A Fistful of Flowers + A Few Flowers More

Game Master Delta Arena

Sticking to the shadows cast by the crops in the fields, Rings leads their friends into the fields. Once there it becomes easy for them to blend in with the growing wildflowers and take advantage of the height of the crops. The only thing approching the Leshys was an occasion bee or two that would soon lose interest in them.

The Leshys soon reach the the entrance to the village, where the buzzing of the afternoon is ongoing. With people moving back and forth trading for food or commodities before heading back to their homes.

Unfortunately, the villagers have build stone roads as rudimentary streets, and the man's trail is nowhere to be found once it reaches one of these roads.

After navigating through the fields unnoticed, Reaching Rings praises their companions. “That was an exemplary display of stealth! You should be honorary fungi!” But upon reaching a road—and a dead end to the trail—the rogue assumes a thinking position, wrinkling their cap in earnest concentration.

“How should we track this human now? If it were a natural creature we might try following its scent, but humans are known to disguise themselves with soap, although that itself often leaves an odor. Moreover, do any of us possess an olfactory system sufficient for such a task? The most likely candidate would be a perfumer or a cook.” Rings looks over at Popcorn questioningly.

“Or perhaps we could risk asking one of the villagers if they have seen our quarry? You have many tales and experiences in the city,” the rogue turns to Fluff Fang. “Would this be a wise course of action?” For their own part, Rings tries to remember if anyone in a human settlement would be disposed to helping them, or if there is some other way to track a person over roads.

"My sense of smell isn't that good."

As I understand it, Acute Scent only applies to things within 30 feet, and only while raging.

"Maybe Fluff Fang could make inquiries, perhaps posing as a human child or a halfling?"

Unfortunately for Rings, they have had very little interaction with peoples outside the forest.

"I concur. I don't think this entire village is responsible for our friends kidnapping. Perhaps we can find someone willing to help us. "
sorry post got eaten.

What is each of you doing to track him down?

I will use Diplomacy +5 to track down our friends. I think its a secret check?

"Excuse me good sir. Have you seen any little lavender leshies roaming about the town? They were kidnapped and we are their would be rescuers," Bottlespeaker goes about asking the members of the town.

Popcorn tries to climb the tallest building around, hoping that an aerial view of the village will provide a clue.

Athletics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Reaching Rings tries sneaking closer to a gathering of humans to surreptitiously eavesdrop on their conversation, in the hopes of overhearing something useful.

I will use Diplomacy +5 to track down our friends. I think its a secret check?

"Excuse me good sir. Have you seen any little lavender leshies roaming about the town? They were kidnapped and we are their would be rescuers," Bottlespeaker goes about asking the members of the town.

Bottlespeaker approaches a man in his fifties, he gives a small bow to him before answering. "No, good spirit. You are the first Leshys that have come to town in over a year. Are you sure they were kidnapped by someone of this town? Do you know anything about who might have done it?"

***

Popcorn climbs up a tree to get a better view of the town. From there, she sees most of the place, including a market and a few commercial stores. Outside of town, you can see a few farmhouses, including at least 5 different farms with operating beehives. A single road connects the town with the larger network of Taldan cities.

Let me know what you are looking for from up there and roll a perception check.

***

Rings approaches a small group of humans. They seem unaware of them at first, until a children spots them and cowers behind the legs of her parents. She sees afraid at first and as the adults around what the walking fungus could be. "Oh, that is a Leshy," says one of them. "They come to the village every so often, since we are so close to the forest. It's okay, they are not usually dangerous." Inspite of that, the adults don't seem terribly interested in Rings.

The child does approach.

"Hello, are you a friendly mushroom?"

Reaching Rings is surprised by the child’s approach, but sensing no threat, they relax … somewhat. The former hermit is still definitely unaccustomed to social situations, and it shows in their reply.

“Technically, that depends on one’s definition of friendly. Some philosophers suggest a close connection to its root, namely ‘friend’, and would require kindly interest and goodwill, perhaps even sacrifice to a limited extent, while others would insist that a simple lack of hostility is sufficient, so my partial response would be ‘yes’ if the latter, but possibly ‘no’ if the former. As to the categorization of my identity, I am actually a fungus, for a mushroom is simply the fruit I bear for reproductive purposes. Taken together, and allowing some latitude for the uncertainty of your inquiry, I would have to answer ‘Possibly’. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

Rings is no diplomat! If you need a roll, please make it for me. I'm hoping the others get better results than Rings.

Popcorn looks for people resembling Glimmer’s description of the culprit, focusing on the market area.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

The child laughs and syas "You are funny little fung... fungus? was it? It is obvious even to Rings that she couldn't follow much of what they were saying. "I'm Johanna."

no need for diplomacy as long as you are not asking anything from someone.

***

Noone in the market resembles Glimmer's description.

"Ahhh yes.... Hmmm.... My friend from the Forrest told me that they were someone with shiny teeth. Do you know anyone with shiny teeth so we can find him?"

Recognizing that they would need to speak far more simply for the child to understand, Rings centers themself, as if connecting with the great underground fungal network, and, with an effort, responds “My name is Reaching Rings. Is that your family?” The fungus gestures over at the gathered adults. “They seem friendly enough.” A thought occurs to the rogue as they recall how the kidnapped leshies were treated. “Is everyone in the village friendly? Or are there some unfriendly people?”

If a roll is needed, please make the check for me.

Popcorn memorizes the locations of the beehives, then climbs down.

Athletics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

"Someone with shiny teeth... I guess they could mean Darius, he is always making himself all proper to impress his city friends. He seems more interested in hosting parties for his fancy friends from the city than he does being a part of Petalbrook—not sure why he even sticks around! But I guess there is also Markus, the dandy of town. It is hard to tell just from shiny teeth," says the old man.

***

Johanna nods enthusiastically, "Yes, they are. Come, say hi to them." She takes Rings hand and pulls them to her family. "This is Reaching Rings, my new friend..." she hesitates for a moment. "I think," then she laughs and gives her family a huge smile.

***

Popcorn takes her time making her way down, but manages to do it safely.

"What does this Darius do? It sounds like you have given us some potential leads. The spirits of the forrest thank you," he says bowing his head in respect.

Turning to his friends he says,"Shall we investigate these two people further?"

"Sure. I couldn't find any better leads."

It is one thing for the old hermit to converse with trusted allies and friends like his fellow leshies, and to engage with a single harmless child. It is quite another to be surrounded by towering strangers in a foreign environment, and be thrust unexpectedly into a social spotlight. Reaching Rings freezes for a long moment, mumbles a perfunctory ‘hi’, then turns and runs away, not stopping until they rejoin the other leshies.

To Bottlespeaker they reply “That would likely be the most sensible course of action. Though you could have described the human in more detail. Did Glimmer not say that he also had messy red hair, and wore a green and yellow outfit? Perhaps those additional details would allow your human informant to narrow our choices down to one.”

"messy red hair did I hear? mmmh, yes, that is Darius indeed. As to what he does..." the old guy thinks for a few moments. He has a crystal and scented candle shop at the edge of town. It should be a couple streets south of here." He looks up at the sky, calculating the time of time. "He might still be open, although you might encounter his assistant at the store instead... I guess he is too above the townfolk to tend to his own shope." There is clearly some scorn in his voice.

“If time is of the essence, then we should probably visit this shop posthaste,” Reaching Rings suggests. “Quickly! Our kin are depending on us.” The rogue heads south, searching for a shop selling crystals and candles.

Popcorn follows Reaching Rings southward.

After searching a couple of different streets for a few minutes, the party does manage to find a small store with a sign hanging outside that reads: Crystals and Candlewax. It seems to be a single storey building with a knocker at the door.

Popcorn loudly knocks on the door.

A young human man opens the door. As the shop’s door swings open, a crystalline wind chime rings pleasantly. Far less pleasant is the shop’s overpowering aroma of jasmine flowers, which rises like a curtain across the threshold. Crystals of all shapes and sizes are displayed in fine glass cabinets and hung from the ceiling, while colorful candles adorn shelves that line the walls and floor.

The man seems to be taken aback by the leshys in front of him. He stares with wide eyes and has his mouth slightly open. After a few uncomfortable seconds, he clears his throat.

“I’m terribly sorry, it’s just I’ve never seen a walking talking plant before. Are you... customers? Can I help you?”

“Customers? Hmm …” Reaching Rings ponders for a moment, oblivious to the man’s obvious discomfort “… yes, Briboribix told me about such creatures. They exchange their possessions—typically flat round pieces of metal—for other possessions. They are part of a cult that believes that doing this enough times will lead them to ultimate happiness. An interesting philosophy indeed.”

Eventually the rogue returns to answering the man’s question. “You can help us indeed. We are looking for Darius. And I am a fungus, not a plant.”

"Oh, umh, my apologies fungus. Unfortunately, the boss is busy in the basement working on a new batch of jasmine candles. He asked not to be disturbed."

“When will he be done?”

Reaching Rings lets the others do the talking at this point, knowing that Fluff Fang and Bottlespeaker are both far more persuasive. The fungus instead focuses on peering past the shopkeeper, trying to see inside the store in case there are any lavender petals or other clues to be seen.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

diplomacy: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

"My good man. He has potentially kidnapped our friends. Please in the kindness of your heart let us get them back from him. You do not like seem the type of person who would engage in said crimes"

"I don't really know, he just said he would be working on the batch. I think he wants to have them ready for tomorrow," he says to Popcorn. Then, he looks a Bottlespeakes, pulling back. His face returns to the baffled expression from when he opened the door. "Kidnapped your friends?! I mean, he has never been the most pleasant person but... Kidnap? I can hardly believe that... Do you really think he could be involved?"

That's 1 out of 3 successes to get through Galan, the shopkeeper.

***

Rings spots a door behind the counter, with a sign that reads "authorized personel only." Presumably the door to the basement.

Around the shop he spots a wide variety of candles, mostly with floral scents, some of which contain flowers of petals inside the wax. A few crystals, displayed as talismans, are clearly just pretty rocks with no magical essence. All of it is highly overpriced for a small town like Petalbrook.

There is no obvious sign of the missing Leshys in the store.

Popcorn is having increasing difficulty keeping her temper. She increasingly suspects that Darius is indeed the kidnapper, and she's never been a very patient person.

"If you just let us down now, we won't have to break the door down!"

Intimidation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

“The evidence for our hypothesis is practically incontrovertible,” Reaching Rings responds to the shopkeep’s uncertain question. “Darius matches the description of the kidnapper, and based on the dismembered flowers I see within your shop, I suspect he may be responsible for worse crimes like torture and possibly even murder. Our friends are in great danger and we must rescue them immediately!”

Without waiting for a response, the nimble fungus emphasizes their urgency by deftly tumbling past Galan towards the door behind the counter.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

"You should definitely let Popcorn in. She's not quite as graceful as I am, and is likely to smash through you as well as the door. I conjecture that that would be a less than pleasant experience."

Galan is already putting out his hands in surrender when Rings tumbles past him, unbalancing him. He stumbles back against some shelving.

"I... I believe you, yeah. The keys are behind the counter, close to the door, just... Just don't tell Darius that I told you. If what you are saying is true, who knows what he would do to me."

“We shall comply to protect you from this vile man, much as we would protect our fellow leshies.” Reaching Rings reaches behind the counter, producing a ring of keys which he then uses to quietly open the door. “Given that Darius requested that he not be disturbed, I conjecture that stealth is likely the best course of action.” So saying, the stealthy fungus starts to move silently down the stairs, either scouting ahead or helping the others as needed.

I’m fine with either scouting ahead alone or using Quiet Allies to help others sneak into the basement too. Please make a Stealth roll for me depending on which option occurs.

"I'll try to be sneaky too," whispers Popcorn.

Follow the Expert using Reaching Rings' Quiet Allies

"Lead the way Reaching Rings. We shall get the drop on him with you in charge. "

Following Expert too

As you go down into the basement, you enter a small room. It is mostly empty except for a wooden table covered with crystals of various size, including three particularly large ones measuring nearly four feet in diameter, that sits against the southern wall of this storeroom. There is also a single a wooden door tucked into the wall to the southwest.

I have added you to the map.

Enjoying the empty silence, but not trusting this foreign human realm devoid of anything familiar from the forest, Reaching Rings cautiously tiptoes into the room—an amazing feat given that they have no toes. The fungus glances over at the crystals, but most of their attention is focused on scanning suspiciously for traps as they stealthily make their way towards the solitary door.

As Rings test the door, they realize that it is, in fact, unlocked. From the other side of it, they manage to hear a strange bubbling sound.

Unfortunately, Rings doesn't know enough about what humans do with crystals to make an informed guess as to their nature.

***

Bottlespeaker, did you approach the table or did your token on the table get moved?

Curious as to the sound—could that be a spring they hear?—Reaching Rings slowly opens the door and peers into the next room.

I moved near the crystals to make a check to identify them

Bottlespeaker stares at the crystals trying to figure out what they are for. "I wonder what nefarious deals these rocks are used for...," Bottlespeaker says to others.

Popcorn also stares at the crystals.

Nature +6

As Bottlespeaker approaches the crystals on the table, the crystals begin to vibrate and hum on the table.

if it's okay, I'll have that happen before Rings opens the door/

You can roll for initiative and take your turn if you are above... Bad Vibrations Initiative: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Do natural 20s make a difference on initiative rolls? I know they’re sort of unique because they’re effectively the only opposed rolls in the game. Even if natural 20s don’t matter, do I get a circumstance bonus for literally staring at the crystal?

Before Reaching Rings can open the door, the crystals seem to come to life. Releasing the handle, the fungus turns and stares at the strange vibrating rocks.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29
Wow, 2 nat 20s in a row! Like Popcorn, I don't know if nat 20s make a difference on initiative rolls. I also don't know who goes first in the event of a tie. Edit: I just found this: "If your result is tied with an enemy's result, the enemy goes first."

so, technically nat 20s do nothing for initiative since there are no degrees of success. And yes, enemies do go first in case of a tie. However, two nat 20s in a row is kind of insane, so I'll let both of you go first. Let's see what Bottlespeaker rolls.

“Beware!” Reaching Rings warns as the crystals’ humming intensifies. “Such vibrations may be predecessors to a violent explosion. Let us leave quickly.” The fungus opens the door and rapidly steps through into the next room.

1st action: Interact to open door. 2nd action (incomplete): Move into the next room, but I can’t decide where/how far to go without seeing it revealed on the map. 3rd action—need to see the map first before I decide.