Dowrenland - Emeralds & Roses

[Erasmas]

"Because, Skrrib Adanech, Barrd Singerr frrom the Outside Lands... when the mighty fall frrom upon theirr high rrock, those of us who have been at the bottom must rremind them of the distance."

Olezen literally roars, causing birds from the nearby forest to take to the air.

"You arre a trraitor to yourr own kind, Pindarra!"

Pindarra lets out a ravenous laugh, seemingly unphased by the lion's roar. She reclines slightly, shifting her weight back on her hands behind her. Her tail flickers in a snake-like manner, as it disappears and reappears in a rippling effect up and down its length.

[Linguz]

Skrib takes a step away from the line separating the two of the felines. "Hold on now, we don't want any fight around here. Olezen, seeing as you get angry easily and most likely have a quick sword-arm, I suggest you calm down, she wants to get you angry. Pindarra, is this how you want your king's first impression to us outsiders to be? Same goes to you, Olezen, but less so as we're not in his land."

[Erasmas]

"I have no intention of fighting herr. Therre is no honorr in killing a beast that has none to starrt with."

Olezen moves to the dead bodies of the faeries and removes a small leaf-pouch from each one of their tiny belts. He places one into his own belt pouch, and offers the other to Jessica.

"Forr the aid you gave."

Pindarra speaks loudly, talking over the lion.

"Honorr, good Banished King Olezen?! Do please inforrm us all about the points of honorr... and starrt with the parrt about how you rran away with the sworrd that belongs to yourr usurrperr."

Rage swells behind the eyes of the Kazzbah and he bellows out another roar, this time accompanied by the drawing of the aforementioned blade. She purrs loudly as her smirk widens wickedly. He points the tip of the weapon in her direction but does not move to approach.

"You decided that yourr loyalty was forr sale long ago. You know nothing of honorr or prride... you abandoned them when you abandoned your nation!"

Pindarra leaps up from her perch and moves like she is going to close with the lion. He quickly adopts a fighting stance, which causes her to feign fright... which just as quickly fades into another rolling laugh. Instead, she moves to Alessia and begins caressing her face and then her arms, touching the plants and causing them to retreat slowly back to their natural state, releasing her.

"I think I made him angrry, no? Perrhaps he just needs someone to give him the prroperr... rrelease. My king carres not forr firrst imprressions, Outsiderr. You arre not of his forrrest and you arre not of this land. Rrememberr that yourr presence herre has been noted."

Pindarra then slyly approaches Olezen, locking eyes with the great creature.

"And be carreful who you trravel with, Newcomerrs. You wouldn't want to be thought of as cowarrds by association."

With this, Olezen swings his bastard sword at the taunting cat, cleaving her visage in half. Except that when his blade makes contact with her, her form bursts into a shiny golden powder. You hear the laughter of Pindarra once more, coming from the branch where you had originally seen her face. Looking back, you see her entire form sitting lazily in the dappled shadows. Olezen points his blade at her once more.

"Marrk my worrds, Pindarra Tabberr, Lacky of Bajja - the next time I see you, you will have had yourr last laugh."

Her laughs becomes a deep throaty cackle as she slowly disappears, leaving only her eyes and her smile once again.

"We shall see, Olezen Exiled King... we shall see. And you," she says, indicating your party, "I will be watching you with interrest."

She begins yet another laugh, until all traces of her presence finally fade all together.

[Linguz]

Skrib says his farewells to the feline, just before she left. "Sir Olezen, did I not tell you to stay calm? Exactly what she wanted was to get you angry. But... I must admit I am curious: What is it that happened to you?"

[Tegannie]

Jessica watches the scene quietly, taking the pouch with a simple, "Thank you.".

Once the cat-lady leaves, Jessica speaks up. "Wait, before any long conversations, is anybody hurt? I can heal some minor injuries."

[Erasmas]

"I sufferred only a scrratch, I do not rrequirre healing. I thank you forr yourr offerr howeverr."

Olezen readies the remainder of his gear solemnly. He seems as though he is deep in thought, his mind in a far away place or time. When his reply to Skrib's question comes, it is simple.

"As she said, I was banished. I was strripped of my honorr and my people in the same motion."

[Linguz]

"Would you mind sharing the rest of the story with us? And if not, just answering some questions? For example, why did you get banished?" Skrib stops the song he had been playing and clips the small harp back onto his belt.

[Erasmas]

You can see the subject weigh heavily on Olezen's shoulders. When he speaks, you hear the quiver in his voice.

"I was once the Warrlorrd of the Kazzbah Prride Nation. As is customarry, the strrongest and noblest is allowed to lead. Not long ago, I came acrross a lone giant in the norrtherrn rreaches of ourr lands. I grravely wounded herr and when I moved to deliverr the killing strrike, she... she crried out forr merrcy. I stayed my hand and durring my hesitation, anotherr giant appearred frrom hiding and drrove herr spearr into my back. I killed the second and rreturrned home. Saving the life of a giant is borrderring trreason among my... the Prride. And so, what I had done had to rremain a secrret... and so too my wound. Beforre I was rrecoverred, a young warrriorr named Asarru challenged me for leaderrship, as is custom. One cannot rrefuse a challange... unless injurry prrevents him frrom fighting at his best. In the state I was in, Asarru easily defeated me. With this, I lost my title and soon afterr, what I had done was discoverred. And so I was banished. And with warr brrewing... Asarru will strrengthen his position as Warrlorrd beyond measurre."

[Linguz]

Skrib nods, showing he understood. "Now that that's all done, how about we continue onwards? Where are you headed to, Olezen?"

[Yuki Akuma]

Alessia is apparently sulking right now, as she picks bits of foliage out of her clothes. Getting humiliated by a pixie... that's so... humiliating.

She does listen to what's being said, but she makes no comment. She's sure Skrib is pretty good at the "diplomacy" thing - Bards usually are, right?

[Tegannie]

With no one wanting healing, Jessica has fished out her journal and started taking notes, letting Skrib handle the talking.

After a few minutes, she remembers the pouch the lionman gave her and looks to see what's in there.

[Erasmas]

Skrib's question seems to strike Olezen as a new thought, and you see uncertainty flash behind his eyes.

"I... I do not know. I have been wanderring this rroad forr many months now, lost to my sorrrows, with no dirrection. I have been looking forr something, but I do not know what... orr, perrhaps not something, but someone..."

He looks to you all with a dawning realization and for the first time you see hope in his actions. He finishes gathering his gear and affixing it all to himself, after which he approaches your group.

"I think I will trravel on with you lot, forr the time being. If that is alrright, that is."

When Jessica looks inside the tiny leaf pouch, she finds that a finely-ground dark yellow powder rests in the bottom. Its smell reminds her vaguely of the warmth of something dried in the summer sun.

[Tegannie]

"I don't mind at all, the more the merrier! Although, can you tell what this stuf in this pouch is?"

[Linguz]

"If you wish to come with us, I have no problem there. As long as you keep your anger under control, sir. I'd rather not have fighting among the group itself." He looks up, at the sky, trying to determine the current time in this world using what works on his homeworld.

[Erasmas]

"I will... trry my best to keep my angerr underr contrrol."

Skrib notices that the daylight is rapidly beginning to fade from the sky, with vibrant colors streaking their way across the bottoms of the clouds. Before long, it will be dark. It might not be a bad idea to find some place to camp.

Olezen approaches Jessica and looks down at the small pouch in her hand. He points to it and whispers.

"This is fey powderr, m'lady. Sprrinkle this upon someone and they can fly as if they had wings."

[Linguz]

Skrib asked, "Shall we set down somewhere near? Enya, Olezen: Are there any dangers during the night that we should know about?"

[Erasmas]

Olezen and Enya answer in unison:

"Fey."

The white rabbit continues, "Faeries, as we have seen, are a more peculiar breed of creature. They relish in tormenting travelers... but mean no true harm, I do not believe."

The kazzbah then adds, "Faerries and brrownies will steal yourr things, drryads will steal yourr hearrts m'lords, and satyrrs will steal yourr virrtue... fairr ladies. But if we set a watch and rremain vigilant, we should come to no furrtherr harrm."

Olezen picks up the corpses of the two dead faeries and places them off of the road and in the underbrush of the forest. He is neither tender nor careless about this task, but is deliberate and swift.

[Linguz]

"As long as they don't take my lyre, I should be fine then. According to most races, I'd be a male from how I act... but my race doesn't have any real difference besides personality. So I don't think I have much to fear from the dryads." He looks around, trying to see if there's a good place to camp around here.

[Erasmas]

Skrib spots a suitable clearing, about a hundred paces or so off the road, just back a little ways from where you are all standing now. The group makes its way over the short distance to it and several begin moving sticks and small rocks around as to make for a comfortable area to bed down. Blind-to-Rivers starts placing rocks in a circle near the middle of the area while Olezen agrees to start gathering firewood.

Before too long, the sun has gone on to its rest for the night and the moon and stars have come to life. The cheery fire wards off the slight chill in the air with the help of your cloak draped over your shoulders and you find your mind wandering over this latest adventure.

[Linguz]

Skrib went to sleep soon after setting up the camp.

[Tegannie]

Jessica went to sleep soon after Skrib.

[Erasmas]

You all awaken, having not established a watch order the night before. Olezen had remained awake, you are guessing, for as long as he could... though he obviously succumbed to his weariness at some point in the night. The orange of the early morning sun streaked sideways through the forest, and you could see pollen and dander dancing whimsically upon the rays of light. Somewhere not far off, birds championed the arrival of dawn with their airy songs. You feel incredibly rested, as if you had slept in the most expensive bed in the nicest of inns. You must have slept so well, in fact, that you didn't notice what transpired in your camp in the middle of the night!

When you try to sit up or move, you feel restrained. Casting your eyes about, you realize that you all have been covered by twine-like vines and roots covered in bright green leaves, affixing you to the ground! In addition, there seems to be a very large toadstool that has grown where your campfire was the night before.

[Yuki Akuma]

Alessia awakens, and tries to rise to perform her usual morning rituals... but finds herself held tight to the ground. She struggles against the vines, growling under her breath. Making no attempt to hide the fact that she's awake...

"Hey! What's going on?!" Less than an hour until her pact runs out, too... this isn't good.

[Tegannie]

Spoiler

Show

Knowledges to identify the plants:
Nature: (1d20+3)[10]
Arcana: (1d20+3)[23]
Religion: (1d20+4)[7]

Jessica awakes, and panics, strangling against the plants. I can't even cast spells like this, not that I had any prepared that could help.

Before answering Alessia's question, Jessica examines the plants the best she can and tries to identify what could cause this.

[Linguz]

Skrib woke and barely tried to struggle against the vines. After finding that his pathetic strength couldn't do anything here, he calmed down and tried to figure out what these were. At the same time, his antennas moved, trying to sniff out what might have caused this.

Spoiler

Show

Nature: (1d20+3)[5]
Arcana: (1d20+3)[15]
Scent: If they're within 30 feet, he should be able to smell them. He then takes a move action to find the direction of it.

[Erasmas]

Both Jessica and Skrib were unfamiliar with some of the plants that grew here in Dowrenland, so it was difficult for them to ascertain whether these were natural or not. However, both of were fairly convinced that this was some further sort of fey magics. Olezen roars once more, startling the otherwise fairly quiet morning.

As everyone wiggled about, they found that although thoroughly tangled, that they were not, in fact, bound by these plants. Pulling them free was akin to pulling ivy from a fence, or unknotting a messy ball of yarn. After several minutes, you were all free of the green-leaved tendrils... though several of you still had bits of leaves and sticks in your hair.

[Linguz]

Once freed, Skrib goes about, looking for his lyre in particular but also pretty much any other of his items that might have been taken.

If he finds the lyre, he plays for fifteen minutes, clearing his mind and recuperating his spells. If he does not, he turns to the stories of his people instead, something he didn't like doing as much but still was able to.

Perform: (1d20+8)[13] (-4 if there is no lyre.)

[Tegannie]

Finally free, Jessica sits on the ground and begins praying to Pelor.

Spoiler

Show

Regaining spells.

[Erasmas]

Skrib finds his lyre and his other belongings here he left them the night before, likewise covered over by small vines and roots. The bard plays lazily as you all go about your morning rituals and tasks. Olezen and Enya both pack up their belongings and eat on rations, stowed in their packs. They strike up a conversation with one another.

"You serrve the White Queen?"

"I do. I am the royal messenger, in fact."

"You carrry a message now?"

"... Perhaps. What matter is it to you, Olezen? Whom do you serve, if you are no longer a part of the Kazzbah Pride Nation?"

"I serrve no one, currrently. But I am looking forr rredemption... and a warr has plenty of that to go arround. I just need a side to fight on."

"Well, I am on my way to the Ivory Port. If you wish, you may accompany me and request audience with Her Majesty."

"I may do just that, Enya Tapuk."

[Yuki Akuma]

Alessia draws her weapon, glancing around suspiciously... but eventually seems to calm down, sighing. "This place..."

She looks around herself... then decides moving away from the others would likely be a bad idea. So she begins to draw the Seal of Savnok right there on the floor...

"Nebarius was useless yesterday," she grumbles to herself.

Just what is she doing? This isn't how you prepare spells!