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Willow leaves her arm wrapped around Nuruk's for a while after they speak , comforted by the large dragonborn's presence. She is scared too - terrified of facing the hags, all of them, and especially with the possibility that she might see the lornlings again. However, she's less scared than before...something something the power of friendship and all.
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Willow huffs a little bit with some laughter at Karley, taking the joke at her expense with a little bit of humility - she definitely should have been watching where they were going...
But the frogkin man, his curious manner of speaking, and his generally friendly nature catch her attention. She sits on the boardwalk with the frogkin and takes a lesson in fishing as well. "Nice to meet you, Ufgunk. I'm Willow, and these are my friends - Karley, Nuruk, Vashrin, Sammy, and Khalil. Nuruk is carrying another friend, Sir Talavar." She points to everyone, respectively, and inclines her head politely.
After introductions are made, she tries her hand at fishing...
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Khalil's face brightens into a wide smile. "Now fishin' is something I can do." He says quickly selecting a suitable branch from a nearby tree. One borrowed hook and a length of string later and the farmer tosses his line into the deeper waters, a bit of cheese skewered on the small hook.
Before the *kerplunk* of the bait hitting the water, Khalil is already resting with his back against one of the dock posts. Hat pulled down low over his eyes.
"It's been about since forever that I've had a chance to drop a line into the water. Used to spend plenty of twilight evenings at Skeeter Swallow Pond matching wits with the Calico Kittyfish and Black Throated Flyers. Heh...heh...Old Man Willow said he once pulled a fifty pounder outta that pond. Biggest I ever landed was a thirty five pound bloke with green and orange stripes and a black patch over his right eye." He shakes his head and chuckles. "Silly grouper talked like a blasted pirate and kept talkin' bout how he used to be the Dread Pirate Steve until he'd crossed some wizard down south somewhere. Said he'd point me to a big treasure if I helped him find his one true love."
"Of course, being a young lad I didn't believe a word of the calico's fish tale. Just showed him to Verity whose fox-eyes gleamed hungrily at ole Steve dangling on the line. Course Willow kept everything strictly catch and release on his pond, so before Verity's growling stomach got us in a heap of trouble, I tossed the complaining pirate bank in the drink."
His line drifting peaceably in the water, Khalil turns to the frogkin. "So Ufgunk, them critters watchin' the Watcher, is there anyway past them if a body was in mind to ask the old boy a question or two about what he's seen?"
Vashrin waves to Ufgunk when Willow introduces him. At the offer of fishing, the bard politely waves off the invitation and leans against a tree to listen to the conversation.
Vash smiles and listens more intently as Khalil relays his tale of evenings fishing, thinking to himself, I have always loved stories...at least some things never change.
"Please ta meet ya, please ta meet ya, Ufgunk nodded at the introductions. He didn't seem to think anything odd about you all carrying one of your friends around in a bird cage.
Sir Talavar, for his part, was listening intently. He whispered to Nuruk. "I say, what an odd dialect this fellow has."
While they waited for a bite, Ufgunk listened to Khalil's tale. "Don' evah truss nothin' a fish tell ya, my pappy always say. Slippery things'll say anythin' ta get ya tossin' 'em back, an' what you gonna eat then?"
At the druid's question, the frog considered for a moment. "I don' rightly know fo sho, theys workin' for old Bavlorna far as I'm knowin'. I ain't nevah been ta see Watcha. Not much need, fo a backwatah boggard like myself. If you do en' up goin' that way, careful round the rocks leadin' ta the cave. I hear dey make music when you step on 'em. Course it might not botha you all like it does me, with my refine sense a hearin'."
Khalil felt a bite on his line, and quickly realized it was quite a large fish he'd hooked. After a bit of a grueling battle reeling it in, he pulled out a huge sturgeon, easily 50 pounds and about as long as his armspan. "Hoo boy! You folks is gonna have good eatin' tonight!" Ufgunk exclaimed.
A while later, Willow felt a bite as well. Her own catch was not nearly so large, only perhaps a foot or so long. It resembled a goldfish, but glowed softly, and had big pretty eyelashes. "Ooh, got yo'self a blissfish, girly. You trow them back its good luck, but they taste mighty fine, too."
Karley saw her friends catching fish and was eager to see what the water would yield for her. Finally, her line snagged on something, and she pulled only to feel disappointed when the line came free and the weight was gone. Preparing to cast again, she noticed that she had, in fact caught something, though it wasn't a fish. On the end of her hook was a plain golden ring, shining in the twilight of the swamp.
"Thank you Ufgunk. I...um...I'm a bit heavy. I'll stand. I tend to break the lines when I fish." Nuruk says, thankful for the invitation but joining his bard friend in looking really cool. He does listen to the advice that the boggard has for them; musical stones that could reveal their position. Of course, there was a chance that they could be involved in a riddle or puzzle.
"Well done everyone!" Nuruk exclaims as his three friends each get their own catch. The fish looked heavenly, even if the blissfish gave him a wink. The ring on the end of Karley's line caught his attention most of all. "You found something there Karley, a ring it seems."
Willow regards the blissfish with a little bit of pride, given this is the first time she's really successfully caught something while fishing. Taking the boggard's information in hand, she decides to release the fish, quietly wishing it a happy, uninterrupted life back in the swamps.
"Oooh, Karley. What is that?" She scoots over next to the halfling, peeking at the shining object.
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joining his bard friend in looking really cool.
Karley put on the ring and realized she had just become one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
For this was no trinket. No measly one ring to rule them all and in the darkness blah blah blah.
This was the Ring of the Grammarian. And it was on the hand of Karley Motherf~!#ing Rumblemuffin. Multiverse beware.
Karley tested out her newfound powers on Snook. She imagined how it might turn out. Maybe Snook would get a fun cloud to hover around on! It'd save his paws from feeling so wet today. Even as she cast the spell, though, she wondered. Was this like a genie wish? Where the words might not be interpreted the way she intended them? After all, dog cloud could mean many things. Maybe a whole cloud of hounds would appear, like a swarm. Maybe Snook would have a rain cloud hovering over his head all day and look depressed.
As the song penned by the famous bard, Lady Melissa Elliott, began emanating from nowhere at all (causing Ufgunk to clap hands over his sensitive boggard ears), Snook transformed.
His svelte form became a roiling thunderhead, still shaped like himself, but decidedly cumulonimbus. Lighting arced within him, and his growl was thunder itself. Karley sensed this would last as long as the original spell would have, and required just as much concentration for her to maintain.
Vash, betraying the "cool stance" he had taken against the tree, stands upright, eyes wide in amazement at the transformation of Karley's dog into a creature of elemental might.
Turning to Willow, the bard asks, "Has she always been able to do that, or is that the ring's work?"
Willow stands and moves over to Vash and Nuruk, watching Karley with her arms crossed and hip cocked out to the side, tail flicking back and forth. She furrows her brows, amusement glittering in her eyes. "Her magic has always been rather unpredictable, but...this seems pretty new." She glances down at Vash. "Not sure if I should be frightened or impressed..."
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Still breathing heavily from the long battle with the sturgeon, Khalil takes the frogkin's exclamation about eating well to heart. Ready to finish off the fish, he suddenly hesitates as he takes in the huge nearly never ending damp and water the is the swamp.
"Ufgunk, what're the odds of finding enough dry firewood to cook...."
Before Khalil can finish his question, Karley slips on the golden ring she fished from the swamp. Squatting at the edge of the dock he suddenly goes a bit light headed when for just a split second it feels like universe twists in and around itself like a madman's origami owlbear. His eyes blink and all is back to normal except Karley is saying something odd about seeing dog's in a cloud.
Turning to look back at where the halfling stands next to Snook, Khalil gasps with surprise. Seeing it's opportunity, the hard won fish wriggles and slips from Khalil's loose hand as the druid is much to shocked at the sight of the churning canine shaped storm elemental to prevent the escape. The big fish hits the water with a splash that soaks Khalil. A final tail fin flip that offers thanks to the wild sorceress and the sturgeon disappears back into the murky waters of the swamp.
With a sigh, Khalil does his best to shake off the new layer of moisture and then simply shrugs. "Probably couldn't have cooked the fish up proper anyway." He says gathering his gear.
Willow looks sadly after the fish, kissing her dreams of a good meal goodbye for the moment, then glances over at the boggard. "Thank you for the hospitality, Ufgunk. Is there anything we can assist you with in return?"
Nuruk watches with amazement as Karley's powers shift the magic and change it into an entirely different form. Such chaotic magic was perfect for Karley and he was intrigued, and terrified, for what would come from it. The next thing to occur was the sturgeon escaping back into the waters, earning a pained sound from the paladin.
"That would've been delicious..." He murmured softly, shaking his head in mild disappointment.
"Shame ta lose a fish so grand."
Ufgunk considered Willow's question. "If you all evah fine yo'selves in a little town called Downfall, let my ol' friend Illig know I said hello. No need goin' outta yo way, jus' if you happen ta be in the area." He looked them over, thinking. "Bullywugs there ain't quite so relaxed as ol Ufgunk, but they's tolerant of visitors. All preoccupied with pomp and courtesies. Call themselves the Soggy Court, last I checked King Gullop the Nineteenth was in charge but they always overthrowhin' one anotha."
"You know, I have a feeling we might end up that way. We will be sure to pass along your greeting to Illig." Willow bows slightly from the waist in lieu of a smile, keeping her internal dislike for the word "soggy" as hidden as she possibly can.
"We're looking for the Watcher, actually...I suppose we'll have to worry about those screaming creatures."
"The Soggy Court. King Gullop the Nineteenth. Excellent." Nuruk says, hiding the smirk on his face. This place was exquisite despite the danger and dankness of the swamp. Smiling at his friends, he pats his chest. "If there are many of them, I may finally be able to show you all the secret to my father's barbecued meats." With a wink, the paladin shoulders his pack and greataxe again with the trapped psuedodragon inside. "Shall we go?"
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Seeing the disappointment on his friends faces, Khalil looks apologetic as he follows Nuruk back into the swamp.
"Uh...I'm sorry about the fish. It's, it's just I've never even heard of a dog turning into a storm elemental before. I mean princes to toads, sure happens every second weekend of the month. Straw to gold, sure. " He says abashed and still a bit shocked at Karley's show of sorcerous power. "Took me by surprise is all....she was wearing a bunny suit...talking with the ears...
His puzzled eyes track the halfling and her storm mount, still muttering as he glops through the swamp waters toward the screeching gaurding the Watcher.
"You get used to it, eventually." Willow assures Khalil, gesturing to Karley. She follows him to head out with the rest of the Defenders, waving goodbye to the boggard. "Don't overthink it. You'll get a headache." She chuckles smilelessly, on alert for anything dangerous.
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"Too late..." Vash says, glancing again at Karley and the elemental dog, rubbing his forehead.
"Onward toward this Watcher then?"
The cacophony of screams grow louder up ahead as you approach the shoreline of a large lake. If not for the discord, the landscape would be serene, with lush grass, crystalline water, and pinpricks of fireflies. It seems brighter here, the overcast sky thinner, a hint of daylight peeking through. Brightly-colored, elongated stones form a path towards the center of the lake, where a large rock formation rises above the water. A cave mouth is clearly visible, though it is too dark to see inside. Perched on precarious supports, a wooden hut balances haphazardly on the island. Two winged creatures appear to be the source of the raucous sounds.
Willow makes a worried sound at the winged creatures and briefly debates whether or not it's worth it to express her worry. After a moment, she rolls her eyes, huffing with exasperation, and speaks. "We should try to be quiet and ambush them. They look rough. Nuruk, I can help you be quieter."
Sammy tried going unnoticed several times in the past. Many people doesn't like losing at cards, and he sometimes needs to disappear and use the toilet window.
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"Eh? What? Oh." Khalil says with his usual grace and wit when Karley's shadow elephant asks about Verity. For several moments he walks along in thoughtful silence mostly because he really doesn't know the answer to the question.
"Actually, I guess I don't really know at this point." He admits tipping his hat back to run a kerchief across his brow. "She'd agreed to watch the farm while I was away on the delivery to the carnival, but I was supposed to be back yesterday. Kitsune aren't well known for their patience and ability to sit in place for any length of time. Plus, who knows when she might be called to deliver a message for the Queen." He sighs and the frustration at potentially having left a friend in a lurch is obvious as he walks through the forest. "If Witch and Light did right by Bella and saw the horse back to the farm, then at least Verity will know I wasn't killed on the road. If not, then I may need to step into one of those other worlds you're always talking about, because I'm not sure I want to face an angry, worried kitsune after going off on some adventure without leaving word."
When they come to the lakeshore, Khalil studies the flying creatures to see if he has ever seen or heard of such beast before.
"Those must be the stones that Ufgunk said make music if you step on them." He whispers to the others while pointing to the path of stones leading to the cave mouth.
Vashrin taking note of his companions already stealthily moving toward the singing stones tries to follow suit, but nowhere near as successfully as sucking sounds emanate from every footstep on the marshy ground.
Willow crouches down and follows the lead of the others, trying to move as quietly as she can. Unfortunately, the incessant shrieking of the creatures guarding the Watcher's cave gets into her head and makes careful movement difficult for her.
Nuruk crouches as low as he can, being about the average height of most of his fellow party members. Willow's goddess works her magic as best as she can on the massive dragonborn who holds up the end of the group. For his credit, he does move quietly and the powers that Willow granted him make his usually noisy armor far more silent.
Willow sees the fog cloud slowly roll out and frowns a little bit, looking carefully around the area for some kind of hint as to what they could do. "Well, I was going to suggest we take them out from range...but now I can't see anything. What should we do?" She whispers. Nothing seemed to really stand out to her in the area.
"Oh, that was you? I was worried it was like...something we did on accident." Willow scoots a little closer to Karley, trying to strategize. "Need to figure out the stepping stones. Ufgunk said they make noise."
The creatures do not seem to notice the group of you as you move up to the tree line, too busy scream-singing a song badly off key. It hurts to listen to.
The fog rolled in, but the creatures kept up their racket from within, used to swamp mist obscuring things from time to time.
With the noise of the creatures grating in his ears and sending phantom chills along his spine, Khalil finally recalls a bit of information told to him by Burt one afternoon. It seemed some bandits had employed similar creatures as those flying about the Watcher's Island to waylay a minor noblewoman's carriage. It just so happened that the attack happened only a short distance from Burt's Bridge and the troll ended up helping drive off the bandits. Them screechin'critters gave me the worst blasted headache. Lasted for days. Danged off key and outta tune notes rattled my bones something fierce."
Figuring if such noise could cause a bridge troll pain, then they could cause us some serious harm.
"We should take precautions." He whispers to everyone as he jabs some small bits of cloth in his ears. "The song of these creatures isn't just hard to hear, it could be dangerous and even knock us out if we get too close."
Willow follows Khalil's lead and puts some cloth in her ears as well. "Well, what now?"
Not having any clue what they were facing, Vashrin follows Khalil's advice and plugs his ears with cloth.
"Not sure that I can sneakily swim, but if you can get a bead on what we should do by scouting, good idea." Willow says to Karley before the halfling goes paddling off.
Willow lets out another frustrated huff, then tries to make her way towards the stones Ufgunk said "sang." Willow looks back at the group and points at Vashrin, then waves him over to her. "That boggard said these stones sing when you step on them. I bet there's some kind of tune we have to consider to get down safely. Music is your expertise...any ideas?"
Khalil ponders the stones and their potential musical aspects. Then listening to the off-key singing he considers one probably far fetched idea. As he tries to determine the correct key for the song they might be singing.
"Perhaps is we 'play' the right stone to match the correct key of the song they are trying to sing? Question is, what's the song and what is the right key?"
Everyone begins whispering to one another with their ears plugged, and confusion ensures.
Whatever the creatures are singing seems to be made up as they go along, and is nothing written by any sane being, as far as Khalil can tell.
Karley makes it to the island.
Light from outside reflects off the water, dancing across the ceiling of this small cavern. Near the back wall, a creature so strange that Karley wants to be its best friend is currently contorted into a ball.
Its eyes are squeezed shut, its teeth are clenched as if in pain, and it has wrapped its serpentine body around its head to try and block out the horrible devilkin's singing.
Vashrin shrugs. "Stories are more my forte than music, but there's eight stone and eight major notes in an octave. With each stone getting progressively smaller, I suppose that tracks with something like a xylophone. Back home that typcially starts with a C note, but not sure if that applies here."