The robed figure turns and looks in the direction of the mine, surprised to see Holger and Tess standing there.

Holger will wave the stranger over in a welcoming way and approach him.

The hunting party emerges alongside Tess and Holger, to spot a purple skinned, tattered robed figure some couple hundred feet distant in the desert.

As you watch the figure haltingly approaches, feet scuffing the desert uncertainly as it shuffles closer, hands at its sides. As it gets closer, you are able to make out the form of a young dragonborn, maybe four feet tall. You'd probably estimate their age to be between 3 and 6 years old.

The most startling thing is the purple hue of their scales as they halt 10 feet from the party and look up at you.

"Hey, are you all right? We have water and shelter here if you need it. Come on, this way....where did you come from?", Nem will approach the boy and help him back to the cave entrance if he needs it. I'll will stay on her shoulder, watching him in case this is something terrible.

"Hello, what have we here?", Randy asks, following up in draconic, "Hello! Are you lost? Do you need help?"

Holger is paralyzed with fear, his blood frozen solid. Could this be the fiercest opponent rising up to the challenge of bringing Holger down? Did Holger become a father by the chaotic magical energies creating a child?

Holger takes a deep breath, trying not to jump to conclusions. Just how familiar is the purple color?

He'll muster all his courage and utters the few words he can manage, without alerting the others to his peril, "Hi there."

The young dragonborn child looks back and forth between Randy and Tess, hesitant and cautious, but seems to be enticed by their kind offers of help.

They pause, looking at the others gathered, particularly Holger, the dark eyes flicking over to Maji as well. They take a few steps closer to Holger, looking up at his tattooed face... a tattoo with the same shade of purple as the dragonborn. As the little scaled mouth opens, the voice is raspy, but even sounds an awful lot like Holger's own...

"Da...?", they ask with wide eyes.

Nem turns to watch Holger's reaction with soap-opera levels of surprise and delight.

Maji gives a soft chuckle.

Dornikal pauses when he sees the kid come wandering towards them. He turns and yells into the mine,

"Szartha, can ye come out here? We got a dragonborn kid wandering the desert and he is...purple?"

He turns back and eyes the kid's clothing to see if it is familiar (seen similar on other local dragonborn).

"Purple?", Szartha muses.

The robes seem to be rather crude, torn and tattered. Not what you saw on those tribes that Szartha dealt with on the crossing.

"Well... I... I don't know. I've never seen a purple before."

"Do any of ye know him?", Dornikal asks.

Holger takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He's going to ignore the question for now though.

"Let's go inside and get you some food and water."

He'll gently push the dragonborn along in front of him and cast detect magic hoping to see a magic aura that's about to vanish out of his life for ever. His eyes likewise darts back and forth betraying his calm demeanor.

Maji shakes his head but gets up to see the odd dragonborn. He goes outside of the mines and looks at the young child. He waves at the dragonborn, amazed at the colouration. But it's also a child. Maji looks around to see if there are other dragonborn with the child. He kneels down and speaks in a raspy whisper to the child. "Where....are...parents?"

"No, but apparently he knows Holger!"

Given their previous chat has happened then, Nem will be extra amused, but somewhat wary.

Does this boy appear to be a real dragonborn, or does this have an extra-planar / magical look to it?

Nature check: 1D20+2 = [19]+2 = 21

((Rolled nature, but all her knowledge is +2))

They nod at Holger's offer of water and food, before turning and taking a few halting steps towards Maji, stopping just short.

"Ma!"

"Where....are...parents?"


"Ma!", they say, pointing at Maji.

"Da!", they say, pointing at Holger.

Dornikal sidles closer to Szartha and whispers,

"Maji is a female?"

He gives Holger a dubious look.

Maji gives a sigh and shakes his head. "Impossible. Am ...male. Never...breed..." He gives Holger a look.  "You....What...did...you...do?"

Szartha sidewhispers back, "Nope, Maji's as male as I am... though I've heard that sometimes Holger's magic can get out of hand?"

Holger will blink, trying to will the kid out of existence as his eyes are closed. It's not real. If still present, he'll gently grab the shoulder of the kid and lead it inside.

He responds shortly to Maji.
"Nothing unusual."

Your willpower doesn't have the desired effect.

As you go to guide the kid into the cave, they take off with an excited cry, darting into the cave. ((If you'd like to try to grab them by the shoulders, give me an Athletics check, otherwise they're scooting.))

Oh no you don't!

Holger athletics: 1D20+2 = [17]+2 = 19

Maji chases after the kid, making sure it stays safe.

Still whispering,

"That's pretty forking out of hand."

Dornikal appraises the situation with the hunting party and figures their guide is pretty invested in this for the moment.

To Maji as he darts away,

"Aye'll wait for ye out here an' when yer done dealing with this we can head out."

Randy has kept a poker face through all this...and now loses it, laughing hard enough that tears start to come and he has to sit down.
"Oh ye gods! That's... just...." He can't finish as he starts laughing again.

Holger grabs for the kid, and he's almost certain that he should have grabbed them, but his hands close on air. However, as the dragonborn kid scoots forward, their toe catches on a rock and they topple to the ground, the kid landing on their knees, one of which is held to the chest as they begin to cry.

"Da...?", they rasp with a hurt and confused look towards Holger.

First thing Holger does is try to pick up the kid right away.

"No need to wait for Maji unless he's ready to take on the role of 'ma' and nurture an illusion. Question is if something is hiding behind the illusion or if it is pure air..."

Holger will play nice for now and not shoot the illusionary kid as he speaks since it likely tries to run again. Holger will create a rumbling sound with minor illusion and use silent image to cause a stone wall to rise and "block" the entrance wondering if it would react to that.

"Umm....Holger? Renny is still in there. If he thinks you're trying to wall him in....", Randy cautions.

Maji winces slughtly as the 'kid' skid on the floor. He looks at the dragonborn and back at Holger. "Illusion?"

Maji tries not to look disappointed. Deception: 1D20 = [19] = 19

"And what's it going to help if you terrify the poor kid in the meantime? Stop it Holger, and just talk to the boy!"

Nem kneels down next to the boy to comfort him.

"All right, no-ones going to hurt you."

Holger strides forward, reaching down for the kid, who scrabbles backwards, their back coming up against the rock of the mine entrance as they push themselves to their feet.

Their head whips back and forth in concern at the rumbling and the sudden appearance of a wall shutting off the entrance to the mine.

"Da?"

Tess shoulders past Holger, seeking to comfort the child.

"Illusion magic is emanating from him and my hand just went through his shoulder. But if you insist on caring for the illusion, be sure to give him a hug from me. I'll take the ring to Ulmwin in the meanwhile.", Holger will do as he says and take the ring with him to Ulmwin. He'll let the wall "sink" into the earth again as he goes in, dismissing his illusions.

As the wall drops, the kid bolts right through it, heading somewhere into the mine...

Maji gives Holger a frown and sighs. He turns into a bear and snifs the spot where the 'kid' was.

Nem grins broadly at Holger.

"All right, don't pout! He seemed real enough to me. Either way, whatever your "son" is, he's getting away.

Ulmwin can't help you with the ring though love, because I've still got the pearl the spell needs to work. He seemed quite happy to have someone else able to take over that particular job."

She high fives his mage hand with hers and follows the illusion-boy-thing inside the cave, sending Ily ahead to track him.

"What's going on here..? Why is there a purple dragonborn running to the back of the mine..?", Ulmwin asks, exiting the mine. 

Randy looks at Dornikal and the others in the hunting party. "I think our hunting trip is going to be delayed a bit."
He heads back into the mine to the kitchen area, to be on hand just in case the "kid" shows up and confuses/alarms Renny.

Nem grins, and is clearly struggling not to laugh at Holger's misfortune as she explains what's just happened to Ulmwin.

"Apparently Holger is the father of a purple dragonborn son who may or may not be a magical construct. Either way, he seems to have created it, possibly with Maji, probably not with Maji's consent. Did you see where he went when he ran inside? Randy's worried that he might upset Renny."

Upon making it to Renny, Randy cautions him in orcish, "Don't be alarmed if a purple child shows up. Holger, Tess, Ily, and Maj are trying to catch up with him, but he ran into the mine."

Ulmwin raises a eyebrow at first, but then starts chuckling..!

"Well..! I've got to give apologies if I've ever doubted your magical prowess Holger..! Seems you can even create life!" he says, now with a stupid grin as he actually responds. "Think I saw him run to the back..?"

Holger responds sourly, "I can create life just fine without magic! Besides it's just an illusion based on pure nightmare fuel.. At least Maji got stuck with being the mother..
Got a ring for you to teach Tess how to cast identify though. I'm sure the kid will resolve itself."

"How exactly will having your purple child running around upsetting Remmy resolve itself? Magical or not, I dont want dragonborn children in my food tonight!"

Nem rolls her eyes.

"I'll identify your ring when this is sorted out. I don't want to be interrupted halfway through."

"If he tries to chop up an illusion kid, then it will be a good sign that he might not be fit for rehabilitation.. besides you can't touch an illusion so it won't end up in the food he cooks.."

Holger will practice his own illusions outside, creating monsters that move erratically followed by using the illusion as shooting practice. He only barely refrains from creating Tess and Maji to aim fire bolts at.

(Was Maji able to smell the kid as a bear?)

((Yup, definitely left a scent behind you can track.))

( :o so it's realler than expected. Question, does it smell like Holger/Maji?)

Maji eagerly tracks down where 'his child' is, wanting to find it before it gets hurt or worse.

Dornikal stands around at the mouth of the mine hearing the yelling and laughing from within. He scratching his stubbly head and looks at Galt and Tren.

"Hm. Interesting group."

He clears his throat and continues,

"What are ye two going to do when we get back to the east?"

When everyone comes scampering into the mine, Coljin looks up from his musing, "What? Who is that?" he asks quickly and quietly, not really expecting an answer when he sees that those coming in seem rather concerned about following the dragonborn. He will stand up and follow to see what in the world is happening now.

Coljin doesn't see the purple dragonborn, but when the others come in looking for them, he is able to get caught up on recent goings on.

Holger does his best absent father impression and goes outside to shoot things that aren't there.

"Ulmwin said the kid ran off to the back of the cave. Care to lead the way, Ulmwin? Or do you prefer to console Holger? He's sulking outside and I'm not sue he's speaking to me right now.", Tess asks.

"I didn't see any dragonborn come by me." Coljin states.
He will join the party for the strange game of seeking.

The procession winds its way back to the "kitchen", where Renny is sitting with a bag over his head.

Maji sniffs around for the kid, he'll worry about the orc later.

Randy looks towards the others as they come trooping in. "Haven't seen him since I got here. Obviously Renny hasn't either." He gestures to the bag wearing orc.

"Hurm? Hurr hurr."

Apparently before Tren and Galt can answer Holger comes sulking out of the mine, makes monsters and starts shooting them.

Dornikal opens his mouth to say something but decides it will probably be best to stay quiet.

((That came off as more sulky than I intended, just wanted it to be doing something slightly productive while ignoring the illusion kid. But then again, everything that could go against him near this cave more or less have happened so a bit of a foul mood is alright I guess.
Maybe I should have Holger chase Kershala to buy some tobacco?  ))

Tess asks, "Ummmm... Randy? ... Why is... You know what love, never mind. Any purple dragon kids come by?"

She grins and sends Ily over to Renny.

"Can we unmask him? I think he's got a big enough guard for one kid."

Maji is frantically searching and smelling for his kid, looking a bit worried. He doesn't care about the others seeing him in this state anymore, he needs to find his spawn and makes sure they dod not get hurt. He goes over the floor many times to try to pinpoint the kid's location and hopefully find where they are hiding at. Back of his mind he thinks about it being an illusion, but that cannot be so when he can smell it.

Maji has lost the trail in high traffic area of the cave.

Ily pounces on 'Renny', who chortles ('Hurr hurr hurrr') and pulls the bag off of his head to scratch the ferret behind the ears. He waves at you from his seated position and puts his hands over his eyes for Ily to take a turn to hide.

Nem laughs and leaves Ily to play with the big orc.

"No sign of the kid, then? Well, there's only so far he could go I suppose."

Nem follows the group wherever they decide to check out. If it's not obvious where he's gone, she'll go back to her spot in the cart and identify Holger's new ring as a ritual. If it's divination magic, it might help.

((Nem is going to hold onto the pearl for now since she's happy to do the job and let Ulmwin use the slot for something more useful, but it's there for sharing if anyone needs it)).

Maji frantically looks around, trying to find them. He sniffs through the kitchen and looks around. He looks for any tracks that the kid could have possibly left.

Ulmwin decides to go try and calm down Holger, first... Whether it'll be effective, though, remains to be seen.

"Holger, ain't no need to be angry about it..! It's not the end of the world. I mean, we're already taking Renny with us, so we can deal with a kid as well..! Besides, looking at Maji right now, I think he'd made for a great joint parent, don't you think..?"

Then, Ulmwin, at first, seems to find Maji's efforts to try and track down the kid with worry hilarious... But begins raising a bit of an eyebrow when it doesn't seem to stop.

"Eh... I GUESS it was some illusion after all then, wasn't it..? Not sure where the little scamp could have run off to- It's probably some of that... Chaos magic of Holger playing tricks." he nods, trying to assist Maji for a bit... Although not seeming to check any spots the dragonborn didn't already.

Maji isn't able to spot any further tracks that are able to lead him to the kid. They seem to have vanished within the cave. And Ulmwin keeps getting in your way, apparently.

"Ha! I think Maji is more likely to eat anyone in the long run than nuture them beyond fattening. Besides no reason to be upset by an illusion, it will go the same ways as my magic usually does, dissipate to nothing after a while. Granted it was a bit of a shocker at first. The illusion target practice isn't anger though. Just better use of my time to practise both aim and illusions. Think these look and move just like the blights?", Holger will make his attempt to imitate the blights with his illusion to show Ulmwin.

Maji sniffs at Ulmwin as he is blocking his way, eyes narrowing slightly before giving him a shove. Ulmwin's scent and the scent of his 'kid' are the same... He huffs at Ulmwin and turns back to himself. He then druidcrafts Ulmwin to make him smell strongly like a skunk as he walks out of the cave, looking slightly annoyed and amused. He motions the rest of the snake murdering group to come along.

Randy frowns. "The kid disappeared? Let me see what I can do."

Maji shakes his head and points to Ulmwin. "Was....prank... Punished." Once he sees that Tess and Ulmwin try to get the stench off of Ulmwin, he casts it again.

Nem prestidigitates the smell away from Ulmwin (or at least masks it) and laughs.

"Well I guess we at least know where Holger stands on the question of wanting kids in the future!"

Ulmwin To Holger: "Hmm... I suppose they do, yeah."

Later: Ulmwin chuckles, offering Maji a bit of a grin... He can take care of the smell himself, hopefully, with prestidigitation. When it's just him and Tess, he addresses her a bit curtly.

"Ah, so yeah... I've learnt to work on my voices for a bit." He says, the latter sentence an almost exact replica of Tess' voice. "That, and the disguise self spell... Figured I'd ought to let you guys know, right? Might be useful some day if we need to trick someone..." he winks. 

"Definitely useful! But you've got to work on your smell if you're trying to fool beasts or anything. Ily picked you out almost immediately, and I guess it's what eventually tipped Maji off too. Of course, now they're off to hunt snakes, we have a perfect opportunity to mess with them while they're gone...", Tess shares with Ulmwin.

"Heh, seems so... Didn't think about that part, really- Figure next time I should use some prestidigation to fix that, right..?"

"It would probably help. Ily's got a good nose - if you can fool him, you can probably fool just about anything! Oh, and thanks for the pearl love. Do you mind me hanging onto it for now, or do you want it back?"

"Nah, keep it." Ulmwin shakes his head. "If what you say is true and you don't mind doing it, and it's not even costing you spellcasting potential... Honestly, there's a spell Coljin's been doing I want to try and practice- I'm pretty sure I can do it myself if I get the notes right, get what I'm saying? Consider it a gift."

"Thanks love! Now that you guys have talked me through this slow casting method, I can just take a bit of time and should be able to identify whatever we find. I can do it more quickly if we ever need to, but that's a lot more tiring. Otherwise, I have had quite a productive break! That book of poetry I found has far more in it than I expected to find! I think I can make myself quite useful with it all! ...And do quite a lot of useless things that are mostly just funny. Maybe not magical child funny, but maybe close!"

She grins.

"Hey, where does Maji sleep these days?"

 Only odd thing Maji is going to do is make a sphere/egg/oblong shape with excess skin or stomach. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be decent. He'll let it cure in that shape while working on the next part in the cave.

Randy looks on with a bit of curiosity on his face at Maj's project. (( It sounds like Maj is making a foot ball.  ))

((You could probably knot off the stomach on one end and fill it with sand to keep the shape until it dries, then shake out the sand. If you wanted to do some sewing, you could make it out of hide.))

Okay, Maji will pour some sand until it's about size of a fist and knots up the stomach to let it dry. After helping Randy clean off the goat, he starts working on the second part of the project, getting a strait bone about foot in length. He starts carving it carefully so that it can be held easily. He grins at Randy as he watches. He makes a 'U' in the air, with a devious grin on his face.

((The stomach is a fair bit bigger than fist sized... but you're able to find something that suits one way or another. I will take a dexterity check for your crafting, you can have advantage if someone is helping.))

Randy isn't exactly sure what Maj is up to.

(I guess if all else fails, Maji can try again with new parts. He's only going to try to put it together once or twice, more than that and it's too much work for the intended results)

((Your first effort flops to the side and falls off. You try again with much better success.))

((With all these spoilers I got no idea what is going on. Guess it's more realistic? Dornikal wouldn't know either.))

Randy looks quizzically at Maj. "Are you making a drum?"

Maji shakes his and writes in draconic. Rattle. Ulwin wanted to play kid, will be one. Too bad merchant gone.

Okay then, Maji will pull some of the goat teeth. After the head gets done drying, he drops in the teeth and ties it to the bone to make a rattle. He'll then get something out to write 'Ulmwin' across the head in large font and in common. Underneath it he writes in a small font and in draconic 'Maji's little girl'. He waits for the ink/paint/whatever to dry. He then ushers Randy to follow him as he brings Ulwin's gift to him. He approaches Ulmwin and hands him the rattle. "Gift."

Maji tracks Ulmwin down, holding something behind his broad dragonborn back. Randy shakes his head, and follows to observe.

Ulmwin was idly following conversation, but didn't seem to have much to say besides chiming in occasionally.

And raising an brow when Maji tracks him down... Oh dear- What was this gonna be about..?

Nem looks up with curiosity as Maji approaches their little group.

"Good to see you back, love."

Maji gives a grin to Tess and nods.

He then turns to Ulmwin and says, "Gift." then hands him a hand crafted rattle, made from goat parts. It says 'Ulmwin' in large letters, with a few small words in draconic underneath it.

Ulmwin narrows his eyes just a little bit, examining the handiwork... Giving it an experimental rattle to see how it sounds.

"Ah, a gift..? Much appreciated, you didn't have to though... Not quite experienced with this kind of instrument! What do the words in draconic say..?"

It gives a pleasant shake. You don't have many songs that call for the shaking of a rattle, though it might serve as partial accompaniment, or as sound effect during some tales.

Maji gives Ulmwin a grin when thanked. He looks amused at Ulmwin's question. "Nothing....important."

Ulmwin chuckles a bit, shaking his head... "You know I just gotta play two notes and I know what's on there, right..?" he asks, expectantly. And barring that he denies answering... Well, it'd be something if today after all days he finally actually needed those spell slots- He'll cast comprehend languages.

Randy will leave Maj and Ulmwin to their "bonding" experience. 

Maji gives Ulmwin a coy grin, not willing to spill what it says so easily. When Ulmwin starts casting, her can hear Maji snickering softly. Maji looks at Ulmwin with amusement and anticipitation as the bard reads what he wrote. In the small draconic print it says 'Maji's little girl'.

Ulmwin sits puzzled for a moment... Raises an eyebrow. And then soon starts chuckling himself. He gives Maji a bit of a grin, putting one hand to his side while he shakes the rattle with the other one... Seems he didn't mind the joke too much.

"Ah, don't worry Maji... I'll keep it forever it that pleases you!"

Maji gives Ulmwin a smirk and nods, snickering softly. He ruffles Ulmwin's hair before leaving.