World of Eninn: Rise of the Tyrant II

[kariokie]

Shae

Shae drops Annabelle's reigns, freeing up her right hand. It doesn't quite stray to her sword yet, instead staying firmly by her side. She knees the horse slightly, moving her to the side and out of Godwin's way. The words mean nothing to her, but there's a sing-song, rhyming aspect that puts her ill at ease. Someone doing something so bloody shouldn't be so damn happy about it.

With a sideways glance to Maeslyra and Vandrel, she whispers, "Careful. My brother always said if someone's rhyming at you, they're going to f--- you." As Annabelle shakes her head and snorts, Shae adds, "'Course, he was saying that about a poetess I was, uh, anyhow. Maybe he meant it literally, come to think of it." Rising up in the stirrups, Shae looks at the strange man, trying to recall anything her family might have told her about odd halflings reciting poetry in the woods.

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Knowledge: Arcana (1d20+8)[15]
Shae will keep pace with Vandrel moving up. It's fine if Godwin wants to move in ahead of her, but she's not going to let freaky pig-killer and Godwin get close enough to tangle without her being nearby... just not so near that she's threatening.

[Santanya]

Vandrel

Vandrel frowns, reining in the horse about twenty from the figure. "I do not like this," he says quietly, looking over the small man. "Be careful," he adds, watching as he thinks.

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Spot: (1d20)[18]+9=27
Knowledge(Nature): (1d20)[10]+6=16

[Eratosthenes]

The Tower in the Forest
Early Evening, Thursday 18th of Springdawn 1556

Godwin dismounts, and approaches the small creature as he works on the dead pig. He speaks again in the same singsong language, finally facing the nearing bard, and giving him a toothy, leering grin.

{
Sylvan:

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A fine feathered polly, all pretty and nice
Came up to ol'Jack in the forest this night
One look at the plumes on the yellow-haired bird
And ol'Jack right then knew what he wanted to do!

}

[dauphinous]

Maeslyra

"Godwin, I have a feeling that he doesn't really wish to be disturbed." Any more than he already is, anyway. "I would recommend that we leave him to his...occupation." She smirks and, unable to resist, adds, "before he becomes perturbed."

[Santanya]

Vandrel

"Godwin," Vandrel says as he raises his brow, eyes locked on the diminutive figure. "Step away from the fey," he says before grinning slightly and slipping into Sylvan.

Sylvan:

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"Ol' Jack best be nimble
and Jack best be slick,
or down will come lightning,
down it'll come quick."

[Lost Sage]

Godwin

Godwin stops, nods once, and moves back toward the group. Being careful not to take his eyes off the strange man.

"OK then..." he says to the others "what next?"

[EvilRoeSlade]

Catherine

Catherine shifts uncomfortably on her horse, unable to avoid staring at the little old man. What do we do next? Why don't we get out of here now? And I mean right now, something about that being is just too disgusting. Let's break into a trot for the next mile why don't we, his legs look stubby and ineffectual after all.

[kariokie]

Shae

"Three options with obstacles: converse, crush or circumvent. Option three. Let's go around. Slow, not to upset him." Shae jerks her head towards the edge of the clearing. "Go. I'll take up the rear." She turns her head to watch the strange little man, waiting for the others to move before starting to as well.

[Eratosthenes]

Tower in the Forest: Meeting of the Fey

The wiry little man, with the blood-drenched cap, changes his focus from Godwin to Vandrel when the elf speaks up. His sneer changes to a toothy grin. Keeping his eyes on the elf, the little man reaches down, and with one hand picks up the wild pig's corpse (which is almost as big as he is), lifting it over his head, and tosses it back towards the tower. He lazily swings the scythe in a arcing movments, speaking out again in the sing-song language:

{Sylvan}

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Well, ol'Jack, he is nimble, and often right slick,
From the fine fairie folk he's taken his nick.
And played with the lightning, and danced with the moon
To these tall's he's a'spyin', he'll teach them real soon.

[dauphinous]

Maeslyra

"That may not actually be one of the choices here," Maeslyra says softly. She grabs her cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand and pulls her back, putting her on top of her pack. Nimaia, grasping that there is something going on, climbs into the side pouch.

She whispers to Vandrel, then pulls a wand from her pack. This action might trigger a fight, but it's a calculated risk.

[Lost Sage]

Godwin

Godwin risks a quick glance at Maeslyra. He hated not being able to understand a language [i]that's two languages in one day. abysmal.

"So maybe we should just back up slowly and see what happens." The bard starts taking he own advice, first glancing back to see that they had not become surrounded by others of the same ilk. "Unless..." he things out loud "... he is interested in trade."

[kariokie]

Shae

She nods to Maeslyra. "Okay." Whatever the little man was saying, it certainly didn't sound friendly. Leering and taunting, really. Swinging around a scythe was no way to make friends, and he seemed to want their attention when all they wanted to do was leave. He was like a drunk man at last call: itching for a fight of some sort.

Shifting in her saddle, Shae prepares herself to act in case the horses became startled.

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Ready action to grab any horse that bolts or starts. Shae's horse is a war horse, so not too worried about Annabelle booking it.
+12 Ride
+8 Handle Animal

[Rapscallion]

Sunduval

Sunduval unable to follow the language of the Slyvan, has watched with interest the body language of the small man. Once the blade apprears he will look around for the backup to the small one. Seeing none he will detect evil,

[Eratosthenes]

The Tower in the Forest
Early Evening, Thursday 18th of Springdawn 1556

As Maeslyra pulls the wand from her pouch, the little man's eyes dart to her. He leers a toothy smile, but then turns his back and walks back towards the dead pig, still swinging the scythe, all the while humming to himself.

He seems to ignore or not understand Godwin.

[Rapscallion]

Sunduval

The Fireknight will dismount and stand near to the others he will whisper to Maeslyra.

"It's evil be on your gaurd."

[Santanya]

Vandrel

Vandrel swings his leg over the side and drops to the ground, but stays near the horse as they begin moving away, keeping his hands on the reigns of the horse, but keeping an eye on the creature as they move. His hand rests on the hilt of his long blade, ready to pull it out if the creature makes any movement towards them.

"Be warey," he says quietly as he guides the horse along away from the creature. "He is not done with us," he adds. "Do we wish to try to face it now, or wait for its trickery?"

[kariokie]

Shae

She remains on horseback, eyes on the little man as he moves back towards the tower. "If he's going to cause problems for us, then we should deal with him now. Waiting gives him the advantage. Don't want to fight at night." She looks thoughtfully down at Vandrel, before returning her watchful eye to the fey. "Any disadvantage in dealing with this now? Will it cause us trouble?" While Shae was comfortable in the outdoors, she hadn't gone this far into the woods before. Likely it had rules just as strict (and as hostile to strangers) as a noble's manor.

[dauphinous]

Maeslyra

Still on the horse, Maeslyra nods once to let Sunduval know she heard him. "It's a trap. Attacking first and head-on is not the answer. We must flush it." She stays where she is for the moment, leaving where she is going to Vandrel. There are enough of us to watch in every direction as we move. "Shae," she points to her eye, then in the direction they are going. She makes suggestions in a similar fashion to everyone else but Vandrel.

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If we are skirting around, I assume the fey is to the left.
Shae watches forward
Vandrel watches left
Godwin watches behind
Sunduval watches right
Catherine watches up and ahead
Maeslyra watches up and behind

Consider Maeslyra to also be watching directly overhead.
Spot +5
Nimaia is cowering in the pack.

[kariokie]

Shae

"Bootsie, guard." She lets her eyes leave the fey and begins to look ahead, taking the lead. Her right hand, which had been hovering nearer and nearer to her sword, reaches out slowly and grabs the bridle on Catherine's horse. "Catherine, you should dismount." With her knees, she guides her horse a little away from the others, spreading them out in case of any magical offensive.

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Spot and Listen are +1 for Shae
Spot and Listen are +5 for Bootsie
Shae will try and put at least 15 feet between her and the main group.

[Rapscallion]

Sunduval

Sunduval will nod and start watching in the direction Maeslyra and moves about 10 feet out while stopping grab Sunchaser's reigns.

"Aye."

[EvilRoeSlade]

Catherine

If you say so, murmurs Catherine, though she doesn't seem to like the idea at all. She seems to understand Maeslyra's signal, and tries to keep watch ahead, but can't help but glance back at the strange old man a little bit too frequently. She dismounts clumsily without any support, just sliding off her horse and plopping gracelessly to the ground. I don't see why we need to go so slowly though. She can't understand why she's so wary either. She's not a coward, but something about a forest takes her completely off posture. It seemed more dark and forbidding than it had a right to be, and the only explanation she could think of was that it just seemed too... grounded. In what?

Reality.

Now where did that come from?

[Eratosthenes]

The Ruined Tower

The group circles slowly around the tower counter-clockwise, keeping the wiry little man to their left. For his part, the small Fey sits on a piece of fallen rubble, and laughs a wheezy laugh.

Nothing else seems to threaten the party as they make their way around the tower. Vandrel estimates there is perhaps another hour of daylight left.

[Lost Sage]

Godwin

Godwin leads his horse, watching behind the group. He makes sure to maintain a good 15-20' distance between himself and the others to keep them spread out.

"Let's get into the trees and out of sight before we mount up."

A thought comes to the bard. He looks to the group for a second to hum a few notes, then returns his wary eye to the ruined tower and it's unsavory guardian.

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detect magic

[kariokie]

Shae

Shae waves a lazy hand towards the bow on her back. "Either we turn him into a pincushion, or we get out of here, but whoever it is isn't coming out to play until we make a move or it's dark." Which was smart of them. If there was a "they".

"You said he wasn't done with us. If he's going to try and stick us like pigs in our sleep, we should kill him now. If he's just going to wake us up and cackle a bunch of nonsense poetry, let's move. What's more likely?" It was like dealing with bullies. Some you needed to take down hard or they'd do it to you. Others were just bluff and bluster. Until Vandrel and Maeslyra revealed more about what the man had been saying, and what sorts of nonsense this type of fey got up to, it was hard to make a decision.

[dauphinous]

Maeslyra

Nodding to Shae, Maeslyra frowns. Her knowledge of fey is limited, mostly to stories. Elven stories, which makes them likely to be more reliable than those that humans come up with, but still just stories. It feels like a trap, it looks like a trap, and it sounds like a trap. Whatever the trap is, it doesn't seem to have been sprung, but them walking away will surely not be the end of this.

"I don't know if he will be trouble if we just walk away, but the last thing he said was: 'Well, ol'Jack, he is nimble, and often right slick, From the fine fairie folk he's taken his nick. And played with the lightning, and danced with the moon. To these tall's he's a'spyin', he'll teach them real soon.'" She looks over at the fey, and takes a few moments to compose a rhyme before calling out.

Sylvan:

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Jack's got a tower
Or is it really his?
Is he the power
Or does he dance for who is?

[Rapscallion]

Sunduval

Sunduval will keep his post and watch the right flank as they wind their way around the ruined tower.

"Solis, I carry your light in my heart and even with an hour of your radience left we shall prevail. So say we all." Sunduval will whisper a recitation of the book to pass the time, this is just loud enough for him to hear.

[Eratosthenes]

Tower in the Forest

The little old man perks up as Maeslyra offers her poem, then rocks backwards, holding his toes; his scythe leans next to him on the piece of rubble. A wheezy, coughing laugh echoes thru the clearing, before responding again in the singsong rhyming. After he finishes he breaks down into another paroxysm of laughter.

{Sylvan, natch:

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Ol'Jack is the King of this mighty fine tower,
His brothers he fought over many an hour.
Ten score and twenty, and a century more,
Jack tacked his first victim to this tower's old door.

Now ol'Jack is a mighty king of his own,
And sits himself on a magnificent throne!
But the Hunt, it calls poor ol'Jack to the fight,
When the bugles herald the falling of night.

So the King of the Tower is servant to none,
But a servant who heads on the Hunt in a run.
A servant, a fine king, of both I am but
That don't mean I can't stab you in your soft gut!

}

[dauphinous]

Maeslyra

"If I am understanding him correctly, this area will not be safe for us tonight, but not specifically because of him. He continues to make threats, yet seems uninterested in actually carrying them out." Maeslyra shrugs and repeats what the fey just said for everyone else's benefit. "Bizarre creature. It seems like a rather clumsy sort of dominance game. If anyone has any questions, he seems willing to answer them for now."

Sylvan:

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So Jack is the master of all he surveys,
And yet he must cleave to the horn that bays.
What does the Huntsman command that you seek?
Do you hunt alone, or as part of a clique?

[kariokie]

Shae

"Sounds like we should focus on finding a defensible location, rather than putting distance between us and here, then. If this 'Hunt' chooses to moves at night, it means they do it well." She shifts in her saddle, looking over her shoulder. "Don't remember anything particularly attractive to make a stand in back there."

She rotates, intended to look ahead, but stops halfway. She smiles a little, taking in the tower. "So. That tower looks easy to defend. Nice clear space around it. What say we club that guy over the head, stick him in a sack, and take his f---ing tower?" Shae shrugs. "If he's going to be our enemy tonight, no harm in making him one now."

[Eratosthenes]

Tower in the Forest

The small old man stops his rocking, rolls off the fallen column, and picks up his scythe. He swings it around in lazy arcs; sometimes he strikes it off rubble or the tree, sometimes he just cuts the air. All the while he chants.

{Sylvan}

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A willow, the tree, all buzzing the bee.
Ol'Jack in the back slices open your knee!
A willow, the tree, it means you know harm.
Ol'Jack on the sack lops off your good arm!

A willow, the tree, the wood sheds a tear.
Ol'Jack will attack, as he cuts off your ear!
A willow, the tree, all covered in soot.
Ol'Jack doesn't lack, when he takes off your foot!

...this continues, with many variations and body parts. The old man cackles after each verse, as if he finds them immensely entertaining.