As the terrifying creature goes down, Gewyn shakes himself from his fear just in time to take a grazing blow from one of the mad deer. He collects himself, and dodges under the antlers of the second one, bringing his birdpipes back up to his lips.
He begins to play a calming melody, and the subtle power of his music washes over his attackers. Gewyn does his best to keep his fingering steady despite the panic in his movements.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vin sees the deer attacking Nef and his new allies and first focuses on getting the last deer off of Nef then yells to his dog "Nef come guard me back I'll shoot them from afar." The young man slinging blast after blast of white beams of energy at the deer.
Eldritch Blast attack 1: 14 Damage: 12
Eldritch Blast attack 2: 20 Damage: 6
Nef moves to be next to Vin to hold action to bite attack next enemy that approaches Vin.
One by one the deer drop dead, or asleep in Gewyn's case. the only one that remains is in front of Sam and it rears back to attack him with its antlers knocking into him quite effectively.
The mumbling of the unintelligible creature having stopped, it disappears from Sam's sight.
(I think Elthana is first? But the deer is right next to Sam.. But if Elthana wants to kill it first then just skip first paragraph...)
Grunting at the new wound, Sam targets the last deer and swings his maul with the intention of turning it into pudding.With a grunt he swings twice, making a close approximation of what he intended. (Att 21 Dam 15 and Att 24 Dam 16 plus and extra 5 damage from Giants Might.)
"Come out, ya coward!" Sam calls out into the area of trees he had last seen the creature. "We've slaughtered your rabid deer and your mutant monstrosity! Now come and explain yourself or stand up for yourself, whichever your blackened soul allows! Prey runs and hides... Are you no better than prey??"
Sam would walk a bit into the trees and brush, not straying too far from the group but not wanting to entirely give up the hunt in case the bipedal version of the NotDeer is near.
As Sam shouts out only silence is returned, the sun makes a peek over the treetops and the sight of the carnage makes itself known.
A circle of dried an ded vegetation surrounds a central point where vin stands. 25 crumpled and dead deer surround the group along with the large deer not-deer creature. In the light of the new day you all see it's humanoid body had been bent over backwards into a best like form, the long finger-like antlers jut from the top of its lifeless human face reaching down, it's deer face jutting up like some kind of mutation.
As the group looks out of the treeline they see a large boulder sits by the trees where no one noticed it before. Also the slick ground is muddied with blood and the hoofprints of an entire herd of deer that have been through before the group arrived and trampled whatever now lies there.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vin goes over to inspect Neferox's wounds before anything else. The boy fretting over her injuries but as she licks his hand in reassurance he seems to relax and sits down on the ground. Then the boy blinks as he looks back to Nef and suddenly blurts out loud, "Wait, it smelled like the fairy from before!!" Vin looks around in a bit of worry and curiosity. He seems to notice that the carriage and horse is gone and vaguely remembers Gerwyn freeing it. Vin sighs as they know they will have to track down the carriage, likely the horse ran off with it. Vin looks back to the others in the group most with injuries. He seems like he feels a bit guilty having not been attacked. He was thankful that he wasn't hurt but didn't seem comfortable with others getting hurt in his stead. Vin begins to say "Thank you everyone, so... should we try to find...." but then he suddenly remembers something else and says "Gara and Walker!" he stands back up and rushes over to where the carriage was. Nef gets up and quickly catches up behind Vin as she nips the back of Vin's clothes stopping him. Vin looks back and seems torn but grits his teeth and says "I know... I just... maybe?" Nef huffs in an unmistakable sigh as they walk beside Vin with their ears perked and sniffing the area very obviously on high alert and ready to attack anything that even hints at getting close to Vin to hurt him.
Survival Check to find tracks/trail of where Walker/Gara might have run too/been taken to: 22
Sam makes his way back to the rest and surveys the damage. He morosely eyes the ground looking for scraps or cloth or bits of metal to see if Gara and Walker had perhaps been so trampled as to be just much now...
"Wait, it smelled like the fairy from before!!"
Sam hears Vin blurts this out and looks about quizzically. "That little thing had a smell?" he asks, trying to think back and remember. He couldn't remember sniffing the small dead thing none the less what the smell was. "Could be whatever caused this caused their death somehow? If they smell the same, some kind of Faery fight?"
He continues looking about, not for anything in specific but more just for lack of anything else to do at the moment. "If we can't find our wagon we may need to butcher up a couple of the less mangled..." but Sam drifts off, he attention caught upon the boulder. It was just a boulder, no reason he should remember it exactly... but he didn't remember it there. With a shrug he moves to it and gives it a good look-see. Could this be another of the... What was it the priest called it? Gayleb-Bur? The living rock things that they encountered but left alone back after the great wolf attack...?
"First a wolf of unusual size, now deer things walking upright directing other crazed deer..." Sam says aloud while trying to inspect the boulder yet keeping a bit of distance from it. "Am I insane thinking that's a pattern?"
Elthana looks back at the fact the carriage is gone and quick takes a look around. She notices the large boulder as Sam heads off in that direction, but she keeps her focus to the carriage area. As Vin starts looking around for the guards, she checks the dirt and finds the wheel tracks. She follows them... and curiously ends up at the boulder with Sam. She looks at him quizzically and starts checking out the area. Using her long pole to poke at the large boulder. If nothing happens, she'll start circling around it.
Vin and Nef suddenly seem to notice something as they began their search of the area. Soon, the pair of them were checking things on the ground. Nef nudging them with their snout and Vin inspecting them. It doesn't take long to figure out what as Vin says "Umm... there are hundreds of dead fairies here. Like they've all been trampled. Some with wings, some without. What is going on?" Vin and Nef continue to look around checking the tiny bodies for some sign that one or two may have survived or signs that some got away Vin is also looking for anything to tell him more about these fairies, symbols on them, things they may have written on, signs of who they were like if they were all soldiers and things like that. The young man seems quite disturbed by the sight but continues the work trying to find information. Nef however eats a couple of the little folk as she helps Vin and then looks around for the deer seemingly preferring the taste of venison after trying a couple of the winged fairies. Nef leaves the not-deer alone. Vin seems a bit too deep in thought to care at the moment as Nef gobbles a few up. The young man looks to Sam as he mentions the large wolf and says "Sam, you think it's connected? Is it because they are both normally natural creatures that leave people alone? Wait! One got away, right? Won't it come back with more?" Vin looks nervously at Nef's wounds as she begins eating one of the normal deer. Her bruises and cuts still bleeding slightly as she feeds herself and begins to recover her strength. "I want to try and find someone, anyone alive, but maybe we should take that dead not-deer thing there to show folks back home what's going on?" He points to the dead not-deer thing.
"The big wolf got away... This two legged NotDeer got away... If we're dealing with real live... ok, maybe live is the wrong word, considering..." Sam shrugs and sighs at the oddness of it all. "If faeries are real, which they are looking to be, and there's this many underfoot, then I am thinking it is some huge thing. And what's the chances of the huge thing we're going to investigate and this not being connected? About the same as the Wolf and the Deer attacks not being connected. Could be some shape changing Faery God or some such."
"Kid, only thing I know for sure is I know nothing about any of this. I'm just taking guesses and talking out of the dumb end of my maul..." Sam looks at Vin with an apologetic air as he has nothing concrete to give him. This is all way past his understanding. "Why'd they not send us with one of those old, decrepit but smart as whips mages, I wonder. Someone who might have a clue about all this..."
Gewyn stumbles behind the others on the way back to the road, a bit too phased to notice his surroundings at the moment, but he snaps back to when he notices the others starting to check out the boulder. "Crap," he mutters, under his breath. His mind races through potential excuses, but he knows he likely won't be talking his way out of this one.
"Okay, so don't get mad. I may have a bit more to me than just being the cheerleader for the group."He walks up to the rock and places his hand against its surface. "My music can have a bit of a hypnotic effect to it. Make people feel what I want them to feel... see what I want them to see..."He waves his hand and it passes through the rock, dashing its image like smoke. The large stone quickly vanishes as Gewyn releases concentration, revealing the carriage and surviving horse hidden within.
Gewyn looks miserable. Uncharacteristically so. Tired, afraid... and something else. He looks up, and a smile takes over his face in a transformation that makes it almost half way to convincing. "The good news is we still have our transport!"
(lol, ok! I guess I was thinking more huge stone than actual boulder...)
Sam looks from Gewyn to the horse and carriage and back again... "What... When... Well I'll be..."
Sam inspects the horse and carriage for a bit before suddenly turning to Gewyn again. "Are the dead faery your doing as well? Are they more of your illusions?"
---
Sam does a cursory search for tracks or signs of Gara and Walker but he's a City Half-Orc, really, and tracks and signs and such are a bit beyond his normal skin set. "Looks to me like they were perhaps dragged off from the carriage somehow and brought to this bloody mess of a central area but beyond that..." The large man shrugs and and at a loss.
He had hoped as well to find some further evidence of where the bipedal NotDeer has slunk off to but there is no sign of that for his eyes at all.
But Sam does insist on helping to inspect the dead faeries and gather their bodies into a central spot and respectfully lay them all together. "They're armed," Sam points out. "Most of them. And armored. I'd guess they came here prepared for battle and lost. Big time. Looks to have been a route." As he gathers more bodies and does his best to respectfully lay them out he does notice one more thing. "Look here, it seems the more... intact ones... They all seem to be facing away from the forest. As if fleeing, I'd guess..."
"Are they warring with the NotDeer thing? It's allies? I'd guess against it just by the fact the wee ones are all dead and the NotDeer seemed pretty hale and hearty," Sam says but seems a bit distracted as he fiddles with an autumnal rust brown colored bag. It is small in his large hands but he is careful as he fiddles and opens it curiously. "I could be wrong in my guesses but I cannot believe this is not connected somehow to why we are here..."
Gewyn looks down somberly, taking in the dead faeries. "Ahh... sadly no. These are real."
As Sam inspects the area, Gewyn paces. Sometimes petting the horse, and sometimes just looking up at the sky for a while.
"It's hard to believe that in a matter of days we have gone from 'faeries are a thing of myth' to standing knee deep in their corpses while we try to figure out how to respond to a potential war."He sighs. "So what do we do? I agree, it seems unlikely that this is entirely removed from our objective. But to we continue on to Hokum? Or do we try to track down the source of these faeries who seem fairly involved and see if more might be learned there than in a silent hick town?"
"I vote we continue on. I want to know what'sgoing on... and... maybe find someone alive. I understand it's the smart thing to go back and report but... it doesn't feel like the right thing to just leave. Its not possible that everyone is dead , right? Someone has to be hiding or running or something but alive right?" Nef who had been eating one of the deer looks up with a blood stained maw towards Vin. The half-elf sighs and looks towards Nef. He seems almost pleading as he says to her "I... Nef wants us to go back. They vote we head back. They feel it's too dangerous. I'm not changing my mind though, my vote is continue on. I'll support the group decision though."
As Gewyn reveals the carriage, Elthana gives a bit of a chuckle, "Nice trick you got there tiefling." She checks on the surviving horse and while she does she notices how miserable Gewyn looks. As Sam and Vin head over to tend to the fairies, she pulls him aside, "You alright? The darkness was a bit much and that bent over deer creature? Never seen anything like that."
After talking with Gewyn, Elthana will join the others and as Vin mentions that Nef wants to head back, she looks at the hound with surprise. "You? You want to go home? I'm surprised and disappointed." She then turns to Vin, "I don't think Gewyn meant head home, I think he brought up the choice of continuing to Hokum or trying to find out where these fairies came from." She looks at Gewyn, "Am I correct? I would agree with Vin though, our duty is to Hokum and I feel we need to press on."
Gewyn turns toward Elthana and puts on a reassuring smile, though he doesn't quite make eye contact. "Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for your concern." He reaches out to put a hand on the dangerous woman's shoulder, hovers, then changes his mind, putting in his pocket instead.
"It's just a lot, like you said. And for someone like me who is used to singing and dancing for a living, I think I am just going through a bit of an adjustment period." Gewyn lowers his voice a bit, and his eyes drop further. "Can I be honest with you, Elthana? When I was chosen for this mission, this is not what I was expecting. The death, the blood, the twisted, demonic deer or whatever those things were. This field of de-" his breathe catches with emotion. "The dead faery bodies littered everywhere." He clears his throat and says, "Sorry. I just need minute to sort myself out."
With that, he turns away and walks to the south side of the road and looks east toward the rising sun. A minute later, he returns to the group, eyes looking a little bloodshot, but his face is composed and controlled once more. "Hmm? Yes, those were the two options I had considered. I do recognize the validity of Vin's point though, that our primary objective is still Hokum. If we are resolved to press on, then that's probably where we should go. We can figure things out from there hopefully."
"Oh, umm. Well, lets go to Hokum and find out whats going on there. Nef is just concerned for my safety. We just need to be careful right?" Vin seems ready to go. Nef just seems grumpy but is going along with what Vin wants.
"Alright, so unless Sam has an objection, let's move on." She reaches in her pocket and pulls out a baseball sized glass orb. Inside swirls of white smoke like a cloud almost, move around slowly as though wind was breezing through it. She gives a small smile to Gewyn and says, "I might have a few tricks up my sleeve that aren't all bad. If you guys could get the remaining horse prepared and get the other side ready for another horse, I'll quick check the road ahead so we aren't ambushed while we get going."
She holds the orb in front of her face and whispers a word, immediately the orb goes clear and standing next to Elthana an air elemental in the shape of a horse appears. She pats the nose of it and murmurs quietly to the beast. She then mounts the horse and turns back to the group. "I'm going to check things out ahead, I'll be right back."
And without waiting for a response, her horse dashes down the road, making not a noise as it is basically wind itself. Elthana is gone for a moment while the rest of you tend to things and on her return, she looks very grave. She dismounts amongst the others, "Ambushes ahead, appears at least two carts have been taken down. It looks as though they have been there awhile, couple of weeks or even months? Most likely done by the same deer that accosted us. Also... there is a horse that was sheered in half, no way deer did that."
"One more thing.. I was spotted. By some bearded man deep in the treeline, nothing happened, but at least we know to be aware of them."
While she is talking, she is connecting her horse to the carriage, giving them at least the transport and maybe the edge to get through this area.
"We are going to Hokum," Sam says confidently in a tone almost defying anyone to contradict him while still fiddling with the rust brown pouch.
"Well, I am at least," he follows up, backtracking on the tone a bit. "I gave my word that I would investigate to find out what the problem is and that is what I intend to do. I suspect it has to do with... Everything else we have found... But we cannot know for sure without going to Hokum itself so that is where I am headed." While saying this Sam manages to open the pouch he had found and he pulls out a small fuzzy ball as he listens to Elthana mention having some tricks up her sleeve.
Sam blinks and nods to Elthana after she summons a horse out of nowhere and says she will scout ahead, immediately distracted from what he had been doing. "Gewyn, Vin... See to the carriage. I am going to finish off with the rites for wee ones, as it were..." Sam instructs and moves to the pile of small faery bodies he had formed in the center of the circle of chaos. You deserve a more peaceful resting spot than this, he thinks solemnly, or I hope you do... Never knew you were real to begin with, now I am just hoping your not the cause of all this. Still, until I find out otherwise I shall try to do right by you. Leastways as right as I can figure.
Sam starts to reach for his bag of Golden Acorns but suddenly realizes he has something in his hand already. "Whatsis?" he asks himself and lifts his hand closer for inspection. He can't tell quite what it may be or what it is made of. It's not entirely unlike a dust bunny or the clod of dust he occasionally pulls from his navel when bored and poking around at it. He brings it closer and gives it a tentative sniff, then another. It smells entirely like what it smells like. It's a kind of warm, dry, fuzzy kind of smell. Stuffing for some kind of craftwork perhaps? Sam shrugs and tosses it over his shoulder and moves to finish up tending to the dead faeries, absently fastening the rust colored bag to his belt. He then reaches into his own bag and plucks out another acorn...
Last time I had them placed in the tree. Seemed fitting at the time. Couldn't do that know, damned tree would look like the most ghoulishly decorated tree in all of forever. Perhaps having it grow atop you all? I hope it's not offensive to you of anything but maybe the idea of your death feeding new life works well for you? I can only hope,Sam thinks in a bit of quiet contemplation and then tosses the golden acorn atop the pile of faeries...
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As the terrifying creature goes down, Gewyn shakes himself from his fear just in time to take a grazing blow from one of the mad deer. He collects himself, and dodges under the antlers of the second one, bringing his birdpipes back up to his lips.
He begins to play a calming melody, and the subtle power of his music washes over his attackers. Gewyn does his best to keep his fingering steady despite the panic in his movements.
Vin sees the deer attacking Nef and his new allies and first focuses on getting the last deer off of Nef then yells to his dog "Nef come guard me back I'll shoot them from afar." The young man slinging blast after blast of white beams of energy at the deer.
Eldritch Blast attack 1: 14 Damage: 12
Eldritch Blast attack 2: 20 Damage: 6
Nef moves to be next to Vin to hold action to bite attack next enemy that approaches Vin.
One by one the deer drop dead, or asleep in Gewyn's case. the only one that remains is in front of Sam and it rears back to attack him with its antlers knocking into him quite effectively.
The mumbling of the unintelligible creature having stopped, it disappears from Sam's sight.
(I think Elthana is first? But the deer is right next to Sam.. But if Elthana wants to kill it first then just skip first paragraph...)
Grunting at the new wound, Sam targets the last deer and swings his maul with the intention of turning it into pudding.With a grunt he swings twice, making a close approximation of what he intended. (Att 21 Dam 15 and Att 24 Dam 16 plus and extra 5 damage from Giants Might.)
"Come out, ya coward!" Sam calls out into the area of trees he had last seen the creature. "We've slaughtered your rabid deer and your mutant monstrosity! Now come and explain yourself or stand up for yourself, whichever your blackened soul allows! Prey runs and hides... Are you no better than prey??"
Sam would walk a bit into the trees and brush, not straying too far from the group but not wanting to entirely give up the hunt in case the bipedal version of the NotDeer is near.
As Sam shouts out only silence is returned, the sun makes a peek over the treetops and the sight of the carnage makes itself known.
A circle of dried an ded vegetation surrounds a central point where vin stands. 25 crumpled and dead deer surround the group along with the large deer not-deer creature. In the light of the new day you all see it's humanoid body had been bent over backwards into a best like form, the long finger-like antlers jut from the top of its lifeless human face reaching down, it's deer face jutting up like some kind of mutation.
As the group looks out of the treeline they see a large boulder sits by the trees where no one noticed it before. Also the slick ground is muddied with blood and the hoofprints of an entire herd of deer that have been through before the group arrived and trampled whatever now lies there.
The lone horse and carriage appear to be gone.
Vin goes over to inspect Neferox's wounds before anything else. The boy fretting over her injuries but as she licks his hand in reassurance he seems to relax and sits down on the ground. Then the boy blinks as he looks back to Nef and suddenly blurts out loud, "Wait, it smelled like the fairy from before!!" Vin looks around in a bit of worry and curiosity. He seems to notice that the carriage and horse is gone and vaguely remembers Gerwyn freeing it. Vin sighs as they know they will have to track down the carriage, likely the horse ran off with it. Vin looks back to the others in the group most with injuries. He seems like he feels a bit guilty having not been attacked. He was thankful that he wasn't hurt but didn't seem comfortable with others getting hurt in his stead. Vin begins to say "Thank you everyone, so... should we try to find...." but then he suddenly remembers something else and says "Gara and Walker!" he stands back up and rushes over to where the carriage was. Nef gets up and quickly catches up behind Vin as she nips the back of Vin's clothes stopping him. Vin looks back and seems torn but grits his teeth and says "I know... I just... maybe?" Nef huffs in an unmistakable sigh as they walk beside Vin with their ears perked and sniffing the area very obviously on high alert and ready to attack anything that even hints at getting close to Vin to hurt him.
Survival Check to find tracks/trail of where Walker/Gara might have run too/been taken to: 22
Perception to be on alert for danger from Nef: 27
Sam makes his way back to the rest and surveys the damage. He morosely eyes the ground looking for scraps or cloth or bits of metal to see if Gara and Walker had perhaps been so trampled as to be just much now...
"Wait, it smelled like the fairy from before!!"
Sam hears Vin blurts this out and looks about quizzically. "That little thing had a smell?" he asks, trying to think back and remember. He couldn't remember sniffing the small dead thing none the less what the smell was. "Could be whatever caused this caused their death somehow? If they smell the same, some kind of Faery fight?"
He continues looking about, not for anything in specific but more just for lack of anything else to do at the moment. "If we can't find our wagon we may need to butcher up a couple of the less mangled..." but Sam drifts off, he attention caught upon the boulder. It was just a boulder, no reason he should remember it exactly... but he didn't remember it there. With a shrug he moves to it and gives it a good look-see. Could this be another of the... What was it the priest called it? Gayleb-Bur? The living rock things that they encountered but left alone back after the great wolf attack...?
"First a wolf of unusual size, now deer things walking upright directing other crazed deer..." Sam says aloud while trying to inspect the boulder yet keeping a bit of distance from it. "Am I insane thinking that's a pattern?"
Elthana looks back at the fact the carriage is gone and quick takes a look around. She notices the large boulder as Sam heads off in that direction, but she keeps her focus to the carriage area. As Vin starts looking around for the guards, she checks the dirt and finds the wheel tracks. She follows them... and curiously ends up at the boulder with Sam. She looks at him quizzically and starts checking out the area. Using her long pole to poke at the large boulder. If nothing happens, she'll start circling around it.
Vin and Nef suddenly seem to notice something as they began their search of the area. Soon, the pair of them were checking things on the ground. Nef nudging them with their snout and Vin inspecting them. It doesn't take long to figure out what as Vin says "Umm... there are hundreds of dead fairies here. Like they've all been trampled. Some with wings, some without. What is going on?" Vin and Nef continue to look around checking the tiny bodies for some sign that one or two may have survived or signs that some got away Vin is also looking for anything to tell him more about these fairies, symbols on them, things they may have written on, signs of who they were like if they were all soldiers and things like that. The young man seems quite disturbed by the sight but continues the work trying to find information. Nef however eats a couple of the little folk as she helps Vin and then looks around for the deer seemingly preferring the taste of venison after trying a couple of the winged fairies. Nef leaves the not-deer alone. Vin seems a bit too deep in thought to care at the moment as Nef gobbles a few up. The young man looks to Sam as he mentions the large wolf and says "Sam, you think it's connected? Is it because they are both normally natural creatures that leave people alone? Wait! One got away, right? Won't it come back with more?" Vin looks nervously at Nef's wounds as she begins eating one of the normal deer. Her bruises and cuts still bleeding slightly as she feeds herself and begins to recover her strength. "I want to try and find someone, anyone alive, but maybe we should take that dead not-deer thing there to show folks back home what's going on?" He points to the dead not-deer thing.
"The big wolf got away... This two legged NotDeer got away... If we're dealing with real live... ok, maybe live is the wrong word, considering..." Sam shrugs and sighs at the oddness of it all. "If faeries are real, which they are looking to be, and there's this many underfoot, then I am thinking it is some huge thing. And what's the chances of the huge thing we're going to investigate and this not being connected? About the same as the Wolf and the Deer attacks not being connected. Could be some shape changing Faery God or some such."
"Kid, only thing I know for sure is I know nothing about any of this. I'm just taking guesses and talking out of the dumb end of my maul..." Sam looks at Vin with an apologetic air as he has nothing concrete to give him. This is all way past his understanding. "Why'd they not send us with one of those old, decrepit but smart as whips mages, I wonder. Someone who might have a clue about all this..."
Gewyn stumbles behind the others on the way back to the road, a bit too phased to notice his surroundings at the moment, but he snaps back to when he notices the others starting to check out the boulder. "Crap," he mutters, under his breath. His mind races through potential excuses, but he knows he likely won't be talking his way out of this one.
"Okay, so don't get mad. I may have a bit more to me than just being the cheerleader for the group." He walks up to the rock and places his hand against its surface. "My music can have a bit of a hypnotic effect to it. Make people feel what I want them to feel... see what I want them to see..." He waves his hand and it passes through the rock, dashing its image like smoke. The large stone quickly vanishes as Gewyn releases concentration, revealing the carriage and surviving horse hidden within.
Gewyn looks miserable. Uncharacteristically so. Tired, afraid... and something else. He looks up, and a smile takes over his face in a transformation that makes it almost half way to convincing. "The good news is we still have our transport!"
(lol, ok! I guess I was thinking more huge stone than actual boulder...)
Sam looks from Gewyn to the horse and carriage and back again... "What... When... Well I'll be..."
Sam inspects the horse and carriage for a bit before suddenly turning to Gewyn again. "Are the dead faery your doing as well? Are they more of your illusions?"
---
Sam does a cursory search for tracks or signs of Gara and Walker but he's a City Half-Orc, really, and tracks and signs and such are a bit beyond his normal skin set. "Looks to me like they were perhaps dragged off from the carriage somehow and brought to this bloody mess of a central area but beyond that..." The large man shrugs and and at a loss.
He had hoped as well to find some further evidence of where the bipedal NotDeer has slunk off to but there is no sign of that for his eyes at all.
But Sam does insist on helping to inspect the dead faeries and gather their bodies into a central spot and respectfully lay them all together. "They're armed," Sam points out. "Most of them. And armored. I'd guess they came here prepared for battle and lost. Big time. Looks to have been a route." As he gathers more bodies and does his best to respectfully lay them out he does notice one more thing. "Look here, it seems the more... intact ones... They all seem to be facing away from the forest. As if fleeing, I'd guess..."
"Are they warring with the NotDeer thing? It's allies? I'd guess against it just by the fact the wee ones are all dead and the NotDeer seemed pretty hale and hearty," Sam says but seems a bit distracted as he fiddles with an autumnal rust brown colored bag. It is small in his large hands but he is careful as he fiddles and opens it curiously. "I could be wrong in my guesses but I cannot believe this is not connected somehow to why we are here..."
Gewyn looks down somberly, taking in the dead faeries. "Ahh... sadly no. These are real."
As Sam inspects the area, Gewyn paces. Sometimes petting the horse, and sometimes just looking up at the sky for a while.
"It's hard to believe that in a matter of days we have gone from 'faeries are a thing of myth' to standing knee deep in their corpses while we try to figure out how to respond to a potential war." He sighs. "So what do we do? I agree, it seems unlikely that this is entirely removed from our objective. But to we continue on to Hokum? Or do we try to track down the source of these faeries who seem fairly involved and see if more might be learned there than in a silent hick town?"
"I vote we continue on. I want to know what'sgoing on... and... maybe find someone alive. I understand it's the smart thing to go back and report but... it doesn't feel like the right thing to just leave. Its not possible that everyone is dead , right? Someone has to be hiding or running or something but alive right?" Nef who had been eating one of the deer looks up with a blood stained maw towards Vin. The half-elf sighs and looks towards Nef. He seems almost pleading as he says to her "I... Nef wants us to go back. They vote we head back. They feel it's too dangerous. I'm not changing my mind though, my vote is continue on. I'll support the group decision though."
As Gewyn reveals the carriage, Elthana gives a bit of a chuckle, "Nice trick you got there tiefling." She checks on the surviving horse and while she does she notices how miserable Gewyn looks. As Sam and Vin head over to tend to the fairies, she pulls him aside, "You alright? The darkness was a bit much and that bent over deer creature? Never seen anything like that."
After talking with Gewyn, Elthana will join the others and as Vin mentions that Nef wants to head back, she looks at the hound with surprise. "You? You want to go home? I'm surprised and disappointed." She then turns to Vin, "I don't think Gewyn meant head home, I think he brought up the choice of continuing to Hokum or trying to find out where these fairies came from." She looks at Gewyn, "Am I correct? I would agree with Vin though, our duty is to Hokum and I feel we need to press on."
Gewyn turns toward Elthana and puts on a reassuring smile, though he doesn't quite make eye contact. "Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for your concern." He reaches out to put a hand on the dangerous woman's shoulder, hovers, then changes his mind, putting in his pocket instead.
"It's just a lot, like you said. And for someone like me who is used to singing and dancing for a living, I think I am just going through a bit of an adjustment period." Gewyn lowers his voice a bit, and his eyes drop further. "Can I be honest with you, Elthana? When I was chosen for this mission, this is not what I was expecting. The death, the blood, the twisted, demonic deer or whatever those things were. This field of de-" his breathe catches with emotion. "The dead faery bodies littered everywhere." He clears his throat and says, "Sorry. I just need minute to sort myself out."
With that, he turns away and walks to the south side of the road and looks east toward the rising sun. A minute later, he returns to the group, eyes looking a little bloodshot, but his face is composed and controlled once more. "Hmm? Yes, those were the two options I had considered. I do recognize the validity of Vin's point though, that our primary objective is still Hokum. If we are resolved to press on, then that's probably where we should go. We can figure things out from there hopefully."
"Oh, umm. Well, lets go to Hokum and find out whats going on there. Nef is just concerned for my safety. We just need to be careful right?" Vin seems ready to go. Nef just seems grumpy but is going along with what Vin wants.
"Alright, so unless Sam has an objection, let's move on." She reaches in her pocket and pulls out a baseball sized glass orb. Inside swirls of white smoke like a cloud almost, move around slowly as though wind was breezing through it. She gives a small smile to Gewyn and says, "I might have a few tricks up my sleeve that aren't all bad. If you guys could get the remaining horse prepared and get the other side ready for another horse, I'll quick check the road ahead so we aren't ambushed while we get going."
She holds the orb in front of her face and whispers a word, immediately the orb goes clear and standing next to Elthana an air elemental in the shape of a horse appears. She pats the nose of it and murmurs quietly to the beast. She then mounts the horse and turns back to the group. "I'm going to check things out ahead, I'll be right back."
And without waiting for a response, her horse dashes down the road, making not a noise as it is basically wind itself. Elthana is gone for a moment while the rest of you tend to things and on her return, she looks very grave. She dismounts amongst the others, "Ambushes ahead, appears at least two carts have been taken down. It looks as though they have been there awhile, couple of weeks or even months? Most likely done by the same deer that accosted us. Also... there is a horse that was sheered in half, no way deer did that."
"One more thing.. I was spotted. By some bearded man deep in the treeline, nothing happened, but at least we know to be aware of them."
While she is talking, she is connecting her horse to the carriage, giving them at least the transport and maybe the edge to get through this area.
"We are going to Hokum," Sam says confidently in a tone almost defying anyone to contradict him while still fiddling with the rust brown pouch.
"Well, I am at least," he follows up, backtracking on the tone a bit. "I gave my word that I would investigate to find out what the problem is and that is what I intend to do. I suspect it has to do with... Everything else we have found... But we cannot know for sure without going to Hokum itself so that is where I am headed." While saying this Sam manages to open the pouch he had found and he pulls out a small fuzzy ball as he listens to Elthana mention having some tricks up her sleeve.
Sam blinks and nods to Elthana after she summons a horse out of nowhere and says she will scout ahead, immediately distracted from what he had been doing. "Gewyn, Vin... See to the carriage. I am going to finish off with the rites for wee ones, as it were..." Sam instructs and moves to the pile of small faery bodies he had formed in the center of the circle of chaos. You deserve a more peaceful resting spot than this, he thinks solemnly, or I hope you do... Never knew you were real to begin with, now I am just hoping your not the cause of all this. Still, until I find out otherwise I shall try to do right by you. Leastways as right as I can figure.
Sam starts to reach for his bag of Golden Acorns but suddenly realizes he has something in his hand already. "Whatsis?" he asks himself and lifts his hand closer for inspection. He can't tell quite what it may be or what it is made of. It's not entirely unlike a dust bunny or the clod of dust he occasionally pulls from his navel when bored and poking around at it. He brings it closer and gives it a tentative sniff, then another. It smells entirely like what it smells like. It's a kind of warm, dry, fuzzy kind of smell. Stuffing for some kind of craftwork perhaps? Sam shrugs and tosses it over his shoulder and moves to finish up tending to the dead faeries, absently fastening the rust colored bag to his belt. He then reaches into his own bag and plucks out another acorn...
Last time I had them placed in the tree. Seemed fitting at the time. Couldn't do that know, damned tree would look like the most ghoulishly decorated tree in all of forever. Perhaps having it grow atop you all? I hope it's not offensive to you of anything but maybe the idea of your death feeding new life works well for you? I can only hope, Sam thinks in a bit of quiet contemplation and then tosses the golden acorn atop the pile of faeries...