[NEXUS] The Weald III

[Lady Serpentine]

[Boneheim]

((And now that there's something for that particular version of Karyana to say, so have I! ))

Bone goes to crawl into her lap when the meal ends, then, smiling.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

<.< >.>

"Usually it's one or two babies at a time. It's pretty equal either way. And pregnancies last around six moon cycles." The Chieftess explains.

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Nadas writes down 1.5 children.
"Any percentages on male to female ratios? Is your tribe a matriarchy or patriarchy or an equal opportunity archy?" Probably not the second one given Chieftess and all.

Alistair wakes up with a gasp. He felt as if he slept in the land of the dead. "Ah, where's my summon? Did it disappear? "

[Weald - Cave]

"The creepy eyeball thing? Yeah, it disappeared." Reinholdt tells Alistair. "Feeling better?"

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"The boys and girls are pretty even. I don't know exactly how many there are, though." The Chieftess says. "The chief or chieftess is decided by whoever's strongest and wisest. Apparently that's me, because I've been chieftess for years with only a handful of challenges to my claim."

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"When did you become ruler?"

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Hm..." The Chieftess counts on her fingers. "Nine winters ago, about. Maybe one more than that."

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Are the seasons here fairly standard? Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter?"

[Surtr]

Weald- Herb Haven

Then the Wizard is at a loss for what it could be. But he is, at least, drawing closer to his goal, even if unsure what lies in wait there. If the compass stone's red glow indicates danger as he's beginning to think, then surely something does.

Well its glowing blue so he's safe for now. As the wizard follows the direction of the compass, he will come upon a river. It's flowing at a calm pace as far as can be seen. If tested for depth it can't be waded through standing, you'd have to swim. The distance is 8 meters, not too far.

[Weald - Cave]
"The creepy eyeball thing? Yeah, it disappeared." Reinholdt tells Alistair. "Feeling better?"

"What's so creepy about the eyeball? It didn't even have the nerves on the back like a normal eyeball, or any goo on it. Ugh, but this puts us back. The reason I didn't want to dismiss scout was because he has a cool-down period before I can summon him again. We can wait it out here or try to find the ruin by ourselves. I think we'd get lost on our own though."

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Yeah, exactly that. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter." She says.

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- Herb Haven

Pulling a dead branch from a nearby hollowed-out husk of a tree, the Wizard uses it to test the waters, finding them as he'd feared, too deep to wade across. And wide too, eight meters is a great distance when you're soaking wet and must leave your cloak behind to keep it from weighing you down, more so when, placid as the waters might seem on the surface, there may well be a vicious undertow lurking beneath to pull you down and drown you.

Kicking stones from the riverbank, the Wizard curses himself for not having learned to swim properly and sets off along the stream's course, looking for a bridge, or at least a point where the waters are not so wide farther on. Something of this forest makes him wary, he does not trust even the rivers to be as harmless as they seem.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Cave]

"Well I guess that depends on how long of a cooldown, but when it comes to the Weald, I suggest waiting over getting lost."

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

You know, I don't even know why Nadas asked that seeing as how he practically lives on the corner and has for a long time now.

"Are there any special rituals or customs with these feasts that I should be aware of?"

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Nah, not now. There are feasts for special occasions, but after a hunt it's all about enjoying yourself. And speaking of which, go ahead and help yourself to some food. Next think you know you'll blink and that stag will be picked clean right to the bone." The Chieftess says with a laugh. It's not much of an exaggeration, though. She wasn't kidding when she said the tribe is big. There are a lot of pixies milling around.

[Surtr]

[Weald: Herb Haven]

Well if the wizard decides to go right far enough, he will encounter a waterfall and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't wan to cross this way. If he goes left far enough, then he will find a part of the river deep enough to wade in, waist high. Unfortunately the distance he'd have to cross is about the same. However if he goes just a bit farther, he'll come across a stone bridge. The bridge looks normal but is very suspicious as who could build one here and not have it destroyed by nature? Well those are his choices.

[Path to Ruins]

"The cool down is 12hrs, we have about 4hrs more or less before I can summon him again."

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- River

First the Wizard goes right, then, finding the waterfall and taking it as proof that this is the wrong way, heads back again to the left. The bridge is odd indeed, but stone outlasts any man, and perhaps it was built by trappers or lumbercutters who once worked this forest?

In any case, tales of trolls and other such villain lurking beneath bridges are lost upon the Wizard, who takes no more precaution than giving it a kick to make sure the stone is still solid before starting across.

[Surtr]

[Weald: River]

After kicking the bridge, the bridge wakes up! It was actually a stone troll disguised as a bridge. Normally when a person crosses and reaches the middle, the troll wakes and tosses the person then kills the injured prey. Since the wizard kicked him before going across, he is safe from that. Now all he has to do is fight a huge stone bridge troll.

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- River

Well then!

The Wizard will be running now. Running as fast and as swift as his feet will take him, away from the stream and towards the densest thicket of trees he can spot, in the hopes of finding a safe harbor from the angered troll.

[Surtr]

[Weald: Herb Haven]

The troll will not give chase. Though it is fast with swinging around its fists it is not good at chasing things that are running away top speed. The troll will instead return to sleep discontent in his stomach.

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- River

Maybe so. But the Wizard has been well scared and left his wits behind in haste, so it's a good while before the lack of heavy footsteps crashing after comes to his attention and he thinks to look back. Leaning against a nearby tree he catches his breath, then, by the compass stone's direction, gathers up his courage and sneaks back towards the river.

This time there's no hesitance. Shrugging his heavy coat aside and hooking it on a branch, the Wizard wades into the stream until it grows too deep, then tries to swim it.

[Surtr]

[Weald: River]

The wizard will get by with no problems. He'll have to somehow dry himself later, lest he freeze later. Once across he can follow the direction of the compass and he will reach the place where he can gather all the Herbs the mercenary boy spoke of earlier.

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- River

That would be what the Wizard was afraid of. The risk of dying by winter and water, either by freezing or by any number of diseases born from them, is well known to him. It's not half so cold here as in his native land, but drenched down to the bone and without the better half of his garb, at what must be drawing close to sundown no less, the chill is bitter enough to make him shiver all the same.

It's bad enough that he's willing to risk calling up a little flame for himself, not much of one, every speck of light risks drawing unwanted attention, but it helps fight the worst of cold. Now, now for the herbs. The thought strikes him that he left all the notes and pictures he'd been given back in his coat, but that should not be too much of an issue. Being a wizard requires all manner of refinements in as many forms of wit, memory among them.

Stooping down he begins to gather up the herbs in the varying proportions they were asked, then a little more, for himself. Alchemy was never his strongest subject, but this seems as good a time as any to try and learn something of the local fauna's properties. Already knowing that these were good for healing was a nice start as well.

[Surtr]

[Weald: Herb Haven]

He could use one of the many cave-like tree-root formations to rest in. He can light a fire there without attracting much or any attention. With the Herbs gathered his quest is half done. Only thing he needs to do is return to the small shack for his reward.

Now the wizard has many choices he can make to continue his quest like heading straight back to the shack or finding somewhere to rest in. If he's feeling particularly adventurous though he can go even deeper into the forest. Though I really doubt that last option.

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- Herb Haven

That does sound like a good idea. Yes. Some rest would do him well. But a fire? A fire is always risky, even with shelter to keep the smoke from rising. Falling asleep and leaving one untended, even more so. I'm unsure of how large this makeshift shelter of roots is, but I cannot imagine it is so large that trapped smoke might not choke a man in his sleep, or worse yet, that the flames might not spread to devour him.

Still, catching the pneumonia would leave him no better, so in the end the Wizard resolves to light a fire and stay awake as long as he can, to give his clothes a chance to dry, then snuff it out before he succumbs to dreams. To this end he gathers only dry, dead branches and collects up stones as well to make a ring around the firepit, using his conjured flame to light it when all this is done.

Then he crawls beneath the great tree's roots and curls up by the fire, wriggling out of his shirt and hanging it up to spare him the added cold of the water trapped within as he lies there, shuddering slightly despite the warmth of the flames and fight as best he can the exhaustion pulling at his eyelids.

In truth this is somewhat easier than he expected. The many frights he'd suffered today helped in that regard, for each time his eyes threaten to close some phantom vision comes along to pry them open; the eight-eyed face of a fat, furry spider, or the nagging worry that the bridge troll might find this place and simply pull the tree from the earth to get at him and eat him whole.

All these nightmares weigh heavy on his mind, along with new ones, thoughts of what further trials the forest may hold for the trip back, so that in the end, the fire's nearly burnt out on it's own when finally casts wet leaves over it and stamps upon the embers, drifting away not long after.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Nah, not now. There are feasts for special occasions, but after a hunt it's all about enjoying yourself. And speaking of which, go ahead and help yourself to some food. Next think you know you'll blink and that stag will be picked clean right to the bone." The Chieftess says with a laugh. It's not much of an exaggeration, though. She wasn't kidding when she said the tribe is big. There are a lot of pixies milling around.

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Oh. Right." Nadas may have inadvertently waited to let others test for poison. He swears it's a bad habit he picked up from his sister. Regardless, he'll go and get some food.

[Path to Ruins]

"The cool down is 12hrs, we have about 4hrs more or less before I can summon him again."

[Path to Ruins]

"We might as well wait. How are your wounds?" Reinholdt says, settling in.

[Surtr]

[Weald: Herb Haven]

When the wizard wakes he should feel great. A good rest and dried clothes should see him through the quest without any trouble. Nothing tried to kill him in the night either.

Back at the small shack, some time after the wizard fell asleep, the mercenary boy Narve is a bit worried. "Is that mage ok? It never took me this long when Esruc asked me for medicine gathering. I should go check. Hey Tamashi! You'll be fine alone right?"

Tamashi turns around and replies. "Of course."
Narve enters the Weald with a compass that can track the wizard's compass. Using his Farie Shoes he teleports from branch to branch.

[Path To Ruins]

"Some throbbing, some itching. Thanks for taking care of my wounds. Anyway, if we plan on waiting what do you guys want to eat? I got a bag of holding filled with food."

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Nadas doesn't have to go far. Most of the food is laid out on large leaves just on the other side of the bonfire. Nothing is in serving sizes, but he'll find that most pixies are using small knives or just tearing chunks off with their bare hands.

"Hey, you there! Giant!" A young pixie, probably fifteen years old if Nadas is good at judging such things, stands with his legs spanning between two halves of some red fruit. "I bet you want some of this fruit, huh? This is the best fruit in the entire forest. But you can't have any! This is my fruit!" He puffs up his chest and briefly glances to the side toward three giggling girls around his age.

[Reinholdt]

[Path To Ruins]

"I'm good, thanks." Reinholdt says, pulling out a flask of what is probably liquor or rum and taking a swig. He never goes on an adventure without the proper tools.

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Oh boy! Juveniles! Nadas promptly ignores that fairy and grabs a very different piece of fruit from over there. He's probably disappointed in the lack of prune juice, but he'll get over it if there's any actual prunes for him to take.

[ThirdEmperor]

Weald- Herb Haven

Teleporting along is sure to be faster than walking and with a headstart besides, Narve will likely meet the Wizard before he crosses the river again, possibly even before he's left camp if the mercenary really hustles.

[Surtr]

[Path To Ruins]

All right then. How about you Tamashi, want anything? Tamashi shakes his head. "I had my fill last night and I am sure I'll have more today." With that Alistair eats breakfast alone. After enough time had elapsed he summons scout and the party will resume the adventure. As they go further after an hour the buzz of wasps can be heard.


[Weald: River]

Narve does hustle due to his freedom from house watching duties. He makes it to the river in record time, no less. He reaches the bridge which is actually a troll but he never saw this bridge before so he doesn't know that. Curious of the bridge he decides to walk over it. As soon as he reaches the middle the troll wakes up and tosses him over. In the air he teleports to land. "Huh, who'd have thought? You didn't eat the wizard did you? Well my compass isn't pointing to you stomach so-" The troll roars and cut him short. "That's just rude! I'll teach ya some manners!" He draws his greatswords and fights. If the wizard is near he will hear the din of battle hearing, "Take that! Hah! Yoh! Rah!" or something like that.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

There's plums! That's close enough, right?

Whether or not it is may have to wait, however, as the young pixie isn't done with him yet. "Hey! Stop!" He flits in front of Nadas' face. "I don't think you heard me. I said that fruit is the best in the whole forest, and you can't have any."

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Plums are probably good enough.
"Oh. Well alright then. I'll just get the second or third best fruit. Probably won't even notice the difference really. If I don't know what I'm missing, I won't miss it." Nadas says, pausing cause there is a pixie in his face.

[Path To Ruins]

>> Still need a better variety of text colours.

"Let's steer very far away from that sound, even if the detour takes an hour." Reinholdt says, immediately turning to get away. No way in the world is he going to do deal with stingy things if he can help it. It'd be very deadly for most of them.

[Surtr]

((I though text color was just what you put when your characters are talking. You have blue and I use red.))

[Path To Ruins]

"Uh...ok?" says Alistair. the party takes a detour. They seem to have arrived at a fruit tree grove, the fruits smell like wines, beers and other alcoholic beverages for some reason.