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Lux moves up next to Fester, with Ozul closely behind her. She opens her mouth to support Fester in any way, but his speech just has her moving her mouth like a fish on dry land. Where did he come up with a story like that. Why didn't he say before that his name was Soumral. Oh wait...
"Aah.. err... So... Why are you even creating these creatures?"
So, may I ask for your name?
The leshy crafter pauses and considers this for a long moment. "I...haven't decided. Maybe... Yew, a good name. Or oleander. Or foxglove. I think I look like I could be a Foxglove. Maybe. Your thoughts?"
The leshy crafter seems fully interested in receiving help from Fester and Nikebei. He's actually quite enthusiastic, and brings them over to where he's been working on another monstrosity. This one looks to be made of strange red roots and a fox carcass. The eyes have been placed at the tip end of the tail. "Please. Help me tie the eyes in place!"
Hown long have you being created these leshys? We're they always this type or used to look and perform another way?
The leshy again pauses for a moment. "I'm not sure. Weeks. Maybe months. Still experimenting. That's...not quite an adder stone. Thank you though."
"The leshys are new! A little overenthusiastic. But people are being very strange, attempting to plant their strange plants, bringing in their monsters. Very annoying. This is right for Leshy bodies."
Niklaas does manage to sneak up properly and position himself a bit behind the leshy, but still out of sight.
"Aah.. err... So... Why are you even creating these creatures?"
"Why? It's my job! To make more leshys! I am the greatest and smartest spirit of this forest! Eldest and wisest, self-maker and leshy-maker! You are very impressed?" The leshy pauses, then casts a sidelong, hopeful glance at the Pathfinders. "You are impressed?"
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Lux cocks her head as she listens to the Leshy, she's clearly puzzled. "Oh, wait. We got it all wrong," she suddenly blurts out. She takes two steps forward to stand in line with Fester and rapidly starts talking, forgetting her apprehension due to her rampaging train of thought. "We thought this was some Abyssal spirit," she says to no one in particular, "but I don't think that's the case. He's just trying to do what comes natural to him, and he doesn't understand that his work is being corrupted!"
She then addresses the leshy. "Errr.. Yew-Foxglove. I can see that you're working really hard at making more leshies. You're trying to restore balance after all the destruction here, right? There's just a teeny-tiny problem." She holds her thumb and forefinger about three inches apart, indicating that it's not actually such a tiny problem. "You see, there's still quite a lot of dangerous energy around here, from that monolith back there. And ah... it's affecting your work. It makes the leshies here do terrible things. So making more of them isn't really such a good idea at the moment. Not unless we can remove that demonic energy."
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You know elven history? Some facts about they retreated to another world and then had to get back here to Kyonin because of demonic Treerazer envasion? I ffel the same here. Your creations and all you future is endangered until demonic fluids are here. You should think, master-crafter, and let me read aura of this stone.
- Armagile points at kinda obelisk.
I will do it and stop corruption either with your permission or without it. But I need to give this flora and fauna to sustain without pollution.
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"You know what, I think Lux could be right, I mean you don't want to create a Leshy that undoes all the good you're trying to do by creating them." Nikebei says, hoping to reinforce Lux's words. The halfling continues, "Perhaps, if you wouldn't mind, we could continue to help your efforts over there." He points away from the monolith, "If we could find a nice green and grassy opening in the forest, one that a Leshy would really like, full of the forest's finery. It would give you and us a chance to think it all through, have a real good talk. I am sure Foxglove, if we could get to the greener parts of the forest, there we can find the flower with your name, that would be great. Then we could try and make more Leshy folk that would see how good your efforts are and make you even more important than you already are! Yes if we could help each other away from the gloomy thing here."
"My work is....wrong? It looks right to me. Body. Arms. Legs. Eyes. They're attacking only what's not natural. Tall beasts with 4 spired horns, strange creatures that skitter across trees and plant strange objects in the dirt. That's what's wrong! Isn't it?"
With that, the leshy crafter seems confused at the mention of what he calls "elvens", and seems to get visibly angry at Armagile.
At mention of green, the leshy scoffs. "Unnatural, that color. The world should be red, brown, and black. Even the sky is wrong!"
Whatever you do, all but Armagile and Niklaas are now able to approach the Leshy, as he believes your intent to help is genuine. Niklaas may approach with a stealth, but if Armagile approaches, the leshy offers one final warning to "stay back".
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(I’m not sure where Niklaas is supposed to be on the map right now. GM, if you could place me as close to the leshy as possible after that first check, I would appreciate it. If needed, I can make another check to get even closer, but I’d like to get as close as I can without alerting the thing.)
Niklaas wanted to facepalm. So ya ta tell me dis fruit salad monsta' maka’ in tha middle of this f*#%€¥ Abyss on earth forest isn’t even EVIL?! It’s jus retarded?! WHUT THA-
Shaking his head at how ridiculous the situation was, Niklaas couldn’t help but also feel disappointed. Now tha goodie-two-shoes a’ tha party er prob’ly gonna end up talkin’ down tha d#%* dumba** thing... F€£¥!
It wasn’t looking like he’d be stabbing anyone else today… but then again… Guess I can still ‘ope fer sumthin’ ta go wrong… an’ that compost heap does seem pretty crazy… It could still be plannin’ sumthin’... ‘Ere’s ta hopin’...
Niklaas continued stalking through his abyssal surroundings, waiting expectantly for any sign of trouble…
(I’ll make a perception check on the leshy to see if Niklaas trusts what he’s been saying so far, followed by another stealth check for use if needed.)
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"Well, I don't know about the un-naturalness of the sky, per se. After all, I've been around for countless days and the sky has always been as blue as it is now. Perhaps we perceive color differently? That would certainly be an eeeexciting discovery! Or perhaps you simply prefer sunsets and the night? In either case, I can certainly see why. The stars are quite wonderful, I'm sure you'd agree."
Fester claps his hands together, wringing them together briefly. "But enough speculation! Show me your current work; I'd love to see if I could assist in one of your spectacular works! Perhaps we can learn to understand each other better through collaboration!"
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Armagile growls softly and start to walk from side to side in circles for a while, a bit far from other company. He than carees and scratch Misha, who worred around too.
Come, lets play with lsthy's. They can hurt you during, be carefull. They are just children with another habbits , - suggests Armagile suggests his bear, trying to breath deeply. Thereafter he will carefully approach to some of deformed leshy to communicate, feel and understand better. He will sniff air around, touch grass and dirt.
Other Pathfinders should have some time. That is not time to hunt and tear, yet.
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Lux groans at the leshy's words. Oh no, he's even further gone than I thought. She shakes her head, hoping to change his mind. "No, no. That's not right. The words is supposed to be green. Please believe me." She points to the monolith again. "It seems like maybe you too are affected by Abyssal energy?" She tries to look as sincere as possible. "Would you mind if we take a closer look at the monolith, and maybe possible, ehh.. do something about it?"
"The...monolith? The great and powerful standing stone, left behind byu ancient druids and spirits! It's very fancy, isn't it! What's wrong with it?" The leshy smacks the cyclopean monolith proudly with his tiny hand, causing its yellow glow to flicker for a moment. The leshy crafter looks briefly concerned, then sheepishly amends his statement. "Okay. It's very fancy and very slightly broken. I'm fixing it! But it's very hard, not having the tools. You want to fix?"
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Peering out from his ambush spot, Niklaas surveyed the current scene, Anyone dead yet? No? Nope...
Turning his attention back to the REAL task at hand, the elven rogue grasped his polishing rag firmly in his right hand, while holding Shirley steady with his left.
“Yer gonna look drop-dead gorgeous when I’m done with you, girl,” Niklaas whispered with a hiss. He wanted to whistle too - but that probably wouldn’t have been the wisest of ideas, considering things - so he contented himself with a rasping whisper here and there as he continued killing time… waiting to see if he’d even be needed here.
I wonda’ whut kinda grub Jal would lbe down fer? Tian food? Hmm… Taldan ain’t half-bad neitha’ - less spicey too... Might be a betta’ pick fer sum’one cummin’ in fresh from a blandish life in tha forest… But then, maybe she’d prefer gettin’ sumthin’ at a stall er food cart? Might be easier than strugglin’ ta fit inta sum fancy-pantz ponce-stuffed rest’rant... I know sum good vendas fer rat-on-a-stick too... but maybe we should wait on that one fer a third date - assumin’ last night wuz tha first, anywayz... Hmm…Choices, choices… Whelp, maybe I should jus let her take ‘er pick? I’d be up fer anythin,’ jus so long as she’s there stomachin’ it with me. Heh heh heh...
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Nikebei stands back and watches as Lux starts to work on the monolith, he slowly walks over to Fester and whispers in his ear, "Do you know what Lux is doing?" He waits for Fester to reply, before walking over to the monolith and takes his time to study it.
"Lux, what do you think we can do to help you aid the reclamation of the monolith?"
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"Oh yes, why of course I know what she thinks she's doing. Obviously she intends to use her tools to patch up the leaks from the monolith. The weird glowing patches are definitely connecting it to the plane of *coughunintelligiblecough* and I would imagine that liberal use of patching materials would assist in stemming the tide, of course."
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Lux isn't really sure how she'd far get in trying to 'fix' the statue, so she looks happy for any help. "Well, there's some cracks here, which could be a good starting point. Maybe we can work with the energies directly, or possible it'll be enough to work on the stone and the energies will follow with what were doing materially..."
Lux approaches the monolith and begins to chip away at parts of it, but she isn't quite sure of where to chip, so she requires a bit of assistance.
Though Nikebei doesn't quite know, Armagile seems to chuckle and cough from afar, helping to subtley guide Lux's hand to the right place.
The Leshy crafter looks over, a bit horrified. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! NO no no. That's...that's...That just popped up a few days ago! It's healing. Like a tree."
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Lux takes some cues from Armagile and lets out a heavy breath when she chips away a red piece of stone and finds that the monolith doesn't explode. For now, at least.
The Leshy's question poses a new danger, even as Lux tries to see what else could be done. "Euhm, yes. I suppose you could say it's healing, but... maybe sometimes you have to clear away some old stuff to that the healing has a clean surface to grow from?" She doesn't sound convinced in her own words. "One of my friends could probably explain if a lot better than I could. Fester, perhaps?"
She tries to sneak a peek at Niklaas, as well. He seems to be holding his patience, I suppose. He's probably still there to intervene if things go wrong?
Hoping that someone can distract the leshy for a bit longer, Lux returns her attention to the monolith, checking in with Armagile and Nikebei occasionally. This part looks pretty demonic in particular. Or maybe over there?
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As Nikebei studies and feels the monolith, he looks at a particular corner. The sorcerer looks at the Leshy and points to a corner that is chipped. "See that, it's a place that is leaking unnatural vapors into the area. Can you see that only a specific piece of stone will, from a skilled crafter can plug the hole. Would you let Fester take a look at your stone, he is knowledgeable of such matters."
He turns and smiles at Fester, "All yours"
Lux brings her tools closer one final time, and an uncanny yellow light flares one last time, then fades forever. The leshy crafter observes this, blinks a few times, then suddenly rips the monolith shard from his eye and smashes it against the ground.
The leshy crafter stands stock still for a moment, raising a hand to touch the gaping hold in his face where the cyclopean shard had so recently rested. He gingerly probes the hole, swaying like a sapling in the wind...
"Oh. Oh." The leshy crafter looks about slowly, taking in the twisted and deformed leshys, the Abyssal plant life, the burnt and ruined valley. "...it's possible that I might have misinterpreted one or two things."
There is a very long pause.
"Oops."
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Lux chuckles at the devious way in which Nikebei tries to resolve then situation, but then realizes from the leshy's reaction that it's no longer necessary.
She rushes over to the creature and drops down to her knees, feeling a great desire to hug and comfort it. "It'll be all right. There was so much demonic energy here, you had no way of knowing what's what any more." She look at the corrupted nature all around them. "We'll fix this. Nature is surprisingly resilient like that." She stands up and looks around once more and speaks to no direction in particular. "Nik? Are you still there? You can come out now, it's no longer needed."
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Armagile being nervous.
Situation usually may escalete quickly if you are playing with demonic legacy. So, he approach carefully even after the leshy-crafter removed the stone from his eye.
Lux. I am proud to be familiar and work on such goals with you. I will study occult matters after this. Deffinitely it is necessary. And really, where is Niklaas?
***
Armagile will help flora and fauna around to recover and surely stay behind the leshy-crafter for a while tpo make sure he is fine and will find new way of life and create. After all this is druidic responsibility...
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Nikebei opens his eyes wide at the Leshy's reaction, though smiles with great pleasure when the stone is removed and the reaction. "Oh, that is better, do you think you can fix these others that you created. Do you need any hep to clear up the ..... mess?" he asks, looking at Lux and Armagile. "Where's Niklaas, he might be able to help us with this too."
"Are we able to remove the threat from this ancient stone, or do you think the druids of the tribe will be able to make it safe?"
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“Oh Jal… Yeah... I knew ya were a bad g-” With a sharp snort - Niklaas jumped to his feet, looking all about wild-eyed, brandishing Shirley before him apprehensively. “I’M ‘WAKE! I’M ‘WAKE!” Pausing another moment, the rogue took in the unlit monolith and the stone eye dashed against the ground… then slowly lowered his weapon. Scratching his head, he looked to the others, “Soooooo… Whut’d I miss? Er we… er we dun ‘ere, or… do ya still need me ta stab sumthin’?”
Do you remember what happened for you to get the lump of nasty stone stuck in your eye.
"I'm...not sure. Maybe it created me? Maybe I created it? I...I don't know. But thank you."
Are we able to remove the threat from this ancient stone, or do you think the druids of the tribe will be able to make it safe?
"I would very much like to meet these druids! I do probably need some help fixing...this." he says, gesturing to the entire field of fleshy leshys.
Slowly, though, the other leshys begin to slough off the rocks and animal parts that the leshy crafter used to form their bodies; though they return to somewhere close to normal, they retain signs of their Abyssal origin, such as a bark pattern that looks vaguely like a bleeding skull, or extra vines that sway in an unfelt breeze.
Upon their return to the tribe, Urwal gives the PCs a single beacon shot. "A warrior's weapon", he notes dryly before completely forgetting the Pathfinders exist.
The Pathfinders are told to sleep yet again in the camp before heading off in the morning. The morning brings with it it's own surprise: a still-rather-disturbing hogweed leshy trundles out of the woods with a "legendary sword, for the good monsters." It is nothing more than a low-grade silver longsword, but the image of a grasping arm is etched into its blade.
As far as the leshys are concerned, the Pathfinders are the greatest heroes in their entire (months-long) history. If the Pathfinders ever return to Finadar Forest (as Niklaas likely will), they are liable to find their face3s grown onto massive bruorsivi pines around the forest. The leshy crafter takes the name of Blackberry and leads the leshys to become staunch allies of the Pathfinders and the local centaurs.
Finally, Urwal departs from the redpines with the Pathfinders as a voice calls out from behind them. "STABBY WAIT!" shouts the familiar voice of Jaldan.
"Oh yes. I almost forgot. Jaldan is coming with us. To become a Pathfinder. Kaana is convinced that she can one day be a better shaman to the Redpine clan if she joins us and learns from the best. I expect you will show her the ropes," he pauses for a moment before turning to Lux. He breathes, holds up his finger, and sighs, before pivoting to Niklaas. "Niklaas. Yeah. Show her the ropes."
Finally, if the PCs became friends with Jaldan and received her token, then when Urwal departs from the Redpines, Jaldan goes with him, becoming a Pathfinder so that she can one day be a better shaman to the Redpine clan.
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I'll have to figure out a way to embellish this story, I suppose. Not sure what I could really add that would make this any more fantastical than reality, but I'm sure I'll figure something out...
Fester offers to spend his downtime doing what he can to help cleanup the situation, slipping quickly into the story (lie) that Soumral is his actual name and taking the opportunity to learn a bit more about Leshies and their culture. "It feels like the right move to make, given the circumstances. That and, well... I may owe it to an old friend."
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On the final day in the Redpine camp, Niklaas had been noticeably apprehensive… Of course, the new leshies looked ‘sicker’ than ever; and they seemed pretty cool too, now that they weren’t exploding on everything AND seemed to be worshipping the Pathfinder team as heroes! A monument in my likin,’ huh? That’z sumthin’ I neva’ knew I needed - ‘TIL NOW! F#%£ YEAH!
The centaur clan had become pretty chill about the Pathfinders’ presence as well - which was an added bonus. Still, Niklaas couldn’t help but be a bit nervous… though he tried his best not to show it. Cum on, cum on cum on cum on cum on… Where are ya Jal? Don’t tell me Chief Hard A&@ said no… I can’t b’lieve that isolationist b%*¥@! I’m gonna ‘ave ta find ‘er an’ give ‘er a f#%<~•$ piece a’ my f*+£$&@ mind! Er… but wait! Now that I think of it… whut if… whut if I jus DREAMED UP THA WHOLE THING?! I mean… wouldn’t be tha firs’ time… An’ I’d thought it WUZ too good ta be true… A babe like her fallin’ fer a freak like…
Niklaas had been so caught up in his thoughts, he’d already started walking away in a state of premature depression - when he heard a familiar voice call out one of his - many - aliases.
“STABBY WAIT!”
Spinning around fast enough to cause whiplash, Niklaas’ depression swiftly turned to - internal - jubilation. He tried his best to hide his excitement though, Play it kewl, Nikky! Play it kewl! Kewl guyz don’t let their feelin’z show! Stohic like a statue - a statue!
“Sup, Babe,” Niklaas rasped with a carefully thought out nonchalant wave, “Whut took ya so long? I wuz worried we’d ‘ave ta leave without ya.”
Yeah, that’z tha ticket… Play it kewl… Niklaas thought to himself…
-Just as Urwal said, “I expect you will show her the ropes…”
Niklaas’ eyes widened and he quickly covered his mouth to stop an escaping gasp. Dropping all pretense of nonchalance, his ebon lips cracked in a wide grin, and he started bouncing up and down like a nerd in the front row of class who knew the answer to a question posed by his pencil-neck teacher, “OOH! OOH! ME! PICK ME!” Niklaas shouted, his arms waving wildly in the air as Urwal raised his finger towards Lux, “PUT ME IN, COACH! I GOT ‘DIS! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!”
-And then Urwal said, “Niklaas. Yeah. Show her the ropes.”
Pumping his fist, Niklaas hissed a resounding, “YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!” High-fiving Jaldan, he shouted, “SCORE!”
-Then, thinking better of it, the elven rogue stood up ramrod straight at attention, giving a mock salute, “Yessir, Masta’ Blingscalez sir! Thank you fer dis honor, sir! I’ll not letcha’ down!”
Turning back to Jaldan, Niklaas gave the centaur a wink - and when the party started out, he instantly fell in step beside her. Motioning to her to let the others go on ahead, he then leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, “So, ‘bout that pineapple…”
He couldn’t wait to get back to Absalom, because he and Jaldan were gonna paint that town red... and for once, it wasn’t going to be with blood either...