"If we are headed back, let's at least swing wide of our track here and see some new land."
"Well I could ask Torag for a prayer to stop it going bad but not till tomorrow.That would give us another couple of days to explore."
"It would certainly make better use of our time, I think," Lucien offers. "After all, since we have decided to turn back, we might as well take the opportunity to explore some more on the way."
Looking at the others, he adds, "After all, we are relatively unharmed still."
"Then exploring we will go..."
Arianna smiles as she readies her horse and climbs into the saddle again. "Let's just keep a sharp eye out for those bear traps...and any more tatzlwyrms."
Sondergang finishees securing the head to the mules saddle and nods."..and anything else that might want to threaten our progress"
Deciding to return their trophy to Oleg for a reward the group heads northeast before turning east and heading to the trading post, exploring the countryside as they go.
As they spend the rest of the day exploring the area, they settle in for the evening. When they awaken in the morning Marcus is shocked to see that color of the mane and tail of his horse have been mysteriously changed to a shocking bright pink. Laughing at Marcus's consternation Arianna soon begins to curse as she slings her backpack over her shoulder and all it's contents spill to the ground. looking at the knapsack she notices that all the metal buckles have been removed during the night.
Waking and seeing the strange color of the horse, Cale gives Marcus a look. "What made you want to dye its hair pink?" When Arianna's pack bursts, Cale can't help but laugh at the lady's misfortune, but goes to assist her in packing her things back up. "You have to make sure-" His needless lesson in packing is cut short once he realizes all the buckles are missing. He holds up a bare strap and shows it to her. "What in all the hells is going on?"
Silstaren smiles at Marcus' horse and Arianna's misfortune, but quickly grows more somber. "Check your belongings, everyone. There may be more missing." The elf looks through his possessions then makes a quick circuit of the camp looking for any tracks.
Sondergang looks to his packs and the mule's saddle bags.
"This is passing strange " he mutters "what have we got on our hands this time..someImp or Mephit teasing us"
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Marcus chuckles at that.
"Imps and Mephits have the kind of sense of humour that entails you waking up to find your entrails tied in a pretty bow," he points out. "I would suggest we are the recipients of a fay prank. We should take it in good humour and proceed."
He looks at his horse and shrugs.
"Well, at least it'll wash out," he comments. "Does anyone have any wine or spirits on them?"
"Seems a waste of good wine," Silstaren replies. "And washing the color out might not be seen as good humor."
"I believe it is as Marcus says," Lucien offers as he starts going through his backpack and pouches to look for anything that might be missing. "We could investgate further, but I should think that if the fey responsible do not want to be found, they probably will not. Besides, we could always return here at a later time, perhaps immediately after concluding our business at Oleg's."
The conversation quickly goes over Cale's head as discussion ensues on who's at fault for the pranks. "What's a quasimeffut?" The inquiry is ignored as the conversation goes on to the usage of spirits for hygiene and the involvement of Fey. "Fey? We have no children for them to steal, and we've wandered into no circles. What business do they have with us?" His eyes glare all around, his hand on his sword hilt. He starts looking through his pack suspiciously, still diverting most of his attention to the forest around them.
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"Fey are nature spirits, my friend. Quasits are small demons and imps small devils and both are beings from the outer planes, fey are ... different beings to us mortals, but they are very much part of our world."
Marcus chuckles.
"As far as I know, most fey don't steal children or any such, and while magic circles may have something to do with them, that's no guarantee. It might just be that we've stumbled into territory they claim as their own."
Marcus spoke so matter-of-factly about things that Cale had always regarded as superstition. It threatened to make him feel foolish, but he stubbornly hung onto his sword.
"Mephits on the other hand are just extraplanar vermin" the dwarf grunts..he then casts a couple of minor spells on the wurm head to stop it deteriotating..
cast Purify Food and Drink followed by Gentle Repose
Spells for today:Bless x2 Magic stone(D)
Orisons available:Detect Magic,Purify Food and Drink, Stabilise,Light
"Well, if true, I'll try not to let this sour my attitude," Arianna offers, as she pulls together the spilled contents of her pack. For now, she puts the gear in her horse's saddlebags, but makes plans to cut some short strips of leather to act as ties to replace the missing buckles.
"Hopefully, we've not stirred the ire of these fey or quasimeffuts badly enough for them follow. Maybe this is only meant as a warning. And we'd do well to heed it."
Sondergang looks at Ariannas pack.
"Are the buckles gone altogether or are they lying on the ground where you slept..if that's the case I can fix that easily enough.Torags power allows me to mend that which is broken."
You know that the fey will continue to follow you until they grow tired of the 'game' they are playing. You can buy them off with gifts, as you suggested, each 10gp worth of gifts will give you a +1 to your diplomacy check. It will require a DC:23 Diplomacy check to get them to call off their pranks
Sondergang looks at Ariannas pack. "Are the buckles gone altogether or are they lying on the ground where you slept..if that's the case I can fix that easily enough.Torags power allows me to mend that which is broken."
"That's a good question. But, whoever took them could just as easily have hid them," Arianna replies, "It's a right good joke, though. Reminds me of the pranks I used to play on my older brothers to spite their pride and dominance in the family."
Having finished going through his belongings for anything out of place, Lucien tries to think about what he knows of the fey and their ways, at the same time looking around for any hints they may have left behind as to their whereabouts.
"The question is, Marcus," the man wonders, "should we perhaps deal with this now? If we move on and they follow us with whatever that entails, they might prove quite a handful, even if they simply just rearrange our things or paint our horses."
"When I speak of dealing with it, I do not of course mean anything violent. Perhaps a chat," he quickly adds to avoid being misunderstood.
Silstaren returns from his quick search of the area.
Perception
SUrvival
Sondergang looks from Lucien to Marcus "If it stops more of these tricks then it's worth doing..I'll leave it up to you gentlemen though. The fey are not something I have experience or knowledge off"
"We're probably on their home ground now. If we move and they follow we may have a better chance of exposing them. If they don't want to talk, we'll never see them, even if we stay."
As Silstaren checks the area around you for tracks he notices high up in the fir trees overhead two large nests made of twigs and branches. Each nest is roughly three feet in diameter. Obviously made some large bird of prey or other large avian,
"We're probably on their home ground now. If we move and they follow we may have a better chance of exposing them. If they don't want to talk, we'll never see them, even if we stay."
"That is a valid assumption, I think," Lucien nods in agreement. "Let us move along then and see what happens. And if they should happen to make their presence known, then we could perhaps talk them out of following or playing pranks on us."
"Who knows," he adds, "they might even have something of interest or use to share with us if we can convince or entice them to do so."
"Aye..'appen they might know what's going on in these woods.Anyway fair words butter no Parsnips as me Mother used to say. "
The Dwarf mounts with his usual lack off grace.
Cale does his best not to look as paranoid as he's feeling. "Gifts? Enticement? I'm more for going the hell away from these creatures and steering well clear of them. Who knows what they'll do next. They obviously have no regard for the property of others, and I've no inclination to wait a week to replace my equipment simply because of these pranks!"
Cale mounts up and starts moving as soon as everyone is ready. He spares no time for dallying or dawdling.
"We can always mark this place and come back if we need such information..." Arianna adds to the conversation as she mounts her horse. Much like Cale, she's uneasy with being pranked by such unseen creatures. After all, they could just as easily slit their throats in the night. Better to put some distance between them and get back to Oleg's...
"I'm sure that I can find it again. If they wanted to talk, they'd have come out by now. Let's count ourselves lucky and move on."
"The matter is decided then," Lucien concludes, his voice soft and calm. "Let us move on towards Oleg's place and we can return later and see what can be learnt."
"Unless, of course, the fey choose to make themselves known while we continue on our way and save us the trouble, that is," he adds and joins the rest in moving along.
After a few hours the color disappears from Marcus's horses mane and tail as if by magic. The group eventually clears the forest and continues to explore the grasslands just west of Oleg's. Knowing that in the morning the group will reach the outpost they bed down for the night.
Sondergang checks over the groups gear using his power of mending to repair any minor defects in the equipment.
Perception
Cale can't wait to get to Oleg's and away from the mischievous critters so bent on his group's annoyance.
Waking in the morning Silstaren feels as sharp pain in his big toe as he pulls on his boots. Turning the boot upside down several small stones tumble out. The others immediately follow suit only to discover that the elf was the only target of this particular mischief.
Later while eating breakfast the party hears a faint jingling noise coming from the horse picket. Approaching cautiously they discover that the mame and tail of Sondergang's mount has been carefully braided, with the missing buckles from Arianna's pack adorning the mule's newly coifed hairstyle.
Sondergang snorts at his mounts new decoration then removes the buckles and mends Arianna's pack
"Aye..Aye..Very funny..most amusing.." he says loudly..in case the fey are listening "Now just be good little folk and go on home..we are leaving now"
"Well...at least they brought them back," Arianna says and then thanks Sondergang for his swift repair of the pack. "But it seems we've picked up a fellow traveler if they're still following along. And that means we may be leading them to Oleg's. If they're capable of this, imagine all the trouble they could cause there..."
"Well then we might have to negotiate something.have we still got that wine?"