Felitcia entered the saloon right behind Alice, since she'd set Alice down being the last one whose lap she had been on, and looked around the place. She wasn't thinking about it but Felitcia was slipping intot eh role of Jane West and looking for trouble. Her body language had shifted to be more confident and almost intimidating if not for her smooth and pretty face.
"We saw the want add back in teh capital and are lookin ta help with th' problem." Her tone of voice and inflections had shifted to fit the character tood as she made her own statement. "Do you know who we need to speak with regardin this job."
The bartender raises an eyebrow at Felitcia's strange manner of speaking. "Mayor Jervis is offering a reward. You can find him at the town hall."
Richards nods, "Thank you. We'll seek him out."
Alice is quite taken by Felitcia’s play-acting. Oh! That must be a 21st-century rendition of the 19th-century American accent! My, American women are even more intimidating than a warrioress like Siobhan… at least in terms of demeanor.
Siobhan has an unmistakable kindness, though giving it thought, Alice expects the goat-horned men will see things differently.
She uses Prestidigitation to form a cup she can dip into the shot glass, and what little she takes, she sips slowly. Her luminous skin flushes immediately.
Jed lunges at his drink like a dying man given water. He is still mostly mumble-verbal, but given his level of attachment to the drink, it should hopefully be helpful.
Felitcia realized from the strange look she got over her accent that she was falling into a trained speech pattern again and shrugged slightly and said, "Thanks," when handed the drink. She took a sip and found it acceptable, it wasn't her usual drink of choice but they probably didn't know how to make that here anyway.
"Alright, we'll do that. If we need accomodations for the night would that be here or is there an inn in town," Felitcia asked with a raised eyebrow before taking another sip.
”Got rooms here for you, free if you have the mayor’s blessing,” the bartender says.
After finishing your drinks, you head across the square to town hall to speak to the mayor. The elderly, balding Mayor Jervis still has an air of nobility about him, though it seems to be fabricated and his sense of self-importance grossly inflated. Nevertheless, the man shakes your hands when you tell him you are here to deal with the fey. ”Splendid! The reward is 100 gold for handling the fey problem. And, since you impressed Horacio so much in Oppara, I’m willing to let you make use of one of the town’s treasures during your task—a cold iron battleaxe wielded by the great Lord Sehir Bourtze himself, who fought the Qadiran hordes.”
He retrieved the finely crafted weapon and offers it to you reverently.
Alice looks at the big deadly hunk of metal. Cold iron? It’s obviously not for herself.
She asks the mayor, “Any chance the whereabouts of the friendly fey are known? There were pixie pranksters and helpful brownies. I expect the horned ones are… where this axe might, well… if they force our hand.” Gesturing to Siobhan, she notes, “Hers especially, if it comes to that.”
Not wanting to focus on potential goatman-slaughter, she goes back to “The friendly fey, pixies, brownies… the ones we assuredly will not chop with axes and such. How did your townsfolk arrange meetings and whatnot? I mean, was there a stated agreement, ‘will work for milk,’ or was a loaf left in a basket next to a shoe in need of repair, or?” Rather than exhaust every imaginable scenario, Alice allows the mayor opportunity to get a word in.
Siobhan's heart skips a beat at the mention of a cold iron axe.
She takes the axe and gives it an appreciative look.
"At first, they just started showing up," the mayor says. "Once their presence was established, leaving out offerings would sometimes cause them to appear. But ever since the attack on the wagon, the good-natured faeries haven't been seen around town."
Siobhan ponders how to best lure faeries out of hiding...
Alice wonders, If I could attract a prince, how hard can it be to attract a fairy?
Most good-natured fey like brownies appreciate offerings of milk, fruit, and trinkets, but especially wine! A bottle of sweet berry wine left on a windowsill is sure to draw a fairy, if there are any in the area.
Alice asks the mayor, “Might you or the tavern-master have a bottle of sweet berry wine? That should surely attract a fairy.” Hmm… I’ve been partial to berries myself. Perhaps this means…
“I think it best I sit out with the wine, and two glasses, both poured. A bowl of blueberries on the side would be quite lovely.” And the reason for her presence: “I suspect the smaller, kinder, gentler fey fear they will take the blame for the horned goatmen’s attack. My presence should hopefully alleviate any worry that the drink is a trap.
“It is most certainly a lure, but not a trap.” Alice only hopes the pixies and brownies are not in league with the goat men. Not likely, she tells herself. Benefit of the doubt, and all that.
"And if the goat-men come by and get any ideas, I'll be sure to... dissuade them." Siobhan taps the hilt of the cold iron axe.
You return to the Old Hitching Post, where the bartender provides you with the requested wine and berries. That night, once most of the townsfolk have gone to sleep, Alice sits on the stoop beside the offerings and waits.
It is just after midnight when the sorceress spies a small shape skulking through the streets. It pauses, peering around the corner of a building. A few moments later, it cautiously approaches. In the light of the moon, Alice can see it is a tiny woman, standing barely two feet tall. The faerie has wide, pupil-less black eyes and a wide, gap-toothed smile. She wears clothes made of leaves and holds a small blade behind her back.
"Are these... for me?" she asks shyly.
Alice slides off of the stoop, undeterred by the knife.
“My, even the fairies tower over me.”
She curtsies, and replies, “They are for us.”
“My name is Alice Pleasance Liddell. I heard there were fey about and so I wanted to meet one, and here you are. Your outfit is delightful. Perhaps I might try it on?”
She casts Restyle on herself, and is clad in a shoulderless leaf blouse and rosepetal skirt, tied at the waist with a spring green belt like the fine end of a grapevine (minus any grapes).
“It occurred to me mid-casting that matching your outfit entirely would be a faux pas, so I went with a thematic match instead. So then, might you accept my invitation to chat a bit over wine and berries?”
The faerie giggles and applauds when Alice changes her clothes. "Pretty! Call me Blossom! You has faerie magic, like me! And you is so smol and cute! Is you fairy? One of the Wingless?"
Blossom happily sits beside Alice on the stoop and begins plopping berries into her mouth, one after the other.
Felitcia was glad they had some information and something that would help them harm the things they had to deal with if needed. Even better Alice came up with a good plan to get more information. Much as Felitcia was curious to meet the fey that might be lured in she knew it would be best to let Alice handle this part herself as she would be far less threatening than Felitcia would be to a tiny being.
Wanting to be near in case something happened and Alice needed help Felitcia sat in a place nearby where she could feel Alice's presence through the wall and could tell if she needed help or not. Felitcia had been getting better at sensing her companion's presence and emotions through all of the noise and she felt it when Alice spotted the arriving fey. She wasn't sure if that is what it was but she suspected as much and so Felitcia said to any of her companions who were nearby, "I believe Allice has company."
Alice is about to correct the fairy, only… how would I convince her I’m human? I’m not sure I could even convince me?
“Me? A fairy? And I do lack wings, so… yes. A Wingless, that explains my state adequately.”
She claims a berry and does not expect she’ll have two, at the rate Blossom eats.
“So, Blossom, might you be among the fairies that were kindly helping the local cobblers? It’s okay if you aren’t. You fit that description, and do not fit the description of the goat-horned men who attacked a wagon.
“As a fellow fairy…” Alice pauses for a fraction of a second. She is not playing Blossom. Blossom has revealed a truth about the transformation. I am not a tiny human. I am as fey as the woman next to me. “…I’m not about to let the actions of a few ruin it for the rest of us. Even among goat-horned men, surely not all goat-horned men attack wagons.
“Any information you can give me would help the humans, and you as well.”
Mr. Carroll always knew when to stop a story. Right at the part when the listener has a question. She bears that in mind just as she’s about to blurt the benefit—and stifles herself. A question from Blossom would show she’s interested, whereas Alice might scare her off if she blathers on without pause.
Blossom nods between juicy mouthfuls. ”Aye. We brownies is honestest of faeries. We takes what we like but we always gives back in return. Make shoes, clean house, very kind, yes, very very kind!”
She pauses as she guzzles from the bottle of wine. She wipes her lips with the back of her hand and hiccups. ”The goaty men, they are not so nice. Satyrs. They does as they please. Most do not attack the humans, but these guys, they’s is a bad batch. Following orders of some other faerie. Don’t know her name, but she has scary spooky voice! Why attack humans, don’t know!”
Alice says, “Well, I think by giving me this helpful information, you’re earning this special treat of wine and berries! So… the satyrs are making trouble but under orders. And from a fairy. How sad… if she’s like you and me, it’ll give fairies like us a bad name.
“Do you know where I might find the satyrs? And Blossom… I won’t mention that you said anything, but will you be safe? I don’t want any of the bad fey to hurt you because you helped me.”
Alice is not playing the brownie. She is genuinely concerned.
Siobhan watches the proceedings from inside the inn, her axe at her side in case things turn ugly.
Blossom finishes off the last of the fruit and wine, showing her approval with a belch of epic proportions! ”You is sweet, Smol Alice! Sweet like wine! Travel north into the hills and look for a scratchy tree shaped like a pointy finger! The goaty-boys is hiding there! And take this as thanks for being so sweet! You flaps it to make a mighty wind!”
The brownie offers Alice a fan feather token, gives her a berry-juice stained kiss on the cheek, then scurries off into the night.
Alice remains seated and in shock at the reaction. “It was a great pleasure meeting you, Blossom.” She prays to Shelyn the brownie will be safe, but has a good feeling she will be.
She enters the saloon (under the door, again) with the gift clutched in both hands, and half her face covered in berry-kiss.
“I… am a fairy, according to… a fairy. Blossom. She was… informative.” Felitcia may be picking up other emotions flowing through Alice right now. These emotions might suggest ‘informative’ was not the word Alice was looking for.
”Oh. You’ve got a little shmutz on your face there,” Rachel says as Alice rejoins the group. She helps the sorceress up onto the table and wipes it away with a napkin.
”A fairy? Makes sense,” the oracle says. ”Wingless sprites are rare, but they have started to be seen more frequently lately, especially among adventurers.”
“Haha! I didn’t want to offend the fairy by wiping my cheek in front of her!”
Alice could cast Prestidigitation, but she lets Rachel help in her way.
As for the next course of action, “The location of the satyrs is marked by a pointy-finger tree. We might need the axe, though hopefully we need not kill. The living are better at talking, and… they took no lives when they attacks the wagon.”
"Hmm."
Siobhan nods. "When should we set out?"
Rachel stifles a yawn. "Well, seeing as it's after midnight, we should probably get a good night's sleep first! We can set out in the morning."
Felitcia felt Alice's flustered reaction to the berry kissed and giggled a bit when she saw the tiny woman enter the bar again. "I think you just got a girlfriend Alice, way to go." She watched Rachel lift Alice and clean off her face as she listened to the report of what Alice had learned.
Felitcia nodded in agreement when Rachel suggested they wait until morning. Felitcia stretched and yawned hugely as she agreed and said, "Yes, I need my beauty sleep after all." She rose and started to head to her room before looking back over her shoulder and saying, "Night." With that Felitcia headed to her room and quickly went to sleep.
Felitcia can feel Rachel's eyes on her when she stretches and starts to walk away. The oracle quickly glances away from the actress when she looks back, though, and she simply says, "Good night."
Alice’s skin glows almost as red as the (magically synthetic) rosepetal skirt she’s wearing.
”A girlwhat?”
On Earth, Alice had talked herself from the temptations of men, even the young prince! But the part of her that even thinks of men is gone, and has been since she had fallen into the rabbit hole.
“Oh. Yes, sleep. We need that. Not we we—the royal we—I—no, individually…” Is it possible Alice’s glow has become even redder? “Goodnight. That’s what I mean to say.”
Alice means to say no more as she heads to a room. Thoughts of being officially recognized as a fairy dance in her ’smol’ head. The feeling of the kiss from lips big enough to kiss half her face all at once is not forgotten. It is dwelled upon as Alice, in wonder, lands wingless-back-first on the center of a pillow.
Siobhan wordlessly settles into her room and turns in for the night.
The next morning, you muster yourselves and head out north from Old Sehir and into the Thistleridge Barrens. The plains give way to rolling hills with sparse vegetation, just a few scattered trees and several patches of brambles. Following the directions Blossom gave you, you walk for several miles, looking for a tree that looks like a grasping hand.
As you pass near a bramble patch, two tiny creatures suddenly leap out to confront you! These creatures' bodies are made up of prickly brambles woven with vines. Shaggy, mossy growth, not unlike hair, tops their heads. Their mouths are just canyons of splintered and broken sticks bisecting their faces. Leaves and sprigs of new growth randomly sprout from the creatures' bodies.
The creatures barely have touched down when Jed's gun goes off!
"Ha! And that's not even the worst of it!" The gun is already halfway to being reloaded as he has a sick grin on his face!
The gun goes off again!
Alice yelps. “Don’t you hurt my friends!”
“Um… or me.”
Jed's bullets rock one of the creature's back, but Alice's sparks set the wounded foe ablaze! It is weak to fire! It thrashes about angrily as it pats out the flames.
The creatures launch several splinters at Jed and Alice. The goblin takes two hits, while Alice gets impaled in the chest by one long splinter! Luckily, the other two aimed at her go wide.
"Alice!" Rachel cries as the little woman gets hit. The oracle casts a healing spell on her, followed by a bit of divine guidance.
Felitcia saw the twig creatures that attacked them and felt a wash of annoyance. More plants!? she thought. Yet again she was sure that her spells wouldn't be of any use so she pulled out her crossbow loaded it, aimed, and pulled the trigger at the worst injured of the two creatures.
Jed looks down slowly. "Is that blood? Am I bleeding? Wait, that's not supposed to happen." His little face twists in fear and anger as he reloads haphazardly.
"I'll get you good for that!"
Siobhan lunges at the creature that struck Alice!
“Yeeowch!!”
Alice ▶️ steps back (or strides if there’s no creature in strike distance).
With a wall of Siobhan before her, she hurls fire at a stick man!
Siobhan chops at one of the twig-men, landing a hit. These creatures don't seem particularly vulnerable to cold iron, though.
Richard moves in, pouring oil over his blade and striking it to ignite the liquid! He slices with the burning blade.
As the creature reels, Felitcia shoots it and takes it down! Jed shifts his aim to the remaining foe and shoots it, his glare leaving it shaken! Alice burns it with more fire!
The remaining creature launches more splinters at the wounded goblin, but only lands one hit!
Siobhan runs at the other creature to chop it into kindling!
Alice heals Jed!
“Careful, Jed!”
She then whips a flame at a stick man. Preferably a wounded one.
Felitcia saw one of the creatures go down to her bolt and quickly reloaded and fired at the other one.
While Richard misses with his strikes, Siobhan scores another hit with her axe. Rachel follows Felitcia's example, shooting the little twig man with her own crossbow bolt even as the actress scores another hit. Alice's spark is enough to finish off the creature, which falls, smoldering.
Alice holds up her hand that tossed the Sprite Spark, thumb and index extended to form a ‘hand-gun.’ She raises her index finger to puckered lips, as if to blow smoke.
“fff”
With the twin men fallen, Jed falls soon after them. He holds his bloodied gut with a trembling hand. "Ohhhh, oh man...don't know if I'm gonna make it..."
Siobhan looks down at Jed.
"Oh, you'll be alright. Rachel? Can ya do something for him?"