Hate. Awenasa is used to being suspicious of outsiders, some may describe it as hating them, but never had she experienced such hate being directed at her. She feels her defences raise in response. If the tree hated her then the test would not be fair, it would do whatever it could to break her just to reinforce its belief that all two legs were bad.
Even though she has resigned herself to the test, she recoils at the fairy's instruction. "Put hand in angry tree? How is that test?"
Awenasa looks from fairy to Ioklonet and back again. Every fibre of her being screams out in warning. A shiver travels down her spine from her hair to her toes. She was sure that Ioklonet just wanted to bite her hand off but really what choice did she have? She agreed to the test and so there is no turning back.
Moments pass but they seem like an eternity to the Shoanti as she wrestles with her internal doubts. Finally, she squares her shoulders and takes a step towards Ioklonet. She takes a deep breath and is once again grateful that the air isn't heavy with the stench of decay. She reaches out with her left hand, reasoning that if it did bite her hand off that at least she'd have her dominant hand in tact. As her hand approaches the hole ever so slowly, she closes her eyes and pictures her sister. Her sister's death would always be the source of her greatest sorrow but her memories of her sister also brought her comfort.
At peace with whatever happens next, Awenasa thrusts her hand through the spiderwebs, her stomach clenching a bit in disgust at the feeling, and into Ioklonet.
The gnarled little fairy says nothing at her question, his face as unreadable as old bark. Above her the leaves rustle loudly, branches swaying as if in a breeze. Then, after only a trace of delay, Awenasa puts her (left)hand in the dark gap between the ancient folds of bark.
The air inside the tree is warm and dry, and for a moment Awenasa is reminded of the wild plains behind her with their sweeping winds she loves. But this feels...different There is a sensation of...life here. Of protected, patient life that has unfolded on such a slow scale it makes Awenasa's head spin. A thousands, no ten thousand sunrises and sunsets blur past and the memories of many storms and fires. Of slow growth in the quiet of the world and the desire to simply be left at peace, to listen and to think.
There is no pain however, and the hole doesn't clamp onto to her wrist like some trap. No shards of drywood impale her tender flesh or rip her fingers apart. Nothing but warm air. Then, she can feel the aura of hate fade away, vanishing like smoke on a driving wind. It leaves so fast Awenasa almost feels a sense of vertigo, as the relentless pressure disappears.
The ugly fey at her side grins, "Ioklonet says you pass the test of trust, Shoanti of the high plains. This is good, for now we are allies against the rot."
He turns to wave to Adsu and Perey who are still on the far shore, looking more then a little worried. "Come friends, all is well!"
Then, to Awenasa, "We shall eat lunch under Ioklonet and plan how to fight the rot. Come, come, sit!" The stout figure waves to the uncoiling tangles of tree roots, many of which are well-suited to seats.
The fey turns and begins fussing with a deep crevice in the side of the tree, pulling at moss and humming to himself, back to Awenasa.
Perey and Adsu gingerly cross the contaminated stream and reach Awenasa. Both look uncertainty at the looming tree. Perey asks the obvious question, "So...you passed?"
In a moment the fairy turns back around, carrying a bit of slate like platter, on which is heaped 'cakes' of spongy green moss. "Here, take some of these! They are powerful magic and will help you in your fight."
Awenasa braces herself for pain and injury, the weight of hate making her knees bend as if it was pushing down on her. She sways on her feet as the aura of hate evaporates and the hurt never comes.
She returns the fairy's grin with an emotionless look but she does extend her arm for a warrior's salute, "Allies. Good."
She settles herself amidst the roots finding them surprisingly comfortable. She looks up at Perey as he approaches with Adsu and she shrugs, "I guess so. They say I passed so that's all that matters."
Awenasa regards what the fairy offers as food with curiosity. The thought of consuming something magical was both invigorating and slightly terrifying. What if something weird happened like her hair turning green or moss growing on her arm?
She chooses one and when the fey keeps holding out the platter, she keeps taking more until he puts the slate down. She looks down at the three cakes in her lap, thankful for the aide.
She packs the mossy cakes away in her things then remembers her manners, "Thanks." The she adds, "What name? Know tree's name but not yours."
"My name?" The fey says, obviously surprised, "I am part of Ioklonet. Do you think his leaves have different names?"
Adsu, who is examining one f the mossy cakes with interest says, "He is an oakman, Awenasa. A type of fey. He is bound up with this oak tree, heart and soul. They live together and if one is hurt, both are hurt. And if one dies..." He trails off leaving the implication.
"You have fought off the rot by yourself?" Perey asks after a moment, peering up at the so-far healthy tree.
The stumpy oakman nods but does not look happy, "Yes, but it is not easy and grows harder everyday. Not just the rot you can see. I feel it in the earth, I taste it in the water, in the air. I've used much magic, holding off...I am tired." he shrugs and adds, "But you think you can defeat the rot? By yourself?"
Looking guilty he quickly says, "I cannot leave. I have to stay and protect."
Awenasa's face turns towards the fey, then Adsu, then back again. Shrugging she says in acceptance, "Fine, both Ioklonet." Although the leaves aren't speaking, the oakman is. So the oakman should have a name, she grumbled internally.
The Shoanti could understand being tired fighting off a relentless foe. She had sometimes heard the same sentiment expressed about the Ulfen by some in the quah.
"Don't know if can defeat rot. Can't promise what I don't know. But will try hard. And not alone, have Perey and Adsu."
"Ioklonet needs Ioklonet. If bound together then have to stay together." Her eyes glisten momentarily as memories of her sister flood her mind, threatening to spill out in the form of tears. If her twin was still alive there was no way that Awenasa would leave her side, especially if she was in danger. There was no way that she would ever ask the oakman to leave Ioklonet.
Above Ioklonet, in the small gap between the tree's spreading branches and the rock wall of the canyon, the sky is growing bright. A shining patch of brilliant blue, unmarred by clouds or dust. On the Plateau the day would be growing hot by now, heat shimmering off the rocks and creating the dancing patterns that Awenasa knew so well.
But not here. Down in the cleft of the Shadow Stream, cut off from the sun, Awenasa felt cold. The air was dank and humid, clinging to her skin. Worse, even here, she could smell the sickly sweet of rotting wood. This rest was welcome, but it also did little to ease the Shoanti's mind.
Awenasa shivers in the damp, longing for the sunlight. She can feel her muscles tightening as she sits in the dampness. If she doesn't get moving soon she feels like she'll regret it.
Before leaving she has a few questions for the oakman. "You say you tired. How long you fight rot? Does rot have weakness? Where best place to fight rot?"
"Time." The oakman says dismissively, "Humans worry so much about it. What is time? I am fighting the rot now, until I win or fail."
Adsu smoothly added, "About two weeks, Awenasa. At least since the rot attacked us, and our village was near the cave entrance. I imagine Ioklonet has been battling the rot since then."
The fey shrugs at this and takes a bit of a mossy cake, clearly enjoying the gritty texture as he mashes it between gnarled gums. "I fight the rot like anything else. Defeating the monsters that come out of the muck, and drive back the slimy sludge with magic. Ioklonet is old and very wise, with powerful magic. Defensive only though." He lowers his voice, " Ioklonet guesses fire would work, but I cannot use it. Too dangerous, fire might spread."
Adsu joins in again, "The heart of the rot must be in the caves. Something is directing this, it isn't natural. I can feel....something farther down. Something controlling all of this."
Perey merely squirms down into his root seat, looking like he will never leave.
The amount of magic being displayed and spoken about in the last few hours is more than Awenasa has been exposed to the whole rest of her life.
"Magic good for Ioklonet. He has no warrior to fight with weapon so good to use magic."
The Shoanti takes stock of her gear. "Only torches for fire. Caves rock, not trees. Maybe fire work there if that is where rot is."
She stands and stretches the damp cold out of her muscles, "We should go. Find rot. Fight rot. Get out of Shadow Stream."
She inclines her head towards the oakman and tree, "Thanks for cakes. May your spirit guide you."
Awenasa looks at Perey and Adsu expectantly, "Ready?"
"I hope you win." the oakman says simply, "I..I cannot hold out much longer."
He pats the exposed tree root below him and then pauses, cocking his head as if hearing something. Above, the tree rustles slightly, green leaves shimmering.
"Ioklonet says you must be wary. The rot may not be as ugly as you think." The oakman frowns but then says, "Nothing else. " Shrugging the fey says finally, "Ioklonet is not always clear, even to himself."
Adsu says nothing but Perey squirms down in his seat, "Do we have to go? This seems like a nice place. Can't I just stay here?" He doesn't show much but Awenasa can see the fear and anxiety in his face but also something else.
Not just fear of being hurt (although he is) but fear of being useless, fear of making a mistake.
Awenasa's frown mirrors the oakman's, "Why be wary of ugly? Be wary of strength, not ugly." Knowing that others often knew more than her, she adds, "But Awenasa will remember Ioklonet's words."
The warrior fixes her gaze on Perey and naturally switches back into her native tongue, "Do you really want She-Who-Upsets-the-Water to find out that we sat here and did nothing? Besides, the oakman said he can't hold out much longer so this nice place won't last. And I will most likely need more mending of clothing and gear so I need you with me to help with whatever you can, no matter how small."
The oakman grunts, an unpleasant sound from an unwholesome creature, "Ioklonet makes sense when needed, not before."
Perey switches back to Shoanti as well (and Awenasa can see this annoys both the oakman and Adsu). He seems to pause at the mention of returning in defeat and there is something odd behind his eyes but he merely shrugs and then says, "If your clothes are that important. Let's go, I'll try and keep up."
Awenasa nods at Perey to show him that he made the right decision, the issue settled.
Even though it takes more thought and effort, she makes herself speak common again, "Thanks, Ioklonet and Ioklonet. Adsu, Perey, and me go now."
Once, when Awenasa was a small child, her clan had make a religious pilgrimage deep into the Stroval Plateau. It had been a harsh journey through arid land that was the worse the Plateau had to offer. Blazing salt flats, rolling hills of alkaline sand, blasted rock shelves. But the elders knew the way and carefully guided the clan from oasis to oasis, seemingly by magic. What had struck Awenasa even then was how hard it had been to leave those treasured little pools of water and grass, and set out on a long march into waste.
Leaving Ioklonet was just like that. Leaving the sunny, fresh air of the clearing and re-entering the damp rotting forest wasn't easy.
Awenasa looks hard at Perey, wondering what the thin man hid behind his eyes when she mentioned returning. She caught sight of determination and surprise, but nothing that told her what those emotions meant. She needed to get to know him more.
Adsu followed behind, his shoulders sagging the instant the entered the Rot.
Awenasa couldn't blame them, for the black forest around them grew worse with every step. Before the trees had merely been dead and rotting, the forest clammy and cold. Just a dead and dark world.
But now, it was being transformed. The air was hot and heavy, and each breath felt like Awenasa had a wet cloth across her mouth. Light seemed to vanish, swallowed up by a dank fog. The black tree trunks around them were covered with strange fungal growths, some of which glowed faintly in the cave-like gloom. Some of these fungal blooms were enormous, far larger then any mushroom Awenasa had ever imagined, let alone seen. Electric blue, noxious green, dazzling purple. The monk led them as far as she could from the sickly looking growths, but that soon became impossible due to their density.
Underfoot the ground became ever steeper and more slimy. More then once she had to brace herself against a rotting tree trunk to stop a fall, only to find her hand covered in tar-like rot. It stank and burned a little but Adsu (after close examination) didn't seem to think it was dangerous. Good thing, for soon they were all spotted and stained with the ooze.
The trip seemed endless and even Awenasa, rock-hard to toil, was starting to flag as the descent continued. Glancing back she saw Perey and Adsu flagging, nearly staggering downhill. They couldn't go much farther but resting here seem....impossible.
Then Perey stopped, but his face wasn't the face of exhaustion but surprise. He held up a hand and said, "Listen!"
At first Awenasa heard nothing but the slow gurgle of polluted waters and groaning of rotting trees. Them very faintly, she could hear..music. The soft whistle of flutes and pipes, distant but clear. It was a quick and lively rhythm, and.... beautiful. The notes cascaded over each other, and Awenasa found herself listening hard, as if trying to find something familiar in the quick tune.
"I've never heard anything like it." Perey said suddenly, and Awenasa came back to herself, standing in a rotting, stinking forest so black she could hardly see. The music went on, but faintly on the edge of hearing.
Awenasa doesn't allow herself to look back at Ioklonet or its oakman for she knows that if she does, she may not leave. She knows they're leaving the safety and comfort of the known for the stench and torment of the unknown.
She almost immediately regrets her decision as the air becomes hot and humid, amplifying the smell and making her feel like she's suffocating. If Perey and Adsu weren't with her, she may have considered running away and letting her quah assume her death but it wasn't an option with witnesses.
The colourful fungi, some of which glow in the pitch black, are strangely beautiful. Awenasa feels like there's something wrong with her for seeing something positive in a place that is obviously evil and destroying the life around her.
She resolutely puts one foot in front of the other even though her footing is not always sure. Being covered with rot and ooze on this never-ending march wears at her like dripping water on rock. She feels little pieces of herself being eroded away and just when she thinks she's finally been swallowed by the darkness around her, Perey holds up his hand.
Awenasa cocks her head to listen and once again feels conflicted as something beautiful pierces through the ugliness of their surroundings. It reminds her in part of what she experienced when the ooze had drugged her and made her pass out. Initially she had felt at peace until the burning started. "We need be careful. The ooze is tricky. Plays with mind. We follow music but be on guard. Try be quiet if can. I scout, you follow."
The Shoanti creeps forward towards where the music is coming from and tries to avoid stepping in puddles of tar-like ooze which can make loud sucking noises when you pull your foot out.
Awenasa ghosted forward with all the grace and stealth of a giant hunting cat. The Shoanti warrior had been trained to move and hide on the barren plains of the Plateau, where cover was a prized and valuable resource. She found the dark and crowded Shadow Stream to be a virtual screen, allowing her to move with barely a rustle. Perey and Adsu, instantly noticing her skill, kept well back.
The music grows louder in Awenasa's ears as she ventures down the steep slope, hiding behind rotting tree trunks and fungal growth. The brisk and jovial music seems quite at odds with the dismal death around here. Who could play such a tune in these surroundings?
Then she sees a wall. No, not a wall but a...hedge of thick tubular columns? Slowly Awenasa realizes they are mighty mushrooms, forty feet tall with stumpy stalks wider then she could reach around. The massive overhanging caps tower over Awenasa like cliffs, bone white in the gloom. They seem to be...quivering, every so slightly. From behind them, the music is louder.
Silent as a shade, Awenasa creeps closer and peers around one of the fungal growths. What she sees is a...revel.
The Shoanti sees a small clearing below, a perfectly round meadow cleared of rotting trees, tangled brush or even sizable stones. It is surrounded on all sides by the ring of giant sentinel mushrooms, a perfect circle, except for one side that reaches the rocky wall of the canyon. There, Awenasa spots a dark cave yawning among the stones. But Awenasa barely notices, she is so fixated on the display happening in the center of the ring.
In the precise middle is a chair, more like a throne, of carven wood, seemingly made of one giant stump. Intricate traceries of vines and leaves cover it from top to bottom, worn with age. In it stands a small woman, looking almost like a child in the massive seat. She is wearing little more then a cloak of brown leaves, which hides little of her pale and smooth skin. Her pointed ears gracefully part long raven hair, dark eyes like pools of midnight. She is so beautiful, it nearly hurts to look at her.
Around her a parade of shifting, shimmering lights dance and whirl in time to the fast music. They are not quite distinct shapes, but Awenasa can catch a leg there, an arm there, a foot moving to the tune. The elegant woman has her hands over her head, urging them on with contortions of her seemingly quite flexible body, laughing and shouting. The music seems to rise as the dance moves every faster, and Awenasa thinks she can feel the mushrooms yearning to dance along.
Even she feels one of her weary toes start to tap along to the music, inside her boots.
When she realizes that the music is having a subconscious affect on her, Awenasa takes a step backwards as if burned. She can't help but wonder what effect the music would have on her should she get closer.
She has no idea how to process what she's seeing. Based on the surroundings, it seems like the beautiful woman is responsible for what's happening to the Shadow Stream. But how could something so beautiful create such ugliness and then rejoice in the decaying filth? Granted the ring in which she dances is free of the rot which further confounds Awenasa.
Her pointed ears suggest to the Shoanti that she is observing yet another fey creature but she needs the knowledge of the others to know for sure. Knowing about things that were not part of her culture was definitely not her strong suit.
She memorizes every physical detail that she can and then creeps back to the others.
Seeing the two crouching in the rotting foliage, she feels a small sense of relief that they were okay. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts to relay the information in the common tongue. "Pretty woman with pointy ears and dark eyes controlling dancing. Music hard to resist. Makes me want to dance. I not dance. Not know where music comes from. Stop music be good."
She describes as much as she can in the common tongue but slips back into speaking Shoanti for the more elaborate bits and relies on Perey to translate for Adsu. "What is she?"
Perey cocks his ear to the music, listening intently. Slowly he nods, in seeming understanding.
"It is enchanted music, somehow. It has a compulsion in it, at some deep level. Not a spell exactly but...something." he looks to Awenasa, "We will need to keep our guard up."
He glances to Adsu and says in Common, "Reminds me of the stories of the fey, Adsu. Fairy rings and midnight revels/"
The young druid nods, "That is what it sounds like to me. Maybe she is a corrupted fey or maybe she is the thing that brought the rot with her?"
Perey pipes in, his usual hesitancy forgotten, "Or maybe the Rot is merely a side effect of the music. Everyone knows the fey are weird." he pauses, glances back up the trail toward Ioklonet and the oakman. "No offense." he mutters.
Adsu looks back to Awenasa, "You are the warrior, do you have a plan to attack? Do you think the dancers can fight or is the fey woman alone?"
Then, in Shoanti, Perey asks, "Or do we sneak around and leave the Shadow Stream to itself?"
Around them, the faint sounds of pipes and harps fill the damp air.
Perey's description of the music did not sound good. "Best if could make silent. Then music can't control." She makes eye contact with the young man, "Would plugging ears help?"
Her brow furrows in thought as she tries to understand about magics that were beyond her ken, "How can tell if fey corrupted?"
"I may be warrior against flesh and bone but fighting magic is new. No good look at dancers. Dancing too fast. Maybe can fight, maybe not. Don't know."
Awenasa said nothing at first in response to Perey's question. Considering she was uncertain at what to do against the fey, it was extremely tempting to do as he suggested. They could sneak around and continue on with their quest. It would be easy. She glanced at Adsu, but she had given her word to the druid. She had enlisted him and told him that she would fight the rot so she couldn't just leave him. And then there was the question about how far the rot may spread if they left. If it spread to her quah's land then it would threaten her people. They may not think highly of her but they were important to her. Finally she responded, "As much as I would like to, I gave my word. I can't get others involved and then leave."
Perey frowns at Awenasa's annoying sense of duty but then shrugs in agreement. Clearly, despite his own misgivings he isn't keen to leave the obviously depressed druid alone. This valley was his home as much as the Plateau was Awenasa. It had been hard enough to leave it for this task, she could only imagine what it would be like for it to be destoryed.
Then the young man says, in Common, "Could we talk to the fey woman? Maybe the Rot isn't her fault, or at least on purpose. Do your people have legends or dealings with fey?"
Adsu shakes his head, "Not really, save a few like the oakmen. They tend to mind their own business, away from people."
Perey goes on to Awenasa, "Talking would ruin our sense of surprise though." he says this in Shoanti, clearly finding that language better for talking of raiding and attacking. "It would give her time to get her guard up or even cast a spell."
Back in Common, "I don't think the music is a threat...yet." Then he blushes, and stammers, "Bbbut, I'm not sure. I'm not an loremaster or anything."
Awenasa frowns at Perey, "Don't talk well with words. But...you and Adsu talk. I sneak up in case she not listen."
She turns to Adsu, "My father said there be more druids. What they do? Did they talk or fight? Do fey have weakness?"
"Me?!" Perey squeaks, obviously alarmed, "Alone?" He shrinks down, almost sinking into the noxious muddy sludge under their feet.
"Well, not alone." Adsu says mildly, but he doesn't look very happy either.
"What if...what if she attacks us!" Perey says, voice rising slightly. "Sneaking isn't like a honorable Shoanti warrior way!"
Meanwhile Adsu rubs his chin, "Weaknesses? I know fey hate the feel of cold iron, but I don't think we have any of that with us. They like riddles and have a weakness for games and challenges. But fey are strange creatures, with weird goals. Like Perey said, this entire Rot could be a side effect unintentional, or just a passing fancy. There is no telling what they woman may want or ask. Gods, even if she has nothing to do with the Rot, she might try to attack us on a whim. Dangerous people, fey."
Awenasa feels herself getting defensive at Perey's words, "No need to sneak when there are many." She pauses as if not wanting to say what comes next, "But you have point. She may not know she destroys the Shadow Stream." The warrior sighs, "Speak first. Fight second. Likely fight because my words not good."
She listens intently to Adsu's words to make sure she properly understood. It sounded to her that the fey were very capricious. She decides that she will need to approach her like she would an angry elder...since running away wasn't an option in this case.
"So we just walk into the glade? Is there ritual for approaching fey?" She has no idea but maybe one of her companions did.
Awenasa digs in her bag for one of the cakes that the oakman gave her. "Better that fey can't make sleep." She looks at it for a moment before taking a hesitant bite. She expected it to taste like the moss it resembled and was fully prepared to plug her nose and swallow quickly if the taste was too unpleasant.
Awenasa grimaced as she bit down into the green, mossy cake but is soon surprised. The texture isn't soft or slimy at all, but crisp and clean. Even better the flavor isn't what she imagined at all. Instead of gritty mud or bitter green, the cake tastes like fresh cut spearmint. The tingling sensation is a pleasant surprise, and it even drives back the stinking rot smell for a bit. It sends a chill down her back, filling her muscles with fresh vigor.
Feeling fresh and clean, Awenasa leads the others toward the ring of massive mushrooms. They reach it quickly enough, no longer sneaking as quietly. The music fills the air around them, that same lively tune that begs to be danced to. Still, despite the quick melody Awenasa doesn't note anything overly magical...yet.
Then, after a pause to catch her breath, Awenasa boldly steps out into the mushroom ring. In an instant the music stops mid-note, and the glowing magical dancers flare into brilliance to so bright, the Shoanti must shield her eyes. Then they vanish, leaving the clearing much darker and dismal, a plain of churned mud and leaves.
The fey woman though seems to not notice, as she stands up and peeks over the air of the massive oaken chair, looking like a child princess playing on her mother's throne. Her bright eyes seem to gleam in the dark as she stares at Awenasa and her friends.
Then she grins, revealing pointed teeth.
"Do you come to join the dance?" She says, her voice musical and rich, nearly vibrating with life and revelry. "I can restart the music!"
But she smiles knowingly and adds, "Or do you want something else?"
If Awenasa is honest with herself, she half closes her eyes as she steps into the mushroom ring expecting calamity. Even though she looks bold in her movement, part of her expects to be stuck by lightning or worse...forced to dance. She's glad that she's already squinting as the painfully bright light causes her to take the further action of shielding her eyes to prevent her sight from being affected.
She looks around in surprise as the clearing that had been free of debris and looked so beautiful a moment before is replaced with mud and leaves. However, the fey's throne remains and Awenasa observes it with naked curiosity.
The Shoanti blurts, "No, no!" as the thought of being forced to dance makes her insides twist in dread, "Something else. Will you listen?"
"You are not here to dance?" The fey woman says, pouting a bit. Awenasa notes a few motes of light floating above, like blue fireflies, circling the little clearing.
"Let me guess, let me guess!" The fey says suddenly, jumping down off the wooden throne and onto the ground. She makes a very loud squelching sound on the muddy ground, but she doesn't seem to mind.
"You are here to...bring presents!" She guesses, clapping her hands. The floating lights jump and flicker. "Bright jewels and tasty fruit! Jumping jackrabbits and swimming snakes?"
Barely a moment passes, "No! You are here to paint me! To look upon my beauty and work into into art." She smiles and Awenasa is struck that the fey really is quite beautiful, if in a painful way. Radiant skin, elegant features, perfect limbs. It would be easy to imagine an artist trekking many miles to see here.
Then the horned woman holds up her long hair in a seductive fashion, rolling a shoulder. "Or perhaps you wish to worship in a...intimate way?" She giggles while Perey actually blushes and turns away. Adsu seems unmoved however, face set in a hard stone.
Awenasa's brow furrows in consternation, "None those. Came to stop rot from destroying Shadow Stream. If you know what happening, please tell us how to stop it."
Based on the previous conversation she had had with the oakman and her companions, she is hesitant to outright accuse the fey woman even though she is pretty sure she is the cause. However, what the Shoanti didn't know was if she was doing it maliciously or it was a side-effect of her dancing. Until she knows, Awenasa resigns herself to speaking with the fey even though she found it difficult and frustrating.
The fey woman pouts again as Awenasa turns down her various advances and not-so subtle hints for gifts. She frowns and says, "This is your language, why do you speak it so funny? You sound silly or is that how you are supposed to speak it?"
She pulls a mock serious face and says, voice mockingly deep, "Me here, make place like home. Ho, very serious." The fey falls into giggles and laughter that sound as sweet as falling rain...or was it as sharp as shards of ice?
"Or should we try a different language?" She says, smiling again, "සමහර විට ෆේගේ පුදුම දිව?"
The strange words are flowing and free, as if somehow re-shaping themselves even as Awenasa's ear tries to hear them. It is the aural equivalent of quicksilver. Perey looks confused but Adsu's face darkens.
"I know those words, witch." the druid says, voice hard. "ඔබේ දවස් එක හා සමාන නොවන්න!"
The fey's smile slips and she takes a step back, looking offended. She points to Adsu and looks at Awenasa, "He just insulted me! Are you going to stand here and let him call me names?! Do something and maybe I'll help you save whatever the Shadow Stream is."
Pouting again she takes a seat on the wooden throne, legs crossed, watching pointedly. "I think a nice beating would suffice."
Awenasa's eyes narrow as the fey woman makes fun of her speech that takes so much effort for her. Her frustration erupts in a tirade of colourful language in her native Shoanti tongue. She runs through every possible swear or curse she has ever heard all of the Shoanti people use during her young life. Her fists ball at her sides throughout her verbal catharsis. Finally she says through clenched teeth in Common, "Not my language."
The confusion on the warrior's face mirrors that on Perey's face as the fey and Adsu exchange what she assumes are words. "You do magic. Witches do magic. He speak truth. You insulted by word 'witch'?"
Awenasa motions all around her, "This is Shadow Stream. Supposed to be more green, less brown. More life, less death."
Perey's eyebrows go up with each curse until finally his eyes go wide and his ears scarlet. Of everyone in the conversation he is the only one hearing Awenasa appalling language. He starts choking in embarrassment and secret delight when Awenasa gets to the very diverse and colorful Shoanti vocabulary involving questionable sexual practices....
Finally she runs out of steam and words, and lapses back into Common. Perey is still looking shell-shocked, blinking very slowly. "Wow..." he finally mutters, "You'll have to teach me some of those. What on Golarion does daughter of a...." he pauses, glances at the others and shuts up.
The fey looks confused before replying, "Witch? I care not for that, human woman. As you said, I am a powerful witch, if witch I am. No, it is what he said in my tounge, the language of the true fey. He said I am a defiler of his holy place and I should go back to the Abyss."
She eyes him then deliberately sticks out her pink tounge at him, looking for all the world like a spoiled child (not that the Shoanti had many spoiled children).
"Like I said, I want you to beat him. If you do, I'll help you with whatever you want. I'll even leave, if that is what you want. Obviously this is the abode of rude people."
Awenasa still looks confused because it seems like such an insignificant thing to require a beating, You want me to beat because he lie or because he tell truth?"
Shaking her head she adds, "No matter. How much do I beat him and how I know you leave when I do?"
Adsu suddenly turns and, to Awenasa's surprise says in very broken Shoanti, "You not serious. Woman crazy!"
Perey breaks into a laugh and says in Shonati, "Clearly we all need language lessons."
Adsu's face grows red but he goes on, "Awenasa you...listen to fey woman? Beat me?"
Meanwhile the fey woman watching off this with attentiveness regally announces, "I do not ask for much, just for such rudness to be punished I will settle for..." A dramatic pause as she sweeps her hands in front of her like a priest offering judgement, "A single broken bone."
Perey, of all people, rubs his china nd says in Shoanti, "That isn't a bad trade. A single broken bone in exchange for your home back. I could even heal it for you. Only hurt for a second."
Adus's eyes blaze so hot, Awenasa expects to see fire. Clearly this plan wasn't of his liking.
Awenasa's jaw drops as she is overcome by surprise hearing her own language coming from Adsu. But instead of apologizing, she shoots back defensively in her own language, "If saving the Plateau meant that I had to take a beating, I would gladly do it. I thought you'd feel the same way about your home."
Her attention is drawn back to the gorgeous fey woman as she changes her mind from a beating to asking for a broken bone.
She turns to Adsu expecting a nod of agreement and is surprised a second time to see such anger burning in his eyes.
The Shoanti warrior plays the fey's words over in her head to make sure she understands before reiterating the terms of their deal, "A single broken bone and you leave here, leave Shadow Stream."
Awenasa waits for the fey woman to give her word before doing anything further.
As soon as the fey woman gives her royal assent, Awenasa grabs the pinky finger on her left hand and breaks it cleanly. She had listened carefully and the fey woman had never specified whose bone needed to be broken. She grunts in pain and then says through gritted teeth, "A single broken bone. Now you leave. Deal is deal."
The fungus twined woman watches Awenasa very carefully when she offers up the deal.
"If you break a bone, as I said, I will leave this place." She grins and hops back up on the throne and adds, "Cross my heart and hope to die." Elegant fingers cross her full chest and (with a wink to a still blushing Perey) goes on, "Whatever 'die' means. Now do it, break his bones!"
Instead of pounding Adsu into the ground, Awenasa instead grabs a finger roughly. A loud cracking sound fills the air as the warrior deliberately breaks a finger. it hurts. A lot actually. The Shoanti are not the mindless blood-ravaged warriors of lowland myths, who sleep on hard stone and impale themselves with iron hooks. That said, the Shoanti are a hard people and physical pain (of some kind) is not an unknown part of mystical rituals. Still, her entire hand throbs with pain, and her eyes water a bit.
The fey looks confused for a moment then her eyes go wide. "You cheated!" She shrieks, jumping up and down on the throne, "You cheated! I said break his bones, his bones! " She points a finger at Adsu who, face still red, looks very confused but seems to slowly realize Awenasa isn't about to break his face. Perey grins.
Meanwhile the fey is still, literally, hopping mad. "You lied, you lied!" Suddenly, to Awenasa's horror, a blue fire seems to flicker around the angry woman, an aura of dancing fire. It shimmers brightly apparently unnoticed. Yet it does scorch the wooden chair somewhat, blackening the weathered chair.
Suddenly she stops, almost mid-jump. The fire flares then dies. She turns an exquisitely face toward Awenasa, very calm and cool. "Fine. You win, human. I will leave this place. It was boring anyway. But I don't think that will be the end of your troubles. Good bye and...good luck!"
There is a hazy flicker, like the air over a hot rock, and then she is gone. Vanished entirely.
A long moment of silence. "Well, that wasn't so bad." Perey ventures, gingerly looking around.
Then another flicker and the nymph's head re-appears, as if glancing around an invisible door. Grinning she says, "Have fun with my....pet."
There is a long, low growl from the cave at the edge of the mushroom clearing.
Awenasa begins to regret her decision as the fey's anger starts to burn, literally. Watching the blue fire with trepidation causes her to forget about the pain radiating from her hand.
The abrupt change of mood leading to the nymph's departure brings emotional relief to the Shoanti. She has a feeling that they just dodged a fight they couldn't win.
Her body tenses again as she expects the worst when the fey's head reappears. The growl makes it clear that they are still going to be punished by the fey in some manner. Her throbbing hand reminds her that fighting whatever emerges from the cave will be even more difficult. She can tell that it's beginning to swell but that also won't keep her from doing what she needs to.
The fey gives Awenasa a wink and then disappears around the invisible doorframe. There is the briefest shimmer and then...she is gone. The air suddenly feels lighter, the cloying smell of rot lessening. Whatever magic the fey nymph had been behind, it seemed to be fading. Awenasa manages to enjoy this for a second before the ground starts to tremble.
Earthquake? They were not unknown on the Stroval Plateau, particularly near the active volcanos but no, this was not an earthquake. Out of the corner of her eye Anweasa sees one of the massive mushrooms ringing the clearing start to sway. Then the others start to shift, like trees bending in a high wind. Without warning there is a soft ripping sound as one of the mighty stalks, many feet across suddenly tears apart and the entire fungus topples. The huge plant falls with sudden speed, slamming into the muddy ground with enough force to make Awenasa stumble. In moments all of the mushrooms are doing the same, the gigantic ring crumbling away in moments.
Mud splashes everywhere, and there is a blinding cloud of fungal dust as the mushrooms shred on impact. Awenasa barely manages to keep her feet as the flat level clearing is suddenly an uneven patchwork of fallen mushrooms, gouged craters and heaps of earth.
Just as she is taking in this dramatic change in the landscape, a figure emerges from the pure black of the cave. It is saurian humanoid covered in pale, sickly white scales. The beast is draped with with worn, bloodstained rags, that hang over muscled limbs. It grips a jagged spear as a trail of saliva begins leaking through rows of yellowed, eager fangs. Pink eyes seem to gleam in the dim light.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16m5NHBNacAESm4JsUXulDQE2hBPOebD31Pe DNm7ghvQ/edit?usp=sharing
Awenasa stretches out her arms to help with her balance as the ground shifts and heaves below her. In a matter of seconds, what once was a perfectly round clearing now looks like a battlefield.
Her eyes slowly widen as the creature emerges from the cave. It looks nothing like any pet she had ever seen before but fey were very peculiar. And even though Awenasa had seen lizards on the Plateau, they were nothing like the creature that emerges. Her head swivels between Perey and Adsu, "Either you know what that is? How best to kill it?"
Perey merely shrugs, "A lizard man?" Adsu also shakes his head but he adds, "It is all white...like cave creatures. Perhaps it is from under the earth?"
The beast pointed the its long muzzle toward the sky and howled, yellowed spit flying into the air. Then it looked down, directly at Awenasa and broke into a run, spear held low and strong. It's thick legs seemed very powerful and strong.
Awenasa gives Perey an exasperated look, "I see it a lizard man. Wanted something more than what can see with eyes."
She finds Adsu's comment more helpful but she isn't sure she can do anything about it. "Too bad we don't have bright light. Creatures live in dark don't like light."
However, there is no more time to ponder or plan as the fey's pet howls and charges. Awenasa enters warrior mode as her eyes fix on the running reptile. She takes stock of the battle ground and figures that running along the mushroom stalk would allow her to cover more ground faster than charging over the uneven ground. It would also give her the advantage of being above the creature, allowing her to drop down on it.
One moment Awenasa is standing beside Perey and Adsu, the next moment she launches herself into the air and slightly to the left to land on the 10ft high mushroom stalk. With barely a hesitation she runs along the stalk, preparing to jump the small gap to the next mushroom.
Awenasa muscles tense and then she virtually throws herself into the air. In a blur of color she vaults up onto the closest fallen fungi. With a soft crunch she lands on the mushroom, her feet sinking in a inch or so into the white flesh. Still, it doesn't slow her down as she sprints toward the roaring lizard. The Shoanti proves her name is not given in vain as she nears the end of her mushroom and jumps again, making her way to the next. Wind blows back her hair, and the breeze feels fresh and clean after the clinging heat and stink the Rot. It is just like jumping boulders back home, expect the soft landings are easier on her ankles.
In moments she is much closer to the creature, fists balled, ready to fight. She glances back and is confused. Perey is...gone? Had the scrawny man run off? Adsu meanwhile is pulling out a sling and loading it. Clearly the druid intended to keep a distance. So that meant Awenasa would have to fight this beast alone.
Good.
The lizard man roars, shaking his spear. He darts into a sprint of his own, feet churning out dead leaves. In a moment he throws himself into the air with a roar, landing at the far end of Awenasa's current perch. Without pause the creature rushes toward Awenasa. The monk braces for impact, feet digging into the moldy fungus, shoulder braced....and then the lizard jumps again.
The lizard gets within five feet of Awenasa before vaulting over her, easily clearing her. However, as he jumps past, his spear swings down in a viscous arc.
Awenasa just manages to jerk her head out of the way of the jagged weapon, the tip only cutting some hair. The lizard hisses and lands on a different mushroom, growling. Clearly it considers the high ground its own advantage.
Awenasa grudgingly admires the skill shown by the beast as it to takes to the air to run along the mushrooms. Had she been more vain, the loss of some of her hair would have upset her. Instead her focus is solely on the beast.
She launches herself at the lizard with her foot going first and aimed at its chest.
The monk’s foot connects solidly with the beast’s chest which she follows up with two hits to each side of its neck with her hands. As she makes contact she uses her forward momentum to twist her body in the air to land on the other side of the lizard.
Awenasa is impressed by the lizardman's agility and speed, even if it does not match her own. For she is a warrior, bred and born among the strongest and toughest people in Golarion. How many hours had she spent under the tutelage of Shoanti raiders and warriors? How many endless drills and training sessions? For her, this was merely another test, one Awenasa was very well trained for.
The monk took a breath and threw herself across the gap, feet outstretched. She sailed just past the obviously surprised beast, one foot lashing out and striking his head. Even as the lizardman howled in confusion and pain, Awenasda landed just behind him. Without pause she launched into a devastating combination of punches.
One blow misses, landing on hardened scales but another finds his throat. Awenasa feels it crunch under her iron-hard hands, bones cracking. The lizardman nearly falls off the mushroom as he staggers back, his hiss now sounding weak and broken. But the yellow eyes are undaunted. Awenasa also notes something else. Was it a trick of the light or did the lizardman seem stronger, his muscles having grown since her attack? Or was the reptile just angry?
From below a stone whizzes past at high speed, a blur in the air. It just misses the creature who ducks with cat-like reflexes. Below Adsu curses and re-loads his sling. No sign of Perey.
The lizard man lowers his shoulders and charges directly at Awenasa, fast as lighting on the plains. Instead of using his spear however, this time the albino opens a set of toothy fangs.
The teeth slash Aweana's left shoulder to red ribbons, and then the lizard pushes past her, bounding like a swamp frog. He hops, once and then twice, ending up several mushrooms away. He turns and faces Awenasa, as if expecting her to cross again toward him.
Awenasa half grunts and half gasps as searing pain radiates through her shoulder. However, she doesn't have the luxury to consider her injury as she watches her opponent bound away and then turn to face her as if to taunt her. Since she isn't about to give up, she pushes aside the pain and jumps after the white lizard.
From below, it almost appears like Awenasa flies on the wind as she jumps after her quarry. As she lands beside the reptile, she attempts to deliver a devastating punch but her arm spasms with pain and she misses her mark.
Awenasa makes the leaps with little difficulty, her inner wellspring of magic fueling her. She had no idea where it came from or why she and it, but that internal vigor had never failed her yet. With the speed of the passing winds, she jumped from one mushroom to another, chasing her quarry.
Hitting him however, proves to be harder. Awenasa's own body betrays her with a spasm at the wrong moment. The lizardman hisses with apaprent laughter before launching into a counter-attack.
Which is interrupted when the mushroom stalk below them is suddenly covered in slippery grease! Out of the corner of her eye Awenasa spots Perey flash into view. Her attention is brought back to herself however, as both her and the lizard start to slip and slide.
In a moment, both of them slide down onto the muddy ground. However, Awenasa falls to the left, away from Perey and Adsu while the lizardman slips to the right. In a blur of motion Awenasa losses her footing and topples off the fallen fungus. She slams into the mucky earth with a wet splat, face-first. The toxic sludge tastes far worse then it smelt.
Peering up, she is alone, separated from the others by the wall-like fungus. She heard Perey scream.
Awenasa spits the horrid filth out of her mouth as she pushes herself to her feet. She glances around to get her bearings and soon realizes that she can’t see anyone.
Perey’s scream spurs her to action. There is no way that he would be able to hold his own against the white lizard. She briefly contemplates jumping back up onto the mushroom to get a better view but remembers that the mushroom is now slippery. Instead she propels herself through the rotten vegetation to get around the fallen mushroom, following the sound of Perey’s scream.
Awenasa darted around the heaping mound of fallen fungus, feet churning up the wet sludge of the clearing. A whiff of the Rot scent fills her nose, making her stomach heave, but the Shoanti has no time for that. Her friends, a fellow clan member, is in trouble!
In moments she rounds the obstacle, catching up with what has happened. The lizardman, spear still in hang, is standing over a prone Perey. The smaller man has a bloody wound on his chest, a blotch of red running through his clothes. He is still conscious, staring up at the bright white reptile with fear. Oddly, the lizard has a wound of his own, blood running down his neck from his...ears? What had happened there?
No time for that. Adsu drops his sling, raises his hands and speaks some arcane word. Ahead of him the air starts to shimmer and warp, as if consumed with a great heat. In a moment a blazing sphere of fire bursts into life, crackling, roiling flames. At a gesture from the druid, the ball starts to roll toward the lizardman. The heat makes the soggy ground sizzle and boil, as wet leaves smoulder and catch. It doesn't quite reach the albino lizard, but the reptile recoils from the approaching flame.
The Shoanti warrior takes stock of the scene before her as she rounds the mushroom. Once this was all over, she definitely has some questions for Perey and Adsu.
Taking advantage of whatever had hurt the white lizard and Adsu's conjuring of fire, Awenasa rushes forward through the muck and throws her arms around the albino. She pins his arms to his sides in an iron grip.
She lifts him slightly and tilts to her left, unbalancing him in the process. She then half drops, half pushes him into the fire that Adsu had created.
Awenasa wrestles with the lizard, digging her feet into the slippery earth for purchase. Quick as a snake, the Shoanti throws her arms around the albino, pinning its taloned arms with a grip of steel. Wrestling was a honored Shoanti pastime and more then one personal grudge had been settled by who could pin who in the ground fastest. Awenasa had been one of the best. In moments the fey's 'pet' is desperately trying to bite the grappling human. To Aweaasa's alarm, the albino seems to have grown even stronger since she saw it last, as if it was engorging itself on it's own pain. Awenasa had seen Shoanti warriors do this, during battle rages.
The lizard spins in Awenasa's grip, not trying to break away but merely bring his teeth to bear down on her shoulder. The creature succeeds and tears a chunk out of her arm, blood flying everywhere. The albino's teeth are razor sharp and Aweanasa can feel them grating on her bones. Sweat springs from both of them, as they wrestle desperately right next to Adsu's magical flames. Awenasa can see rage and hate reflecting in her foe's glassy eyes.
But she does not give up her hold. Long training has accustomed her to pain, and even as her nerves writhe, she can hear old Stone-With-Feet, once the greatest wrestler in her clan, whispering.
Never break your hold
With a wrench she sets her back, tightens her grip and throws her weight against him. Just as they both start to topple, she breaks the hold, unsteadying the lizard. With a howl he falls toward the fire, tailing thrashing.
The creature falls into the flames, the heat instantly searing his skin. His tattered rags catch fire instantly, throwing up dark smoke. He howls, a deep painful sound before springing back toward Awenasa. His leads with his now burning spear!
The burning wood sinks into Awenasa's side with a painful hiss of sizzling blood, like a skewer into raw meat. The pain is unbearable and her vision fuzzes white for a moment. After she shakes her head she sees the lizard has, once again, regained the high ground, still smoking.
However, looking closely, she can see it is hurt. Badly, limping partially. The thing was tough, but not invincible. But how lone could [i]she[/b] hold out?
Perey, groaning with pain, rolls over to her with a wet plop. Still lying on the ground, bleeding he reaches out a hand. Why? What did he want, didn't he see she was fighting-
He touches her leg and a surge of healing magic pulses out.
It isn't much, only healing the worse of her injures but it helps, and gives the Shoanti new vigor.