"These at home," Avra says carefully, wiping her daggers onto the leg of her pants. "Near swamps and wet, slipperyer. Big enemy to sheep."

“Whew!,” exclaims Effulgyn, peeling a few clinging leaves from his trousers following the repeated attempts by the creatures to wind him in their vines.

“I’m glad ye didn’t take my advice and stay back!,” he says to the newcomers. “Although Fin here had things in hand I’d say! Still, Welcome and thanks, strangers. My name’s Effulgyn.” Did ye all hear that loud voice?? What were it??”

Fin was about to shoot a scolding look at Effulgyn for implying a single blade was enough to subdue the monstrous brush. The mention of the disembodied voice, however, brought him reeling back to a greater mystery. "I-I think it was Kord....don't give me any strange looks, just hear me out! I hit one of those things and I saw a blinding light. That was before the voice. Then, I asked for help when the big one came out and then the voice came. It seemed like we were stronger for it, too."

Thank you strangers, for your welcome and your kind words. 

What brings you to this grove and what of those disembodied words? 

Yasora steps over the roots of the fallen creature and approaches the group. 

Effulgyn is torn between, on one foot, burning interest in what seems to have been, impossibly, the voice of Kord himself, lending strength to their little band, and on the other foot, guarded curiosity about the welcome appearance of allies at a crucial moment. ‘And on the other foot,’ the young wizard thinks to himself with a smile which turns to wariness, ‘I can’t let gratitude start my lips flappin’ about our mission either.’

“Thank you for lending your blades and arms to our defence! I wonder what these structures are? We spied em off the road yonder and thought to investigate. Any idea what they could be?”

Now that they’ve spent some time here, does Effulgyn notice anything more about the possible history of these structures, especially in reference to Kord’s voice?

(History skill check: 19)

Effulgyn your history check triggers a memory from school and you think this might actually be an ancient Druid burial ground. The history is complicated and what you were taught was one-sided of course, but Stoacia, having brought magic in its modern form into existence, drove out ancient magic -- or at least, regulated magic to the point where magic in any form became difficult to practice freely. Many races and classes who also relied on magic were forced away from the growing metropolis of The Commons, and further and further into the Wild, in an effort to preserve their ways of life. Many were unsuccessful. 

The second thing I can confirm even without a Religion check is that this place has certainly nothing to do with Kord, not in a literal sense anyway. 

Hmmm… a Druid burial ground. Culturally, would it be transgressive to look for buried treasure, or would Effulgyn be more likely to think of an ancient burial place as haunted, or a place where the spirits of the dead should be respected, etc?

You look over and see that Avra is already taking a good look around, unabashedly so. Watching her for a moment you see she is expertly combing through the branches and bushes that the creatures came from, and really just where Creature B's mound of limp vines lay. 

(OOC: Those who wish to look around for stuff roll a perception check and tell me which part of the map you are searching around in. If you are being thorough (as in, will take an hour or so to investigate all of the structures, such as they are), feel free to roll with advantage. For her part, Avra rolled a 21 without advantage and will reveal the fruits of her investigation shortly). 

Arc begins to explore one of the structures in the middle of the glen. It is about waist high to him--or roughly Effulgyn's height--and has those odd swirly patterns embossed on its face. Moss has grown over a lot of it but Arc doesn't trust it and decides not to touch it directly. Instead, he crouches and runs his hands along its base, feeling for...he's not sure what. And then he notices flowers and remembers what Madame Moulot told him not a few hours earlier in her prediction: that he would find what he's looking for, in a place of flowers or somesuch. So with renewed interest he runs his hands along the ground and under the flowers growing, and eventually feels something smooth and hard in the soil, something out of place. 

Holding it up, he sees it's a jet--about egg sized, smooth and cool to the touch, it gleams its sombre gleam in the late afternoon sun. His naked hand clasps around it and his face goes slack for a moment as he rises slowly to his feet.

"I found something," he says, holding it up. "It's real pretty" he says, his face in obvious ecstasy. 

Avra turns from where she is searching about 10 feet away, eyes narrowing at the large gem. She takes a step forward to get a better look and Arc, seeing her approach, snatches the jet from her sight. 

"You can see well enough from there," he says, in an uncharacteristically sharp tone, placing the gem in his bag. 

Ferg, from across the glen, hears the tone in Arc's voice and stops his casual search of the area he is in to ask Parson to keep an eye out on Arc. 

"Let me know if he gets...weird." he says telepathically. In response, Parson flies to an adjacent structure and sits facing Effulgyn and Ferg, but with his head occasionally turning at a 90 degree angle to stare at Arc as he continues his search of the area. 

Avra, having not really paid much attention to Parson before, marvels at him for a moment. 

"What is this creature?" she asks quietly, such that only Fin and Yasrora can hear her. 

Fin quirks up and points to Parson, "Oh, the bird? That's a familiar. It's like a little spirit that Wizards summon to help. They come in all shapes and sizes, and they can talk to each other....I think? Sort of?"

”Hmmm, an animal companion like that, could be quiet useful.” Yasora comments.

she continues searching the areas that have yet to be covered. 

investigation 24

Avra's face becomes suspicious--you can tell she has had very little exposure to magic to magical people, and that perhaps her view of magic is less than positive.

"Magic birds? Wizard? Who ARE you?" 

You find a small gold bracelet worth 25gp. 

Fin's recollection of discretion suddenly rushes back as he stammers to explain, "I mean, yes, we're Wizards. Wait, no, they're Wizards, I'm not. I mean, I sort of am, but not as much as them. Wait, what I mean is we aren't REALLY Wizards, we're travellers. My friend knows a few tricks from his...family, yeah."

Effulgyn inserts himself between Avra and Fin, though only at waist height. He interrupts his friend, putting a calming hand on the paladin’s forearm and squinting up at Avra.

“Errrmm, speaking of pointed questions l, we have told ye our names already but youhave not said yours. I — we — appreciate your help with those creatures, and I understand your wanting t’be careful when speaking with strangers on the road. But if you’re not going to so much as introduce yourself, I think it best we part ways here and now. Everyone’s got their secrets, haven’t they?,” he finishes in a gentle no-nonsense tone, brows raised, and holding Avra’s eyes until she responds.

Effulgyn please roll a persuasion check against Avra's wisdom. She rolled a 20 which means she is very unlikely to trust you based solely on your words alone--she has a lifelong distrust of magic in her core, after all. But this will determine next actions. 

Also reminder to you and Fin to roll for investigation please and thanks!

((Investigation roll of 6 since he's got a flat +0 bonus. Hadn't rolled before since I wasn't sure Fin would want to poke around after initially suggesting to stop.))

Effulgyn doesn’t think it prudent to investigate while strangers are about, given that his best chance of uncovering something relies on the one skill which he has been instructed not to employ publicly: magic.

Effulgyn persuasion 11

Effulgyn investigation 5

Makes sense!