After a moment of apparent communication between Vin and Neferox, Neferox backs down, no longer acting aggressively toward the others.
Turning to Vin, the two appear to communicate further, slowly Neferox's ears lay flat against her head, her head droops as if ashamed and after a minute she lays down discomforted.
While Vin and Neferox seem to be talking, after their fashion, Sam quietly elbows Muir to make sure he notices. "Let's give them some quiet time to talk, eh?" Sam says quietly and pulls Muir over to Gewyn, motioning Elthana to join if she wishes.
"While the kid and the canine talk, how about you tell us about the mirror? Where'd it come from? How long you have it? Has it always given you glimpses like this?" Sam softly and gently prods the resident musician. "Not looking to judge, just looking to get insight into whatever is going on..."
Elthana turns to Gewyn a bit wide-eyed as he stops everyone from questioning Vin. She listens intently as his voice rises through his speech. She gets a bemused look on her face when he calls her a wetworker, but doesn't stop him.
As he reveals why the hag wants Vin and himself, she is a bit stunned. Takes her a bit to let this settle in as everything she has learned about portals and planes and fae since they left home does leave her mind a bit reeling. When Gewyn reveals himself, she doesn't move from her spot, but softly says, "I don't think you're a monster, Gewyn."
Sam's laughter surprises her. Here Vin and Gewyn cannot sleep for fear they will be taken by the hag and Nef is about to attack Muir and the half-orc laughs? Elthana furrows her brow but doesn't say anything as she can tell the man is on a roll. She sighs and let's him start in, but her eyes start wandering as she knows they need to get moving. They got their short rest in, but they need to get to the giant. Do they want to take the direct route and risk falling to their death?
She hears her name and it brings her out of her reverie. She waves her hand dismissively to Sam, "Think nothing of it, we were all trying to get to know each other in the beginning anyways. All being thrown together on this mission with supposed mentors with their own agendas." As Sam continues on, she gets up, pats the stone on it's head and starts exploring a bit, heading up the incline.. they need to get out of this crevasse and get moving. She can't get out of her head that Vin and Gewyn are the key that opens the gate... how do they get to the hag?
Vin talks for awhile with Nef. The two definitely needed to work a couple things out. Nef almost seems scared which for a the large black dog is a lot. Vin tries to pet them and they recoil a bit from their touch. However, the boy just full on hugs her after a few more moments. Vin looks towards his friends from off on the side and nods towards them. Nef doesn't seem so sure right now but looks to Vin who nods back at her. Then the boy heads back over to the rest of the group with Nef once again in his shadow. The hound seeming very uncertain for once.
Vin however seems like he found something. He seems a bit more determined. He missed a bit of the conversation here but as Muir asks him again about what Nef knows Vin says "She told me what she could, the fact is they are after Gweyn and me. I can't explain why right now, not because I don't trust you, but because it's dangerous for me. The reason doesn't matter though does it? We have a common enemy. They threaten the town, the forest and us. We know they want two of us at the very least. Also sounds like they can't complete what they want to do without Gweyn or me. Seems the next play is ours and I say we put this conversation on hold until we have saved this town."
Vin then turns to the bard and says "Gweyn; I like the new look. I missed a bit of what was said because Nef and I really needed to talk but you don't look like a monster to me. You look like my friend." Vin holds his hand out to shake Gweyn's. Nef seems really worried about this but Vin shows no sign of fear.
Muir grunts but accepts Vin's answer. He wonders to himself a great many things about Vin and Neferfox holding back information, hoping it doesn't get any of his companions killed. "Mhm so then where to...up or along the stream? There was a smell of blood along the stream...old possibly what the red caps were pulling"
At this point Elthana has been gone for roughly 15 minutes after leaving to explore upstream, where Muir is pointing out, though there seems to be no signs of anything wrong, or perhaps she merely ventured too far for anyone to tell.
Gewyn's shoulders sag as he releases the tension he had been holding. Acceptance. Maybe Shionne had been right. He nods gratefully at Elthana and Sam and shakes Vin's hand. "I don't know that you can fully comprehend what this means to me, but thank you. I've always been able to change my form, but the revelation of my fae ancestry is almost as new to me as it is all of you. I am still coming to terms with it. I only found out from Shionne. If you don't mind though, I think I will put more familiar skin back on." Once again, his features shift. There is no shimmer of magic or illusion in his transformation. Just skin and flesh and bone molding themselves to Gewyn's will. Horns sprout anew, and his colour shifts back to a deep red. The pale pink of his scar works its way up his cheek like a worm and then seems to burrow under his skin, disappearing from view. "Its been a decade or two that I've been wearing this skin nearly constantly, and it's like muscle memory. Frankly at this point it's more effort to relax into my true body."
He pulls out his mirror and turns to Sam. "So in the spirit of transparency, it's a family heirloom, and I've known a bit about its ability for a while. I can move around in the reflection and see things from a different point of few. But I just thought it was useful way to keep aware of my surroundings. See things hidden. Look through walls. I didn't know anything more about it. When Shionne told me what I was though, she told me that this mirror is of fae origin as well. And now I realize it may be tied both to what is happening here, and to my past."
"Also sounds like they can't complete what they want to do without Gweyn or me." the kid had said and an involuntary shiver worked itself up Sam's spine. He tried not to think about it, tried to not even let the idea form in that thick skull of his... But if what the kid had said was true does that mean the solution to all that is wrong in this part of the world is as simple as killing Gewyn and Vin?
Sam turns to Elthana to catch her eye and see if she had a similar thought but...
"Where did Elthana get to?" Sam asks once there is a bit of a pause in the chatter. "She off making water or...?"
Vin watches as the bard shifts back into their tiefling form then the young man says "I'm glad you shared your true form though. So, can you change into anyone or just those two forms? I might have a plan if its anyone." Vin then listens to Gewyn explain the mirror and nods in acknowledgement. "See through walls? That's cool. I can think of a dozen ways that can come in handy."
Then Sam points out that Elthana is still missing. "I thought she just scouted ahead a bit. you don't think she ran into trouble do you?" Vin looks down the way she went with a bit of concern. fifteen minutes is a lot for just a small scouting when the rest of them were about ready to move on. "We should check on her just in case. Nef, can you follow her scent?" The large black hound nods and will begin to follow it unless she shows up or someone gives a reason not to follow in Elthana's tracks.
In response to Vin's question, Gewyn passes his hand over his face. Suddenly Vin is looking at himself. Then he watches as the skin of his doppelganger begins to crease and wrinkle with apparent age. A scar in the shape of a heart forms on his cheek. White hairs sprout from his chin and grow into a long beard. His lips bulge as his teeth form into vicious tusks and his clothes strain at the seams to accommodate for an extra foot of height and pounds of bulky muscle. He speaks back in an unrecognizable female voice, "I control my body freely. I can be whoever I need to be, and yes, it does go beyond simple mimicry." Gewyn shrinks down to his normal height and resumes his tiefling appearance.
Gewyn tries to peer into the darkness beyond the torchlight. "Hmm, that is strange. Yes, let's go see where she's gone off too."
After five minutes walking the base of the chasm, heading upstream the group see old dried up corpses wrapped in webbing from spiders previous meals. Amongst the sporadic corpses a few animal bones can be found and curiously a large dark streak down one side of the chasm, at the base of which sits a broken cauldron and splatter marks where it looks like the corpse of a small being has been dragged off in the past few weeks.
A noise up ahead indicates something heading the groups way, and out of the darkness Elthana appears, soaking wet from head to toe.
Elthana stands there a bit once she sees all of you, letting the water run down her back in rivulets and a chill shakes her body. "Well." she finally says, "That took longer than I expected, sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. But... I saw the giant. Man, it is a large grotesque humpbacked creature, almost looks like a mix between a troll and a giant." She briefly looks back the way she came, "It is a bit of a tight squeeze, Muir and Sam, you'll probably have to crawl and that's after we climb a 40' rise. Then after that cave, there is a bit of a swim." She looks down at herself and looks back at the rest smiling, "obviously. but it isn't much, and at the pool is where the giant is and he just arrived. Probably makes sense to wait until after he leaves the area as it is only big enough for one of us to get through at a time and that will be dangerous."
She pauses as she thinks a minute, "But, we don't have all day, so if he doesn't, I can always teleport to the other side of him, draw him away while the rest of you make your way in. Killing the giant is our immediate task, correct? Then we tackle the situation of the hag?"
"Looks like the spiders got some of the redcaps," Sam says noting the cauldron and the dark streak.
When the figure ahead starts to be visible Sam chokes up on his Maul but then quickly relaxes when he sees it is Elthana. "Ahh, there you are!" Sam says with some relief.
"I suppose it would be too coincidental for there to be more than one giant in the area? But if they are still there I would suggest perhaps I go in first... I certainly would be noticed, not being all stealthy like you are, but I think I could delay him while the rest of you squirmed through and got into the fight..."
As the group leave the resting spot, Sam notices the Geonids becoming more animated once left alone, both now slapping the water and chuckling with an excited amusement.
The five minute walk to find Elthana heads on a steadily increasing incline, the water becoming more of a quick babbling brook than a lazy stream here toward the top, the group also hear falling water coming from ahead.
The corpses littering the base of tha chasm do indeed vary between humanoid parcels of webbing and old animal bones, curious, as to how any would have made it in this far, why or when, is anybody's guess.
Vin looks relieved when they find Elthana. They were pretty worried when they didn't show back up. Was she rising off her hair in the water? Odd timing but Vin would be lying if he said he didn't want to clean off too. Looking at the group it was obvious to the boy who should go first. "It should probably be me first as I can be invisible. Then maybe you right after Sam? That way I can back you up. That small rest did wonders for me. I think I can push myself for another couple of my big spells, meaning I can heal you and summon Maka or Sarah to help. Then while we hold the giant off the others rush in. I can probably even lure the giant away a bit to give you the opportunity to engage it in a space it won't easily be able to get to the others. This is assuming we have to fight it. Ideally we avoid it altogether, maybe I can even try to lure it away but that would be really dangerous. Best pay off if I can pull it off though." Nef seems less then happy with the last option. She doesn't seem happy with any of it really as the spider attacks were fresh on her mind.
“How close was it to where we’d be emerging from?” Sam asks, turning to Elthana. “I don’t like the idea of anyone ‘luring’ it off, sounds like recipe for facing them alone to me…”
Elthana looks at Sam, "Well, when you emerge from the water its about a 20'x20' pool and he was or is right by it. And its about a 20' to 30' swim under the cavern wall to get to the pool. Like I said, I can teleport to the other side of him if is still there, but I'm hoping he is moving off... I want you all to understand how big this creature is."
"Huh," Sam says succinctly while considering. "Hey, umm... Can we all swim? What about Neferox?" Sam has seen dogs doggie paddle, of course, but he can't recall seeing one swim underneath the surface.
"I'm assuming this is the same giant we heard after the bridge gave way... You really think this route is better than climbing the crevice wall back up?" Sam asks. If both routes bring them to the giant then they should consider which is easier.
"He was repeating the word beautiful as you told us, so I'm assuming it is the same. As for which is easier, a discussion makes sense. I just feel that climbing the crevice walls... what if we fell? Unless Muir can climb back up and tie off a rope or something? Now that the webbing is basically gone, nothing will catch us and we could fall to our deaths."
After a moment of apparent communication between Vin and Neferox, Neferox backs down, no longer acting aggressively toward the others.
Turning to Vin, the two appear to communicate further, slowly Neferox's ears lay flat against her head, her head droops as if ashamed and after a minute she lays down discomforted.
While Vin and Neferox seem to be talking, after their fashion, Sam quietly elbows Muir to make sure he notices. "Let's give them some quiet time to talk, eh?" Sam says quietly and pulls Muir over to Gewyn, motioning Elthana to join if she wishes.
"While the kid and the canine talk, how about you tell us about the mirror? Where'd it come from? How long you have it? Has it always given you glimpses like this?" Sam softly and gently prods the resident musician. "Not looking to judge, just looking to get insight into whatever is going on..."
Elthana turns to Gewyn a bit wide-eyed as he stops everyone from questioning Vin. She listens intently as his voice rises through his speech. She gets a bemused look on her face when he calls her a wetworker, but doesn't stop him.
As he reveals why the hag wants Vin and himself, she is a bit stunned. Takes her a bit to let this settle in as everything she has learned about portals and planes and fae since they left home does leave her mind a bit reeling. When Gewyn reveals himself, she doesn't move from her spot, but softly says, "I don't think you're a monster, Gewyn."
Sam's laughter surprises her. Here Vin and Gewyn cannot sleep for fear they will be taken by the hag and Nef is about to attack Muir and the half-orc laughs? Elthana furrows her brow but doesn't say anything as she can tell the man is on a roll. She sighs and let's him start in, but her eyes start wandering as she knows they need to get moving. They got their short rest in, but they need to get to the giant. Do they want to take the direct route and risk falling to their death?
She hears her name and it brings her out of her reverie. She waves her hand dismissively to Sam, "Think nothing of it, we were all trying to get to know each other in the beginning anyways. All being thrown together on this mission with supposed mentors with their own agendas." As Sam continues on, she gets up, pats the stone on it's head and starts exploring a bit, heading up the incline.. they need to get out of this crevasse and get moving. She can't get out of her head that Vin and Gewyn are the key that opens the gate... how do they get to the hag?
Vin talks for awhile with Nef. The two definitely needed to work a couple things out. Nef almost seems scared which for a the large black dog is a lot. Vin tries to pet them and they recoil a bit from their touch. However, the boy just full on hugs her after a few more moments. Vin looks towards his friends from off on the side and nods towards them. Nef doesn't seem so sure right now but looks to Vin who nods back at her. Then the boy heads back over to the rest of the group with Nef once again in his shadow. The hound seeming very uncertain for once.
Vin however seems like he found something. He seems a bit more determined. He missed a bit of the conversation here but as Muir asks him again about what Nef knows Vin says "She told me what she could, the fact is they are after Gweyn and me. I can't explain why right now, not because I don't trust you, but because it's dangerous for me. The reason doesn't matter though does it? We have a common enemy. They threaten the town, the forest and us. We know they want two of us at the very least. Also sounds like they can't complete what they want to do without Gweyn or me. Seems the next play is ours and I say we put this conversation on hold until we have saved this town."
Vin then turns to the bard and says "Gweyn; I like the new look. I missed a bit of what was said because Nef and I really needed to talk but you don't look like a monster to me. You look like my friend." Vin holds his hand out to shake Gweyn's. Nef seems really worried about this but Vin shows no sign of fear.
Muir grunts but accepts Vin's answer. He wonders to himself a great many things about Vin and Neferfox holding back information, hoping it doesn't get any of his companions killed. "Mhm so then where to...up or along the stream? There was a smell of blood along the stream...old possibly what the red caps were pulling"
At this point Elthana has been gone for roughly 15 minutes after leaving to explore upstream, where Muir is pointing out, though there seems to be no signs of anything wrong, or perhaps she merely ventured too far for anyone to tell.
Gewyn's shoulders sag as he releases the tension he had been holding. Acceptance. Maybe Shionne had been right. He nods gratefully at Elthana and Sam and shakes Vin's hand. "I don't know that you can fully comprehend what this means to me, but thank you. I've always been able to change my form, but the revelation of my fae ancestry is almost as new to me as it is all of you. I am still coming to terms with it. I only found out from Shionne. If you don't mind though, I think I will put more familiar skin back on." Once again, his features shift. There is no shimmer of magic or illusion in his transformation. Just skin and flesh and bone molding themselves to Gewyn's will. Horns sprout anew, and his colour shifts back to a deep red. The pale pink of his scar works its way up his cheek like a worm and then seems to burrow under his skin, disappearing from view. "Its been a decade or two that I've been wearing this skin nearly constantly, and it's like muscle memory. Frankly at this point it's more effort to relax into my true body."
He pulls out his mirror and turns to Sam. "So in the spirit of transparency, it's a family heirloom, and I've known a bit about its ability for a while. I can move around in the reflection and see things from a different point of few. But I just thought it was useful way to keep aware of my surroundings. See things hidden. Look through walls. I didn't know anything more about it. When Shionne told me what I was though, she told me that this mirror is of fae origin as well. And now I realize it may be tied both to what is happening here, and to my past."
"Also sounds like they can't complete what they want to do without Gweyn or me." the kid had said and an involuntary shiver worked itself up Sam's spine. He tried not to think about it, tried to not even let the idea form in that thick skull of his... But if what the kid had said was true does that mean the solution to all that is wrong in this part of the world is as simple as killing Gewyn and Vin?
Sam turns to Elthana to catch her eye and see if she had a similar thought but...
"Where did Elthana get to?" Sam asks once there is a bit of a pause in the chatter. "She off making water or...?"
Vin watches as the bard shifts back into their tiefling form then the young man says "I'm glad you shared your true form though. So, can you change into anyone or just those two forms? I might have a plan if its anyone." Vin then listens to Gewyn explain the mirror and nods in acknowledgement. "See through walls? That's cool. I can think of a dozen ways that can come in handy."
Then Sam points out that Elthana is still missing. "I thought she just scouted ahead a bit. you don't think she ran into trouble do you?" Vin looks down the way she went with a bit of concern. fifteen minutes is a lot for just a small scouting when the rest of them were about ready to move on. "We should check on her just in case. Nef, can you follow her scent?" The large black hound nods and will begin to follow it unless she shows up or someone gives a reason not to follow in Elthana's tracks.
At this point a good 25 minutes has passed since Elthana left the group...
In response to Vin's question, Gewyn passes his hand over his face. Suddenly Vin is looking at himself. Then he watches as the skin of his doppelganger begins to crease and wrinkle with apparent age. A scar in the shape of a heart forms on his cheek. White hairs sprout from his chin and grow into a long beard. His lips bulge as his teeth form into vicious tusks and his clothes strain at the seams to accommodate for an extra foot of height and pounds of bulky muscle. He speaks back in an unrecognizable female voice, "I control my body freely. I can be whoever I need to be, and yes, it does go beyond simple mimicry." Gewyn shrinks down to his normal height and resumes his tiefling appearance.
Gewyn tries to peer into the darkness beyond the torchlight. "Hmm, that is strange. Yes, let's go see where she's gone off too."
After five minutes walking the base of the chasm, heading upstream the group see old dried up corpses wrapped in webbing from spiders previous meals. Amongst the sporadic corpses a few animal bones can be found and curiously a large dark streak down one side of the chasm, at the base of which sits a broken cauldron and splatter marks where it looks like the corpse of a small being has been dragged off in the past few weeks.
A noise up ahead indicates something heading the groups way, and out of the darkness Elthana appears, soaking wet from head to toe.
Elthana stands there a bit once she sees all of you, letting the water run down her back in rivulets and a chill shakes her body. "Well." she finally says, "That took longer than I expected, sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. But... I saw the giant. Man, it is a large grotesque humpbacked creature, almost looks like a mix between a troll and a giant." She briefly looks back the way she came, "It is a bit of a tight squeeze, Muir and Sam, you'll probably have to crawl and that's after we climb a 40' rise. Then after that cave, there is a bit of a swim." She looks down at herself and looks back at the rest smiling, "obviously. but it isn't much, and at the pool is where the giant is and he just arrived. Probably makes sense to wait until after he leaves the area as it is only big enough for one of us to get through at a time and that will be dangerous."
She pauses as she thinks a minute, "But, we don't have all day, so if he doesn't, I can always teleport to the other side of him, draw him away while the rest of you make your way in. Killing the giant is our immediate task, correct? Then we tackle the situation of the hag?"
She reaches up and starts wringing out her hair.
"Looks like the spiders got some of the redcaps," Sam says noting the cauldron and the dark streak.
When the figure ahead starts to be visible Sam chokes up on his Maul but then quickly relaxes when he sees it is Elthana. "Ahh, there you are!" Sam says with some relief.
"I suppose it would be too coincidental for there to be more than one giant in the area? But if they are still there I would suggest perhaps I go in first... I certainly would be noticed, not being all stealthy like you are, but I think I could delay him while the rest of you squirmed through and got into the fight..."
As the group leave the resting spot, Sam notices the Geonids becoming more animated once left alone, both now slapping the water and chuckling with an excited amusement.
The five minute walk to find Elthana heads on a steadily increasing incline, the water becoming more of a quick babbling brook than a lazy stream here toward the top, the group also hear falling water coming from ahead.
The corpses littering the base of tha chasm do indeed vary between humanoid parcels of webbing and old animal bones, curious, as to how any would have made it in this far, why or when, is anybody's guess.
Vin looks relieved when they find Elthana. They were pretty worried when they didn't show back up. Was she rising off her hair in the water? Odd timing but Vin would be lying if he said he didn't want to clean off too. Looking at the group it was obvious to the boy who should go first. "It should probably be me first as I can be invisible. Then maybe you right after Sam? That way I can back you up. That small rest did wonders for me. I think I can push myself for another couple of my big spells, meaning I can heal you and summon Maka or Sarah to help. Then while we hold the giant off the others rush in. I can probably even lure the giant away a bit to give you the opportunity to engage it in a space it won't easily be able to get to the others. This is assuming we have to fight it. Ideally we avoid it altogether, maybe I can even try to lure it away but that would be really dangerous. Best pay off if I can pull it off though." Nef seems less then happy with the last option. She doesn't seem happy with any of it really as the spider attacks were fresh on her mind.
“How close was it to where we’d be emerging from?” Sam asks, turning to Elthana. “I don’t like the idea of anyone ‘luring’ it off, sounds like recipe for facing them alone to me…”
Elthana looks at Sam, "Well, when you emerge from the water its about a 20'x20' pool and he was or is right by it. And its about a 20' to 30' swim under the cavern wall to get to the pool. Like I said, I can teleport to the other side of him if is still there, but I'm hoping he is moving off... I want you all to understand how big this creature is."
"Huh," Sam says succinctly while considering. "Hey, umm... Can we all swim? What about Neferox?" Sam has seen dogs doggie paddle, of course, but he can't recall seeing one swim underneath the surface.
"I'm assuming this is the same giant we heard after the bridge gave way... You really think this route is better than climbing the crevice wall back up?" Sam asks. If both routes bring them to the giant then they should consider which is easier.
"He was repeating the word beautiful as you told us, so I'm assuming it is the same. As for which is easier, a discussion makes sense. I just feel that climbing the crevice walls... what if we fell? Unless Muir can climb back up and tie off a rope or something? Now that the webbing is basically gone, nothing will catch us and we could fall to our deaths."
"I could give you all a ride as I did Gewyn. My lizard form is adept at climbing the wall."