Gewyn looks at the dust falling around him, and then up at the ledge whence they'd fallen. "No," he whispers to Muir. "Something's up there looking for us. Perhaps the giant. We need to get somewhere safe for now, and then I need to..." He hesitates. "... share something with everyone."

He approaches Nef and kneels a few feet away, holding his hands out to the side, palms facing down to hopefully pacify the creature a bit. "Nef, now more than ever, do not let Vin out of your sight."

Elthana quickly spins back up on the branch once the spiders are dispatched and tries to take a look around.  Not seeing much, she heads down by Sam and tries to ignore the sound.. :)

Watching as the tree petrifies, she asks Sam, "Does this typically happen with your trees?  I haven't seen it before.. how strange." Looking around now at floor level, she still struggles to see what their next options are.  She's glad to see Gewyn join them.. on top of a giant lizard?  "Gewyn, where is Muir?"

     "Not... typically..." Sam answers Elthana hesitantly.  "Truth be told, I really have no idea, do I?"  Sam looks closely at the true and studies it a bit.  There had been a symbol or something on the last one, had there not?  The one in the barren lands the making of new sentient trees had created?  Where the weird wind had kicked up? 

     "I was giften the acorns right before this trip of ours," Sam explains.  "You've seen the trees as much as I have.  We've no tarried long and studied them but... No.  Best to my knowledge none have done this before."  Sam moves up to the tree slowly and cautiously reaches out and touches it.  First with the tip of a finger then with a palm if it seems safe enough.  "Did not someone mention something of a symbol or marking on each tree?  I paid little attention before, I saw not what they spoke of or we had other things to worry about each time.  Then again, we do this time as well..."

As the tree continues to solidify, the stone petrification covers most of the trunk, and Sam sees it, a large symbol, once camouflaged by the grooves of the bark, it now stands prominent against the stone.

As Sam touches the tree the solidification continues under his fingers, leaving his skin unaffected. One of the boulders shifts and moves slightly. The second one wobbles a little in response.

Above something shifts as of on response to the sounds that the party is now making, more dust falls as a distant growl echoes from up high, the same voice as before, but different words "GRRRUTHEATAGGH!". Then nothing more from above, no more dust, no more movement. 

     "Stay away," Sam says in a hushed voice without turning from the tree...  "Err, that is what is being shouted from above," he clarifies.

     "Do you see this?" Sam asks of Elthana of anyone else nearby, continuing in his hushed tone, not wanting to antagonize the giant or whatever it is far above.  "This symbol on the tree?  Is it like the others?  Could someone maybe write it down?"  Sam is slow enough with the numbers and letters he does know, he didn't want to try to copy an unknown symbol and have any confidence in replicating it correctly.  

     "Ummm, hello?" He says as the boulder shifts.  "I uh...  met some rock people before... You wouldn't be more of them, would you?" Truthfully Sam is feeling quite foolish asking that out loud but he wasn't sure how else to best determine it.

Having climbed back on Muir's back, Gewyn looks down at Elthana. "Muir? you mean my new lizard friend here? Probably hiding in plain sight." Seeing that the petrification of the tree does not seem immediately dangerous, Gewyn rides over beside Sam and looks down at the symbol in the torchlight, trying to see if it relates to the one he'd seen on the last tree.

Arcana: 13

At Muir's nudging, he leans down and whispers into the lizard's ear, "I know. We'll talk about it soon. Once we're safe... -ish."

At Sam's questioning one boulder stops moving completely, the other turns toward the now unmoving one and quickly turns back to its original position realising it's mistake and also stops moving completely.

Gewyn traces the symbol, checking the curves and lines against the one he drew down before, the shapes of this symbol are perfectly the same, though it appears there are a few details that Gewyn must have missed last time, he is able to get a full copy of the symbol this time.

Elthana looks up when Sam translates and wonders what this giant is going to be like when they are finally able to face him.  She then becomes quite stunned when Sam starts talking to the boulders.  It obviously has an effect though and she leans over to Sam, "Ask them how to get back up." she whispers to him.

As Gewyn gets back on top of Muir, she smiles, "So the elephant has become a lizard.  I wonder what else is up his sleeve." she then looks more fixedly to Gewyn, "and what is up yours as well."

She then heads over to Vin and Nef, and seeing how fixedly Nef is staring downstream, she asks Vin, "What has gotten Nef's attention so directly?  Is something more coming to attack?"

     Sam looks to Elthana, back to the rocks and then back to Elthana once more.  "Are you making fun?" he asks, unsure.  

     "Umm, we mean you no harm," Sam says awkwardly to the rocks.  "I uh... Sorry about the tree?  Only I needed to break my fall and help my friends get away from the spiders and all.  I didn't mean to disturb your area at all..."

     Sam turns back to Elthana.  "Back when we fought them wolves, remember?  We saved a couple of clerics?  That night on watch, me and the Kenku one...  Oh, I forget their name...  We saw a couple of boulders like this.  Only they had faces you could kind of make out.  I don't see any faces on these ones.  The Kenku advised if we left them alone that they would leave us alone... And they did."

     "Do you two want to be left alone?  We'd be happy to leave, we just need to find our way again... See, we're looking for a giant.  Or a hag.  Maybe both.  But we have no issue with the rocks...  Is that impolite, calling you rocks?"  Sam isn't quite sure what is going on here but he thinks something is...

Neferox huffs at Gweyn in an unmistakable "duh" when they tell her to protect him even closer.  The young man already having taken a beating from that poison still seems to need to recover but do they have time.  Vin looks at the tree and the symbol as Gweyn copies it down.  The young man looking at it curiously.  As the giant roars above Vin says "He doesn't sound happy.  umm, Nef sensed something big retreating that way."  Vin points in the direction the water flows.  "It probably means there is an exit that way but also probably means a bigger spider would be my guess.  Could be something else though."

Vin looks at Muir in their ability to change shape and just says "Okay.  That's kind of cool Muir.  If you two have something to say might as well be now.  I mean, who's gonna hear. the rocks?"

As if on que. Sam begins to talk to the rocks Vin looks a bit concerned towards him and it isn't until Vin notices the rocks move a little that Vin realizes there is a lot more to the rocks them meets the eye.  Vin however is wondering why the tree is turning to stone.  Is this an effect of the portal being changed or just part of the nature of trees Sam makes?  Either way Vin asks "Can... you understand them?"

     "The one up top?  Aye, sure," Sam answers Vin.  "They're speaking Giant.  I am familiar..."

     "Oh, the boulders?  I'm afraid they've not spoken up at all, that I can tell," Sam says.  "Nor did the ones I met before...  Not entirely sure they can speak, truthfully..."

"The last tree seemed to bring forth some elemental entity of air, and this one has brought forth perhaps sentient stones," Gewyn says. "I believe the symbol pertains to teleportation. Likely between planes. More mysteries to add to the list. And I've yet another to share, but we need to focus on one thing at a time. I vote that that one thing be  finding ourselves somewhere other than the bottom of a cave between magic spiders and a giant."

Lizard Muir senses the others need a little rest as they've been battered by the spiders shifts back to the Loxodon they have grown to love or at least tolerate. "Ah that is better. You speak of talking rocks and symbols....perhaps they understand the tongue of the other fey?" With that Muir approaches the rocks and speaks to them in Sylvan

     Sam studies the symbol on the tree for a short time, trying to make some connection of what it could mean and why his benefactor would have had such a thing to give to him...  In his studying he almost absently sits upon one of the boulders but catches himself at the last second and almost falls on his face trying to stand up from a half-sit.  Giving the others a half grin and a chuckle, Sam moves a bit away and sits down on the ground staring at the trunk and boulders with utter confusion...  But finds the lack of doing anything quite relaxing and refreshing...

The boulders do not respond to the sylvan directed at them, they don't react to anything at all, that is until Sam absent mindedly attempts to sit on one. Even with Sam's hasty evasion the boulder quickly moves anyway, strafing to one side to avoid being sat on, anyone watching carefully would see a glimpse of the underside of the creature, a void underneath from which two lanky limbs protrude, they then retract back into the shell like boulder as it lowers itself bak to its inert form.

As there appears to be no more immediate dnager and the group takes a moment to collect and rest; Vin collapses by leaning against a wall when they finally stop to rest.  The boy has been pushing themselves way past their limits for quite some time now.  The spider's poison bringing them past the level of enduring as their muscles pretty much give out in a final surrender to rest at last.  Neferox takes a position near them but alert for danger especially in the direction Vin say there was something else.  The young man is quite relieved to finally recover for a bit.  They have been right out straight fighting and running, rescuing and searching. 

As folks quietly talk on the next step Vin says "Well, I agree with Gweyn, we shouldn't stay long.  We have a couple options and none too good.  Go back up, in which the giant might show up.  Follow the water which will lead to something that might be dangerous.  Head up steam into the unknown.  Having fallen here I'm not sure which way would be best to find the portal but... we know the redcaps had a path they used to bring the blood.  I think the only sure way to know we are heading towards the portal is to follow their tracks up above... unless... Nef.  What do you smell down here?"

Neferox looks at Vin and nods as she begins to walk a little ways up and down the tunnel to see if she can pick up anything of interest.  Sniffing closely to the ground as she heads up stream a short distance and sniffs the air in that direction then heads to the opposite side of the group just a short distance downstream.  She doesn't go far at all but gets a bit of space between folks and herself to make it easier to pick up scents other then the party and whatever smells they brought with them.

     Sitting on the ground watching the unusual boulders, Sam tries each of the languages he knows to say "Hello.  We mean no harm.  Can you understand me?"  Common is tried first, of coure, but then he tries in Giant and Dwarvish and then even Orcish.  

     To the others he again explains that he first saw things like these when they fought the wolves early in their days together.  "We saved the two clerics, remember?  On watch that night me and the Kenku one went into the woods a bit.  We saw two of these then, if these be the same thing.  The Kenku said they are called Galleb Durr or some such.  Said they were harmless if left alone and so that is what we did...  Never did hear them communicate at all though."  It could all be a coincidence, he suggests...  There was no tree there.  Not from his acorns, anyway.  Still... Odd coincidence.

     Sam otherwise studies the tree and the boulders from afar looking for any sign of anything that might trigger something in his cotton filled head...  

(And he'll use Hit Dice if we do get a short rest in...)

If the boulders had a 'front' the boulders turn to look at eachother hesitantly when Sam tries Dwarvish.

Then one lifts up slightly, and a grating raspy voice eeks put from the void underneath. It sounds like someone coughing out a language with a mouthful of pebbles, but in broken Dwarvish the slightly raised one responds.

Elthana joins Vin and sits on the ground for a bit of a rest.  She amuses herself by watching Sam attempt to talk to rocks.  Never thought I'd see such a thing, she thinks to herself.  But then is pleasantly surprised when he makes progress.

She does gesture over to Gewyn to join them, "You mentioned to Muir saying something when we were safe-ish, I think for the moment this might be the safest we'll be for awhile.  Would you mind sharing?  You definitely have my interest peaked"  (Elthana didn't overhear, then just ignore this part)

She then turns to Vin, "I see Nef is checking upstream, that's my vote if it works out.  I'd love to get topside again and honestly we're here to probably fight that giant, so that isn't what worries me, its the possibility of a bad fall."

     Sam raises and eyebrow and leans forward when the boulders definitely move again and then sits back suddenly and let's out a sudden "Hmph!" when they verbally respond!

     "Did you...?" Sam says looking over to Elthana.  "Did you??" He asks quickly, looking over to Muir and the others...

     "Did you..." He hasks to the boulders but then realizes his blunder and switches to Dwarvish and starts again.  ((Spoilers to hide the Dwarvish...  Sam is talking to the boulders again.  Maybe with them replying, maybe not...))

      While Sam is (hopefully) having a discussion with the boulders he is ignoring the rest of the party unless they really interrupt or interpose their presence.