With a yell of anger and pain, Sig swings her axe at the strange bird-thing, trying to hack it apart.
Sig cleaves through the creature of cream and it is reduced to a puddle of sticky goo.
Gumdrop flies around the group and sheds some healing light upon you.
"Thanks...Gumdrop..." Jerrica says, shaking her head.
"You're welcome, Miss Jerrica," Gumdrop replies.
"I feel weaker than I did when I was with my friends," Jerrica says. "I wonder if that witch had something to do with that..."
Walking back up to Sig and Jerrica she asks, "Are you guys alright?"
"Yeah, our faerie friend helped with the hurting."
"Much appreciated little one. Are things like this...normal here?" Sig says sighing in relief as her wounds close.
She shrugs, "It's possible I suppose. If she can do things like pull people from all over the place here at her whim, there's no telling what else she's capable of."
Gumdrop bobs up and down. "The princess simply makes monsters out of the surrounding environment. Doesn't matter if it makes sense or not. So you might fight more cream monsters before we are out of here."
"As long as it's not goblins..."
Frostine looks up at the faerie, "You seem to know a fair bit about that little girl. Is there anything else you can tell us that might be useful?"
"How long has she been doing things like this?"
"I'm afraid I don't know much more than what I told you," Gumdrop admits. "Me and the other faeries are prisoners here just like you. She brought us to this place first...I think she called it a 'demiplane'. She explained about the monsters and how we can only heal you after a fight is over."
Jerrica shakes her head. "Demiplanes are over my head. Let's keep going, shall we?"
She nods her head in agreement, "I'm with you on that one. It's okay gumdrop, we'll get through this and then hopefully we'll all get to go home."
You continue on for a good mile before you come to a part of the road that has melted off. You see pieces of the rainbow road at the bottom of a cream-colored chasm. There is a ten-foot gap between you and the other side.
"Yay, jumping," Jerrica says sardonically.
She sighs, "Alright, I guess I'll try to go first." She says as she backs up to get a good running start at the jump. Taking a few deep breaths she takes off running and with a slight yell she leaps out over the chasm.
As she lands on the other side she lets out a breath of relief. Taking a deep breath she calls out across the chasm, "It makes it a little easier if you get a running start!" She says a bit loudly before stepping away from the edge to give the others room to land.
Jerrica follows the bold sorceress' lead.
Taking a deep breath Sig backs up and runs at the chasm, leaping across athletically.
"That wasn't too bad," Jerrica says, continuing on.
Dusting herself off she says, "Well...that was a bit exciting, hopefully we won't have to do that again too soon. It could have been worse though, shall we continue on then? No telling what else is out here."
"Might as well." Sig replies with a grin.
She nods as she tries to pick up the path they're supposed to be on. She looks around as she tries not to think about Goldi, Mr. Truffles, or any of the others that they were forced to leave behind. Goldi wasn't here now....so, she would have to learn how to depend on herself. The only thing that gave her a bit of comfort was knowing that Sig was here and she wasn't completely alone. With Sig and Jerrica, maybe they could all get out of here, she pondered silently to herself as she looked for the right way to go.
The rainbow road winds downward back to some level ground. Shimmering emerald grass sways to and fro from a light breeze and Frostine sees another signpost ahead.
She approaches the signpost cautiously as she looks over her shoulder at Sig and Jerrica, "Looks like we're gonna have to make another choice. Maybe I should have taken some time to learn about map making or something instead of worrying so much about my stupid magic."
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"I don't really want to live here, so you can save that idea for when we end up somewhere normal," Jerrica says.
Three arrows point toward the Fudge Swamp, the Whipped Mountains and the Candy Cane Forest.
"Easy choice here, I think."
"The mountains do seem the most likely place for the liquorice whatever monster." Sig says staying off into the distance.
She sighs, "I know....I meant, maybe if I had spent my time learning something useful we'd have an easier time of figuring out where we're going. I don't want to live here forever either. I....have people I need to get back to."
Looking at the sign she says, "Yeah...well, since we went over the mountains to bypass the swamp it does simplify our options doesn't it? So, we're pretty much heading into the candy cane forest then aren't we?"
Looking up at Sig she can feel how warm it is here and her wearing a cloak is pretty much....well silly really in this area. Taking a deep breath she remembers her talk with Thorgr and Goldi and decides that it's time for the cloak to come off. No more hiding.
Taking off her cloak she shoves it into her pack, leaving her marked forehead exposed. She decided to stay in her regular clothes for now, it's not like she was trying to disguise herself anymore or anything. She felt kind of silly for not packing more useful items now though.
Jerrica nods. "I suppose we follow the road again. Eerily convenient, I think."
She nods again, "Yeah...it makes me feel pretty uneasy...but what else can we do?" She asks as she fidgets with her hair before making sure she has a bolt loaded in her crossbow and ready to go.
Not sure how Sig would react to her unveiling herself, if at all...she's a bit hesitant to look up into the songstress's face. Rather she looks towards her while avoiding direct eye contact, "Since we're not sure how far this forest goes, or what we're gonna run across in there....are we gonna try to stop for a break once we're inside there, or should we wait till we get somewhere a little less....creepy?"
"I'm for finding some place safe, if such a place exists here," Jerrica says. "Being out in the open seems like a bad idea."
She walks a little bit ahead before turning her head to look at the others, "Alright, I guess we just head in then and whenever we get tired we'll just take a break."
"May as well. Being exposed to whatever is out here does seem like a bad idea." she says glancing over at Frostine. "Well you definitely don't have to worry about drawing the wrong kind of attention here." she says with a smile.
As they make their way into the forest Frostine is a bit taken aback by Sig's candid observation. Unsure if she just meant it in a general sense or if she meant it as more of a direct statement about how Frostine had been hiding her true identity she glances at her a bit curiously, "You mean like that Lich thing, whatever it is.....or that scary little girl?" She wondered if Sig had an idea of who she was all along the way Thorgr had, or if she just realized it now? If everyone already knew who she was, and didn't care that she skipped out on her marriage to their kinsmen.....then why the bloody hell had she been so scared of people finding out who she was? Well.....apparently here she didn't have to be afraid....of that at least. No one was gonna knock her over the head and drag her back to Odenheim to marry someone she didn't even know or love.
"Well in some places, a sorceress with a symbol on her head, destined to become a princess would be fabled. Even those who had never met her would have heard of her. It doesn't mean everyone would agree that she didn't have the right to make her own decisions." the skald replies.
Unsure of how to really respond she just lets out a little sigh of relief as she finally starts to let her muscles relax a bit, "Oh......okay, thanks Sig." She gets quiet as she contemplates some things. Maybe she could return home some day after all.......but, then again she still might not be accepted....no matter what she did. They were willing to marry her off to someone she didn't even know just to get rid of her.......could she really go back? Her expression becomes a little more introspective as she thinks about things, her brows furrowing in thought.
You head into the Candy Cane Forest, twisted and pointy branches of red and white encroaching upon the road. While you can still walk comfortably, there is a sense of foreboding. Up ahead, you can smell something baking.
Jerrica looks around for anything suspicious. Well, that includes just about everything here.
Jerrica spies a small cottage off the side of the road, hidden by some of the candy cane trees. A small plume of smoke rises from its chimney.
"There's a cottage," Jerrica says. "It's probably a trap."
"It's definitely a trap. I know children's tales that start like this." Sig mutters drawing her axe again.
She nods her head as she takes out her loaded cross bow, "I'll try not to be too jumpy....but, that's asking a lot right now cuz this is totally freaking me out." She says candidly.
"It's off the road, so we can just walk past it," Jerrica says. "Unless you want to investigate it. I'm sure there's a kindly witch who definitely won't bake us in a pie."
Jerrica stops in her tracks. "That was sarcasm, by the way. I'm sure there's an evil witch there."