Chrysa leans down to the broken beast, her blade sliding with a rustle up his neck to his chin "What deal?" interest is in her voice.
It raises a paw and pushes your arm and the blade away. It is wounded but still proud and defiant. ”Law of the Wild. Live and let live. You leave my pack and I be, and we will not harm you or your pack.”
"But that would be a deal for equals, and you have lost." Chrysa points out simply, blade still at his throat but the black pools of her eyes on his. "We need to find and kill the trolls in this land. Serve us in this, and promise to leave the two-legged creatures of this land alone unless provoked..." she'll look up to her friends to see if anyone disagrees, blade not wavering "Do this and then you would have proven we are equals. Don't and you die."
With concerted effort, Bella pushes herself back to her feet. Walking towards the wolf with her flaming sword, she says "Wait. If we let you leave, what of the innocents you have slaughtered? Their lives will mean nothing if we do not have some form of justice here."
Chrysa looks up at Bella, oddly surprised "He is a creature of nature. Not a murderer just a hunter. We are not murderers when we eat bunnies, are we?"
Isabella frowns "If a wolf were enter a village and murder three children, you would let it leave because it was a creature of nature?"
She shakes her head "No. It would be put down and stopped before it returned tomorrow to murder more children."
Turning to face Chrysa, she asks "Do you want to let it go eat more children, Chrysa?"
The winter wolf looks at Isabella with disgust and replies ”There is no ‘justice’ in nature! The strong survive. The weak are eaten. They were clearly the weak. But,” the Howl of the North Wind pauses, turning back to Chrysa with an appraising eye, ”you have earned your victory. I agree to your terms. Leave us be, and we will do the same. And in turn I shall hunt these trolls with you.”
Chrysa shakes her head "No Bella, I would not.. And that is... why would you suggest that I would!" she snaps in irritation and disgust.
Isabella moves a step closer to the wolf "Would my strength have not left me, this blade would have separated your head from your body already."
She takes a breath and with obvious effort, raises her blade and points it at the throat of the wolf "Your strong survive speech means that since you have lost, I should be ending you and eat you for my supper. I do not find solace in your words, so please offer no more of them to me or they will be your last."
Turning back to Chrysa she sighs "I meant no offense, I am simply trying to make a point. Let this one live, he will kill more innocent. How can I live with that on my conscious?
Her gaze returns to the wolf "We are a pack different than yours. No alpha, so we decide this together. You will wait on your fate." she says firmly, looking back to Bella, she'll add "We don't know... anyone could... I did, before... before I changed." she shakes her head, clearing it from the past, from her feelings "I understand though... like at the trading post, a vote?"
Isabella nods "That is a sound decision Chrysa. I will respect the outcome of the voice of us all. Let us be heard. I think my choice is well know, so what say you all?"
Chrysa smiles at the other woman "And I as well, of course."
Sophie helps Bjorn up with her free hand and heals him, ensuring he is safe from another breath attack, but keeps her fire burning, while the others discuss his fate.
She appraises the winter wolf critically. ”Let me talk through this with you both. Chrysa, wolves such as these go beyond what is necessary to survive. They are cruel.” She turns to the wolf, ”tell us we are wrong - if you can stomach the lie. And don’t dare presume to lecture me about ‘nature being cruel,’ puppy, the spirits of the world itself flow through my fingers and into the palm of my f%!@ing hand right now, savvy?” Sophie somehow has a commanding presence, her demeanor imperious and dominating.
She waves the flame in his face, ”but, you seem to have a valid point about losing your home. That said, many of us have lost things - but we don’t murder people, sapient creatures, to fill our bellies. There’s plenty of game to hunt here, so as Chrysa said, if we were to free you, hunting sapient creatures, humanoid or otherwise ends. Got it?” She gives him a piercing glare, ”one slip up and I will hunt you to the ends of Golarion.” She watches to ensure the wolf understands. ”More to the point, fool, you will find a way to make amends to the family of the people you’ve killed. If you swear by your ancestors to both things ... I will vote for your mercy. If not, I will burn you to ash.”
She adds for Bella, sighing, ”if we are to rule effectively, we must fill our hearts with mercy. So long as the wolf follows the laws we set out, and pays for his crime somehow, we have to make our space safe for any who wish to be here. That is what I want - a place free of prejudice, if I can build it at least. I empathize with this idiot - the fact that he surrendered shows he has more sense than most worgs.” She seems apologetic, somehow.
She turns back to the wolf, ”Do you understand, whelp?”
The winter wolf grows more and more perturbed as it is repeatedly talked down to. Sophiel’s words seem to push it beyond the breaking point. ”Whelp? I’ll show you a whelp!” it rises before unleashing another icy breath!
A moment later several of your blades drive into it and end its life! The remaining wolves all run off in a hurry with the loss of their Alpha. A search of the rest of the complex reveals it to be empty, save for what seems to have been a fallen warrior’s body, centuries old. In its hand is a grime covered sword. Through the grime you can see its blade gives off a faint green glow.
Oddly bothered by the great wolf's death, Chrysa looks about, making sure there are no traps, then heads outside for some air.
Isabella wipes the blood from her flaming blade "You can't always use logic Sophie, sometimes you need to follow your heart. Some are evil and must die."
After it is done, Sophie turns to Bella, cocking her head, ”wasn’t using logic - was trying to see if it could be controlled - to act like a beta. Wasn’t in the poor thing’s nature. So it dies as it lived - red of tooth and claw.” She sighs, ”it was a test.” She watches Chrysa go, and adds ”no, Bella. The most important bulwark we have in the world against evil is mercy. If we lose that, we become the monsters ourselves. C’mon, let’s see if we can help Orri’s paramour.” She pats Bella on the shoulder and heads out with Bjorn, hoping for a heal from her friend.
Once the fight stopped Orri kept up his performance to the two remaining wolves and let the others talk, he was glad when the large wolf wouldn’t bow down and instead was dealt with, but just after he let his performance end so the normal wolves could run off.
He gathered everyone around to give them a small bit of healing.
He then touches himself and then Bella to heal each of their wounds.
Spent and still sapped from the trap Orri recommends ”We should just camp here tonight before continuing on. Sorry I couldn’t help much more than keep the other two wolves at bay.”
"Defaulting to the laws of nature would be misleading anyway," Annalla says, approaching Isabella to offer healing if she needs it. "That would imply that this ... creature ... was a creature of nature. It was not. I know the forms of nature and while those other wolves have their place, this thing was not a part of that pattern."
It is dusk on the second day of expedient travel (thanks to Sophiel’s magic) when the group arrives at a picturesque clearing in the woods. The trees part to reveal a peaceful forest glade dappled with sunlight. A small pond lies placidly at the roots of an enormous oak tree with a scattering of leaves floating upon its surface. Birdsong twitters from the branches high above.
The sound of a woman crying is the only break of this serene scenario. Beneath the oak tree, a beautiful woman clad in clothing that is almost at one with nature kneels by the water’s edge, weeping softly, her tears falling into the pool to create tiny ripples in the still water.
Seeing the woman crying Orri approaches slowly but calls out to make his presence known "Excuse me Miss, is something the matter? Perhaps we can help to ease your sorrows?"
Raising her head up to study the group, she slides away slowly towards the tree, her tear stained eyes wide with concern. ”Wh-who are you? What do y-you want?”
After their encounter with the wolf, they rest in the woods, the new day bringing new things for everyone. Their experiences having strengthens their abilities, Sophie’s bond with the Stolen Lands has seemingly grown as well. When she performs her morning supplication to the spirits of nature, a tiny winged lizard with colorful, iridescent scales and needle-like teeth approaches her. The creature has three differently-colored scales on its forehead, above its eyes.
She feeds the creature a bit of her rations, and its curious and clever eyes gobble up the treat with aplomb. The little creature quarks at her quietly, and watches as she puts away her crafting supplies, but interrupts to inspect them, seemingly moving them with its own mind! Sophie is befuddled, and pets the creature for a moment, which it readily accepts, before hopping onto her arm and gripping her clothes with tight claws.
After a moment, she announces, ”it appears this little reptile has come to aid us in my crafting.”
”I am at a loss - does anyone know what it could be?” Sophie looks confused, which is rare for her.
————————————————————-
Sophie watches the crying woman, for a short moment.
She adds, ”hey, we’re not going to hurt you.”
The woman slinks behind the tree, only her face and some of her arm visible as she studies you. ”Who are you? Why are you here?” she asks.
”My name is Sophiel, I am a druid. We were traveling through these parts when we heard you crying, and thought we could help, maybe. We’ve been trying to help people in this area for a few weeks. What’s your name?” She smiles and sits down, still far from the woman, cross-legged, while Bjorn waits placidly, some distance away.
Sophie smiles, her hands held out calmly, palms up on her knees as she watches the woman.
At the cave, a small plump little bird lands on Chrysa's horn. Annoying the fey cursed human to no end, because every time she tries to swat it, she misses and then it lands again.
Calming breaths, HARD SEETHING... no calming CALMING... finally she reaches her hand to the bird slowly and it hops on to her finger. Bring it to her face, she takes a quick breath of surprise to see a whippoorwill... could it be?
"Are you... hers?" she asks, surprised that her voice is coming out as whistles and clicks.
A smug little sense of smiling comes from the plump feathered one. Then it hops back up on her horn, ready to be carried about.
-------------
Chrysa sees this as beyond weird and stands back ready for trouble.
Annalla tips her head slightly as she looks over Sophiel's new companion. "It looks like a rhamphorhynchus," she offers. "See the end of the tail? I hear they're quite clever."
"You're upset," Annalla says to the crying woman, inwardly proud that she's successfully deduced that. "Is there something we can do to help?"
Orri tries to figure out if this is some type of fey or what, but as she slinks away he raises his hands and nods to what the others have said "My name is Orri. My friends and I are explroing the region, helping where we can. We've come this way as we heard there was an elven castle. We wanted to make sure it posed no threats to the region and see if there may be anything we can learn about the place. As my friend said we heard you crying and so we approached to see if we could help. As long as you have no ill intent we would be happy to see if we can assist you in whatever has made you so upset."
As the group comforts her, the woman visibly begins to relax. A look of relief and hope washes over her face as she rushes out from behind the tree and wraps Orri up in an embrace as if they had been lifelong friends!
”Oh! I had almost given up hope! Especially when Falchos was so badly wounded!” she says into the nook of Orri’s neck before she leans back and adds ”I’m sorry, where are my manners? My name is Tiressia, and this is my glade! Please...come...make yourself comfortable!” as she gestures towards the edge of the pond at the base of the tree.
Once you are all as comfortable as you feel you can be, she goes on to say ”The forest has fallen prey to the depredations of a scythe tree, an evil, intelligent, carnivorous plant that particularly relishes the taste of dryad flesh. We have tried to drive away the malevolent plant numerous times by ourselves, but the monstrous tree has repulsed our attempts to destroy it or drive it out every time. During our last attempt, Falchos suffered grievous injuries before we could flee back to the grove. I tried rallying the other fey creatures of the area to assist me, but after seeing what happened to us, none of them would agree to risk their own lives. Now...now it’s only a matter of time...”
”Certainly - if everyone else here agrees I am happy try to dispatch it. Such things are malicious deviations from the natural order, Tiressia. Who is Falchos? Could we heal him for you?” As the fey creature embraces Orri like an old friend, she gives the pair an odd look before brushing herself off and standing up.
Sophie is surprised that yet another comely lass is throwing herself at the feet of Orri.
”If I’m being honest here, this tree would probably try to eat me too, ladies and gents, if we don’t dispatch it post-haste. Maybe some of the others here. We probably should detour and deal with this as soon as we can.”
Annalla looks thoughtful for a moment. "Ah, yes. A scythe tree. A carnivorous plant that prefers the flesh of dryads and elves. Clever and evil. Yes, we should deal with this threat."
She nods and looks around at the others.
Orri is a little surprised when the dryad runs over to give him a big hug but doesn't resist it. As the fey steps back and the others chime in he nods "Indeed, it seems we are in agreement this threat should be dealt with. Can you tell us more about this tree, so we can prepare ourselves to face it? Maybe if you gathered the other fey and told them we were here to help they would join in to help bring this tree down?"
At Sophiel’s offer to heal Falchos, Tiressia shakes her head. ”He...isn’t very trusting of outsiders.”
When Orri mentions gathering the fey to help she pleads ”There isn’t time! It has moved too close to my grove...they wouldn’t be here in time! Please...it was last known to be to the south east, killing and consuming anything it can!”
As always Chrysa is suspicious, deeply and completely... but she also knows her friends and sighs "How long until it is here?" she speaks to the fey for the first time.
She shakes her head uncertainly. ”I don’t know. Depends on how much food it catches on the way...a day? Maybe less?”
Looking at her friends, the copper haired woman firms her mouth "I know nothing about killing evil trees, other than fire is probably a good weapon. If we can control the blaze." the latter said to make the dryad and their druid less worried because personally she'd torch an entire glade if it kept anyone here from a scratch or two. "So does anyone have any great plans other than 'go south and kill it'?"
Orri shrugs to Chrysa's question "I mean, at least we know the threat ahead of time so we can plan accordingly. I would imagine we can have some time to prepare ahead of time once we get close." He turns back to the dryad as he asks "Is there anything you can do to help in this endeavor before we depart?"
Sophie nods, ”a scythe tree is like a malevolent treant, and has similar vulnerabilities. It has all the typical plant traits, and is vulnerable to fire. Only an axe or sword or the like can damage it. Fortunately, have fire and swords. My only recommendation is to kill it fast. Nothing called a scythe tree won’t hit hard.” She nods at Tiressia, ”we should hunt it down before it eats all the good fey of the forest - no reason to wait for it to get here.”
"That is about what I was thinking, burning and hacking the thing about." she reaches up and gives a series of whistles and clicks. The bird that has taken up residence on her horn jumps on her finger and is lowered to the small woman's face so they can have a conversation.
Back and forth whistles and clicks, Chrysa's tone laced with annoyance until it flies away. "Little bit there will fly ahead and high. To see if he can see a disturbance. Hopefully, something killing everything in its path will be easy to spot and we'll get an early warning."
She'll then turn to wait on the answer to Orri's question. Will the dryad help?
Evil trees? Really? What won't they think of next?
Isabella puts her right hand around the hilt of her blade squeezing it hard when Sophie mentions they have fire swords.
"It would be our honor to kill these evil trees." she says proudly.
"Tree... there's only one of them... I hope" Chrysa whispers to the warrior woman.
"I'm not sure how I feel about killing a tree, but in the case of something evil like this, I guess an exception could be made," Annalla says with a frown. "Unfortunately, I have no spells of flame. I wonder if trees have a sense of humor?"
”If it affects the mind, I doubt it’ll help against the thing. And this is a vile perversion of nature Annalla, don’t feel bad about making it kindling. It isn’t a proper tree.”
She waggles her fingers, ”but magic missiles hurt almost everyone. You can use those, if need be. Pshoow!”
"Pshoow?" Isabella asks. "Do you really say "Pshoow" when you shoot missiles at things, Annalla? If not, I want you to start doing that."
She mimics Sophie and says "Pshoow!", trying her best not to laugh.
"That's not even close to the correct verbal component for a spell to summon magical darts," Annalla says with a tip of her head. "It should be something like ..." she continues and rattles off some mystical words that fade from the memory once heard.
She gives Isabella a slight smile. "Or I could just say, 'Pew, Pew'," she says.
Nodding, Bella smiles too. "Please do. I want to hear Pew Pew next time you shoot missiles."
"Alright," she announces, turning back to her team. "Let's go burn down a tree."
The dryad steps over to the oak and, from a nook in the tree, retrieves a large leaf. On it’s surface are words of magic. She hands it to Orri gingerly and says ”Here. This might help. It is magic, and can summon a creature of nature to help you. Please, be careful. You are my only hope...”
A few hours travel, and the forest has grown thoroughly dark. The woods suddenly feel far more ominous knowing that you are headed to deal with a threat that looks exactly like every other tree you pass...
A blur of motion and Chrysa crying out in pain is all the alert you guys get as a limb slashes through the darkness and strikes Chrysa across the chest! Her armor is ripped open and a deep laceration is evident across her back! Nearby all the trees seem to rustle and move from the commotion!
Before they leave the dryad's tree, Annalla stops to look at her curiously. "Have we met?" she asks with a tipped head.
~~~~~
When the limbs slashes at Chrysa, the sorceress's eyes widen in surprise as she tries to calculate odds and options.