Aycenia's page

If Aycenia took issue with his decision, she did not voice it. To the contrary, a feeling of peace and happiness seemed to surround the ancient tree spirit, and you would have sworn that tiny silver flowers began to blossom in her blue-green tresses.

"This island... my home... it is a better place now for having been visited by such noble souls."

The dryad clutched her hands together, gazing deeply at each of you, her sunset eyes even brighter than you remembered. In a light voice, she lamented, "It is sad, but I do not think there is anything I could give that could properly reward such selflessness. But..."

The leaves of the trees surrounding her grove and the blades of grass within it seemed to whisper as a strong yet gentle wind rippled thru them. Even as the tall beauty raised her hands, you could see a few fruit of extraordinary color flower and grow from the boughs of her banyan, their skin seeming to glow from within with a golden inner light. Harvesting them with as much care as if they were newborn babes, she motioned for each of you to approach, bestowing upon each of you a single glistening fruit.

"Take these," she said, "and may your days be blessed and many!"

With that, you take your leave, heading south towards the lighthouse. As you go, those of you who accepted Aycenia's gift study it. While Lureene is able to tell that they radiate some sort of transmutation effect, none of you are able to discern what effect they might produce.

Special: If you could each respond with what you do with your fruit (i.e. plant it, toss it, eat it, save it, give it to someone else, etc.), it would be appreciated.

Aycenia smiles and nods reaching up to brush her hand against Jask's new ears. "Yes Jask, you gave your old life bravely for others. The many who you saved each gave a portion of themselves back to honor that sacrifice. You have been born again in a body new."

Aycenia lays a delicate hand on the half-elf's arm and nods encouragingly. She looks quite exhausted and you are reminded of how fatigued she was after journeying to the seaside a few days prior to break the polymorph spell Malikadna had cast upon Malandraenas. Sighing more in relief than out of weariness, she says, "Yes, you remember. These are your friends and your princess. Together you with them, you all saved the jungle from a great evil."

Theme: The Memory of Trees

Inside, all traces of the supernatural banquet you enjoyed earlier have vanished; the table, chairs, crystal, and silver are nowhere to be found. With a gesture and a quiet whisper to her banyan tree, the dryad causes a protrusion of roots and branches to arise from the ground forming a sort of pedestal with a man-sized depression in the center.

"I sent messengers flying to the tower of light when the gnome's friend arrived with your missive." She nods to the pedestal in the center of the room. "Please, lay him here."

With a nod, the two lift Jask's cold, stiff body off the litter and set him down where Aycenia asked. The moment they do, tiny rootlets begin to grow around him, forming into young flower buds. Here and there, droplets of water trickle thru the dense canopy overhead, splashing where they will.

"I thank you all for your aid, you have done a great deed for which every plant and animal living here is grateful. I ask that you please leave us alone to pray after our own fashion. This man did us a great service, and for that we would honor his memory..."

The dryad looks up at Darvesch with sunset-colored eyes, her tears lost in the intensifying rainstorm. "Please," she says, "bring him within my home. This is... not right."

"Oh no... no, no, NO!" The look of despair and anguish on the lovely dryad's face is nearly lost on the tall ranger. The green-haired beauty kneels beside his corpse drawing back the linens covering him. Even as tears fill her eyes upon seeing the wound to his heart, the grey skies above open, drowning out the sounds of her sadness.

For a few moments, Aycenia and the parrot speak with one another in a strange tongue after which, she replies. "She too wishes to see the swift end to the blight. She wil do this for us."

The dryad nods her head, blue-green hair rustling like palm fronds as she does. "Her mate waits for her, she is simply resting from her long flight."

The dryad's sunset eyes are wide with surprise at the hour's unlikely visitor. She brushes blue-green tresses from her face and stands gracefully.

"Hello friend," she says to the bird, "what is this you bear on your leg?"

As the parrot repeats its greeting, the dryad's long, delicate fingers gently loosen a ribbon tying a small scroll to its leg. With a smile, she produces a handful of seeds and berries from out of thin air and proceeds to continue speaking with it in a tongue that none of the rest of you recognize. While doing so, she holds out the scroll to Alis as the large bird responds and snacks on the proffered meal.

"For you, she says."

Aycenia frowns at the strange-sounding name. "Taan-tea-ra-nay?"

"So you were curious about what the spirit had to say. Then it grew stronger and overpowered you, correct?"

"Oh..." Only the sound of the wind blowing and the distant calls of birds from the jungle break the silence for several moments. Thinking hard upon all that she has heard, the dryad says, "I believe they will prevail. Surely by now there has been tell of the strange monsters there. Also, are your allies not warriors and mages? If your small ship could pass with so few to strive against this Scylla, surely all of your brave fighters will fare better, yes?"

Aycenia's sunset eyes blink innocently and she offers helpfully, "That would mean your... agent was not defeated by the... Scyllan. That is cause for happiness, is it not?"

Although the dryad had sighed in relief when the argumentative quartet departed her sacred grove, her lips were now pursed in concern as she watched them thru the eyes of the birds and trees.

She looks over to where the princess and the wizardess sit concentrating upon Alis' handglass, looks of frustration on their faces. For a moment, Aycenia hesitates to say anything until the bejeweled mirror is returned to its velvet-lined case. As Alis rubs her temples, Aycenia says timidly, "Their interest in the mad tengu and his crab house seems greater than their interest in the Silent Island."

After a moment, she adds, "Were you unable to scry upon your other friends?"

Aycenia looks up brushing a lock of blue-green hair from her face. "Is there some danger you sense, young one?"

Aycenia contemplates Lureene's question for a moment. "The other day I traveled all the way to the sea. I think perhaps that is the furthest I have ever been. It was quite exhausting!"

She smiles demurely and sips some more of the wine, a blush coming to her cheeks. "Why did you want to know, Lureene?"

Aycenia picks up a crystal wine glass and raps a fingernail against it, marveling at the tone it produces. She blinks at Alis' question. "I do not know what this is, but the sound is pretty!"

Theme: Service

More than a bit alarmed at what could be going on inside her home, Aycenia slips past and gasps in surprise. "Oh! Oh my... What are these?"

Alis, Lureene, Priyya, and Darvesch are unable to see past the taller people crowded before them, however as everyone makes their way inside, the sight of a finely wrought banquet table, heavily laden with a sumptuous feast greets your eyes. There are chairs and service enough for everyone, and more than a few heads turn towards Alis.

"A demon? So there was a demon beneath our roots?"

Aycenia emerges from the heart of the great banyan tree with a confused and concerned expression upon her delicate face. "I don't understand. The evil in the ground and trapped in the surf is gone. Why are your voices raised in contention? This is a happy occasion, is it not?"

The dryad hesitates, a look of worry dimming her sunset eyes. "I would not wish for these tasks of yours to be any more difficult or dangerous..."

Aycenia looks to the women around her, perhaps feeling a sense of sisterhood. With a gentle smile, the she clasps her hands together, and nods her head demurely. "I will keep the sword safe for you, do not let it be a concern."

As an afterthought, she looks at Gelik and Jask and adds, "Do any of your companions need to stay and rest? No creature of this island, not even that devil will intrude here unbidden."

The dryad seems surprised when all eyes turn to her. Brushing her blue-green locks from her face, she gives a shallow sigh. "I have been told there are caves below there, carved out by the waves long ago. Whether it was the waters or those who build that great stone... tower?, something foul was uncovered — the roots of the trees shrink from it."

That thought makes her grow quiet again. She gets a faraway look in her eyes for a few moments and an uncomfortable silence fills the banyan tree, broken only by the sound of Mal announcing his return and the noise of a cooking fire being prepared.

"As we said, the trees and I," Aycenia gives a shiver, "it was their afterlife. The giants would make sacrifices to the Red Mountain Devil so it would leave them be, but there were others offered to slavering things beneath their camp, those offerings they did not begrudge. Even now, the trees say that things stir there, that there have been those who descended there recently, although of the two and two who entered, only one returned. They say the others now walk below..."

"If it can speak then I have never heard it. The giants appeased it with sacrifices of men and animals, not words."

"But..." Aycenia seems truly and deeply confused by what the succubus and the dwarf are suggesting, "if you cannot speak with it and it cannot answer, how will it tell you anything?"

She shakes her head putting the strange thoughts from her mind and instead focuses on the rest of what you were asking.

"As for the lightning, I could see it, every creature and plant on the island could feel it even. It was a magic as old as that buried far below even the deepest, oldest roots. It came from the stone by the base of the Red Mountain. Something far below forced or perhaps drank all the water from the lagoon there and I could feel the presence of the dark power grow. It was like the clouds parting before the sun only... wicked."

Aycenia seems baffled by the noise of raised voices in her home. In a quiet voice, she asks, "You can speak with monsters?"

As the others talk, Priyya sees Aycenia appear from the same location where the large butterfly disappeared. The dryad seems almost surprised when she notes the priestess looking straight at her and she blushes slightly. She casts a lingering glance over her shoulder at the direction she came from and raises her hand hesitantly as someone might who was uncertain if they should wave goodbye or not.

The exotic woman smiles gently, speaking to Priyya and Alis in a soft voice so as not to interrupt the others, "Forgive my absence. At the behest of the dark-haired woman, last night I journeyed far from this place and it weakened me greatly. I might not have made it back but for the long-limbed one carrying me."

She looks around. "Has he left so soon?"

The delicate woman seems on the verge of tears at the news. "I would gladly aid you in your efforts against that evil wizardess. Take my blessing with and come back safely... Please, join hands for just a moment..."

With that, she takes Alis' right hand, Alis takes Lureene's who takes Sasha's, who take's Mal's, who take's Priyya's. The Surya-ka-Vahaak, then extends her left hand to Aycenia.

The dryad bows her head between the two dream-sisters, chanting slowly in a melodic tongue that cause the breath to catch in Mal's throat for just a moment. As she chants, you can feel the skin on the back of the people's hands you are holding grow firmer and tougher.

After a few moments, she looks up, a serene look on her otherworldly features and says calmly, "Go now, and save your friends..."

Eric, Justin: Aycenia cast barkskin on Alis, Lureene, Mal, Priyya, and Sasha. That should boost all the girls' AC by +1, and Mal's by +2.

Aycenia seems a bit confused by the sharp edges of the words between the two women. "The place where the giants dwell is not so large. It is perhaps only as wide as my home. The stone tower is wide as my tree, yet more than twice as tall."

She gestures to the trees comprising the edges of the grove. If the giant's village is of a similar size, then that would make it less than 100 yards in diameter. Looking at the great banyan tree atop the hill, you would estimate it to be about 90-ft wide and 60-ft tall. That would make the lighthouse about 90-ft wide at the base and at least 120-ft in height.

"If this wizardess is there and announces herself, I think it would be plain to anyone there."

The dryad smiles sympathetically. "Be glad that your home is not so nearby at least."

At this, Aycenia perks up. "It has been years since any children have been born. Since the one with red hair became chief there have been no children at all, although when the wind is right you can hear them trying..."

"I have some charms that would make you grow. They least for a few minutes. Three of them, that is how many I have."

She cocks her head to the side. "They keep lookouts, usually two of them. They stand gazing north over the bay ever vigilant for approach by sea or the path that leads to their camp along the ridge from the east."

She points to the map Sasha is annotating, noting the trail on the eastern shore of the bay.

"Also, there are things that were once giants, now barren of flesh like trees devoid of leaves. They stay in a pen on the east side that guards the way to their witch to the south. The master of the tribe dwells in the stone tower at the north-west corner of their camp. They keep... their chattel in a pen south of the tower, west of the witch, it is opposite from the way into their camp at the north-east where a vicious lizard lays in wait. The fire-pit leading below is in the center of it all."

Her shoulders suddenly slump as if in weariness and Alis quickly moves to hold the taller woman. "That is all that I can see thru the jungle's eyes."

"Their defenses?" The dryad takes the princess' hand and rises back to her feet in a single graceful movement without any of the stiffness that a man might know from straining their knees and ankles for so long.

"The trees tell me that... there is an open space in the ground beneath their camp, they feel with their roots that it is a foul place now but... it was not always so. Yet..." she stares off into the distance as if focusing upon something far away, something that makes her shudder. "Yet even the waves that carved out that place have touched upon something here long before me, something that should have remained buried... They say that they have seen the giants throw sacrifices down it from the fire pit in their camp and that slavering things rejoice in it!"

She looks up with a look of revulsion on her face, "It is the giant's afterlife here in the world of the living!"

Aycenia nods. "Yes the place where they offer it tribute is on that hill I mentioned, the one with the ancient..."

She looks at the card again and notes what the offering brazier rests upon.

"...stones," she finishes more than bit of surprise showing in her exotic features. Her eyes seems to almost glow like amber held up to the setting sun and she asks, "So does that mean this sorceress seeks some power she thinks that old devil controls?"

With equal parts hesitation and curiosity, Aycenia picks up the card cupping it in both hands as if it were a wounded bird. She turns it over in her hands noting the texture and recognizing that the object itself was once part of a living tree now transformed and used to bear artwork.

I wonder if he minded, it is certainly pretty...

Upon feeling a delicate hand rest on her slender shoulder, she looks to see Alis smiling at her and giving a nod of consent. The living tree spirit takes a deep breath and begins to describe what she sees, "There is a great beast guarding a powerful, fiery orb, but a woman without has tamed it with only her empty hands. It looks like the woman and the beast are on a span made of stone, not a natural one, but worked stone like when the men built that tower. The orb is in the center of the span but it doesn't look big enough to block the way. All around the woman and the beast, are birds and cats but they are not fighting. The animals too seem tamed or enraptured. There are sprites and a shrine too..."

Aycenia looks to Alis and then up to Priyya as if seeking to know if she answered correctly.

Aycenia cocks her head to the side when Alis takes off her backpack, kneels on the ground, and remove the silver pouch containing her lavishly illustrated Tarot cards. The dryad looks to the olive-skinned woman beside her for guidance on what is going on before kneeling beside the princess, hands folded in her lap, curiosity firmly peaked.

She seems almost entranced as Alis speaks to herself in Sylvan, thin fingers shuffling and bridging the deck multiple times. Yet when Alis bridges the cards for the fifth time, Aycenia nearly jumps when a card springs free and flips thru the air to land on her skirt.

The dryad's golden eyes meet Alis' and she says with no small hint of surprise, "One slipped out!"

"Tengu? What do you know of him?"

"Oh the tengu? He hasn't been here very long, only a few years I should say. There was once a mighty crab that lived in the great pool. The little ones there now are her offspring. She died not too long before the wreck that trapped the tengu here and he now lives in her belly on the south side of the pool."

"He talks to people I cannot see. Since they leave no foot-prints and don't ripple the water I think they may only be in his head. I thought it best to leave him alone. Even the giants never harry him."

Aycenia seems a bit confused by Priyya's question, but does her best to answer. "All the plants that once grew there have died. No animals will go there and even winged creatures do not fly near it. There are things that move, but it is hard to say if they were ever alive or dead."

"Pirates? I don't understand what you mean. The only person here beside the giants is the mad tengu who lives by the great pool. No one bothers me here even now..."

At Priyya's words, Aycenia nods in agreement. "No, no, that would be more than enough time, if you come back and are able."

Aycenia looks more than a bit alarmed at the possibility of anything getting firebombed, not to mention a cadre of fire mages and a navy. The fact that Alis is a princess and a governor doesn't seem to mean anything to her.

"You would ask fire mage to burn down the silent island? What if the smoke from it poisoned the animals? What if that spreads the spores further? Please, my roots tell me that this is a supernatural blight that sickens the land!"

"The blighted island is about nine miles north of here, west of the great round pool."

She squeezes Lureene's hand, looking deep into her eyes, "Please though, if your friends are in immediate peril, save them first! You can retreat here afterwards if you are able so long as you promise to save the jungle once you have recouped your strength."

Aycenia kneels on the ground and at a mental command from her, the ground shifts forming a representation of Reaver's Shiv. She points to the large island west of the tidal basin. "The blight has been spreading for not even half as long as the giants have been here, but each year it grows more quickly. Even though I may not have much time, a decade or two at most, it is still much more than a single night!"

Sense Motive DC 15 (everyone): When she mentions a decade as 'not being much time', it suddenly occurs to you that Aycenia must indeed be quite old to think 10 or 20 years is a cause for urgency.

Upon hearing of your plight from Priyya and Alis, Aycenia gasps in horror before a look of sadness and sympathy casts a shadow across her beauty. "I remember when those giants first came here from over the waves, it was many years ago now. They were not always depraved, but they have ever been warlike, that much has not changed. Yet it was not from within that their hearts were blackened so."

"No, that is something else. It was here before the giants, before the colonists who built that stone tower, even before I was a sapling. Through the roots of my tree I can sense it. There are ancient things and secrets below this island, though I know not what or where they are."

"Yet you already know the giants are not the only evil here if you have seen that devil. It is a cruel and ravenous blood-drinker and has killed many of my animal friends and others like yourselves. That those giants worship it like a god is only all the more foul! I can tell you that it lairs near a hill with ancient stones by the mouth of the river at the foot of the red mountain."

"However," a shudder raises goosebumps on Aycenia's frail figure, "they are not what I most fear. A hideous blight causes suffering to my realm, a strange fungus that surely spreads from the grey and silent island north of here. There is nothing that I can do about it. Even if I had the courage to leave my tree, I am afraid of what it would do to me..."

She takes Priyya and Alis' hands in hers and looks at them with imploring eyes. "Please, if you can help save my realm I will lend whatever magic and aid I can to assist you!"

"A retainer?" Aycenia's brow wrinkles a bit at the polite yet cryptic evasions from Priyya and Lureene and she looks at the woman Malandraenas and Lureene introduced as Alis.

At your approach, the many thick shoots of the banyan creak and its branches rustle as if from a localized breeze. You look up to see the form of an incredibly beautiful woman with eyes like a tropical sunset and deep, blue-green hair. She slip out from the tree's heart as easily as a person might walk thru the part between two curtains.

Her skin is smooth and tan, yet she has pointed ears much longer than those of any elf. A circlet of living flowers blossoms adorns her head, and her very clothes seem to be comprised of leaves cupping her breasts and a skirt of leafy fronds trailing from her hips.

A gentle smile spreads across her delicate face at the sight of you and she says something in a tongue that only Mal seems to understand. The big man cannot help but blush before her gestures to the rest of you, seemingly in introduction.

Once he has done so, the surreally beautiful woman folds her hand and gives a dainty bow to the rest of you. In a soft, almost breathless voice, she says, "It is very welcome to have guests here in my home. Aycenia, that is my name, but it has been many cycles of the world since I have been fortunate enough to have cause to use it."

She approaches closer and you can smell a sweet aroma like honeysuckle playing about her. She seems fascinated by all of you although she pauses at the sight of Priyya and Alis looking back and forth between them several times. "The two of you are so very different but so very much the same. What is it that brought you to this home of mine?"

Although Sasha seems a bit guarded about this strange and beautiful woman, the rest of you sense only genuine curiosity tinged with hopefulness from her. She takes her time looking at all of you, an expectant look in her eyes.

[ REAVER'S SHIV: Map | Position (022) | Overland Rules ]