"Well this is sure to be interesting, and a pleasure to have you joining us Miss Glas,"
He smirks at Ameii "Lead on oh fearless guide,"
Redd warmly returns Iz's hug and places a kiss on the top of her head "Oh I have every faith that we'll meet again, and soon" He responds with a dazzling fangfilled grin "And you'll have amazing stories to tell"
Patrons of the grill start to move and meander slowly towards the exit, clearly not in a hurry.
Ameei hops up from her seat with enthusiasm and gusto "Great, let's go!" She chimes as she gladly takes the lead and guides the entire group through the throngs of exiting fae. She pauses only briefly to whisper a few words to Fyrn who responds equally quietly and both girls grin.
"We're all set!" She assures the party before heading for the door. The group soon find themselves swept up in a tide of exiting patrons, a throng of humanoids all hurrying through the same door, wanting to exit before it disappears.
A little battered and dazed the group steps out into the woods, the trees exactly like those near Clearbrook, in fact if it weren't for the fae scattering and heading off in various directions it would look identical to the moment they stepped into the tree, dark woods illuminated by early evening stars.
Sam:
More surprising still to the group is their sudden change of attire. As they stepped out into the woods their clothing and belongings changed in a heartbeat to those more suiting to a trip in unknown lands.
.
.
Lyus is slightly shock when they emerge in what looks like the woods back home, a further surprised to see his is wearing his work worn leathers and has his felling axe over his shoulder. He shrugs and looks to see that everyone else appears to be equipped, apart for Todd. He hefts his axe and nods; well at least he now had something familiar and solid to ground him. He looks towards Ameei.
“So lass which way now?”
Sam starts as a few items he had left behind on his trip to Clearbrook appear. He stares around at the oddly-familiar-yet-different trees in amazement.
"It's like a twin of Clearbook's woods, but one that has seen a different life." He exclaims
Survival: 1d20+5=8, K(Nature): 1d20+5=18, Perception: 1d20+5=9, K (Geography): 1d20+4=7
Sam looks around, trying to immerse himself in the forest rhythm like his Da taught him.
As Iz leaves the tree, there is no great change to her attire, her sling bag; which she picked up as she left, is slightly more full, and she now has a man's warm cloak drapped over her shoulders. In addition there is a slightly distant look in her eyes.
"and so it begins"
She says quietly to herself, and lets out a little sigh, and lets her mind wander "hmm I guess I better make up a good story before I get back to see Redd here, forgot to tell him I really prefer to sing and dance though, can't say I am weaver of tales, oh well we will see"
Sam:
Ameei gives a smile and starts to lead the group away from the tree they exited "This way" She remarks easily as she sets down a forest path. As the group sets off they soon notice they are being followed by a small, curious looking squirrel. The tiny rodent gives Ameei a wide birth but seems to enjoy looking at the rest of the group.
Sam follows close to Ameei. He smiles at the squirrel. Squirrels have always been one of his favorite animals in the forest (even if Dancer liked to chase them). He rummages in his pocket for a crumb of bread and tosses it to the small bushy-tailed rodent.
The squirrel happily pounces the crumb and gnaws on it with a satisfied little expression. Curiously it edges closer keeping a eye on Sam especially although it scampers away to a safe distance every time the young woodsman gets close to Ameei or to the husky that appears to have adopted the group as it's new pack.
The sky is dimming a little, and you would guess it's early evening here, leaving you with the feeling that in a couple of hours you should find somewhere to camp for the night. Ameei continues on and leads the group down a forest path, her head held high she gives the occasional pause to sniff the air before carrying on. For about an hour the journey is without anything remarkable, that is until the group rounds a bend and is faced with a trio of mangy dogs playing a gruesome tug-of-war with some sort of humaniod corpse. Their snarls and barks break the silence of an otherwise calm day
Sam is horrified by the sight of the mangled corpse. He attempts to shoo off the dogs
"YAH! SHOO! "
If they remain steadfast he unlimbers his bow and readies to drive them off by force.
Sam is soon joined by the husky and Ameei, both growling posessively, the mangy dogs quickly realise they're outmatched by the stronger pack and scamper off into the woods leaving their 'prize' behind.
The body is mangled, a touch bigger than a human, it's arms strong and it's skin a little grey, it also appears to have pointed ears, certainly not human.
As soon as the mangy dogs leave Sam inspects the corpse.
The corpse is male, clearly bearing several slashing and piercing wounds. These wounds are in addition to the chunks the dogs ripped from him. The corpse still wears an old-fashioned chain shirt and his sundered longsword lies nearby. His belt pouch has been turned inside out and his belt bears an empty dagger scabbard.
As a skilled woodsman Sam also spots the tracks of three or four humanoids,clearly the ones who fought this unfortunate. All clues point to this fight having occured within the last day.
His keen eyes also spot a small glint coming from under a nearby bush.
Lyus spends much of the walk in silence, mainly just enjoying the feeling of being outside again. When they fine the corpse he jogs up in support of his companions, the sight of the strange creature and the smell of its putrefaction bring a slight grimace to his face which soon passes.
“What is that?”
He’d never seen a thing like it, though it had ears similar to the elves but the bulk and colour where wrong. Lyus thought it looked to be a warrior of some kind, or maybe a brigand, a woodsman wouldn’t carry a sword.
Sam goes to investigate the glint in the bushes
Sam uncovers a dagger, it's tang bolster and blade's center appear to be made of liquid flame. It has a word inscribed along it's hilt in language Sam doesn't recognise.
Iz shields her eyes from the somewhat grissly remains, but still peeps through occassionally with morbid curiousity.
"That is horrible, what happened to this poor creature, Is there often this kind of trouble in the woods on this side?"
Iz still makes her way forward till she is nex to Ameii once, having dawdled a little before this, having taken in the sights of this new place as she went.
Sam shows the flame dagger to Ameei
"Look what I found! Is it important Ameei? I've never seen the like! It looks magical!"
Ameei coos a little over the dagger and begins to speak in a musical tongue. A short while later her eyes flash and glint blue. "Ooo that's quite a find. It's a magical dagger that's for sure. I think it also keeps you warm.. It looks like it's made from liquid fire."
Glancing up at Sam she smiles mischeviously. "Hmm i think you might be a little magical too."
Sam blushes
"I'm not magic, I'm just a woodsrunner. I can't do any wizardry stuff."
Sam inspects the dagger.
"Wow. It's made of flame? How does it stay in one place without burning up?"
The squirrel from earlier scampers over to the group as they look at the dagger, seemingly mesmerised by it for a moment before giving a delighted squeak. Bouncing on the spot it blinks a little before it's bushy tail suddenly ignites, consumed in dancing flames, which only seems to delight it more.
Lyus looks at the strange dagger; it did indeed look magic, or at least strange. Then he saw the squirrel reappear, this he found odd when the small fluffy creature appeared to set its own tail on fire he found downright weird.
“Why is that squirrel on fire?”
he asked in a somewhat bemused tone.
Todd hangs at the back looking completely bemused and out of place.
Sam starts as the squirrel's tail ignites
"Holy jumping Abadar riding a three legged pony!" He swears
He swivels to Ameei, panic-stricken
"Ameei! We have to save the squirrel!"
Sam attempts to catch the squirrel and douse its flaming tail.
Lyus watched Sam prance and jump around after the merrily burning squirrel and shuck his head in wonder and bemusement. Then with a firm voice he says.
“No Sam Longshanks your stop your sky larking ‘bout, yon critter seems happy enough. An’ besides you want whatever else lives in these here woods down about our ears?”
His voice softens, and he gives a small smile.
“Plus a’ nit like it’s the strangest thing we’ve seen since we left.”
The young man's concern brought a smile to Ameei's lips. He really was quite a special man. Chasing after Sam, well it looked kinda fun and her dog instincts took over sometimes, Ameei stops him by giving him a big hug. "It's ok Sam. This little guy's a Tindertail. THey do that when they get excited. I guess he likes you."
Sam looks at the flaming rodent
"Wow. That looks like it must hurt! Are you sure he's OK Ameei?"
Iz looks bemused byt eh flirey little squirrel, and entranced by the flickering flames.
"Squee, he is soooo cute, hope he stays with us for a while,
Better than some scary shadow man or something"
Iz strokes her dress, and lowers herself down to her knees gently to look at the so called Tindertail better, making small encouraging noises to it as she does.
Iz looks bemused byt eh flirey little squirrel, and entranced by the flickering flames.
"Squee, he is soooo cute, hope he stays with us for a while,
Better than some scary shadow man or something"
Iz strokes her dress, and lowers herself down to her knees gently to look at the so called Tindertail better, making small encouraging noises to it as she does.
"Thats true," Todd smiles and looks around "Given the state of affairs shouldn't we be thinking about making a move?."
Sam looks up from the flametailed rodent.
"Yes, it's too easy to get distracted. We have a girl to find and bring home."
Lyus nods and looks around them, watching for movement.
"Aye, we best be off. So Ameei which way?"