Alice asks Jed, “Please stay as you are.”
She walks onto his body as he is conveniently lying down and takes out her fairy-sized medical kit.
Rachel assists Alice in tending to Jed’s wounds. ”There, all patched up!”
Once you have recovered, you continue on. After another hour or so, you find the tree that Blossom mentioned. Indeed, it looks like a withered hand grasping up towards the sky.
The tree grows at the top of a hill, and there seems to be a small cave entrance at the hill’s base. A single satyr stands outside the cave, ostensibly keeping an eye out. But he seems more focused on the wineskin he is taking swigs from, so he does not immediately spot you approaching.
In ten minutes, she is tip top.
“Shall we try to chat with him?” Alice whispers.
"He's one of the ones harassing the town, right? I say we question him."
“Agreed.” Unless there is objection, Alice speaks to the goatman.
Alice does her best to enunciate in the odd tongue of the fey, and win over this beast with her British poise and propriety.
The satyr blinks and looks around when Alice starts talking. It takes him a few moments before he thinks to look down at the tiny woman. Once she has said her peace, the fey laughs good-naturedly.
He waves to the rest of you as you approach. "Ahoy, friends! Come, sit. Care for a drink or a song?" He waves the wineskin in one hand while patting a set of pipes at his belt with the other.
Alice is delighted by the reaction and translates the Sylvan bits.
”Curious. There seems to be some sort of mythological crossover between this world and Earth. This satyr matches the qualities of the the legends almost exactly.”
Though his hand crept to his bastard sword, he lowers it when the fey offers a drink and a song. ”A song, certainly. Maybe not a drink while there’s more to be done after this.”
He looks at the other party members, seeing their interest.
Felitcia was a bit surprised to actually see a goatman, she'd kind of thought it might be a metaphore not reality. Then again she probably should have expected it. The offer of a drink and a song was quite enticing but that just made her rather wary as this was a complete stranger and she wasn't ordering one. Last time she accepted an unsoliceted drink she nearly got ruffied!
"I think I agree with Richard, a song is interesting but I should pass on a drink," Felitcia said.
"A song and a drink, for sure. I'll take theirs too." Jed says in response to Richard's outlandish statement. "Finally, something here that doesn't just want to kill us!"
The satyr smiles as he hands his wineskin to Jed. He then raises the pan pipes to his lips. He begins to play a lovely melody that fills your hearts with joy! Alice can't help but smile as she looks upon the fey, while Jed, Rachel, and Richard seem completely enthralled by the satyr. Felitcia and Siobhan, however, remain unmoved by the music.
Felitcia realized quickly what had just happened and snapped her fingers seeral times in a z like pattern as she said, "Oh no you didn't just enspell them!" She lashed out with her powers at the goatman's mind attempting to daze him.
"Ouch!" the satyr yelps, wincing as Felitcia's spell gives him a painful mental buzz. "I can't help it, love! My music just moves people sometimes, is all! We're all friends here, aren't we? No harm has come to them, as I promised."
Rachel steps over and puts a hand on Felitica's arm. "Hey, this guy is cool. Maybe we should all just relax..."
"Never attack a man o' the music, bad luck." Jed mumbled grumpily. He tosses a pair of silver coins to the musical goat-man. "Pardon the missus, most things we've run into tend to want our necks."
Felitcia decided that one jolt was enough and made her point. "Alright, but any more funny business and there's plenty more where that came from got it?" The actress' eyes narrowed and then she added, "And we have a Siobhan." Felitcia held two fingers up before her eyes spread in a v shape and moved them back and forth between herself and the satyr for a moment.
Deciding to let her companions enjoy the music Felitcia said, "Now, we came here for a reason and since they are busy," she gestured to her companions with her left hand, "We've been asked to look into attacks out his way on travelers and thought the local Fair Folk might have knowledge of what is happening." Felitcia crossed her arms below her breasts and raised one delicate eyebrow questioningly as she asked the satyr,
The satyr plays another lively song on his pipes, this one absent the charm magic of his first song. For her part, Rachel finds a comfortable place to recline on the grass as she listens to the music.
Once the fey has finished, he stashes his pipes and turns to Felitcia. "Well, if you're looking for the raiders, you've found us. The other boys have got the goods stashed in the caverns here. I'll let you in past me without any trouble, cause I don't want to mess with the glorious Amazon over yonder." He throws a wink at Siobhan.
"But the other boys probably won't take too kindly to your intrusion, so you'll probably have to give them a good whipping."
Having been raised on stories of what happens when unwitting mortals partook of fey drink, Siobhan easily manages to retain control of her own mind.
She taps the cold iron axe at her side. "Bloody right you don't."
Alice replies, “I appreciate that. My understanding’s that your crew took orders from a fairy? Would you perchance know anything about that?”
The satyr cocks his head. "We cannot talk about the Mistress," he says in an odd tone.
Alice makes pouty lips. But the satyr is so nice, she just says, “Thank you. I understand.” And to the others, “Shall we, then?”
"So we sort out this 'Mistress', and everything'll fall into place after? Sounds like a plan."
Alice says, “Blossom didn’t know her name, and now I wonder who among the satyrs does? We’ll have to take care not to kill any if they put up a fight.
“Shall I attempt to Charm the leader? Er… assuming there is an apparent hierarchy?”
”Aw. Do we really have to go so soon? This guy’s just so nice, isn’t he?” Rachel asks.
"Or perhaps this 'Mistress' forbids her minions from speaking her name for some reason..." Siobhan ponders.
When Rachel speaks up, the Celt adopts a deadpan expression. "We do. You can play with the nice satyr-fella once we've taken care of this mess."
“I like him too, Rachel. But he permitted us to pass, so we probably should not linger.”
Richard nods, "Dealing with this Mistress does seem like it'll be a good course of action."
Rachel sighs but relents, brushing some grass off her dress as she follows the rest of the group into the caves.
A short, twisting tunnel leads into a larger chamber. The sounds of raucous laughter echo off the walls of the cave, coming from a trio of satyrs who are roughhousing and drinking copious amounts of wine. The stolen cargo from the caravan is stacked against one wall, some of the crates broken open and goods spilling forth.
Jed and Siobhan are able to get the drop on the fey before they register your presence!
Jed knows his job. High velocity chaos shrapnel.
"Howdy!"
Jed adjusts his hat and the other gun goes off into the air. Hardly even alarming anymore.
Siobhan raises her axe and steps up to one of the satyrs. The red haze is starting to creep into the corners of her vision...
Siobhan moves in and hacks at the nearest satyr, the cold iron axe proving quite effective at wounding the fey! Jed fires a bullet into its gut, then follows up with another shot that leaves the satyr critically injured!
One of the other fey brings his pipes to his lips and plays an eerie tune, causing fear to wash over all of you. The other one sings an inspiring song as he raises his bow and shoots at Jed, scoring a critical hit! The wounded satyr draws his dagger and stabs at Siobhan, landing a critical hit as well!
Success The target is frightened 1.
Failure The target is frightened 2.
Critical Failure The target is frightened 3 and fleeing for 1 round.
Felitcia felt fear tear through her mind as the satyr started playing his pipes. The thought of what these randy goatmen would do to her if they got her made Felitcia promptly flee in the other direction.
Rachel is badly shaken by the spell but she stands her ground. She uses her magic to heal Jed's injuries, then gives Siobhan guidance on her next attack.
"Urrghgh, why me?" He asks, as if offended, despite the explosive flying shrapnel he has been let flying.
Siobhan grits her teeth against the fear suddenly welling up within her--and the red haze suddenly floods into her eyes.
The satyr in front of her wears the cruel grin of a Roman centurion. Or perhaps he doesn't; her anger and fear work together to make it enough of a mask at the moment. It's enough to cause her to swing her axe with ferocity.
She doesn't even look to see if the centurion still lives. There's more to kill on the battlefield, and she starts running towards the next one with a wild-eyed shriek.
Alice shrieks and grabs Felitcia’s hem! “Wait for meeeeeeeee!”
Richard resists the fearsome song. Having blanched his blade with oil to replicate the properties of cold iron, he moves to assist Siobhan. Unfortunately, his attacks come up short.
Siobhan cuts down the wounded satyr with a brutal chop, then moves to menace the next one, who takes a hit from Jed’s bullet.
The satyr next to Siobhan drops his bow and draws his dagger. He continues his inspiring chant as he stabs at her. The other satyr moves to flank the barbarian, slicing at her back. Their blades carve up Siobhan, leaving her badly bloodied.
Alice says to Felitcia, ”I think we have lost our sense of direction. Would you mind running back?”
The bullets are chaos. They cannot be predicted. They cannot be dodged. One can only hope, and pray.
Felitcia felt her senses return to her and, while she was still terrified, she knew she couldn't leave the others to die back there. Hearing Alice speak and say they needed to go back prompted Felitcia to cease her flight. She reached down to grab Alice and hold her in one hand and then ran as fast as she could back to the fight.
Siobhan whirls on another satyr and swings madly!
Rachel throws out her last healing spell to keep Siobhan on her feet.
Richard moves to flank with Siobhan, scoring a critical hit and a normal strike!
Siobhan cuts down the wounded satyr with two powerful chops, then whirls on the final fey, slicing open its chest with a critical hit!
Jed's gun goes off again, the bullet burying itself in the final satyr's belly. Groaning in pain, the fey drops his blade and raises his hands in surrender. "No more! Mercy, please, mercy!" he bleats.
"Mercy?! MERCY?!" Siobhan roars, her eyes wild with pain and fury... and memory. "YOU DON'T GET TO BEG, ROMAN! NOT AFTER ALL YOU'VE DONE! All the lives you've ended! All the innocents you've slaughtered!"
Alice says, “Yes, mercy.”
With no time to stabilize the critically injured, Alice uses magic to heal all.
As Alice stabilizes the fallen satyrs, Rachel cautiously approaches Siobhan and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. It's okay. The fight's over. You're safe, with friends."
For several long moments, Siobhan is no longer on Golarion. The red haze flooding her eyes with memories of Britain under Roman boots flares as Alice first bestows healing on the centurions who tried to kill them all--
--and then there's a soothing voice in her ear. Rachel's voice.
The Celt blinks her eyes several times as her vision clears.
"...I..."
Her limbs start to tremble--partly from the memories, partly from fatigue.
"It's okay. It's okay," Rachel repeats in a soothing tone of voice. As Siobhan trembles, the oracle hesitantly wraps her arms around the warrior in a comforting hug.
Siobhan takes several uncomfortable breaths of air before she feels Rachel's arms around her.
She flinches, and the urge to shove the oracle away flares up for a moment. Caught between suppressing it and following it, Siobhan stands rigid.
Her eyes sting as a couple of tears start to run from them. She looks down at her feet, her posture slumping slightly as she tries to hide her shame.