Dwaer Depths II [IC]

[mshady]

Toland

When it becomes clear the bee keeper was a simple man, Toland furrows his brow incredulously. It seemed a painful profession for someone with only half of a load of wits in his wagon, so he presumed his family was in this trade. What else would he do if he was from here?

I hope I'm not allergic to bees. Never been stung before. Always wondered...

Looking around at the trees and what Demos said about the shrine, Toland tracked where he was going with that. All the same though, that was not their mission here.

"Could have been druids. I can't imagine why. I mean, they're bee keepers. They're about as "in touch" with nature as a village is going to get. Are there any extreme druids though? I think it a misconception that all druids are nice. Being from civilization, I never felt to be on the same page as them. I could see some druids wanting civilization to go away and this being an easy target" Toland frowns at that though. That would be a problem.

Turning to the Bee Man, he takes a knee next to him so his height does not intimidate the man.

"Sorry for coming at you. We were scared too. What happened here? We came here looking for a dwarf. A short woman who may have been scared too. Have you seen her?" Toland asks, and reaches into his satchel to pull out a piece of candy. "Thank you for offering me honey. Would you like some candy?" he asks the man.

Everyone likes candy. A sweet can be a great ice breaker.

Still though, candy was dandy but liquor was quicker.

[King Tius]

The simple man closes his eyes in childish joy as Audrey mothers him. Byron takes a knee next to the injured man's foot and administers his healing magic. The beekeepers eyes open with a look of pure wonder as the healing magic courses through his foot. "Golly! Magic! Real magic! My foot feels all better! Thank you, Mister!"

In response to Audrey: "Well, see, I was tendin' to my beesies. One of their combs was full up and needed cleanin' so I put on my bee armor (Moma calls me the Bee Knight!) and opened up the hive, the one we built two summers ago with the extra big door on the side so I can reach in and not bump my elbows like I do on the older ones that are by the ground and hurt me knees, too. All the bees start buzzin' like crazy, even with the smoke bath I was givin' them and I turn around and see this pretty white doggie standing behind me! He was so big and fluffy and pretty I never seened one like that before and all the dogs I ever seen was brown and he looked real curious. The bees got all ornery and went for him and I tried to shoo him off with my boot like I do with the other doggies when they comes lookin' for some honey that falls out of my bucket but this big white fluffy doggie up and bit me on the foot and pulled my leg so fast I fell on the ground and knocked my wind out! Then I sawed you folks and came over and this big nice man used REAL MAGIC on my foot and now I'm all better!" He clambers to his feet and holds his arms out triumphantly, his smile only growing wider. Audrey gives him a look over and doesn't find any signs of injury or damage, other than some scuff marks on his back and bite holes in his boot.

Toland's offer of candy elates the man-boy even further. "Oh chocolate! We never gets chocolate around here in Honeydale it's just all honey. Honeycakes, honeycracklin', honeymead, honeyjelly, honeypie, honeybread...." He continues for nearly a minute before remembering what else Toland said. "Oh yessir, the short lady! Hahaha, she was a funny lookin' one! She came by a few days ago and bought some stuff from Mama. Her donkey was real friendly and I got to pet it and she even let me ride it around the square a bit but I fell off and hurt my bum but it was ok because I'm a big strong Knight like Mama says and it didn't hurt me nothing. The little lady stayed one night and went off into the forest again with her friendly donkey. Let's go get you some honeycakes. Mama made some yesterday."

The Bee Knight leads you to one of the small houses in town. A large oak tree has sprung up about three feet in front of the doorway to the home, nearly blocking the entrance. The simple man plants a firm kiss on the tree before slipping inside the house. He returns a minute later with a plate of small pastries and offers them to everyone. "My Mama makes the very best honecakes in Honeydale." He pats the tree in front of the doorway as he says this.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Spoiler

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M-o-o-n; that spells Bee Knight!

The ranger does not ignore Demos' question, but waits patiently to hear what the poor young man has to say, hoping against hope her inference regarding the foot tracks would prove false.

But at the man's home she is forced to accept the truth. She sighs deeply and says quietly, "Oh, I am terribly sorry. I cannot say for certain if this is the work of druids, but if it is, they are a vengful sort.

"This is, if I had to guess, more along the lines of a curse. I cannot imagine what these poor people would have done to have deserved such a fate, but we must consider that they are victims whom we can try to save."

She looks to the circle of trees and statue at its center. "I would begin the investigation there."She looks decidedly uncomfortable, as if suffering a bad rash while preoccupied with many troubles.

[Saskia]

Audrey takes one of the cakes and sniffs it before taking a bite. This man isn't stupid though, or, well, at least Audrey can't see how he could be slow enough to fail to be surprised by the presence of a tree in front of his door if it weren't there before, and the way he's talking it sounds like he's been out only a few minutes before the wolf got him. Not noticing that nobody's around seems like a stretch, too, and someone like him would probably panic if he didn't know why everyone had up and left. Thank you. You're very hospitable, your momma must be proud of you, I'd like to meet her. But this seems like an odd place to plant a tree. Do you know who put these trees in such careless places, or why?

[RaggedAngel]

Demos locks eyes with the statue in the center of the 'shrine' as the others speak to the simple man. He bounces a dragonfire round in his hand as he does, quietly considering. "What would you do," he murmurs, "If I set you alight?"

[King Tius]

The beekeeper beams with pride at the compliment and pats the tree in front of the house. "You just met her! This here is Mama and she's a tree now, just like everybody else and it's MY job to take care of them because the nice lady in the tree said so. Oh! oh oh oh! I forgot to water Papa today!" He turns and dashes into the house, exiting a few seconds later and taking off at a hurried jog towards a different part of town.

OOC: realized I spelled Mama super wrong.

[RaggedAngel]

Demos goes pale, and he raises his pistol to point directly at the statue in the center of the 'grove' of interlocked trees. "This is mass murder. I don't care that they're technically still alive; everything that they were has been erased. I understand that we have a mission, but my heart isn't so cold and black that I can just walk away from something like this.

We need to force a conflict and see if the person responsible is willing to answer for their actions. I think a good way to start is burning down that statue in the center of the shrine."

[Saskia]

Audrey takes a bit to process the beekeeper's words. Sure, it would make sense that somebody somewhere with true mastery of magic should be able to do something like this, but that somebody would do something like this? Why? What possible purpose could be served by turning a bunch of people into trees? Demos' words are much easier to swallow, though unfortunately they mean that she didn't hear incorrectly.

"No, Demos. Those trees around the statue look intentionally placed, like they wanted to be there. Besides, there's no way to get the statue out from under there without cutting it up, and the smoke and ash will dry out the foliage above it and might catch the people on fire. Then it would actually be mass murder. Let's keep our heads cool before we go guns a-blazing into something we don't understand." She returns her attention to the beekeeper and follows, and asks "Who's the lady in the tree, sweetie? Can we talk to her?"

[mshady]

Toland

Staggered by the revelation for a moment, he looks around for a second. He can't decide if he wants to vomit or kill the bee knight for a second. Pausing, he swallows and thinks.

"Why don't you take this one, Audrey?" he says to the woman.

Turning to look at Demos, he shakes his head.

"Calm, brother. I know what we see, but no understanding. Whatever did this, if we draw it to a fight, could do the same to us. Let's see what the bee knight knows, search and than hunt. I hate to walk away, but if we stay too long here, Velma gets further ahead. People could die in town, let's see what we can even do here. I think we could too late here. What could we possibly do, even?"

Still dumbstruck by this revelation, he turns to Aurora.

"Does Iomedae have any wisdom on this? I'm... Stricken by this sight"

[King Tius]

Audrey follows the Bee Knight out behind his house to a small barn near the back. Another large oak tree has shot up right underneath the entrance to the barn, splitting the front face of the structure open as it grew to be half in, half out of the enclosure. A pair of horses mill about outside the barn, chewing on hay from a bail feeder and looking unperturbed by the sudden increase in vegetation. As he stands there with his watering pail and sprinkles the roots of this hundred year old oak, he begins to whistle to himself until Audrey catches up.

"The lady in the tree is the tree but isn't, I think. She said it's her home but that it's part of her too so I think she is like a turtle because turtles have shells and their shells are their homes but their shells are also their backs so they are the shell and they live in the shell! She is pretty shy but you might be able to talk to her because you're nice and I'm nice and she talks to me. I'll go see if it's okay for you to talk to her." He hands Audrey the pail, still with some water in it, and motions towards his papa-tree for her to continue before walking off towards another part of town.

Aurora sits comfortably in her saddle and stares up into the leafy foliage of the mama-tree. "I have seen a great many things in my life, Toland. Horrible, wicked things. Things that I couldn't put down with a quarrel or a sword. Torture, suffering...unspeakable things that haunt my dreams to this day. This is not one of those things. I have happened upon towns where every flagstone was slick with blood and the babies were hung in the trees like ornaments. I pray every night for the Lady of Valor to take these images from my mind, to let me rest in peace. She leaves me with these visions as a reminder of what true evil looks like. To turn someone into a tree instead of rending them to pieces? I will not call it a kindness, but is it a curse?"

[RaggedAngel]

Demos shakes his head, his face stern. "I would rather you kill me than render me unto this." He gestures to the oak. "To kill is to remove choice. I do not claim to have the valor or heart of a paladin, milady, but I think we both agree that the root of evil is taking the choices from others. Rape is wrong because it takes away a very important choice, and because it can remove many options from a young woman's life. Theft is wrong because it removes the options and choices that the stolen items granted their rightful owner. And murder is the greatest evil of all, because to kill someone is to remove all choices.

But at least with murder the soul can move on. There are gods, even I can admit, and when we die our souls move on to be with the god most aligned to ourselves. I doubt I will find much pleasure after I die, but neither should I suffer. You two will likely find great oneness, and we all envy the realms Byron will visit once his time is up.

But these people? They have not dies, just as they do not live. They are not dead bodies, but neither do they have options, actions, choices. They are in limbo, neither here nor there, and I declare this as bad as murder. If this transformation is reversible, then there is one ray of light. But if it is not, I would rather that we had come upon a scene of great death, because at least then I would know that the victims were now at peace."

[Zoobity]

As the group expresses their collective and individual outrage, Byron leans against "Mama's" house and pulls out his pipe. He looks over his shoulder to the tree. "I hope you don't mind." Once he gets it going he looks at the circle around Erastil and sighs. He talks to no one in particular. "I don't know what this is. Haven't a damned clue. It's not really Old Deadeye's style, and if it is he did it because it was for the best and I don't really want to get in his way. Look at how close they are." He gestures to the trees. "They were praying, don't you think? Either for protection from being trees, and Erastil fell silent, or from protection by being trees, in which case it worked. The man in the suit doesn't seem terribly put off by all of it. Caiden Caylean, let me trip over the answer."

He calls out, "Jalaera, can you talk to trees? I know some of your folk can do it. Now seems as good a time as any to reveal that hidden talent. What about you, Michiko?"

He knocks his pipe clean on his boot and tucks it back into a pouch. "I feel like we're forgetting something very important."

[Gorgon_Heap]

The elf at first smiles encouragingly at Demos as he describes his beliefs, but at Byron's question turns away, an intense look on her face. Annoyance? Frustration? Regret?

She peers off at trees in the distance and says, "No. I lack any such ability. But surely you god-touched must have some ability to call upon otherworldly wisdom? I've heard of many such things in my homeland and amongst the barbarian tribes - though those were admittedly of a more ritualized nature." She thinks a moment longer. "Perhaps a spell to detect enchantments?"

[King Tius]

Aurura smiles at Demos. It is a look that is a mixture of sadness and knowing, much like the smile a mother gives her child the first time his heart is broken. A tad condescending, but mostly sympathetic.

"I was once as you are now, Demos...full of vim and vigor, heedless of death and danger, fearing only a cage. These are the concerns of a young man. Now? I'm not sure spending the rest of my life as a tree would be a fate worse than death. Do you think trees are happy, Demos? Do they enjoy the warmth of the sun and the feel of the breeze through their leaves?"

[Saskia]

Audrey can't help but smile. Surely not a woman in the world could take offense at being compared with the great and noble turtle, nature's own knight-errant. If she's some kind of nature spirit the way it sounds, maybe she would have a solution, if she weren't responsible for this.

Alternately, if her hunch is correct and turning into trees was something they wanted, maybe the lady in the tree could tell her why they wanted it that way.

In any case, this none-too-clever apiarist trusted her to water the tree that is supposed to be his father. "Well, hopefully we'll be able to get whatever the problem is here fixed, if you really are a person."

[Gorgon_Heap]

The long-lived elf says wearily to the elder paladin, "Contentedness with one's experiences comes with age, yes, and I begrudge no one peace with their accomplishments.

But Demos's contention is one regarding free will and fulfillment of the spirit, not just physical existence. Given your example, I would expect a dead man to be happy with providing fresh sustanance for the birds and insects.

Should we learn this transformation was these people's own decision, I will happily leave them to their slumber. But if this was forced on them, it is wrong. If possible, I would prefer to know which is the case."

[Goldfly]

Michiko nods, at Jalaera's words, crossing her arms as she does.

"This... This is something we should only change if the people here knew what was going to happen, and wanted it to. If they were aware and wanted it to happen, or if it were part of their religion... We should leave them be, right?"

[mshady]

Toland

"If we assume this was intentional, as messed up and odd as it is, maybe we should look around for what prompted this?"
Toland looks around at the area.

"Where do you even start with this?" Toland asks, more to the air than anything else.

"Come on, Aurora. Lets take our horses and ride around on the other side of the trees. See what that looks like, some perimeter security while the others look into this"

[King Tius]

OOC: Sorry for the delay. I always overestimate my free time on business trips.

Toland and Aurora ride around the ring of trees that surround the statue and do not see anything out of the ordinary (besides the tree-people, of course). After nearly ten minutes the Bee Knight returns with a worried and sad look on his face.

"The Tree Lady says you have to go. She says it isn't safe here anymore. I...I...I have to go take care of the bees." Like a sad puppy, he begins to walk back towards the apiary side of town.

Just to help speed things up a bit, I am going to make a couple investigative assumptions:

• The statue does not radiate any type of magical aura. Judging by the marks and weathering of the paint, the statue has been here for some time.
• The trees all have the faintest of magical auras about them. Transmutation.
• You can easily follow the Bee Keeper's tracks to figure out where he met the Tree Lady if you want to

[mshady]

Toland is up for finding the tree lady

[Gorgon_Heap]

OOC: I am deeply terrified but Jalaera is concerned/curious, so yes.

[Saskia]

Audrey nods. "I understand. It was very nice to meet you, and thanks so much for the honey cake, it was delicious. What's your name? I'm Audrey, in case we see each other again."

Of course, she does understand, but she's got her own ideas about how things are going to play out. Once she can be reasonably certain she can follow his path to this mysterious tree lady, she has every intention of doing so. Alone would probably be preferable if the tree lady is shy, but Audrey also wouldn't be averse to having some support just in case she was a little more vehement about leaving than the bee-man let on.

[King Tius]

The Bee Knight smiles at Audrey as he walks away. "My name's Willem. Nice to meet you, Audrey!" She waits until he's moved off to start following his tracks. With little effort, she makes her way towards one of the larger houses in the village. A truly massive oak tree stands next to the building, its branches reaching out to cover the buildings on either side of it. One of the smaller buildings underneath its canopy has a roof that's been damaged by a large falling branch. Unlike the other oak trees that seem to have magically sprung up from nowhere, the plantings and gardening around this tree imply that it has been here for some time. Audrey sees two people standing next to the tree, a man in commoner's clothing and a large straw hat with a younger girl who looks to be about fifteen standing beside him. Even from a distance Audrey can spot that the girl is clearly his daughter. Both of them are idly holding wood axes as they mill about aimlessly before the tree. Neither are wearing armor.

If you want to approach by yourself or go as a group, just say so!

[Saskia]

More people, good. Maybe these two know what happened. She jogs up to them with a wave.

"Hey there, am I glad to see you two! I was starting to worry that Willem guy was the only soul in town. His type don't tend to survive alone very easily. He got me worried, though, he said all the people in town weren't gone, but they'd turned into these trees. I was just passing through, and I don't know if there's any way I can help, but I can't just walk past something like this."

Stop it Audrey, you're rambling.

"Do either of you know what happened here? Is there something, I don't know, something I can do to help?"

[Zoobity]

Byron follows Audrey and sees the two people. "We'd be glad to lend a hand if it's wanted." He smiles and nods to Audrey.

[King Tius]

The two people turn towards Audrey's voice with worried looks on their faces. They grab hold of their axes and raise them menacingly, though it looks a little comical when the young girl tries to strike an intimidating pose. Very slowly, they begin to back away from you two until they are standing almost directly up against the great oak tree. The man calls out to Audrey (and Byron).

"Now you stay back, ya hear? She told you it ain't safe here and she meant it! Get a move on before she turns you into trees, too! Willem and his bees are just fine."

[Saskia]

With the subtlest roll of her eyes, Audrey wonders what exactly is running through this fool's mind. Whatever it was, it must have been fermenting a lot longer than he thought. Using an axe to threaten a woman with a bow at this range is about as asymmetrical a conflict as you can get. And to have his kid there with him? How incredibly irresponsible and stupid can somebody be? She runs a finger along the string of her bow with an arrow still in hand, uncomfortable with knowing that a lesser woman would have already killed them both for that display. "This is all you, Byron. If I talk to him right now all I'm going to do is call him a damned fool."

[Zoobity]

Byron looks surprised at Audrey putting him on the spot. He says, "Buh...uh... wait, you mean...uh..." and he shakes his head like a wet dog before regaining his composure. He clears his throat and opens his hands to show he's unarmed. "No harm meant. Not to you, for sure, and not to us, hopefully. If we promise not to come closer, will you tell us what's going on here? I'm a priest of Cayden Cailean, see, and I do a preaching circuit just like my brothers and sisters. We're passing through and I want to make sure all is well here. I like to share a cup and a blessing with those who would have me but there doesn't seem to be anyone here. Now, if you tell me to go again I'll take you at your word and me and my companions will be out, but just know we don't mean to hurt you or 'her,' whoever she may be."

[King Tius]

The two people with axes turn their heads to look at the great oak tree behind them. After a moment they nod in agreement and turn back towards the two of you, lowering their axes but not putting them down entirely.

"The priest can come, but just him. She wants a word with you."

Turning and giving Audrey a reassuring smile, the jovial priest strides forward, keeping his hands out to his sides and quite visible. The man and his daughter seem wary of Byron and give him a wide berth as they point for him to go behind the great tree. Never missing a beat and without looking back, Byron keeps his wonderful smile plastered on his face as he disappears from Audrey's view...

Making his way around to the back of the tree, Byron doesn't find anyone waiting for him other than the pleasant sounds of the wind through the trees and the ever-present buzzing of busy bees. The environment is so soothing that the priest nearly forgets why he is standing behind a heavily guarded tree, at least until he hears a voice behind him.

"Priest...you must help me. I have done terrible things to these people."

Turning towards the tree itself, Byron watches as a woman emerges from it to stand directly in front of him. Her skin seems to be made of the same oak tree she just emerged from and her hair is a beautiful bouquet of leaves and blossoms. Byron also can't help but notice her shapely and alluring naked body, even if she does appear to be made of wood. One troubling detail that does not escape his wandering eyes are her hands. They appear charred and blackened as if this wooden beauty had thrust her hands into a roaring fire. When the woman before him begins to weep softly, she covers her face with her charred hands and shakes her head from side to side, causing the occasional petal to fall from her arboreal head.

[Zoobity]

"By Cayden Cailean's sacred backwash," Byron swears under his breath. He keeps his eyes on her face. "Yes, I think I do want to help. I think my friends do, as well. I'm Byron Cailean." He extends a hand to her. "Now how 'bout you tell me your name and what this horrible thing you've done is and we'll get started fixing it, huh?"