongside it.
Confident that he wouldn't be seen by any hostile creatures, Peacock ventures ahead of the group, hoping to get a good view of the creature Sphene indicated.
"Very unpleasant." Kane rumbles, continuing to move forward. "Hard to see through the undergrowth. Nothing but diseased plants so far."
Sphene looks on as Peacook head in then seems to disappear form sight.
Hope that Boy is safe, could not live with myself if he comes to harm, but what in the hells is on there, if we can get some idea of what is going on.?
She looks back at where she came from and where the other are.
"Hope they are all right, soon as we have an idea, we best head back"
Jazzai puts a hand on his shoulder when they were twenty feet from the strange sensations and would drop the stuff she was carrying and pulled a spear out of the bundle. "Alright I am not expecting a friendly greeting. I wish the other's hadn't left." She said and would paused, "looking" for where they are. "If you want I can try to point one out with the pointy side of this stick but that would stir up a hornet's nest."
Peacock rises back in the air, motioning for Sphene to follow him. He rushes back to Kane and Jazzai.
He lands in front of them with a *thump* falling to his knees from the impact.
"Sir Kane! Miss Jazzai! It's horrible! The dryad... she... she... I think she might be dead!"