"How would I know? It's not like that drow explained itself before shooting webs and lightning at us."
"Also, I didn't tell you anything. You just woke me up."
"The hole is there because the cave collapsed partly."
Jewel grins at the blindfolded dwarf. Dark dwarf she reminds herself. "You are right, it was your companion that told us that you were seeking food when you attacked us. Not a good way to start negotiations by the way. And right again, you can't actually know why the drider attacked you. But you've been around that race before. We have little experience with them." She pauses for a moment, thinking. "Perhaps we should ask her for an explanation, and return you two to her.... Unless you decide to try for better answers."
"Dwarves are usually good at understanding rock, construction and mining, right? Something must have made the cave collapse. Perhaps you don't know why, but you might have ideas, right? Just like you probably have an idea why the drider attacked you? Care to share your ideas, and maybe provide an explanation that even a limited, surface living human might understand?"
"Those foocking drows hate everyone. Don't know if they need an extra reason to attack us. That spider-drow will happily eat you too if you try feeding us to it. Ye fer sure won't get any answers."
Appealing to his honor as a dwarf makes the druegar spit to the ground. "Fer sure I know rock. An if ye were there, ye might have seen that there is no rock. Some water washed out the place that is now the cave, and finally its luck ran out."
"No. I know a guy who strictly refuses to go to the surface. How would I know?" The druegar would throw his hands in the air, if he wasn't bound.
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Tarjun boldly demonstrates that he is free of his movements by throwing his hands in the air in frustration.
"I dunno! Seems like there's a lot of complicated stuff happening right now and no one has a single clue why or what to do about it!" He takes a moment to think about his next question. "So the drider's à big problem for everyone. Do you know what it wants, or if it's got any weakness?"
"They are the surperior race and get to push around everyone else. But you can club them to death like all living beings. You just need to live long enough to finish that task." the druegar replies sarcastically.
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Tarjun pouts.
"Nice try but driders ain't easy to approach. I can't just club them in the face!" He scratches his head. "You wait here for a bit," he orders, beckoning everyone else in the room to follow him and gather around for some confabulation.
"I don't think he's gonna help us further, so... Do we let him go? Or maybe ask him to guide us in the cave to explore?"
"I don't trust them. They'd lead us into an ambush and then we'd be the ones tied to a pole, or worse." Clara objects.
"But more investigations are due. If Spiderwoman were after them, and they were the only ones, they'd be dead. There have to be more. But I guess your parents are not cool with going now?"
"Daylight would be nice. Those druegar can see in the dark. I can't." Clara admits. "But what are we doing with them? They are people after all."
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Jewel glances over at Mrs. Johnson. Maybe she's let them join a patrol or something, if they were even patrolling anywhere near the hole. ?? "Mom and Dad aren't likely to let us do anything risky. But if it's just working with other adults to protect the town, maybe."
"You're right Clara. It would be stupid to go near them in the dark. We'd be blind and they wouldn't. I wonder how well they see in full sun light?"
"They are people, but we won't get to decide what happens to them. The adults will probably lock them up for now, and decide what to do with them later. Maybe much later. Not like we're a city though with a big prison to hold them...."
"Paddington, guard." Gertrud orders the bear.
"I'll take up patrols again. We don't know what else will come this night. But for sure not at the fringe of the wood, but only between the village and the torch line. Anyone interested in coming along?"
To will and Shelly she adds "Can't be more unsafe than sleeping in the bed, as we have seen. At least you're not surprised when on watch."
Will rubs his chin and nose nervously. "You're not wrong. Do you have some equipment to protect the kids? If it becomes a regular occurrence that they have to fight strange creatures they at least should be properly equipped for it."
Clara casts mage armor. "I'm good. I don't want one of those heavy armor things."
"Not the worst idea. I may have some of my old stuff somewhere. I need to talk to Randolf tomorrow where we put that. But for now I need to leave and replace some of the torches before they go out."
Gertrud leaves, with her bag full of torches.
"You don't even want to see what I got? No need to worry, there is no such thing as boy or girl armor."
One patrol later the kids are sent home to go to bed, though sleeping will be hard after the experience earlier that night. But finally tiredness wins.
Next morning after a quick breakfast when the Branston kids want to leave, Will reminds the kids "Don't forget, this is dangerous. Don't get yourself killed!"
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"We'll try!" Tarjun shouts back over his shoulder, as reassuring as ever, before stepping out with Jewel.
He's got big bags under his eyes, and he has to rely on his crutch a lot more to walk along. The long night, the walk and the little sleep got him cramps all over. Still, he makes a pause to pick up a worm for Chirp to feed.
At a snail's pace, he reaches the Johnsons' farm, knocking on the door with his staff before coming in.
"Morning, Mrs Johnson! We're here for the armors! Well, mostly me, Jewel's just here to help me pick. And maybe try on a couple, right?" he says with a chuckle as he tries to picture his little sister trying on an armor. "Gonna look just like the time you tried one of daddy's shirts- sleeves so big you couldn't even stick your hands out!"
Tarjun is hit by a walnut at the back of his head "Do or don't there is no try."
"And don't you dare come home if you fail!"
When she wakes up Jewel almost forgets to pray before eating and running out. Once her mind is clear though she settles down and relaxes to open her mind up to her God. "Erastil, Thank you for your divine assistance last night. Please help me to learn your ways so I can protect our community better in the future. Today we plan to work with protecting our town from the enemy that has encroached on us. Please provide your divine magic that I will need, and any guidance that my young mind and heart should require."
As they head out Jewel chuckles at the word-play between Tarjun and their dad. "We'll be careful. That drider is just scary!"
Actually, having had a couple of days to absorb the "new normal" Jewel is less scared and more annoyed than at first. Why did they have to collapse their tunnel now, just when things were getting stable again. The ghosts had moved on. No goblins had stolen any chickens lately. She wonders if the eggs had hatched?
[b]"Armor? I think I can cast cleric spells with armor on. But it would be too restricting for my witch spells! Clara isn't going to wear any armor is she?
"I do my magic armor." Clara tells.
"Hi there. I already got the crate down here." Gertrud tells and points to the kitchen table.
She picks a chain mail from it. "That was one of my first armors. A gift from my mother. Really well made. If was a pity when a grew out of it."
"There is also this nice mace. I remember my mother getting it for me. I didn't ask for one, I wanted a sword. But she didn't want me to have a sharp blade. So she got me this mace with nice engravings and the handle made from fine leather. She told me years later how she tricked me."
The crate contains some other stuff in small size. The most noticeable are a cloak and a pair of boots.
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Tarjun gapes at his new armor in awe.
"It's really for me? Wow! Thanks Mrs Johnson!" he promptly tries it on, although his head might be bigger than Gertrud'q at the same age, because it gets a little stuck. Once that problem is solved, he admires the chain mail that reaches to his waist, making it rattle a little. "How do I look?" He turns to Jewel proudly. "You know, it's funny, Mrs Johnson,'cause I don't remember you ever mentioning your mother! Was she a great warrior too?"
"That are items on loan. Once you've grown out of it I want them back. There are a lot of memories connected with those."
"No, my mother wasn't a warrior. She was an artist. She sang, danced, performed in theater. She only played heroines."
"Granma Esther is cool. She sings the best lullabies."
Jewel is impressed by how something as simple as armor could change how Tarjun looked. Almost like a hero out of some storybook? "Tarjun, I almost hope that you're done growing! That armor looks great on you!"
She looks at the small mace, picking it up to get a feel for the weight. "Will you be using your club? Or would you rather try out this mace? I think as a cleric I could use either without causing a problem with my witch magic."
"Clara, Wasn't there a wand that shot missiles too? Wizard spell though so I guess not really any good for us?"
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"I ain't done growing yet!" Tarjun puffs out his chest proudly. "In a few years, I'll tower however you!"
He grabs the handle of the mace, and tests it cautiously. It feels weirdly heavy in his hands. He swings it around a little, and for some mysterious reason, can't feel his magical energy run through it as easily as with his club or staff.
Shaking his head, he gives it back to Jewel.
"Nah, I'm good. You can have it. But be careful, it's heavy for ya!"
Clara grabs the boots and tries them on. "They look really cool."
"And they're soft! What are they made of?" Clara asks.
Accepting the small mace she looks for some way to hang it on her belt so she won't have to keep it in hand all of the time. "I'll practice with it when I have time. Swords are more for people that learn to fight with them. If I have to fight I think I'd prefer a simpler weapon...."
"They are made mostly from leaves. I have no idea where you find this kind though. They were a present together with the cloak."
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"Swords are heavy anyhoo," Tarjun nods approvingly. "And it gets blood all over your armor. Whereas with a club..." He swings it in a little demonstration. "WHACK! And the enemy just falls over! Easy!"
He steps closer to the kitchen table, admiring the boots and cloak, feeling their softness.
"A gift, you say? From your mom too?"
Gertrud rolls her eyes at Tarjun's 'expertise' and overconfidence.
"Yes a gift. But not from my mother, but from an elven acquaintance of her."
"If an elf was to pass through the woods, you probably wouldn't notice them. I guess there are elves all over Golarion. In large cities you always find some."
"But I don't know where their large settlements are. They are reclusive."
"Granma is famous. She has a lot of fans!" Clara boasts.
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Jewel wonders whether or not she had ever seen an elf. She didn't remember.... "Some day I'd like to go to a city, just to see, people and things!"
She grins at Tarjun's comments about weapons, and laughs about the apple pie memories. "We remember that differently! Those apple pies were good. Only.... Well, maybe that was proof that too much of anything isn't good! Even too much pie!"
Turning serious she looks at Mrs. Johnson, "Are we going to be standing guard? Or walking a line? Will we have alarms to sound if we see something? More important though, How will we notice if the drider uses invisibility again? I'd suggest a line of sticks and leaves that it would have to walk through, but it could probably climb through the trees overhead to bypass it...."
"Do you know much about them? We've only seen the one, but maybe there were more, all invisible?"
"I don't want to worry you, but... " Gertrud hesitates.
"Whatever, you're the guardians, you have to deal with it. If there were more, and they had evil intentions towards us, we'd be dead. And there would be nothing you could do about that."
"The only thing to save us in that situation would be packing up now and leave before noon."
She lets that sink in. Then she addresses the plan. "At day, we're living out regular lives. And I can assure you, we can't afford to pour out enough flour to secure the village. I'd rather eat bread and not starve to death. We're going to do some guarding at night to make sure no other creatures like those pale dwarves come for a stealthy visit."
"Which reminds me, I need to feed Paddington, before he eats them."
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Gertrud's somber predictions send a chill down Tarjun's spine, and his typical jocular mood is replaced with a look of determination that would seem almost comically out of place, if the situation wasn't obviously serious.
"So, if we're all in danger during the day, what do we do now?" He hesitates. "I mean, right now, not just in the long run. We're all equipped and everything. Are we going to guard stuff?"
"No. We're going to check on the dwarves, decide what to do with them and then an investigation of last nights events is due."
Gertrud changes the room and gets a bucket full of deer innards and some meat that has seen better days. "Let's go."
She leads the way to the barn and puts the bucket down for Paddington who charges the bucket and spills it all over the floor, and Wookie, who tries to steal some from the bear.
As Jewel shows no interest in the cloak, Clara takes that one too, before she follows.
As Gertrud seems to be leading them to check on the dwarf Jewel tries to "wear" the small mace on her belt. Try as she might it just seems to bounce against her as she walks unless she keeps a hand on it to hold it steady. She wonders how adventurers might walk around carrying three or more weapons....
"There shouldn't really be much danger during the day. With daylight we can see at least as well as the creatures that live all of their lives in the darkness underground. I think even with it's magical powers the drider would probably prefer to stay in the dark." Noticing the cloak on Clara she adds, "That looks good on you Clara. And it matches the boots so they should stay together."
She giggles at Wookie when he tries to steal some of Paddington's food. "You'd almost think that he never gets any food for himself!"
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"With Clara's flames cooking one of them, it's probably going to be the one dwarf," Tarjun says, following along. He chuckles as Wookie and Paddington fight over the bucket. "Those two would eat anything!... Hey, should we have brought something to munch on for the dwarves? I don't think they've eaten all night." Tarjun can think of no worse fate for any living creature to suffer.
"That's what you get if you stay out late and aren't home for dinner. Let that be a lesson to you." Gertrud replies to Tarjun.
She unties the unconscious dwarf first and then the other one. "Hey! Listen up!" she shouts at the one dwarf who is awake. "You take your buddy and disappear back into that hole of yours and never come back. Because if I ever see you here again, I'll teach the kids how to properly gut a dwarf." while nodding at Paddington's food.
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Clara grins, rubs her little hands and bounces in excitement.