The woman does improve considerably. Enough to see that there's a man she doesn't know over her and is very thirsty. After jugging in a lot of water, she asks "Who are you?"
Before Ethan can answer, her family rushes around the bed and start talking to her. They seem happy. Farmer Higgs looks at Ethan and asks "What did you do?"
Ano chases after Nualia and sees that she is accompanied by a woman. She also says something in goblin.
"Come help us you useless excuse for a botanist."
"I asked for Erastil's mercy be bestowed upon her," Ethan replies in a self deprecating tone. "I could not determine her illness, but I could ask Erastil to replenish her vital energy, so that she could fight back against the illness herself."
He turns to Miranda and asks, "What caused your sickness? Do you remember what you were doing before you fell ill?"
"botanist... what?" Juriya whispers under her breath.
Donimah runs after Juriya and Ano. If they were running to their deaths, they wouldn't do so alone.
Marina replies to Ethan "I... I don't remember. I was just grabbing some fruits to bring to the Charlestons as a gift for the baby, but... Next thing I knew, you were standing over me. Am I... Am I cursed?"
”I don’t know for sure. If it strikes that suddenly, it may be.” He looks to Marina’s family and says, ”If she starts having symptoms again, call for me. I’ll come back and see if I can either restore her, or hopefully learn enough about her condition to stop it permanently.”
He turns back to Marina. ”Where were you getting the fruits, from a grocer’s stall in town, or were you picking them yourself?”
Knowing he's the only one who can keep pace with Ano, Arrian joins the crowd chasing after Ano (and Nualia).
Zeldrith scowls as Ano bolts away from the group yet again. "Ah, velnias - Ano, come back! There's nothing you can do for her now!" Sighing at the amurrun's impulsive nature, he rushes into the maze after the others, his longsword at the ready.
Marina says "I was... Yes, I was collecting some wild berries near Nettlewood. Then I saw... a... what's that animal called? It's large and has some big antlers." Her smallest boy is quick to answer, thinking his mother is playing a guessing game "Elk!"
Marina smiles at him and says "Yes, Tommy, thank you. I saw an elk. But it's weird, because an elk is too large for those woods, there are too many thorny and poisonous plants there. The elk looked at me, which is when something overcame me and I... I started to walk home. I don't remember when I lost consciousness."
Nualia leaves and a dark skinned woman is blocking the way. From how she's dressed, she is probably the mage that assisted Nualia during the fight. Next to her, there is a goblin on top of the big cat the group saw when entering the complex. They are barring the way.
The woman is extremely scared and looks like she would give anything to not be there.
The goblin rider is annoyed and doesn't seem to be readying to strike, although he is obviously ready to defend himself it need be.
”Clearly not just any elk,” Ethan says. ”Do the Charlestons live in Nettlewood? Were you near their home when it happened?”
Marina says "No, they're to the south. But those purple berries only grow up there."
Sensing their trepidation Arrian says, "We want Nualia, not you. You may leave unharmed."
"If you could give me directions to the part of the Nettlewood where you were foraging, I will go have a look, and see what I can find out about this creature posing as an elk," Ethan says.
Forgive me for not going to the Charlestons first, Dead-Eye, but it appears that something truly evil is out there!
"Yeah!" Donimah cries as she catches up to them. "Face it, Nualia! Your plans have unraveled. Two of your lieutenants are dead, and the rest are seeing you for what you are and turning away. I doubt you're going to surrender, but I wanna make it ABUNDANTLY clear that anyone who still thinks fighting at your side is a good idea is probably gonna die with you!"
Ano hisses at the two of them, “Move! We’re here for Nualia ” Cherry flies higher in the air to try and see if he can find Nualia.
Juriya points her rapier at the goblin, but points it down in the ground afterwards. "Is this green one harassing you ma'am?"
The woman gives Ethan some directions which are easy enough to remember. As Ethan excuses himself to get on his way, farmer Higgs asks him to wait. He goes outside for a moment and comes back with a chicken in hands. He holds the animal out for Ethan to take it.
The woman is clearly very conflicted. Without much thought, one can put together that she really wants to do what Nualia said, but she is very scared of fighting the group. Not only because they've proven to be very tough, but one can imagine she probably exhausted most, if not all of her prepared spells repertoire in the last fight. She lowers her hands, but doesn't get out of the way, as if her mere presence would discourage the group of heroes to drop their chase.
Meanwhile, the goblin relaxes completely. He says in Common "Can you make sure longshanks never come back to Thistletop? We can make deal. I am Gogmurt, powerful druid and goblin spirit leader. If you make sure longshanks don't come back, I be spirit leader for you too."
The woman looks at the goblin horrified. She's smart enough to see what's happening. She turns on her heels and sprints after Nualia.
Realizing that Farmer Higgs is offering the chicken as payment, Ethan tries to determine the nature of the offer. Would he be insulted or relieved if the offering was refused?
From Ethan's assessment and experience, people don't get hurt if such payment isn't accepted, but they do tend to feel patronized. Higgs in particular seems a bit anxious to give something back, and he can't think of much outside of one of his animals.
"Matilda", he says, announcing the chicken's name.
** spoiler omitted **
The woman is clearly very conflicted. Without much thought, one can put together that she really wants to do what Nualia said, but she is very scared of fighting the group. Not only because they've proven to be very tough, but one can imagine she probably exhausted most, if not all of her prepared spells repertoire in the last fight. She lowers her hands, but doesn't get out of the way, as if her mere presence would discourage the group of heroes to drop their chase.
Meanwhile, the goblin relaxes completely. He says in Common "Can you make sure longshanks never come back to Thistletop? We can make deal. I am Gogmurt, powerful druid and goblin spirit leader. If you make sure longshanks don't come back, I be spirit leader for you too."
The woman looks at the goblin horrified. She's smart enough to see what's happening. She turns on her heels and sprints after Nualia.
"That's what we're trying to do, make sure that longshanks doesn't come back."
Donimah turns to Arrian with a "Seriously?!" look on her face, but doesn't say anything.
Donimah turns to Arrian with a "Seriously?!" look on her face, but doesn't say anything.
"No need to pay me until we know she is better," Ethan says, holding up a placating hand. "Her symptoms have been stopped for now, but I do not know what caused them, or if it still affects her. I need to find out what being is in Nettlewood, and why it saw fit to inflict such suffering on Marina. Also, I am newly arrived in Sandpoint, and currently have nowhere to keep Matilda. I trust that you will care for her until I can establish a residence."
Ano, deciding that now is not the time to start spitting and hissing, takes a deep breath, and talks to the goblin calmly. "We have no reason to kill anymore goblins, now that...Nualia," she says the name with restrained anger, "Seems to be fleeing. If you promise to tell us all you know about Nualia, and where she might be heading towards, we swear we won't hurt a single goblin. As long as they don't give anymore trouble to Sandpoint."
The man looks a lot more worried. He lets Matilda on the ground and gives Ethan a glass of water anyway, saying "I'll watch her for you.", a little awkwardly.
Ethan goes to the spot that Marina described. He finds the berries, but otherwise nothing interesting. At this point, a woman comes out of the woods. Ethan immediately sees that this is no ordinary woman. She is wearing armor. The armor exposes her belly that has big scars across it.
Additionally, she has beautiful silver hair and violet eyes. She is clearly an aasimar. She has a bastard sword hanging from her hip. She is clearly very hurt and scared. She looks at Ethan with fear. She musters some strength and says "Help me! Help me please! they want to kill me!"
The goblin takes a few moments to think then steps to the side. He says "Agreed. Leave and kill longshanks." It is unclear what the goblin expects the group to do, but it is clear that he will not stand in the group's way and he does not like Nualia.
"You're injured. Please child, sit while I tend to your wounds."
She sits down, but is still very scared.
Ethan tries to figure out her state of mind while he tends to her wounds.
Juriya. "Tell me the longshanks you plan to kill. Some of them we want dead as well, we'd even help."
Juriya. "Tell me the longshanks you plan to kill. Some of them we want dead as well, we'd even help."
[dice=Diplo] d20 + 16
"We need to go after her if we have any chance of catching her."
The woman really is very scared. Her wounds are caused by various cuts and bruises from melee weapons.
One of her hands is deformed into a demonic claw.
The goblin says "The demon lady." His tone is somewhat mocking Juriya as if it should be completely obvious.
Finding an aasimar with a demon claw a fairly suspicious individual in an area where an innocent woman was hit with a debilitating curse, Ethan decides to attempt an experiment.
He takes a step back , touches the holy symbols around his neck, and intones, "May the Stagfather's light shine in darkness."
If she is some sort of supernatural evil, this will harm her. If not, she'll have spots in her eyes for a few seconds, but will otherwise be unharmed.
Juriya facepalms. "I wasn't sure whether you meant us or you killing longshanks."
"And on that note, how do we know your word's worth anything, Gogmurt?" Donimah sternly asks. "Your tribe allied with Nualia for a reason. Turning on a chosen daughter of Lamashtu doesn't seem like something that will earn you much love from what remains of them. How can we trust that you won't set your sights on Sandpoint once you think we've forgotten you or you've gotten bored? You'd just have to say "Don't attack Sandpoint" aloud three times for that rule to no longer bind you!"
The aasimar does not take damage from the spell and yelps complaining. She says "What are you doing, you almost blinded me!"
The goblin is visibly uncomfortable. He says "I thought you longshanks were good at trusting! What about that?" He takes a moment to reformulate and says "I'm here to learn about nature. If no longshanks come back here, I will help goblins learn about nature too!"
He is disappointed that he obviously can't fool the group. But he is telling the truth about learning about nature. Whether or not he can get other goblins interested is another matter entirely.
Juriya laughs. "We're also good at seeing through lies."
"You really do care about nature, you must be a druid of some kind. I'd have thought I met a fellow alchemist in a goblin before a druid. But I suppose forest fires are natural sometimes too!"
The goblin proudly says "Yes! I am druid."
The woman is clearly hurt and wants to get up to fight.
Ethan steps back as his spell burns the woman.
"Dead-Eye protect me from this agent of evil!" he intones, touching his holy symbol again.
Ano’s patience starts to falter when Donimah and Juriya make chitchat with the druid goblin. “I’m going ahead, if Nualia has already escaped I can at least try to trail her.” She then takes off. Cherry flies back down to Ano’s eye level to follow her.
The woman draws her sword. However, she is too hurt to do anything else. The murder in her eyes, however, could rip one apart.
The goblin makes no effort to stop Ano. She goes back into Nettlewood. It is very thick, but Nualia's track is easy to follow.
Ano moves without taking much care to avoid the many pointy plants in these woods.
However, she is confident she'll be able to follow Nualia's track without falter.
"How's this sound: Get your goblins out of Thistletop for a few days. We clear the place from other monsters that Nualia brought in and any who remain loyal to her, and after we leave, you may return to settle in Thistletop, Sandpoint leaves you alone, you leave Sandpoint alone. Everybody wins. Fair?"
Unsure if the demon-woman has regenerative powers, Ethan opts to strike with his darkwood walking stick (hanbo).
Ano hisses as she felt thorns pierce her, but she pushed on. She is not going to lose Nualia. Not now.
Juriya tries her best to follow after Ano
"ANO! SLOW DOWN!"
Donimah sighs and turns back to Gogmurt.
"We'll discuss this later, after the longshanks has been dealt with."
Then she starts running after the rest of the crew.
The woman easily deflects Ethan's attack, even in her weakened state. She swings her sword at him holding it with two hands.
The swing hits Ethan dead in the chest, drawing a lot of blood.
However, the large amount of wounds that the woman has sustained is too much, and she faints from the pain. She falls on the ground, bleeding out.
At this exact moment, another woman comes out of the woods, she is covered by scratches, similar to the first woman. But this is no aasimar, but a catfolk.
The goblin looks at Donimah as she runs out suspiciously. Before she disappears, he says "That is a terrible deal!"
Ano comes out of the woods to see an amazing scene. The rest of the group appears a few moments later.
Nualia is laying on the ground, bleeding out. Standing above her is a man.
A tall, handsome man, with shoulder-length brown hair and a closely-trimmed beard (just a bit more than stubble). His eyes are chestnut brown, and his skin has a light olive complexion. He wears well-worn unremarkable traveling clothes, and a holy symbol of Erastil is around his neck. A longbow, and a full backpack are strapped across his back, and a quiver of arrows and a dagger at his waist. He holds a walking stick made of some dark hardwood. He currently has a large, fresh cut across his chest.
Ethan stands with his hanbo is a guard position, cautious of the new arrivals.
"This demon-woman came running out of the trees, begging that I protect her from the people trying to kill her. I'm guessing you're the people she was running from?"
Panting, examining Nualia's anatomy for an open spot with her "human" yellow eye, is Juriya. She stands at around 5'3, with clear half-Minkaian heritage. Her black hair is tied up in a loose bun (magic doing your hair isn't neat!), and her rapier still dotted in blood. Dotted all along her alchemist's outfit are different substances, some labeled -- such as her bombs and her CLW -- others are not. In her other hand is a pre-loaded crossbow, with a small quiver of bolts attached to her backpack.
"YES?! Have you seen her midriff and the mark of Lamashtu? You were the one who knocked her out, right? I'm Juriya Arima, daughter of the local alchemist family. And to be specific, demon-tainted Aasimar. So fire away, literally. Fire works."