Kellen will look over the party, holding up his hand for a moment before they proceed. Spirits watch over these men, arm them, and guide their steps. I can neutralize one poison today if needed....
The rings of rose bushes marked the edge of the broad clearing. Between the two rings stood ancient trees, clearly meticulously cared for by someone or something. The trail ended right at the beginning of a path that led through the paired rings of rosebushes toward the clearing in the middle where the stone monoliths stood.
Heightened Awareness on Daymar: Duration 60 Minutes; +2 to Perception (total +14) and Trained Knowledge checks. Can instantly dismiss spell to gain +4 on Initiative roll.
Prot:Evil on PCs (not Daymar): Duration 3 minutes; +2 to AC and Saves vs. Evil, immune to any new attempts to possess or exercise mental control by evil, and prevents bodily contact by evil summoned creatures.
While Kellen took a few moments to bless the party, Daymar did the same, in his own fashion, and then looked carefully around the clearing, seeking out threats of ambush.
+3 vs traps
Levn cleared his throat. "We should make an offering to the wise and powerful beings of this place," he announced loudly. "Only the finest spirits for the spirits, yes?"
He withdrew his flask of cheap human whiskey from within his vest as he took a good look around, ostensibly to find the best place for his "offering."
"Assuming they're here? It'd be a pity to waste something so fine," he said with exaggerated concern.
Bas didn't see it as out of place, but Levn was suspicious of the vine snaking across the path.
Also, Levn knows roseblood sprites can take the shape of rose bushes and this garden is surrounded by rose bushes.
The little scout was caught off-guard by the trap as the thorny vine cut into his leg and pulled him off his feet.
Levn gulped, realization spreading across his face even as Bas was yanked off his feet. "On second thought, this surely isn't a fine enough offering for such magnificent nature spirits! Are any of you carrying anything better?" He walked over to Bas as he spoke, but caught Kellen and Day's eyes. He jerked his head minutely at the bushes meaningfully, making a face that was clearly trying to communicate... something.
In fact, his longtime companions - and even Alfric and Bas - could read him like a book. The foes they were here to encounter were all around them - the rose bushes!
Alfric realized what Levn was trying to communicate and carefully didn't react.
Stepping forward, he called up to Basdemar; "Need a hand Bas?"
As the snare pulled him off his feet, little dragon twisted. But his race is known for their traps and flashes of terrible poisons, self-tightening wires and similar unpleasantness caused him to hesitate for the crucial moment it took the trap to close fully.
"I really should have seen it, such maintained garden couldn't have a loose vine accidentally. Serves me right, Mikmek would have a field day with this.
Yes, help, please."
Kellen will move to the center of the group, so that he can bring his longspear to point on whichever bush turns out to be a fey creature in disguise. Well Bas, while you're up there, see anything useful? the shaman continues the charade, knowing they could be already surrounded.
Alfric uses his lance to reach out and cut above where the vine loops around Bas' foot.
The group quickly freed Bas from the vine, then stood in the middle of the rosebush hedge.
From where he stood at the back of the party, Daymar "wiggled his fingers" again, and began to scan the area near the path, his mind seeking for betraying thoughts of enemies...
The Green Knight knelt and looked carefully at the ground; checking for tracks, where they went and what made them.
Levn rummaged through his pockets, ostensibly searching for a proper offering, while in reality listening hard for some kind of communications from the fey.
In round 2, he identifies 4 minds of Int 13 intelligence. There are 2 on each side of the path. Let's say each of the red splotches on the hedge walls on the sides of the path leading north from C1 are where he detects the minds.
In round 3, he detects curiosity and a little malicious glee at the idea that these stupid humans (including elves, half-elves, and kobolds in that idea) would be dumb enough to intrude on their domain.
After a quarter of a minute or so, Daymar spoke. "Two on each side of the path," he said, his voice pitched low. "They think we're stupid. And also human. Which, quite frankly, says more about their own level of ignorance than anything else. Clearly it is an ambush, and clearly they are neither very smart nor very tactically sound. It should be a simple matter to trip the ambush and then turn it."
Daymar caught Levn's eye, then raised his voice, "There is no sense in being over-cautious, my friends! Clearly that pitiful snare was the best the limited minds of whoever intended to protect this place could come up with. An ineffective effort from addled brains, at best. We should move on."
"I will go onward. You can deal with things that don't kill me."
Bas nods to Alfric in thanks and flips up to his feet.
Noting the positions suspected to be fey, Bas glides on the balls of his clawed feet on the path toward said patch
"I will not step on any other vine." he says loudly, nodding wisely
Alfric started to point out the tracks and where they led, when Bas began to step forward.
Bas moved north to the edge of the clearing and waited for the others to catch up. The fey, remarkably patient given the situation, didn't do a damn thing to stop him in spite of the tension in the air. The rings of rose bushes gave way to five towering stone monoliths, each rising from a
crimson pool, and a trio of ancient oaks shading nearly the entire clearing with their branches. Nestled in the center of these trees and monoliths was a spiraling staircase descending into the earth.
Basdemar stands at the edge of the monolith circle.
"We come here to negotiate peace. I am unarmed. And I understand good trap and joke. Show yourself!"
Kellen drops Clumsyfoot's reins so the warhorse stays put, and looks at the others shrugging and nodding to follow the kobold deeper into the trapped area and ambush. Kellen certainly will not be first, but is ready when the others are to advance.
The only response to Bas's greeting was the sound of wind rustling the leaves of the trees.
Picking up on Daymar's look, Levn cast an appraising eye over the scene. Bas was out ahead of them... but the slippery kobold could probably handle anything that might pop out. Right?
Elbowing Kellen, Levn raised his voice as well. "Oh, wait - are these flower fey? I thought they were powerful fey. My mistake. Yeah, let's keep moving. I'd hate to drop anything more valuable than a turd for these idiots. Can you believe that snare over there? It looked like a drunk goblin made it. Actually, goblins don't make anything that shoddy. Even drunk."
Seeing that Bas is trying some kind of parlay with whoever is concealed around them, The Green Knight held himself ready to advance to the rescue, or retreat as events unfolded.
Bas waits patiently (relatively speaking) - he fidgets, turns toward the rest of the group, hops from one foot to another - but is quiet and watchful, with his attention mostly focusing toward the menhirs
After about fifteen minutes of this sitzkrieg, The Green Knight gets restless. Pulling off his greathelm he looked around suspiciously, then hissed at Bas.
"Bas. Bas!" He hissed. "Why are we just sitting here?"
Bored, Bas answers immediately, hungry for a distraction
"We're waiting for someone to climb up those stairs and talk to us. It would look bad if we simply marched in, scorched this garden and took over the killers. This way, the lord of the place can administer his own justice or give us the killers. It is good for neighbor relations."
He starts walking back toward the group
"But I guess we need to do this hard way."
The wind whispered in the trees and ruffled the rose bushes leaves, the garden quite pleasant as the group waited for something to happen.
Daymar, though of the long-lived Elven race, lacked some of the patience of his kin.
"Burn the rose bushes down," he said, "start with that one." He pointed at the closer of the rose bushes that he could hear thinking. With a flick of his hand, a spark of fire flashed within the branches.
Daymar registered shock and surprise from a number of minds a heartbeat before the rosebush he lit on fire shimmered and shrank into the form of a small, beautiful, ivory skinned humanoid that looked every bit like a miniature elf. "The king will hear bout fire near our bless'd garden, fiend! Get thee hence, 'less ye'd have us flense the meat right from your bones!" The look on the sprite's face wasn't just anger, it was closer to pure rage as it beat out the small fire smoldering in its hair.
The other three suspected fey also shimmered into being, their beauty somewhat obscured by the expressions of unbridled anger at the idea of their roses being harmed and the deadly-looking bows they held in their hands.
"Finally! It's amazing how stubborn fey can be. I literally had to set your hair on fire to get you to be even marginally polite and start a conversation. If this is your garden, you're doing a terrible job of acting as hosts."
Daymar "listened" carefully to see what thoughts his deliberate use of the term "hosts" brought forth.
"No hosts are we to mortals be intruding on our court." The spokesman smirked and glanced at the other roseblood sprites as if to say 'who does this guy think he is?'. "Tell of invitations or present solicitations, else claims of guest-right be nought."
"I claim nothing," Daymar said with equal disdain. "Other than your lack of courtesy thus far. The path you left from the scene of your murderous activities of several days ago was so blatantly obvious that it could have been nothing other than an invitation to whoever found it to follow it here. Because surely no self-respecting fey would have left so sloppy and obvious a trail by accident. I struggle to believe that any fey could have left a more obvious trail if they were trying. There is a certain minimal level of talent inherent in the very blood, after all."
Daymar leveled his gaze at the spokesman with a guileless smile. "So, which is it? Did you invite us here, or are you actually that incompetent? If the former, then you owe us guest-right and an explanation of your behavior."
At the appearance of the fey and their visible anger, Basdemar reacts as if the confrontation is inevitable. After all, Daymar is provoking them from the start.
His crest risen, his wings flare behind him as he flexes his claws and bares his teeth in an unmistakably threatening manner.
The spokesfey took a step closer to Daymar. "What's this? Dare mortals be so churlish? Do you bite your thumb at us, feyling? We dare not bear such insult here, not on doorstep of our king." He glanced at his companions, all of whose complexions darkened visibly at the insufferable insult.
Kellen watches the exchange between Daymar and the fey escalate quickly, but doesn't have much to add, instead shooting a glace over at Levn to see if he could defuse the situation with the precarious fey, and their archaic usage of language. Churlish? Is it not churlish to slay our fellows in their beds as you have done? then, realizing he isn't helping either, stops talking.
Levn raised his hands in a soothing gesture. "Has there been some misunderstanding between our peoples? We have come to redress grievances on behalf of the living and the dead, and seek only to know if we have found those responsible for their demise... and perhaps hear their side of the story. Who is it that we address now?"
+ additional 3 if this counts as gathering info
The Green Knight stepped forward.
"After all, the word of the fey cannot be in doubt; of course they will hear us out." Averred Alfric.
The spokesfey turned toward Sir Alfric, his expression slightly mollified. "At last! A man who has a civil tongue!" The roseblood sprite gave the Green Knight a small bow. "You speak with humble Nock, watcher over the King's garden from first crow of the cock."
"Sir Knight, now you know to whom you speak. Might a simple guardsman have your name to avoid further pique?"