Tiny, you seem to be pretty good with direction. I'm guessing you've never been lost in your life.
Danalf admires her skill as they go along in the woods.
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"Well, I told you that gal had resources-" Litsy starts answering, but never finishes her sentence. She abruptly turns her head to her right, stopping her pony to stare at the woods. When she looks back at Danalf, she is frowning. "You heard something?" she asks. "I thought I just heard singing. Not you, Divina.
She waits for a couple seconds more, trying a discern a human voice amidst the sudden silence.
Danalf stops dead in his tracks, focusing on Tiny.
He replies softly.
No, I heard nothing. What is it?
Divina got a confused look on her face, "I'm a terrible singer, that's why I play the violin."
The Bard began looking about.
"Well, that was no terrible singer. I don't know what is was, just... Pretty singing, no drunkard singing. From over there," Litsy points vaguely to her right.
GM:
As the rest of you strain to listen, stopping the horses, and stilling all sound, even your own breathing, you can also hear, just barely over the wisp of wind blowing around you, the faint tinkling sound of music. It does seem to be coming from the direction Litsy suggested.
"There! You hear it? I don't know no human throat that could do it."
Although Litsy is clearly uncomfortable, she's hesitant to dismount:
"Look, guys, I don't know if it (whatever it is) has noticed us yet. So we can go ahead and hope it's nothing, or I can go and take a peek, but if things go pear-shaped, you better back me up."
Dismounting herself Divina whispered, "I'll go with you."
The Bard drew her dagger.
Of course we'll back you up. What... is that? He continues to strain but can't place it immediately.
Daring to investigate, the trio slink as quietly as possible through the heavy growth forest towards the sound of the unusual singing. After several feet of stealthy approach, they reach the edge of a limestone cliff where a nearby stream runs over the edge and down into a small pool at the bottom. Looking below, the group is surprised to see a tiny figure, probably no more than 6 inches high, with translucent dragonfly-like wings, standing in the makeshift waterfall, bathing and singing in this strange tongue. Despite its small size, you can tell the bather is definitely female in form, her hair is a silvery-white and her skin is pale and fine. The scene itself is captivating, a rare sight for any of the big-folk to spy a fey creature, let alone one in this state.
The tranquility of the moment is broken however, as the tiny creature, despite your apparent silence, seems to notice you. The silvery singing ends immediately as she elicits a small scream and hops to the bank, to grab her small garments, covering herself. The young fairy starts bickering at you in her tongue, wagging her tiny finger in the air as she does so.
"Well, that's awkward. Shall we just apologize and back off slowly?"
Danalf whispers back to Tiny.
Wait a moment, maybe she's observed the encampment we're after and has some information about it. Or better yet, perhaps we can direct her proclivity for fey pranks at them.
"You ever intruded on a bathing lady and then asked her for directions? We've got to apologize somehow," Litsy adds, turning to Divina. "You're the most innocent looking, so it's on you. I'll back you up."
Danalf nods.
Yes, fair. No I have no intruded on ladies in this way.
He chuckles at the implication.
So we smooth things over and give her due space, but then the questions. Give it your best shot, Divina.
After bickering at you for the first few moments, while you whisper to yourselves, the sprite-woman then lets out a shrill whistle that likely carries across some distance. She then stands there with her hand holding up her gossamer gown and the other on her hip in a posture of defiance and irritation.
"Oh, shoot. We've got to say something."
Mortified, Litsy stands up and bows reverently, carefully avoiding looking at the lady's half-naked body.
"Milady, we owe you an apology," she speaks up. "We're travellers. We were simply passing through the woods when we heard you singing. We simply investigated the source of the noise, but realized our mistake when we most disgracefully intruded on you. I'm sorry we were such boors. With your permission, we'll let you return to your privacy and be on our way."
She doesn't look up, waiting for the fey's answer.
Check:
Litsy speaks up, trying to apologize to the sprite-lady for intrusion on her bath time, but her already angry attitude combined with the language barrier and the loudness of the big peoples voices cause her to be no less incensed than before. At least she hasn't started to fly away or fight...
Putting a comforting hand on Litsy's shoulder, the stood confidently and spoke as melodically as possible, "Please be not cross with us as we are new to these lands and have little experience beings such as you. Your lovely singing was quite the beacon for the curious, but that is no excuse for our intrusion. Perhaps we can offer some recompense?"
Danalf lets his two companions smooth things over and tries to "fade in the background" a bit, waiting to see the result of their negotiations.
The sprite's natural curiosity is piqued at the idea of receiving something of value from the big ones and a purplish glow starts to be emitted from her tiny form. "Recompense?" she says, forgetting to be cross for the moment. She flutters her gossamer wings, trying to dry them so she can fly again. "What kind of recompense?" Her Common speech is slightly accented, but sounds exotic.
Danalf whispers to his companions.
I hope you had something specific in mind. I don't think I have anything very interesting.
Putting a hand on Danalf's arm, Divina thought for a moment.
Maintaining her friendly tone she replied, "As we are new to these lands and know not was sort of needs you might have a suggestion of what we can get or do for you?" Years of watching her parents haggle over the price of had trained her well.
Given her unsuccessful attempt at calming the fey down, Litsy keeps her mouth shut while Divina tries to reason with her.
The little fey creatures brows knit together in concentration as she thinks of what kind of boon she should ask from these big interlopers. Finally, she snaps her fingers and says, "I have it! My people, the little fairies of the wood, are troubled by the goblins, who tear up our homes for sport. Perhaps you could stop the goblins from attacking us and drive them away. If you could do that, I would forgive your spying. What do you say?"
As the lady speaks, another pair of sprites, these are clearly both males, fly into the scene, landing on either side and helping the female with her raiment.
This time the lady smiles a great smile, and seems very pleased to be in a position to ask this of you.
With a graceful bow Divina replied, "Thank you for the gracious offer. Let me confer with my companions for a moment."
Turning to Tiny and Danalf she whispered, "Well, it seems we're presented with quite an opportunity. I know that the scouting mission is a priority, but perhaps a slight detour will both help them and alleviate the potential Goblin problem. I say we accept this task."
"Do you think we might drive the goblins towards their camp?" Litsy whispers back. Though a detour doesn't thrill her, she's starting to think of ways to turn the situation to their advantage. "We might kill two birds with one stone."
Danalf's eyes light up as he nods at Tiny's idea. Continuing to whisper...
That's a decent idea. Though, goblins can be rather chaotic and we may not be able to easily direct them toward that end. In that case we need to be able to cut our losses with them in a way that they don't persist and keep us from our main task. We'll need a good plan here, but I suppose we can check them out.
Turning back to the tiny woman and her entourage, "We accept. What more can you tell us about these goblins?"
The sprite, flanked by her two guards, relates what she knows about the goblins. "Basically they are big bullies and vandals. Tearing up and rooting through our woods. We can trick or daze them, but there are so many we cannot stop them fully. They seem to be searching for something, but we cannot determine what it is. They are not magical, but brutish and cruel. Only yesterday one of my sisters had her wings torn off by one before it devoured her whole."
Clearly the sprite woods is in some jeopardy.
Danalf, looking sad and sympathetic speaks up this time.
Thats... horrible. Do you remember which specific goblin do that? We'll definitely find out what they're after and try our best to get rid of them for you!
After hearing some of the tales of what a small portion of the Sea Wolves have done to captured ships, Divina wasn't entirely phased by such cruelty. With a steely resolve, she answered, "Please point us in the direction of these little monsters."
Litsy pays special attention when the sprite mentions the goblins being after something.
"The little rascals aren't typically that organized. Do you know if they have a leader?"
The fairy shrugs at Litsy's question. "We know not about their leadership or what it is they seek, but assume someone or something is behind these incursions, as they are new. Always before, the goblins respected our magic,and left us alone. But now they seem more driven than we have seen."
To Danalf she answers: "All those green-skinned terrorists look the same to me. It doesn't matter which one tore up my friends, any of them would do it. They must all die or stop their depredations."
The sprite nods at Divina's question. "The goblins come from the west. Just on the other side of the Golden Clearing, our woods come to an end, and a bog starts. I expect to find the goblins in that morass. Could be other blackhearted things in there as well."
Feeling that the sprites aren't going to give them much more detail, Danalf presses the conversation forward.
Would you like to show us the last place you saw them? Or should we just head West?
"My guards will lead you there," says the female, who then turns and speaks the male sprites that flank her. They bow and nod in agreement, and motion for you to follow.
Provided you go along, the sprites lead you deep into the forest, and following them becomes difficult with the thick undergrowth. Impatiently, the flying fairies wait as you untangle and follow along. Ahead, you see a number of tall, thick trees with golden leaves, but the sprite-guides steer you around that place. From time to time, you catch a glimpse of more tiny fey-like faces peering out at you from the woods but none makes an appearance or speaks.
Soon enough, you are at place where the woods are trampled, hewn and burned. The trail leads back to a cliff face dropping down about 50' to a boggy swamp beyond. Without speaking (you assume they don't speak the common tongue), the guards point down to the marsh below, indicating that is where the goblins come, as if the violent desecration of the forest itself wasn't a clear sign.
Divina placed an open hand over her left shoulder and gave the two fey a polite bow. She hoped they'd understand the gesture of thanks.
Danalf nods along curtly with Divina's gesture, not sure what to add there. He swiftly turns his attention to the edge of the cliff.
Now for a way down...
He steps over to the edge and looks down, scanning the face for narrow ledges, handholds, and the like.
The face is steep and while there are handholds, it does look like a climb might be treacherous. Peering down, Danalf sees a rickety-looking ladder lying on its side at the bottom of the escarpment, not that it does him much good from up here.
Danalf extracts a coil of rope from his pack and drapes it over the edge, letting it unwind down the face of the cliff as he holds one end.
Let's see how far fifty feet gets us. Hopefully all the way...
"I've got some extra rope if needed."
Litsy looks down at the swamp. Even with the rope, it still seems awfully far away.
"Alright," she says in a forced cheerful tone. "Who wants to go first?"
Putting down her bag and pulling her own rope out, "I've got some as well. There might even be enough to knot it make our climb down easier. I've got some experience with knots if you'll permit me."