Orri can't help but start laughing when Chief, already oddly colored and sparkling shrinks in size. It is only made better when his tail is turned yellow and he starts huffing about complaining with his minuscule voice. However, he looks at the fey and the dragon careful, while he doesn't know anything about the fey he recognizes the small dragon. He is a bit concerned when the fey eludes to having previously eaten other people that have come through here.
As the dragon asks about what we are doing here Orri notes "I'm not sure which of you were in my head, but as I noted, we are searching for a lost temple of Erastil, currently. However, overall we are trying to rid these lands of the... mean bigginsies, as you would say. The ones wearing amulets similar to this..." He fishes around in his bag until he finds one of the stag lord necklaces they had retrieved and holds it out to show the fey. "They are bad people and we want to stop them."
"What? You ate the bigginsies you didn't like?" says the tiny, multicolored Chief in surprise. "How that possible?"
Sophie nods at the grig, ”well, I wanted to keep you on your toes, right?” and she winks at Tyg.
When she hears all the people laughing at Chief’s expense, she interjects, ”aye, it was a fear spell that made him run. It could’ve happened to the best of us,” and she smiles at Sootscale. When he turns himself into increasingly ridiculous things, she sidles up to him and puts a hand on his shoulder (if he lets her), and whispers [smaller]”you don’t have to subject yourself to this anymore, I think,” but if he continues, she will join in, hopping off the horse and holding up a finger, to draw attention from Chief.
She uses her sleeves of many garments to show her dressed like a fool, including cap.
She retrieves a pastry from her bag, and tries to bite it in an exaggerated way but it splatters all over her face! She starts shrieking, ”ahhhhhh, this is one of the spicy ones! I have been hoisted on my own petard!!” She then flails around trying to get the spicy pastry filling off of herseemingly ineffectively, before running into a puddle of mud, tripping, and mixing everything into a big mess.
She then gets up, and bows, sheepishly. ”Not my best work, I know.”
She’ll clean herself up a bit and sigh, nodding as the others ask about the Stag Lord’s minions.
Chrysa slides down from her mule, waits on the performance and then claps politely. Truly she hates these creatures, wanting nothing more than to throw a bag over them, tie it up and toss in to a fast moving creek. But... instead she smiles and says "If we can clear these men out, we can make this land safer, to allow a few people in that would greatly appreciate your pranks. Is there anything you can do to help?"
When a few of the group think Tyg meant the other "bigginsies," she recoils in disgust and says "EWWW! NO! The pastries you knuckleheads!"
Tyg and Perlivash giggle at Sophiel's mock performance, but Perlivash eventually speaks up in regards to the Stag Lord's men. "Yeah, the bad bigginsies live down south somewhere. Between them and the trolls, this place is gettin' downright un-fun to live!"
__________
The next day, the group has their first day in over a week free of pranks. Perlivash and Tyg Titter Tut guide them to the very edge of a particularly thick and overgrown section of the forest. Perlivash, having rested atop someone's head for most all the of the trek, says "In there. The old temple is in there, with a big mean bear. We hope you bigginsies don't die. You bigginsies are funny."
Eventually, the thick tangle of brambles gives way into a large clearing in the woods, its border partially defined by ruined stone pillars. The western face of the clearing is dominated by a looming, upthrust ridge of rock, nearly 300 feet across and rising to a moss-topped height of 100 feet at the center. The side of this towering boulder facing the clearing has been carved in the likeness of an immense elk, its antlers drooping drooping down to frame a 50 foot wide cave entrance barely visible in the setting sunlight.
A flight of stone steps leads up to this cave entrance from the forest clearing--both the steps and elk face feel quite old and are thickly encrusted with layers of moss. A 50-foot-long oval pool sits in the middle of the clearing, its waters thick with algae.
On the way there "So we now have... LOTS of bear traps. Wouldn't the safest approach be to set them up and lure the animal into them?"
"Ooh, the pastries . . ." the Chief had definitely misinterpreted that conversation. Blame it on the language barrier.
His mood brightens as he has an entire day, prank free! When Chrysa suggests setting down a lot of bear traps, the kobold nods vigorously. "Traps best way to fight. No risk for you, big risk for them."
He stops momentarily, as if deep in thought. "How about we set traps, and cricket lady and mini-dragon trick bear into walking into them!"
Sophie keeps an eye out for tracks of nearby creatures, such as bears, and other things, focusing on the natural environment. She nods, and adds, "traps might help - but i doubt it would permanently incapacitate a legendary beast like this. Can anyone move ahead stealthily and put them out? preferrably with invisibility? though - bears have an excellent sence of smell, so that wouldn't do much..."
Isabella looks at Sophiel and shrugs. "I can try."
Isabella takes five steps and trips on a branch, falling loudly to the ground. Embarrassed, she retakes her feet and suggests "Maybe Chrysa should do it?"
"Kobolds very sneaky and set traps good," he volunteers. "Can mark traps so you can see, but stupid bear no see. Want me try?"
Chief Sootscale seems happy to place traps across the battlefield if given the opportunity.
Isabella nods, "Sure. I sure as day won't be doing it apparently."
Chrysa knew nothing about setting traps, but could move with the chief and keep an eye out for danger while he did the work. So quick as a shadow, and just a shy more noticable than her partner she went to work with him.
Orri waits with Bella. When she fails miserably at her attempt to sneak he half expects the fey to pop out of no where like its a big joke, but when it doesn't happen he goes over and gives her a brotherly squeeze on her arm to say 'It's alright' as they watch Chief and Chrysa go to work.
Once the traps are laid he suggests "Well, Chief since you appear to be such a master at sneak, maybe you can scout ahead and figure out the best approach to luring the bear into the traps so that we at least have that to our advantage? If there is any trouble get back here to use as quickly as you can!"
"Where are faeries when you need. . . " says the disappointed kobold. "Okay, I go, but Chrysa come too!" insists the Chief.
The kobold goes in search of bears.
Beyond the light of the setting sun, you all can hear the sound of something big moving within the cave, before a deep, rumbling growl emanates that almost seems to come from the cave itself, moments before a harrowing roar echoes from within the cavern...
__________
"That sounds... big" Chyrsa says though no one needed that pointed out. Thinking, the horned woman decides to move up behind a column. "When it comes by to attack, I can attack it from behind." she suggests.
Chief Sootscale drinks the strange concoction that he's drunk before, which makes him look more like a dragon, or so it seems. He then is seen hiding behind Chrysa.
Isabella steps forward tenatively at first, but with more confidence with each step. "I'll get it's attention."
Heavy footfalls and the scuffing of claws on stone can be heard approaching through the darkness of dusk. Some annoyed grunts join the commotion as what must be the bear continues closing in on your positions.
Sophie quickly conjures a ball of fire in her hand, which glows merrily, and she moves up behind Isabella.
Move - move 30’
Standard - cast produce flame, use menhir savant to boost caster level (to CL 4)
Isabella swallows hard when she catches sight of the bear. She doesn't turn to rune like the yellow-tailed kobold, but she doesn't charge into it either. Holding both her blade and shield up, she cautiously advances. "Behind me." she states firmly, trying not to think about the stupidity of what she was about to do.
"Too fast, too fast!" cries the Chief. Abandoning stealth, he tries to catch up as fast as his short legs can manage.
Isabella is startled by the sudden realization that her brother has managed to advance just behind her, and now steps up to her side with eyes wide with concern as he looks at this massive bear advancing purposely and menacingly towards them. When it is but a few terrifying feet away it raises up on its hind legs, now towering far above them and lets out an ear ringing roar sending saliva spraying out over the pair.
As it crashes down onto all fours, it slashes at Isabella with one of its claws, the force of the swing pushing enough wind at her to cause her hair to flutter backwards, but misses her narrowly!
"Wait what about the plan?!?" she says as the chief breaks cover. Going around the corner she sees the siblings are WAYYYY in front of them and swiftly starts running that way.
Sophie scurries up next to the pool and tosses one of her puffs of flame at the bear.
"Yaaaaa!" Chief Sootscale lets out a high pitch war call as he continues to charge into battle.
When the massive bear approaches Orri takes a step back, a little shocked at how large the creature is. He starts waving his hands about calling out to the bear trying to distract it from his sister.
Isabella bangs the pommel of her blade on her shield loudly, attracting the attention of the large beast. "Hey! Look at me! Over here!"
The bear takes a couple swipes with its claws as well as bites at Isabella, very nearly slicing her open with one huge claw, but still the group remains unscathed.
Chrysa's heart stops for a moment, when the bear tears into Isabella. Figures, just when you start to like someone, a bear eats them. But then SOMEHOW the beasts fangs and claws miss her completely.
In response, Chrysa redoubles her efforts to get around the bear as quick as can be.
"...aaaaaaaaaaaaooof!"As he arrives within a comfortable range, the Chief ends his yell by throwing a vial throws it toward the bear!
;
It explodes on impact, creating a sticky resin that covers the bear!
Isabella tries to position herself as defensively as possible, hiding behind her shield. She lashes out at the bear again more in an attempt to keep its attention focused on her than to actually trying to hit it. In execution it looks like her blade waves and dances in front of the large creature's face.
Sophie mutters something under her breath and moves as quickly as she can to get to Isabella. She tosses some grease under the bear, hoping to trip it.
Chief Sootscale’s bomb hits the bear right in the knees, gumming them up and burning the hide, causing the bear to be unable to avoid Sophiel’s spell, which results in the bear slipping and falling to the ground! Orri opens his mouth as if screaming, but there isn’t very much visible effect to the bear.
The bear stands and steps back from the greasy ground. The bear’s intelligent eyes definitely betray something uniquely different about this beast. It looks away from the nimble woman avoiding his blows and towards the one who slipped behind him. His claw hooks into her torso, a claw slipping between each of her ribs, and pulls her close!
Chrysa stabs at the big bear while it tries to get up.
When the bear starts to ignore her and turns, she starts shaking her and saying "Nonono! Chrysa!" and tries to thrust her blade into its rear end to get it's attention again. When it swipes her and then grabs her up, everything flashes white as a memory of Dunstan going down floods her memory. She's about to fail another one of her companions! Her plan isn't working and she is going to be responsible for another death.
she screams and throws caution to the wind, standing up and abandoning defense. She pulls her arm back and aims for where she thinks the heart on the big beast is. With everything she has, Isabella lunges forward into the large creature and throws her blade into the chest of the large beast.
There is pain, a tearing screaming pain from everywhere, all at once. Her feet off the ground, her face at the beasts. She dimly hears her friend scream and worries the bear somehow killed Bella first, the pain it making her not think clearly.
Weakly she swings at the beasts face, both with sword and a swirl of sharp hair.
Isabella’s blade thrusts deep into the bears flank, causing it to stand and roar an ear ringing roar of pain, especially Chrysa, who was lifted off the ground and was at ground zero beside its massive mouth!
Chrysa can see, though, the bears face contort from one of pain and rage, to a look of peace and relief. It looks at her with sad eyes as she slowly lowers to the ground. Everyone can see the bear visibly begin shrinking as parts of it begin to flake off in what looks like flakes of green, glowing leaves! Over the next few seconds, the bear shrinks and turns into a man, and Chrysa’s feet gently touch ground as the bears claws slip out of her body and the paw is replaced with this man’s hand.
He appears to be a young and handsome man, dressed in bloodstained robes of a priest of Erastil. He turns to look at everyone with an expression of thanks, as his body suddenly begins to age very rapidly. His flesh turns from smooth to wrinkled, his hair grows out long and grey, and his smooth cheeks and chin grow a long white beard in a matter of moments!
Then, his body begins to decay at an impossible rate, all the while the man still stands. His flesh peels back and his clothes dry rot, and every piece that falls away immediately turns into a glowing green leaf that joins the others in the air swirling above him. By the time the decay is done, there is naught but a pile of ash at Chrysa’s feet.
Then the vortex of glowing leaves explode outward as if they were all blown by a massive gust of wind from their center. They flit here and there on the wind, and everywhere they make contact with the temple, the dull and faded colors flare to life and become more vibrant! Brambles disintegrate and fade away, leaving only beautiful stonework covered in lovely moss. The stones of the broken pillars lose their claw marks and return to smooth surfaces with engraved ivy etchings.
The final lead flits through the group briefly, catching everyone’s attention, before floating over to the grime covered pool. It lands in the perfect center of the water, and the beautiful green energy radiates out from the leaf, and in its wake the filth filled water is now crystal clear and welcoming, and soon enough the entire pool is beautifully clean, almost impossibly clear, and seems to almost low with an inner radiance.
Isabella staggers backward during the transformation, unsure what to make of this magical surprise. When the bear shrinks to a man and appears to be at peace with what's happening, she's even more confused.
Is he thankful?
The leave explosion knocks Isabella from her feet, flying backwards and landing on her bum with a thud. She scrambles back to her feet and rushes over to Chrysa, sliding onto the ground next to her. As she moves towards the the rogue, all she can see is blood-stained garments and slashes wear the bear ripped her to shreds.
Kneeling next to her she picks her head up in her hand, cradling it and whimpers "Please don't die, please don't be dead. I'm sorry my plan failed. Please don't die."
Chrysa might have passed at for a moment or two, which might explain the strange hallucination of an old man decaying before her eyes. Still it was a good dream. The old man seemed content.
Waking to see the amber eyes of Isabella, so full of desperate worry, staring down at her. "Alive... I think. Unless we're both dead." the last part more of a mutter than a whisper. She tries to rise, which reawakens the agony in her gut, "Nope. Staying here for a moment." then after piecing together all of Bella's words, the copper haired blood-fest adds quickly, too quickly. "No! Your plan didn't fail! I saw it attacking you and..." stopping, and deciding to use her words more carefully than she did her sword. "I mean I was dumb, not you. I went to attack it from behind and it was just quicker. I'm supposed to do things like that when the enormous beast doesn't notice me. That's what former bandits are supposed to do, attack with surprise, not head on like you and the others."
Isabella breathes a sight of relief, her shoulders slumping forward as she as lets go of the tension that had built up in her chest. "Oh thank the Gods! Don't scare me like that!" She moves to put pressure on her wounds to stem the loss of blood until healing help can arrive.
She turns to Orri and shouts
Turning back to Chrysa she mutters "Just be quieter next time or something? That thing was about to rip your head off."
"Yes, boss" she answers, and tries a weak smile, but ends up coughing up something red and gross. The whole affair is loud and ugly "Quieter... already failed... crap thief I am." she joked.
As the bear does its strange transformation. Chief Sootscale hurries over to Chrysa's side. As he did with Dunstan, he takes out a vial and pours it down her throat. Only this time, perhaps it was not too late.
A tug, small but warm, pulls her eyes open (she's not sure when they closed really, but a nap had been creeping in with every word she spoke to Bella). Turning her head, she sees the pool, clear, radiant, and... compelling. The chief is suddenly there, pouring a drink down her throat, making it not so bad.
"I... I think... I don't know..." she shakes her muddled head, but pulls herself up to sitting. Another coughing fit wracks her, but she ignores it and pushes a word through "Pool"
Bella looks at the kobold and nods "Thank you, Chief."
The failure comment reminds Isabella of a comment her Swordlord instructor had taught her. She says softly "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."
"Pull?" she asks curiously, holding the fallen woman's hand. She's tougher than I thought! Wants to be back on her feet right away.
Rising to he feet, she yanks Chrysa up by pulling her hands. "Better?" she asks, holding her steady to make sure she didn't fall.
Sophie watches as the bear is dispatched, and then returns to his human form, extending her fingers to touch the swirling leaves as they pass. She notices, almost too late, that Chrysa was badly hurt by the bear, and hurries over. Sophie helps Chrysa up, as best she can, and says, ”you don’t look very well, but the bleeding has stopped. Maybe a drink from that new, consecrated pool will refresh you? At least we can wash off the blood.” She smiles weakly.
Seeing Chrysa start to revive seems to lift the Chief's spirits. And at that moment, the Chief realizes something. He didn't care much at all when Dunstan died. But Chrysa, who could speak with him, and who had defended his honor, she was something else.
"Healing potion strong," insists the Chief. "I not let first warmblood friend die."
He offers whatever strength his little body can muster to help Chrysa up as well.
"Better... ish" she manages, her stomach and chest are still screaming, and blood feels like it is still seeping out from somewhere. A dizzying weariness is dragging her down, like the ground under her will swallow her whole.
"The pool" she's staring at it. "It's calling to me... like before when she... " that part is nonsense "I think I need to go... in the pool."