While Lam doesn't understand the conversation, he notices the Firbolg glance up into a tree behind them after Hemlock's response. There is a human up in the tree, expertly balanced on a branch, listening intently. He is pretty sure he recognizes the human from one of the encounters with the HMC, although he can not quite remember whether she was at their last skirmish in the woods. Lam is pretty sure that the human doesn't know that she's been noticed by himself and the Firbolg - she is certainly still in a stealthy stance.
The others don't notice the look or the human, though Saoirse and Hemlock can hear some more owl calls echoing in the distance in the woods, and are wise enough to recognize now that the creatures cast a wide surveillance net for the Firbolg village.
The muscular young druid answers Hemlock firmly, still in the Giant language:
Þú hefur sannarlega komið með óvin - einn af trjáfellingunum hefur fylgt þér og gerði það á þann hátt sem gefur til kynna að hún vissi hvar þú varst. Veran sem situr á öxl vinar þíns er skrímsli - ekkert náttúrubarn - byggt til að sveigja huga annarra með töfrum og gleðjast svo yfir þeim; og vinkona þín hefur gefið henni að borða eins og móðir myndi gera. Uglurnar segja að þú hafir örugglega eyðilagt froskana, en við munum senda öldung til að athuga í fyrramálið. Þar til öldungafundinum er lokið, er ég á verði. Og ég treysti þér ekki.'
You have indeed brought an enemy - one of the tree-fellers has followed you, and did so in a way that suggests she knew where you were. The creature perched on your friend's shoulder is a monster - no child of nature - built to bend the minds of others with magic and so feast on them; and your friend has fed her as a mother would. The owls say you have indeed destroyed the frogs, but we will send an elder to check in the morning. Until the elders meeting is finished, I'm on guard. And I don't trust you.'
Another voice can be heard from the other side of the wall of thorns. Aspen calls out, speaking in careful Common out of courtesy to Hemlock's companions; "Oh, shut up, Hickory. You are knowing as well as I am that Elders would want to speaking with them as soon as possible. And when you led guardians to cull the frogs you comed back with tails between legs. Letting them in!"
Saoirse keeps her eyes on the muscular Firbolg, who continues to speak in a language foreign to all but Hemlock. She wonders what’s being said and glances at her friend for further instruction. Suddenly, Aspen makes her entrance, and the genasi can’t help but smile when she tells Hickoryto shut up. "I like this girl!", she thinks, "Come on, Aspen, show him who’s boss". Her smile then shifts to Hemlock, expecting him to display no less strength and thinking what a good paring these two make.
"Kveðja, Hickory. Ég biðst afsökunar á því ef okkur hefði verið fylgt eftir, en ég býst við að við séum nógu langt frá þorpinu þínu til að þetta sé varla dyraþrep þitt. Og það eru ekki allir trjáfellarar óvinir okkar", Hemlock says maintaining eye contact with Hickory even as he is seated. A smile crosses his face at hearing Aspen. "Ég efast líka einlæglega um að þú sendir öldung hvert sem er. Það hljómar eins og þú hafir fengið gæsluskyldu sem refsingu fyrir að hafa ekki tekist á við vondu froskana. Kannski geturðu frelsað þig með því að sjá skynsemi núna og láta öldungana vita að við viljum tala saman. Við krefjumst ekki, eða væntum, trausts þíns. Það eru öldungarnir þínir sem við verðum að sannfæra", he adds very calmly and matter-of-factly.
"Greetings, Hickory. My apologies if we were followed, but I expect we are far enough from your village that this is hardly your doorstep. And not all tree-fellers are enemies of ours or yours. I also sincerely doubt you will send an elder anywhere. It sounds like you have been given guard duty as a punishment for your failure to deal with the bad frogs. Perhaps you can redeem yourself by seeing sense now, and letting the elders know we wish to talk. We do not require, or expect, your trust. It is your elders we must convince".
As he finishes speaking, he reaches out into Saoirse' mind, "He says we were followed by a tree-feller, but I do not see them".
When Saoirse receives the mental message, her smile disappears, and her focus shifts from the conversation to the surrounding trees, scanning for the HCM that has followed them as inconspicuously as possible. Has this happened because of Lam's brand? This thought makes makes her curse under her breath.
Lam’s mind races as he tries to figure out the dynamics of the situation he’s in. The human clearly shouldn’t be here. The other Firbolg knows she’s here. Does he know she isn’t with them? The Firbolgs aren’t about to also let her in, are they? Do his friends know she’s here? What is Hemlock saying? What are any of them saying? He wants to tell the Firbolg about the human not being with them, but he doesn’t want to alert the human that he knows she’s there. He wants to alert his friends that she is there, but again he doesn’t want to alert her that he knows.
He slowly, carefully moves one hand to his greataxe, watching the Firbolg guard as he does so. If he gets eye contact, he glances at the tree where the human is- as imperceptible as he can while still making it obvious where he is looking- and glances back- a couple of times. If he succeeds at this, or once his hand is resting on his greataxe if the Firbolg never looks at him, he looks directly at each of his friends for a couple seconds. If any of them looks at him, he does the same with them as he tried to do with the Firbolg. If instead the human makes a sudden move, he loses all tact, stands up and gets out his greataxe, attention trained on her.
I rolled stealth mostly to give myself an idea of how much discretion Lam was about to use. I got an 11 which didn’t tell me much, so I tried to make it not the subtlest strategy, but definitely not the most tactless he could have been either. I’ll mention the roll in case you want to use it to determine how well my strategy works.
Saoirse, having made aware that they have been followed, notices Lamglance at her and then follows his gaze toward the tree. Has he detected the tree-feller as well? The blood hunter continues searching for the spy, still trying to do so discreetly.
If she spots the spy thanks to Lam, is she within range of Saoirse's blood curse of binding? Would that curse make the spy fall down from the tree?
"Allt í lagi. Ég skal gefa skrímslinu þínu tækifæri og hleypa þér í gegnum vegginn. En þú mátt ekki fara inn í Oakhome áður en öldungur býður þér, og ég mun ekki hleypa trjáfellingunni í gegn nema hún sé með þér. -
Vissir þú hafðu bókstaflega skottið á milli -
Haltu kjafti, Aspen!"
"Fine. I'll give your monster a chance, and let you through the wall. But you must not enter Oakhome before an Elder invites you, and I will not allow the tree-feller through unless she is with you. -
Did you literally have your tail between -
Shut up, Aspen!"
The woman in the tree notices as Lam pointedly looks to her and back to the others, turning his head a little too much for it to seem unrelated. Lam is able to indicate to the others exactly where the ranger is, but as soon as everyone has gotten their eyes on her, she turns in the branch and leaps away, swinging on a vine around the trunk of the skyoak. She was another prisoner back at Coldwater, one who stayed instead of following you out to the elves... other than that, you don't know where her allegiances lie. Her spot in the tree is about 50-60' away from you all.
Without so much as a second thought, Saoirsestands up and runs towards the direction the spy is jumping to, trying to get close enough to bind her in place.
If it is possible I would like to do this:
Movement: 15 feet to stand up (Saoirse was right not liking the idea of sitting! Haha), 15 feet towards the general direction the spy is moving).
Action: Dash, because with that movement, Saoirse wouldn't be in range for cursing her. (She needs to be within 30 feet from her target).
Bonus: Once in range, blood curse of binding on the spy. STR SC DC 13
And since I imagine you'll need an initiative, I got an awful 7 :(
"Viturleg ákvörðun, Hickory", Hemlock replies to the other male firbolg, even through his distraction.
"A wise decision, Hickory".
"I'd like to introduce you all to Hickory. He has agreed to allow us to pass and await one of the elders", he begins in common, before he sees the former prisoner bolt, and Saoirse at least head after him.
"Ég held að það sé að fara að leysast af tréfellaranum, með einum eða öðrum hætti", he adds to Hickory.
"I think the issue of the tree-feller is about to be resolved, one way or another".
Saoirse manages to get around the trunk enough to see that the ranger has made it to a branch on the other side, and is moving away. She reaches into herself for blood magic, and though the ranger stumbles for a moment, Saoirse can feel that the curse has not taken hold.
The ranger shouts a word of power, and in a puff of smoke teleports into a branch from another tree an additional 30 feet away, then sprinting along and swinging around that trunk as well. Within 6 seconds of Saoirse's attempt, the ranger will be an additional 120 feet away, with no sign of slowing down.
"Help! She's getting away!!", Saoirse screams, hoping her friends can do something about it. Wishing she was as fast as Sha, she keeps running after the spy, trying to keep her in sight but knowing that unless she can get closer, she won't be able to do anything to stop her.
So, Saoirse moves 30 feet and dashes another 30. She does nothing with her bonus action because she's 60 feet away and that's out of the second blood curse's range.
Saoirse’s scream jolts Sha who was zoning out as Hemlock was conversing in an unknown language. He sees her sprinting after someone. So Sha takes off to help, move dash feline agility…120’ using charger to bonus action attack 12 to hit, grapple.DC12 7 unarmed damage also as he basically tackles his target…
Lam had gotten into a proper sitting position, so he’s a bit unsteady as he tries to rush back up when he sees the spy bolt and Saoirse run after her. He begins to run after as well, getting out his greataxe along the way.
Initiative: 9. He’s just gonna try right now to go towards the human. He’ll need 15 feet to get up, then he’ll dash to get all the rest of the movement.
Shatakes off through the night with such sudden speed that Sombra falls from his shoulder, frantically flapping her little wings just to land on her feet, and gives a disappointed hoot. He manages to sprint the distance to the tree the ranger is currently in, leap with feline grace up to the trunk and climb along it, and even get all the way to the ranger, but his dextrous foe is able to sidestep his charging tackle. Sha-Gravismisses, and it's a scramble to even stay on the tree branch (DC 12 acrobatics or athletics save).
The ranger is poised and ready to continue running. Sha can see in her face that she considers him an enemy, or a prey to be stalked and hunted from the shadows, but also that she is not ready to fight him here and now.
OOC - The ranger's Initiative is 17. We just had our first round in initiative, albeit a little unstructured. Hemlockcan still choose to take an action in the first 'round', and Sha and Hemlock have yet to roll initiative. But unless Sha or Hemlock get lucky on initiative and/or do something unexpected and clever, she will misty step and then move/dash for 110 feet total, and successfully get away. Lamand Saoirsecan not get to her in time. https://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
The woman smirks as Sha falls to the ground, landing (as always) on his feet, but feeling the weight of his clothes and gear and the 30' fall uncomfortably in his knees (5bludgeoning damage). She teleports again to the next tree, running gracefully through the young overstory.
"Your friends are not so impressing in person," remarks Hickory, exercising his rusty common, interspersed with a few words in druidic. But come, pass through the drain now, while she is too far away to come through it. The wall will hold, and the forest will tell of she is coming again. Agor y ffordd."
Thorns; open the way
In front of Hemlock, the lowest thorns recede, and vines part to create an archway just barely large enough for a large Firbolg to walk comfortably through.
While Lam doesn't understand the conversation, he notices the Firbolg glance up into a tree behind them after Hemlock's response. There is a human up in the tree, expertly balanced on a branch, listening intently. He is pretty sure he recognizes the human from one of the encounters with the HMC, although he can not quite remember whether she was at their last skirmish in the woods. Lam is pretty sure that the human doesn't know that she's been noticed by himself and the Firbolg - she is certainly still in a stealthy stance.
The others don't notice the look or the human, though Saoirse and Hemlock can hear some more owl calls echoing in the distance in the woods, and are wise enough to recognize now that the creatures cast a wide surveillance net for the Firbolg village.
The muscular young druid answers Hemlock firmly, still in the Giant language:
Þú hefur sannarlega komið með óvin - einn af trjáfellingunum hefur fylgt þér og gerði það á þann hátt sem gefur til kynna að hún vissi hvar þú varst. Veran sem situr á öxl vinar þíns er skrímsli - ekkert náttúrubarn - byggt til að sveigja huga annarra með töfrum og gleðjast svo yfir þeim; og vinkona þín hefur gefið henni að borða eins og móðir myndi gera. Uglurnar segja að þú hafir örugglega eyðilagt froskana, en við munum senda öldung til að athuga í fyrramálið. Þar til öldungafundinum er lokið, er ég á verði. Og ég treysti þér ekki.'
You have indeed brought an enemy - one of the tree-fellers has followed you, and did so in a way that suggests she knew where you were. The creature perched on your friend's shoulder is a monster - no child of nature - built to bend the minds of others with magic and so feast on them; and your friend has fed her as a mother would. The owls say you have indeed destroyed the frogs, but we will send an elder to check in the morning. Until the elders meeting is finished, I'm on guard. And I don't trust you.'
Another voice can be heard from the other side of the wall of thorns. Aspen calls out, speaking in careful Common out of courtesy to Hemlock's companions; "Oh, shut up, Hickory. You are knowing as well as I am that Elders would want to speaking with them as soon as possible. And when you led guardians to cull the frogs you comed back with tails between legs. Letting them in!"
DM: Heavy is the Head
Saoirse keeps her eyes on the muscular Firbolg, who continues to speak in a language foreign to all but Hemlock. She wonders what’s being said and glances at her friend for further instruction. Suddenly, Aspen makes her entrance, and the genasi can’t help but smile when she tells Hickory to shut up. "I like this girl!", she thinks, "Come on, Aspen, show him who’s boss". Her smile then shifts to Hemlock, expecting him to display no less strength and thinking what a good paring these two make.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
"Kveðja, Hickory. Ég biðst afsökunar á því ef okkur hefði verið fylgt eftir, en ég býst við að við séum nógu langt frá þorpinu þínu til að þetta sé varla dyraþrep þitt. Og það eru ekki allir trjáfellarar óvinir okkar", Hemlock says maintaining eye contact with Hickory even as he is seated. A smile crosses his face at hearing Aspen. "Ég efast líka einlæglega um að þú sendir öldung hvert sem er. Það hljómar eins og þú hafir fengið gæsluskyldu sem refsingu fyrir að hafa ekki tekist á við vondu froskana. Kannski geturðu frelsað þig með því að sjá skynsemi núna og láta öldungana vita að við viljum tala saman. Við krefjumst ekki, eða væntum, trausts þíns. Það eru öldungarnir þínir sem við verðum að sannfæra", he adds very calmly and matter-of-factly.
"Greetings, Hickory. My apologies if we were followed, but I expect we are far enough from your village that this is hardly your doorstep. And not all tree-fellers are enemies of ours or yours. I also sincerely doubt you will send an elder anywhere. It sounds like you have been given guard duty as a punishment for your failure to deal with the bad frogs. Perhaps you can redeem yourself by seeing sense now, and letting the elders know we wish to talk. We do not require, or expect, your trust. It is your elders we must convince".
As he finishes speaking, he reaches out into Saoirse' mind, "He says we were followed by a tree-feller, but I do not see them".
Hemlock, make a persuasión check at advantage.
Hickory's smug grin fades, and Hemlock can see that he struck a nerve.
DM: Heavy is the Head
Hemlock Persuasion: (12,
6)+2=14 (+3 if Guidance is allowed)When Saoirse receives the mental message, her smile disappears, and her focus shifts from the conversation to the surrounding trees, scanning for the HCM that has followed them as inconspicuously as possible. Has this happened because of Lam's brand? This thought makes makes her curse under her breath.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Lam’s mind races as he tries to figure out the dynamics of the situation he’s in. The human clearly shouldn’t be here. The other Firbolg knows she’s here. Does he know she isn’t with them? The Firbolgs aren’t about to also let her in, are they? Do his friends know she’s here? What is Hemlock saying? What are any of them saying? He wants to tell the Firbolg about the human not being with them, but he doesn’t want to alert the human that he knows she’s there. He wants to alert his friends that she is there, but again he doesn’t want to alert her that he knows.
He slowly, carefully moves one hand to his greataxe, watching the Firbolg guard as he does so. If he gets eye contact, he glances at the tree where the human is- as imperceptible as he can while still making it obvious where he is looking- and glances back- a couple of times. If he succeeds at this, or once his hand is resting on his greataxe if the Firbolg never looks at him, he looks directly at each of his friends for a couple seconds. If any of them looks at him, he does the same with them as he tried to do with the Firbolg. If instead the human makes a sudden move, he loses all tact, stands up and gets out his greataxe, attention trained on her.
I rolled stealth mostly to give myself an idea of how much discretion Lam was about to use. I got an 11 which didn’t tell me much, so I tried to make it not the subtlest strategy, but definitely not the most tactless he could have been either. I’ll mention the roll in case you want to use it to determine how well my strategy works.
Saoirse, having made aware that they have been followed, notices Lam glance at her and then follows his gaze toward the tree. Has he detected the tree-feller as well? The blood hunter continues searching for the spy, still trying to do so discreetly.
If she spots the spy thanks to Lam, is she within range of Saoirse's blood curse of binding? Would that curse make the spy fall down from the tree?
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
If Hemlock notices the others readying themselves to act, he will reach into their minds.
"Have you spotted the spy? Are they friend or foe?", he asks, knowing not all tree-fellers are their enemies.
"Allt í lagi. Ég skal gefa skrímslinu þínu tækifæri og hleypa þér í gegnum vegginn. En þú mátt ekki fara inn í Oakhome áður en öldungur býður þér, og ég mun ekki hleypa trjáfellingunni í gegn nema hún sé með þér. -
Vissir þú hafðu bókstaflega skottið á milli -
Haltu kjafti, Aspen!"
"Fine. I'll give your monster a chance, and let you through the wall. But you must not enter Oakhome before an Elder invites you, and I will not allow the tree-feller through unless she is with you. -
Did you literally have your tail between -
Shut up, Aspen!"
The woman in the tree notices as Lam pointedly looks to her and back to the others, turning his head a little too much for it to seem unrelated. Lam is able to indicate to the others exactly where the ranger is, but as soon as everyone has gotten their eyes on her, she turns in the branch and leaps away, swinging on a vine around the trunk of the skyoak. She was another prisoner back at Coldwater, one who stayed instead of following you out to the elves... other than that, you don't know where her allegiances lie. Her spot in the tree is about 50-60' away from you all.
DM: Heavy is the Head
Without so much as a second thought, Saoirse stands up and runs towards the direction the spy is jumping to, trying to get close enough to bind her in place.
If it is possible I would like to do this:
Movement: 15 feet to stand up (Saoirse was right not liking the idea of sitting! Haha), 15 feet towards the general direction the spy is moving).
Action: Dash, because with that movement, Saoirse wouldn't be in range for cursing her. (She needs to be within 30 feet from her target).
Bonus: Once in range, blood curse of binding on the spy. STR SC DC 13
And since I imagine you'll need an initiative, I got an awful 7 :(
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
"Viturleg ákvörðun, Hickory", Hemlock replies to the other male firbolg, even through his distraction.
"A wise decision, Hickory".
"I'd like to introduce you all to Hickory. He has agreed to allow us to pass and await one of the elders", he begins in common, before he sees the former prisoner bolt, and Saoirse at least head after him.
"Ég held að það sé að fara að leysast af tréfellaranum, með einum eða öðrum hætti", he adds to Hickory.
"I think the issue of the tree-feller is about to be resolved, one way or another".
Saoirse manages to get around the trunk enough to see that the ranger has made it to a branch on the other side, and is moving away. She reaches into herself for blood magic, and though the ranger stumbles for a moment, Saoirse can feel that the curse has not taken hold.
The ranger shouts a word of power, and in a puff of smoke teleports into a branch from another tree an additional 30 feet away, then sprinting along and swinging around that trunk as well. Within 6 seconds of Saoirse's attempt, the ranger will be an additional 120 feet away, with no sign of slowing down.
DM: Heavy is the Head
"Help! She's getting away!!", Saoirse screams, hoping her friends can do something about it. Wishing she was as fast as Sha, she keeps running after the spy, trying to keep her in sight but knowing that unless she can get closer, she won't be able to do anything to stop her.
So, Saoirse moves 30 feet and dashes another 30. She does nothing with her bonus action because she's 60 feet away and that's out of the second blood curse's range.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Saoirse’s scream jolts Sha who was zoning out as Hemlock was conversing in an unknown language. He sees her sprinting after someone. So Sha takes off to help, move dash feline agility…120’ using charger to bonus action attack 12 to hit, grapple.DC12 7 unarmed damage also as he basically tackles his target…
Lam had gotten into a proper sitting position, so he’s a bit unsteady as he tries to rush back up when he sees the spy bolt and Saoirse run after her. He begins to run after as well, getting out his greataxe along the way.
Initiative: 9. He’s just gonna try right now to go towards the human. He’ll need 15 feet to get up, then he’ll dash to get all the rest of the movement.
Sha takes off through the night with such sudden speed that Sombra falls from his shoulder, frantically flapping her little wings just to land on her feet, and gives a disappointed hoot. He manages to sprint the distance to the tree the ranger is currently in, leap with feline grace up to the trunk and climb along it, and even get all the way to the ranger, but his dextrous foe is able to sidestep his charging tackle. Sha-Gravis misses, and it's a scramble to even stay on the tree branch (DC 12 acrobatics or athletics save).
The ranger is poised and ready to continue running. Sha can see in her face that she considers him an enemy, or a prey to be stalked and hunted from the shadows, but also that she is not ready to fight him here and now.
OOC - The ranger's Initiative is 17. We just had our first round in initiative, albeit a little unstructured. Hemlock can still choose to take an action in the first 'round', and Sha and Hemlock have yet to roll initiative. But unless Sha or Hemlock get lucky on initiative and/or do something unexpected and clever, she will misty step and then move/dash for 110 feet total, and successfully get away. Lam and Saoirse can not get to her in time. https://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
DM: Heavy is the Head
Initiative 15.
Save athletics 4!
“Whoo, oh no oh no…”
Hemlock does not engage in the chase but stands and keeps his eyes on Hickory.
(OOC: I won't bother rolling initiative as Hemlock does not intend to get involved)
The woman smirks as Sha falls to the ground, landing (as always) on his feet, but feeling the weight of his clothes and gear and the 30' fall uncomfortably in his knees (5 bludgeoning damage). She teleports again to the next tree, running gracefully through the young overstory.
"Your friends are not so impressing in person," remarks Hickory, exercising his rusty common, interspersed with a few words in druidic. But come, pass through the drain now, while she is too far away to come through it. The wall will hold, and the forest will tell of she is coming again. Agor y ffordd."
Thorns; open the way
In front of Hemlock, the lowest thorns recede, and vines part to create an archway just barely large enough for a large Firbolg to walk comfortably through.
DM: Heavy is the Head