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"It is hard to tell. We've never been attacked by the trees like that in town before." says one of the townsfolk. "Something is definitely wrong. Please take these small gifts. Not much but please accept, maybe they help."
The townsfolk are indeed thankful for your help. You are given a helpful description of the alternate path your fellow Pathfinders and caravan took further into the forest.
It's currently late morning, getting close to lunch. What's your plan?
Marcus (9/26)
Katami
Zelphari
Redd (15/15)
Ogren (7/21; Wounded 1)
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Redd ponders the current situation.
With Marcus and Ogren still pretty injured, I don't think it's safe to continue on yet. Those trees sure were tough. Maybe we should spend the night here. Or do you think that the caravan we're trying to find will get too far ahead? Maybe this village has horses we can borrow to catch up to the caravan in the morning.
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Ogren, seeing the tree go down gives a look of shocked awe at Katami. "WOW! That was an amazing shot! You're really good with a bow!" With the moment to rest and relax, Ogren runs a silver glowing hand over his worst wounds and then tries it again after a moment to stop and pray.
When Katami offers to help, he gladly sits for her health checks and attempts to heal him... however he does seem to grimace more than would be expected and at the end he finally says, "Ouch, That's my glospalatch! it hurts when you poke it like that! Here I can heal myself if need be! Help Marcus!" He then runs a glowing hand over his new and old wounds, finally sealing up the rents and bruises in his skin.
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After making sure that everyone's injuries are taken care and that his magic is not needed for that, Zelphari critically examines his suite of weapons, reprimanding himself for being inadequately prepared.
"Our journey would likely take some time and since there is still good lighting, I would like to suggest we set off as soon as we have caught our breath and equipped adequately. I for one would need to get additional weapons."
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Barring any more questions, you press onward in the indicated direction. The road is easy to follow, as any branches you find are dead ends or quickly return to the main route. Snow occasionally falls from collected masses atop the tree line.
About a day into this leg of the journey, a strange sight appears. A drag mark in the snow inches towards you, but stops a short distance away. A flurry falls almost only in its general area. The snow accumulates on the air as if an invisible person stood there, then is slowly shaken off again.
Marcus (26/26)
Katami
Zelphari
Redd (15/15)
Ogren (21/21)
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Ogren thanks the villagers for the fun dance, the holy water and the place to rest for a bit. "Thank-you for the help!"
He then bounds down the road, happy to be moving again!
bundling up in a cloak and coat and longjohns and a blanket over his shoulders, the goblin looks a bit more like a walking closet than a humanoid, but he stops as the invisible thing gets closer, leaning over to Katami and whispering, "Would it be rude to walk over and offer a hand shake? I want to introduce myself!"
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During the journey along the various trails, Redd stays a few dozen feet away from the group. Either scouting ahead watching for any dangers or moving behind the group to make sure nothing is following them. Every few minutes she reports back to the group.
This forest sure is pretty with the light snow falling.
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Redd catches up to the group again when they see the strange anomaly in the snow.
What is that? It's making the snow appear strange. Could it be a kami? She whispers to the others.
It seems to be calling to me. It...wants...to...talk. Redd slowly approaches, her hands out as if to say she means no harm.
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Ogren realizes what is going on. He bounds up and extends a hand. "Hello there! I'm Ogren, Ogren Bound of the Crookedtoes Tribe of Absalom and adoptee of the Deepwall Clan of Kragoddan! It's a pleasure to meet you! If you want, you can use my body to talk with everyone! It's durable, stretchy and extra bouncy!" He offers up his body if the kami wants to borrow it.
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Marcus takes his hand off of his blade and approaches with Ogren and Redd. He bows before the swirling figure and addresses it in Common, Minkaian, and Tian, hoping to find something that it understands. "Well met"
"Kami of the way, I am Marcus Vultulus of the Fantailler family of Cassomir. My compatriots and I..." He motions towards Ogren and Redd particularly, "... are honored by your presence and would be again honored to receive the gifts of any memories you seek to give."
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Zelphari grips his longspear even more tightly, recalling the horror stories he's heard decades ago from visiting merchants. Despite his party's assurances earlier, he isn't completely certain, but at least he refrains from attacking immediately. And something tells him that the spirit does not look as malicious as what those merchants had told him.
Nonetheless, he calls out to Ogren and Marcus, "Be careful now!"
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Ogren steps forward to accept the spirit into his own body. Feeling a slight chill Ogren's mind flashes with a series of broken images, memories even as it merges with his consciousness.
A caravan, beset by several more animated trees. Two among the caravan, matching the description of the missing Pathfinders stand strong and repel the trees. During the chaos of battle though a humanoid with vulpine features sneaks past the chaos of battle and snags a bag of relics as well as a small bonsai tree from one of the wagons.
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Ogren pauses for a moment as the cold spirit shivers down his spine, and watches the visions in his head, curious as to why this is the way the kami communicates. He turns to the rest of the group and in what is clearly an attempt to sound wise and supernatural, but only comes across like a squeaky young child's attempt at it, states "I have seen what the kami has seen, been in the kami's head! There was a caravan before us. Two people. A glyph of two crossing lines, the Open Road. Trees covered in sap attack! There's chaos, fighting blood and sap shed! The Pathfinders WIN! But in the chaos, a fox-human comes and steals things. Is a bad boy, takes a sack, precious relics, and snack-size tree! We have seen, We know, We..." A lump of snow falls from one of the trees nearby, causing the goblin to near shed his skin in fright and flee, shield up, behind Redd, shaking in fear.
What was that! Isit going to kill us all? Is it Foxy-Person come to finish the job?
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Marcus raises an eyebrow. "Fox-human? Oh dear... Sneaky you say? A twist in the tale it seems... Threatening Trees and Tailed Thieves."
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Redd gets slightly frightened as the shimmering snowy form moves closer. She backs away as it moves forward then passes by her. Ogren bounces at it with his natural goblin bravery and willingly bonds with the spirit.
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Oh, dear. A fox-person? So, this kami you bonded with told you what it had seen. Those are the Pathfinders we're looking for. We should move on quickly.
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What are you talking about?! says a little bit confused Katami before realizing that the form certainly was a benevolent Kami and that the vision Ogren had was meant to help them.
At least we are on the right path. We need to find the caravan first, as they could have survived. We will take care of the kitsune, if it's who I think the fox-human is, later.
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Marcus believes this type of creature sounds very similar to that of a Kitsune. No one is quite sure how best to piece together the various tidbits, and the kami isn't offering explanations. Ogren feels it exit his body. It leaves behind a sense of calmness and desire to do good.
Redd feels a second spirit come close to her as well.
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Redd feels a second spirit come close to her as well. Do you also accept?
Umm, guys? This one is getting close to me. What should I do?
She backs away hesitantly.
Redd then realizes the other spirit did no harm to Ogren and was actually helpful.
Okay! I'm letting it in!
She takes a few deep breaths, holds her arms wide, and tilts her head back ready to accept the spirit.
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Redd feels the spirit enter into her consciousness. While a bit uncomfortable at first it soon becomes manageable. Visions begin to flash the same as Ogren described.
You witness the kitsune’s escape from the battle. The memory follows him to a clearing deeper in the woods. There, the Kitsune retrieves the bonsai tree from his pack and a book from his satchel. He begins poring over some text and eagerly reciting incantations under his breath as he draws rudimentary runes into the air.
Redd suddenly feels the spirit lurch from her body as the invisible pair slowly flitter back into the woods.
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Redd thinks about what Katami said.
Ohhh. The kami find this bonsai tree important. From what I can put together from the visions, I think the Kitsune is casting a spell on the bonsai tree. Possibly to harm it and upset the kami. What kind of spell I don't have the slightest idea, but a spell nonetheless. We must hurry to the location where our two Pathfinders were waylaid and then find the trail to the clearing.
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You head out to find the caravan, using the Kami's visions as well as the directional instructions from the villagers. Within a few hours, you find it - the caravan! Several wagons trundle down a path that joins with the one you were taking. All of a sudden, they stop. You see two people who look to be Lin Po and Ti Lan in the second cart. No one notices you, even if you signal them or make noise, until you get closer. At that point, Lin Po yells frantically, "Wait! Stay back or-"
But it's too late! Five stone statues slowly begin to emerge from within the forest.
Marcus (26/26)
Ogren (21/21)
Katami
Redd (15/15)
Zelphari
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Guardian Statues
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Ogren bounds forwards intrigued by the statues, He raises his shield almost reflexively with out realizing it, but watches the enemies with wide eyes. "These are stone golems aren't they? I heard about things like this in Nex! It's so coll that they have them in Tien too! So did you hire them to defend the caravan? They're really cool!"
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Marcus is absolutely sure these are lesser guardian statues. Weaker constructs with a little bit of hardness. While slow they can pack a bit of a punch.
The static lightning bursts through two of the statue's nearly breaking them apart in a single blow.
Marcus (26/26)
Ogren (21/21)
Katami
Redd (15/15)
Zelphari
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Guardian Statues (Pink -5) (Yellow -5)
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Katami fires an arrow at the statue. The force causes it to crumble against the tree. Redd's arrow sticks into a nearby stump. From the safety of cover in their wagons Lin Po and Ti Lan fire crossbow bots at another statue.
The pink statue collapses as well. Near death after Zelphari's lightning scorched their surface. The statues slowly move through the woods towards your group.. Their heavy stone feet crunching through the snow and saplings.
Marcus (26/26)
Ogren (21/21)
Katami
Redd (15/15)
Zelphari
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Guardian Statues
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Ogren frowns some as the statues close in around him and he instinctively starts to feel unsafe. He raises his shield further, drawing out his mace, and then watches the movements of everyone around him, the destruction of the objects and the firing of arrows and spells. He then flounders for a bit. Maybe they were bad statutes, maybe they weren't. He couldn't decide.