[NEXUS] The Weald III

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

"Dey protect 'gainst fey magic." Then, pixies!

The purple orc screams as he is stabbed, and flails around with his net. If a pixie is caught in it, they'll find the net is made from the sticky threads of a giant spider's web. At least, until the poison sets in, at which point he stops, every muscle rigid, and slowly falls over.

The orange orc is blinded, and then stabbed. His net-crossbow is fired randomly and may accidentally either catch a pixie in its strands of the same material as the purple orc's net or hit Nadas. Meanwhile, he falls over as his legs muscles spasm uncontrollably and won't stay still long enough for him to stay upright.

The blue orc runt is blinded, and screams. He drops the cart of pixie-holding jars and covers his face with his hands as he runs blindly into the forest. He'll stop when he hits a tree, cliff, chasm, or another fey, and not before.

The armoured orc's amulet flares as it prevents the pixie dust from working and tries to catch the pixies in her net. She's undeterred by the chaos amongst her colleagues; orcs fight as an undisciplined mob a lot of the time and she's used to working through chaos.

The priestess screams as she's slowly diced from the feet up. She holds her staff above her head and tries walking forwards on what's left of her feet. If the effect follows her, she gets shorter as they slowly hack away at her lower legs.

[Reinholdt]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

Nadas is not caught as he's too busy throwing up a hasty ill-formed barrier spell and ducking into his tent, prepared to react against any intruders that might decide to follow him.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

The redheaded pixie nimbly dodges around the net and cackles triumphantly as the orc collapses. He flits down to land on the purple skinned orc's neck and tries to stab viciously and repeatedly into his jugular.

The twin that blinded him gets caught by the edge of the net and is sent flying through the air, caught in the net and carried by its momentum. Her sister decides not to press the attack, and instead flies after her to try and free her.

The three bow wielding pixies don't pursue the blue skin. Anyone who runs blindly through the Weald like that is likely going to die anyway. It'd be more risky to chase after him, in fact.

The heavily armoured orc manages to catch the black haired pixie in her net. She screams and her friend responds. The rainbow haired pixie shoots forward toward the the green skin's face and tries to bury her spear as deep as she can into the orc's eye.

Thankfully for the priestess, the pixie dust doesn't make it that sharp. It'll cut through flesh, but certainly not bone, and the effect only applies to the plants hit by the pixie dust. That doesn't mean she's out of the woods, though. While she's distracted by the painful plants and moving away from them, the two pixies fly toward her throat, trying to jab at her jugular, but only with quick flyby strikes. They don't want to get hit themselves, though they are taking a risk by getting so close.

Nadas remains unharassed by pixies.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

The purple-skinned orc's jugular is slashed open and he bleeds out in a horrendously gory fashion.

The orange orc is still suffering from violent spasms, and can do nothing further till it wares off.

The armoured orc dodges the spear by jerking her head forwards and opening her mouth, trying to catch the pixie with her mouth.

The albino orc has thick skinned soles; she's elderly, and walked barefoot for decades. After the initial shock of attacking grass has worn off, she quickly barks a spell that causes her to be wreathed in glowing blue flames. The pixies may not want to attack her any more, at least not with melee attacks.

[Reinholdt]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

Nadas zips up his tent.
With all due expedience.

[Surtr]

[Path to Ruins]

After walking for awhile the group will find themselves in a dense forest. This is the first area that the group must pass to reach the ruins. Though the magic eyeball may have shown no creature on the way it will not be the same for the tangible and visible trio that entered the forest.

"Scout will lead us to the cave, we won't get lost that way. Just know that I won't be able to summon anything else while Scout is leading us." Alistair explains to Tamashi and Reinholdt

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

The redheaded pixie, splattered with his foe's blood, decides that the orange orc needs dealing with. He tries to land on his neck and kill him the same way he did the purple skin.

The twins are out of the way for another round. Those nets are sticky and hard to get away from. Pixie dust will be used to help it along.

The rainbow haired pixie will have a leg caught in the green skin's teeth! But there's potentially a cost. When the orc bites, the pixie turns her spear so it'll stab deeply into her foe's lip. With any luck it'll be enough to make the orc release her.

And if that's not enough, the three bow wielding pixies rapidly respond to her cry of pain. They flit over to the green skin and will fire arrows at every exposed bit of flesh they can target. Primarily near the face when they have little risk of hitting their friend.

The pixies attacking the elder back off when the fire appears. They both take spears more suited to throwing off their backs and launch them toward the albino's eyes.

[Reinholdt]

[Path to Ruins]

After walking for awhile the group will find themselves in a dense forest. This is the first area that the group must pass to reach the ruins. Though the magic eyeball may have shown no creature on the way it will not be the same for the tangible and visible trio that entered the forest.

"Scout will lead us to the cave, we won't get lost that way. Just know that I won't be able to summon anything else while Scout is leading us." Alistair explains to Tamashi and Reinholdt

[Path to Ruins]

"Alright..." Reinholdt says, unable to feel this familiar feeling of unease. He's having a hard time placing it though, so just follows quietly.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

The orange orc is harder to land on; he's still bucking and spasming wildly. It's also hard to stay on, but if the pixie manages it then the orange orc blood spurts out in a similarly gory fashion and the muscles slowly stop moving.

The net isn't protected against pixie dust and offers no unusual resistance.

The armoured orc ignores her freshly-pierced lip, and starts chewing on the leg and moves her net up, aiming to catch another pixie or at least keep them moving so they can't aim properly, walking forwards as she does so. Unless the spear's tip has been poisoned like the others, anyway.

The albino priestess is barking a spell that should cause one of the pixies to loose all muscle control and flop to the ground, unable to move. However, this means she's not concentrating on anything else. Such as dodging the arrows. She's blinded just as the spell completes; a quick aerial manoeuvre should prevent the pixie from being hit, although there's no prior indication of which pixie she's aiming it at besides her stare.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

The red head pixie will have some difficulty, but given a bit of time he will eventually finish off the orange skinned orc.

The rainbow skinned pixie screams again as her legs is shattered beyond repair. But she remarkably is able to still act. She yanks her spear free and stabs wildly at the orc's eyes. The archer pixies pull short spears off their backs and drop their bows. All three of them shoot forward and stab repeatedly at the armoured orc's face, aiming for the eyes, the nose, and around the jaw.

The twins fly back as quickly as possible, and will join in stabbing the armoured orc.

The pixie targeted by the spell, the male, is hit full on and tumbles out of the air. HIs companion swoops down and scoops him off the ground, leaving the albino alone for the moment. At least they'd managed to blind her.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

The orange orc joins his purple companion in death. Maybe the blue one is also there to meet him, maybe not.

The armoured orc drops her net and brings both hands up in a sudden slap against her face, hoping to squish the pixies against her skull. She can't do much else; pixie spears have pierced her eyes and left cuts over her face.

The priestess starts chanting another spell, a healing spell to restore her eyes. It isn't complete yet, however- unlike the battle-spells she's been using healing spells are developed for power and efficiency, not speed.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

The free pixies manage to get out of the way, but the slap hits rainbow hair solidly. She'd been staying upright with her wings earlier, but now she just hangs limp, not making a sound.

The pixies swarm back in, thrown into a rage. It seems impossible that they could have attacked with more ferocity, but they do. Four go for the throat, two on each jugular, and the remaining two try and support their possibly dead companion while still stabbing at the orc's mouth.

The pixie holding her limp friend deposits him in a nearby tree and comes rushing back toward the priestess. She flies a quick circle dangerously close to the albino's feet, sprinkling pixie just over the ground. The ground and plant life both become incredibly slippery.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunter

The armoured, walrus-tusked orc opens her mouth to scream in pain, before slowly collapsing heavily to the ground. Her eyes have been completely destroyed, and her nostrils are likewise heavily damaged (assuming the pixies took advantage of the thinner skin inside the nose with their spears).

The priestess falls over on the slippery ground. The spell fumbled, going off as a blinding blast of light which, funnily enough, none of the orcs noticed, what with three being dead, one fled and blind and the last plain blind. The blast of light also dispelled the albino's flame-cloak, so she's vulnerable again and doesn't yet realise it. She starts recasting the spell to repair her vision from her position on the ground; this way she won't fall over again.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

The two pixies carry rainbow hair's broken body away from the conflict and gently lower her to the ground.

Meanwhile, the remaining four pixies swarm over the collapsing orc and set about trying to finish her off.

The albino is set upon by the woman again and she throws her spear into orc's mouth and down her throat. That's the goal at least. At the same time, the red haired pixie joins her and tries to stab her neck.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Weald- Pixie Hunters

The armoured orc will be found to have died before they arrive, doubtless to their dismay. Though I suppose that might not stop them from meting out revenge anyway.

The albino priestess orc is stabbed in the throat whilst another spear causes her to mispronounce a word of the healing spell, turning it into a far more fearsome spell that erupts from her eye sockets in a great puff of smoke that quickly starts curling from her nostrils and ears as well. Her brain has boiled, and she's dead too.

Five dead orcs for one pixie that might not beyond the power of pixie dust to heal. Pixies are scary; they couldn't even use their most powerful ability directly against the orcs and they won.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

The pixies leave their dead foes and crowd around the injured pixie. Only the older female goes to check on the pixie previously disabled by the albino's spell. They chatter agitatedly as two of the pixies try to tend to rainbow hair. It's not looking great.

The red head turns to glare at the tent, and Nadas will here an alarming sound. "Bring me the elf!" The pixie bellows at a surprisingly loud volume. In moments, Nadas will see signs of several pixie flitting around his tent.

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

Well that didn't bode well.

Admittedly, neither had the hastily drawn ritual circle Nadas had been working on. He's reasonably sure this was a newt's tail, not a gecko's. And had no idea if the dirt he was using was from a graveyard or from a church. And just using a clump of grass in place of a red fern leaf is just plain reckless.
"Close enough."
I, uh, guess.

Doesn't help that some of the materials were outside the tent. And that he was doing this entirely based off memory of a book he had at least three years ago.

Or that the pixies had decided to go after him before he was done.
Well no time for that part then. Nadas skips straight to the chanting.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

It takes only moments for the pixies to discover the zipper, and less time to apply pixie dust and make it fall apart. Three angry looking pixie shoot into the tent and right for Nadas. The first that reaches him tries to kick him in the nose while the other two similarly assault his face. At least they aren't trying to stab him?

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunters]

Nadas finishes his teleportation ritual!
Well... sort of. With his shortcuts, and the Weald's love of magic, he actually only finishes his Le Porte ritual, inadvertently creating a big old wooden door between him and the pixies before they reach him. They might even run into it! Does sort of just pop up in the way.

This closed door is fun in that you can't fly around it! It seems to move around to block anyone from getting to Nadas. At least so long as he stays in that ritual circle anyways.

Nadas just groans.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

One of the pixies smacks right into the door, but it doesn't deter them for long. Soon they're smacking their little fists against it angrily. "Come out, you coward. If our friend dies we'll make sure you join your orc friends."

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

Nadas doesn't come out! The door does not budge to gentle knocking!

"They're not my friends! I didn't even warn them about you and I spent like... fifteen minutes watching you rifle through my stuff and giggling in the bushes."

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

"Then why're you hiding?" One pixie demands.

"Listen here. If we find out you had someway of helping our friend and she dies just because you're too much of a coward, then we'll make you wish you did die with those orcs."

Meanwhile, the pixies have been joined by two others. One gets the idea to apply pixie dust to the wood with the intent of softening it so they can start digging through with their spears. It'd take a bit of time.

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

"Cause you... I dunno... just murdered 5 people, loathsome orcs though they are, and I don't feel like being number 6?"

The closed door proves... surprisingly immune to pixie dust! It's powerful ritual magic enhanced with holy or unholy ground. It'll take more than parlor tricks to get it open. Even powerful pixie dust parlor tricks.

"Besides, I'm no priest."

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

"Don't pretend you didn't know what those bottles were for!" The pixies bang against the door for just a bit longer before they leave one by one. All except for one. The redhead pixie sits on the ground just outside the tent and glares at the door separating him from Nadas.

Back over at the rainbow haired pixie, the rest of them are still doign everything they can to save her life. Pixie dust and bandages made from leaves are applied, but she's lost a lot of blood and has been badly battered. The black haired woman that accompanied her into battle holds her hand in a death grip, and likely hasn't stopped sobbing once yet.

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

Well if the pixies would just get in the bottle, the other one would be fine.
Relevant:

Spoiler

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A little after the banging stops, Nadas will turn the door handle and crack open the door a little, enough to see the pixie still staring at him. Not that it matters how much since he's now displayed the door's one true weakness.
"Well... I do have a small sample of a self-regenerating plant from the Weald that I think might have restorative capabilities, but I haven't had a chance to run it through any sort of scientific trials, let alone compare the results to pixie physiology and it might kill her just as well as help or be a complete placebo and..."

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

Redhead is on his feet in an instant. "It doesn't matter, anything is better than just letting her die." He resists the urge to fly right up to the drow. The last thing he needs is for Nadas to cower away from them again.

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

Probably. One could probably argue they kinda earned it attacking the orcs and all.

Well, Nadas comes out all the same and nervously talks as he works. "I had to store it in a special coated container designed to slow its growth. It always either broke the container or died once it grew too much." Nadas says, opening a cooler and pulling out a brownish vial before heading over to mortar and pestle. "Might have a negative impact on its effectiveness, but also means not likely to cause vines to just burst out her extremities." Nadas dumps a red plant with blue spots out of the vial, adds some water, and a something brown looking liquid that might be maple syrup. Then starts to grind it all into a paste.

"I mean, that's not the worst I've ever brought back here, admittedly. For the record, if it's a small and cute and round there's only one to start with, within a day there will be hundreds meeping all over the place." Nadas frowns and adds a bit more leaf and grinds a bit more. "In the end I had to hire a bounty hunter just to get rid of them. Weird giant lizard fellow. Good at his job though. A bit obsessed with the time admittedly." He adds a bit more water then pours it all into a large vial. Still, it does have the little tip for pouring out slowly, so it's the best he can think of for moderating how much a pixie gets. He'll head outside and knell down next to the pixie. Hopefully another pixie will help open Rainbow's mouth, cause Nadas doesn't want to crush her and as it is, he'll have to be careful not to drown her. He's pretty sure they'll murder him either way, only more slowly if he fails. "Apparently one got away though. An amputee with a tri-corner hat. The bounty hunter wouldn't shut up about that one. Guess it irked him." Nadas says as he tries to get Rainbow to drink a moderate amount of the liquid.

[Surtr]

[Path to Ruins]

"Alright..." Reinholdt says, unable to feel this familiar feeling of unease. He's having a hard time placing it though, so just follows quietly.

[Path to Ruins]

The group walks following the eyeball, however night seems to have fallen. The party could continue but the night holds dangers. "Shall we call it a day or shall we go on?" asks Alistair. Tamashi seems to not care whether the team sleeps or walks.

[Gullara]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

As Nadas works, the pixies all move around agitatedly when they're not tending to rainbow hair. Can't this guy work faster? Why is he talking so much? But they don't badger him too much and let him work. When he goes to pour the substance in her mouth, the black haired friend guides it into her mouth and helps her swallow it properly. Now all there is to do is wait to see if it works.

[Reinholdt]

[Edge of the Weald - Pixie Hunted]

Well Nadas already described the potential things that might happen. The plant may attach to the cells and replicate, healing her, before being broken down naturally. If there was too much given, then she might just end up dead with a plant growing out of her. If too little, she'll die before any real effect.

And there's all manner of inbetweens and offshoots. Never tested before.
Nadas is realllllly hoping for the first one and studies have shown it might work.

[Path to Ruins]

Reinholdt's eyes seem to glint in the dark. "If you're tired. If not, then we can press on." Oddly, Rein hasn't seemed to have even broken a sweat. And certainly doesn't seem to be having any trouble finding his way around at night.