"It seems that Maya found a map somewhere in the jungle. I'll have Pixel out what section we're in so they know what direction we'll be heading in." Taliyah's eyes glow for a moment as she communicates with Pixel to tell him to point out our current location. She'll then follow Shugo to see if the old lady needs help.
"Ah, Alex is that a map you have there?" Pixel points at the diagram Maya gave him. "We're currently in this Grove right here, of at least should be."
Renar climbs on a tree, the branch rattles and a bunch of yellow fruit falls down from the tree. The leaves on this tree look strange, it's about the size of your thumb and it shapes like a fan.
Then... the smell hits your nose, and everyone else in the vicinity too. It's rancid as if someone just dumped a bucket of vomit and rubbish on your face... Literally, it actually smells like rotten food and vomit, not an exaggeration. That tree you just climbed is a female ginkgo, a 290 million-year-old living fossil, with one of the worst-smelling fruits that ever existed. The smell was so bad to the point where some flying pixies dropped to the ground and fainted from the sheer vileness of the fruit.
"Bleugh!" Laine gags and leans on Maigurs for support, they are walking a few metres away from the old lady's hut. "What’s going on!?"
Maigurs coughs, looking at the ginkgo tree, right at Renar. "Can we have a bit of a private moment, please? Just... just get out of here! Come on, Laine, let's get some fresh air!" The two run in another direction, occasionally glancing back at Renar to make sure that he really isn't following them.
Meanwhile... the old lady gags too. She ignores Shugo (Obviously, anyone would) and stares at a cloaked figure on the tree. "Get down from the tree, now! That's one of the last ginkgos in Perkwunos!"
After Renar gets down from the tree, the halfling clears her throat. "Sorry about that... but I hope that'll teach you a lesson not to stand near a female ginkgo tree like that. Even treants don't want to root themselves near her, when her flower turns into fruit, the smell comes."
"It's one of the reasons why ginkgos might go extinct very soon, people can't stand the smell of a female tree, and male trees spread pollen which can be deadly for people with allergies, so they cut them down one by one." She sighs, "They've been here for such a long time, they were one of the first trees to reproduce with pollen, they were here when dinosaurs still roam Lancea, and now they're at risk of being wiped out forever. An entire chapter of biological history. Gone." She looks down.
After a moment of silence, she looks up at you, her expression becomes cheery once again. "Ah, sorry for my rambling, I'm Signeta, nice to meet you, young adventurers. Thank you for your offer, by the way, but I'm done with the watering today." She looks at Shugo and nods, "Come inside, wouldn't want to stand here all day, would you?"
With that, she leads you into her wooden hut.
The large chunk of her home is a series of shelves loaded with miniature trees inside a pot, these are bonsai, a practice of scaling down plants invented in Sekuris and spread across the world. Some of these trees have dates printed on the pot, and some of them date back all the way to -4C, that is 30,000 years ago, back in the time when barely any historical documents were even discovered.
On the walls, there are four paintings that stand out from the many:
The first is Signeta when she was still young, holding hands with another halfling, with a Tortle standing in the background.
The second is her and her daughter, now grown up, both in kimonos and standing under a Torii gate, the background of the second picture shows a large temple and a smoking volcano in the background—that is Miyato, the capital of Sekuris, and the volcano in the background is Mt Tachibana, the tallest active volcano in the western hemisphere.
The third is her and her daughter, now a young adult, standing in a port with young Elmars and his father (Who was the Duke at that time). Her daughter's face suddenly becomes familiar to you, that is Janina, which means she's her mother all along. Elmars has a bonsai in his claws too.
The fourth and last picture is her turning back to the same temple from the second picture. The Torii gate is still standing, but the temple is replaced with a pool of lava, Mt Tachibana in the background smokes even more intensely and there is lava coming off from its caldera.
The fourth one is probably the most recent photo of them all because two years ago, the world was informed that Mt Tachibana might be erupting soon. It will be a VEI 4 Peléan eruption: a lot of ash clouds and acid rain with lava flows near the volcano, but the initial explosion itself is relatively moderate compared to other types of eruption. Even though it isn't intense, it might pose a dangerous threat to Sekuris, since Miyato itself is a primate city and a quarter of the Sekurian population lives there.
Some of the pots have cracks in them, clearly caused by blunt force and not a natural crack. The rubbish bin has a lot of branches and plant bits too. "I guess you're probably here to talk about Cezars. Just leave him alone, if you mess with him, you might end up like me... or like my babies there." She points to a dark section of the house, where the shelf is filled with withered, brown, and dead bonsais.
"A month ago, I forgot to pay my taxes. Well, I was almost done filling up the forms, but when the clock struck, Cezars just came out of nowhere, as if he had been waiting for this moment for his entire life. He said he was going to arrest me because I couldn't pay my taxes in time, and of course, I surrendered...
"However, he wasn't done, he began smashing my bonsai and pottery. Centuries of work by my ancestors, gone in just a few seconds—and he dare called it a potted plant, how ignorant of him! Bonsai isn't just a plant, it's an art, given to us by God so we can create life just like Him, an art that takes generations to perfect and an entire Cycle to master!" Signeta shouts, slamming the table, before breaking down into fits of coughs. For Sekurians like Shugo, bonsai is everything, and you know her feelings well. The worst thing someone can do to a bonsai collector is to call their work a 'potted plant,' it's not just an insult to them, but a Sekurian culture as a whole, worse than putting ketchup in sushi or eating udon with a fork. People will spend thousands of gold to get a bonsai scissor, ten thousand for the dirt, and a million for the sapling. People don't just go around and plant bonsai for no reason, because it takes decades just to learn how to properly trim a tree.
The old lady summons her strength once again and resumes the shouting. "He wasn't done yet... he torched my store, and the fire spread to an orphanage next door! The firemen arrived and they got into an argument with Cezars... and he commanded his gryphon to grab them, fly them up, and throw them into an animal shelter! And guess what happens next, he also set it on fire! Luckily, no one was injured, not even the cats and dogs in the shelter... but I still got fined and now I have to live here in the underground because I can't afford to rebuild my bonsai storefront and I can't even afford to fly to Sekuris!"
Signeta pauses to reflect on what she has done, and then she lowers her voice, calming herself down. "Sorry... got sidetracked again. Just... leave him alone, alright? Don't even try to fight him, the next time you see him doing anything, just ignore him and let him be. Anyways, you all are strange... and you bring an entire village down with you too, what do you need, and why are you here?"
OOC Note: I'm really sorry, guys, but Alex and Maya's part is coming out tomorrow, it will also be quite long and I have to sleep soon. Again, sorry about that.
By the way, to answer Alex's question: no, the only weapon inside that box is any weapon your team carries.
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"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Venet waves to the fey gathered, putting on a bright smile. She has always been enthralled by stories of fey, and knows them to be tricksy but usually only angry when crossed. If everyone behaves then they should leave the villagers and like alone.
She does frown as Renar climbs one of the trees. They could very well be a fey!
Her nose scrunches up at the smell that comes from the tree though and she hurries on to get away from it, catching up with Shugo.
"Cezars did all this?" she looks around at the womans face, the ruined bonzai, and the other charred and ruined bits they across the woman's home."I am sorry that happened to you. He truly is awful. We did fight him though, and won. He um.. was taken by a dragon though? Either way I doubt he will be troubling you again any time soon."At her further questions of their purpose here she continues. "We are taking shelter from the cyclone above. I know it is not ideal for so many people to suddenly be here, but hopefully we will move on soon enough. We intend to find our lost friends as well. They fell further below while crossing a chasm earlier."
*Renar swiftly climbs down as he gags uncontrollably and runs into the hut with the others* "S... sorry, miss... I was trying to look for our lost companions whilst my ones here talk to you. Ever since we came here we lost two of our comrades as they fell into the caves, but I heard they're still alive and well. You could have at least, or let someone else, told me those uh... trees... were sentient, though. I wouldn't have climbed up if that's the case." What the heck... so even the trees in this cave have some sort of conscience?! This is so not like the Sword Coast at all... and seriously, that awful smell coming from them... Climbing trees in the Sword Coast was fine save for the fact that their branches are super fragile and could lead to broken bones. We don't have much fey around in our area so to see something like this is always... uh... Wait... "They're... extinct? So that's one of the last ones?" Yikes... I wished someone had warned me beforehand. When I hear something that's endangered or about to go extinct I don't recklessly tamper with them... *Overhears what Cezars did to the rest of the bonzai and grits his teeth in anger; He also glances at the pictures Signata has and notices the picture of Janina; His eyes widen slightly, but then he clenches his claws fists...* Damn it... that idiot Rixi... if we happens to cross paths again and he hasn't learn his lesson, I will personally do so to him myself in a way I won't describe even to myself... just like what Rixi would do when people he thought he could trust turn on him unexpectedly... and I've seen his brutality before for someone as young as he is. But... *He stops clenching* the gyoza lady's her daughter? That's news... and a coincidence, since we have to save her from the same guy that tried to terrorise us. Does he really hate this lady's bloodline or something? Or isi t just because of that one mistake she made? I really don't want to envision it... The fourth picture seems interesting. A volcano eruption? Yikes... that sounds really bad. The third picture has... Wait... that tortle... "Well uh... right now a dragon has um... taken him... into her lair. I doubt he'd be spreading terror, let alone leave her domain, under her watch. We're sorry about what he did to you. I promise you we're not following in his footsteps that's for sure. Also... *He points at the picture with the tortle* Is that...?"
Signeta pauses to reflect on what she has done, and then she lowers her voice, calming herself down. "Sorry... got sidetracked again. Just... leave him alone, alright? Don't even try to fight him, the next time you see him doing anything, just ignore him and let him be. Anyways, you all are strange... and you bring an entire village down with you too, what do you need, and why are you here?"
"Right now as... uh..." *He stops and whips his head at Venet for only one millisecond before he continues* "As... she said... we're trying to escape a massive storm happening right now. Those guys seem pretty exhausted so we all agreed to stop here first before we continue on. We're not here to see you or anything. And I noticed Wolfy panicked when he saw you. Does that mean he was there when you were beaten up too? Or was it something else?" *He then whips his head to the front door, thinking that Alex and Maya would have somehow found their way here and need some extra guidance in finding their way back to the group*
"What language is that? Weird, sounds like Charan but doesn't sound like Charan," Ishshi taps her chin, the other firenewts seem confused too. It sounds so much like their language but they can only understand a few words like 'group' and that's pretty much it.
She walks around, thinking even more, before looking back at you too. "Oh! Think I saw your friend, came here yesterday inside the steamy lake." She points to the boiling, smoking lake behind her. "Tunnel underwater, but it's full of i'o... Uhh... I don't know what it's called in Lancean." One of her followers throws a bright yellow rock, and she catches it with her claw. "This is i'o. Our hide is resistant to it, but it stings your soft, smooth, surface-dwelling flesh."
"Your friend looks a lot like you too" She points at Maya, "Two of them have the same ears and tail as you, but the male one has red fur and the female one has white fur." She glances to the side, "White-fur one... scary. Didn't attack us, but she can summon ice... we chase them off, hopefully, they don't come back."Jedwiga raises her eyebrows at that statement, she might recognise those people.
"Furry ear people have two friends too—one looks like kuma, purple too, have horns and tail. The other looks like you." She points at Jedwiga, and the Owlin's feather stands on her back. "He's rude... thinks these fenuhunge are chickens." She points at the phoenix, who averts your gaze, squeaking and making a whining noise akin to crying.
"That's my nephew!" Jedwiga balls up her claws, "I swear, if I see him, he's getting the whooping of a lifetime! Where did he go?"
"That way." She points to her right, you can't see much due to all the steam from the thermal vents, but there might be a tunnel leading to the grove somewhere there. "It leads to the forest area, we aren't allowed in, plant people don't like us, you'll have to go alone."
She holds her claw up, "One more thing: the entrance to the big city is under that lake where your friends came from. Too hot and too acidic for you, you need Potion of Fire Resistance and Potion of Acid Resistance—we can brew it for you, but we need ice crystals from ice cave for potion of fire resistance and pink amethyst geode from amethyst cave for potion of acid resistance. You will need those two so you don't melt in lake." That also answers Taliyah's question about whether they'll get the villagers to the capital too: the only way to get to Madura is by diving under the boiling lake, and there won't be enough potions for hundreds of villagers to use too
At this point, the bullywugs gets too close to the firenewt camp and you can already sense the tension in the air. Some of the firenewts near you walk over to the frog people and give them an intense staredown, they press their face against each other like two boxers before they get to fight in a ring, throwing insults and spitting at each other. Fire and water don't get along, after all.
"Alright... you three should go, I'll teach some lesson to these savages," Ishshi says, before walking to the soon-to-be fight.
The myconids look at their allies in confusion, before looking back at Maya. They didn't release a spore, but it's clear that they're also ready to depart.
Charan Transcription:
ᐃᐅ (I'o): Sulphur, from Chinese Liú, meaning sulphur.
ᑰᒪ (Kuma): Demon, from Kra-Dai Guman, meaning ghost of a child (Also a false friend to Japanese kuma, which means 'bear.' Both Japanese and Charan kuma have identical pronunciations.)
ᕓᓅᕸᓐᗱ (Fenuhungi): Phoenix, from Chinese Fènghuáng, meaning phoenix.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Yet again, more words that she cannot understand, besides a few simple words like 'ears and tail', 'red male', 'female white' and 'white fur'. Her slightly irritated expression somewhat shits to a more puzzled expression as she whips her ginger head towards Alex... and then to her telepathic translators. "Uh... Kanojo wa... nanite itteru no? (彼女は何て言ってるの? What did... she say?)" She asks the latter as she also misses what she needs to get in order to cross the lava trenches; One of them was a cave that she could have travelled into should her sense of curiosity hadn't got the better of her.
Regardless, Maya wants to get out of here asap before her essence become coagulated by the awful stench that reels from this entire chamber, nevermind the fact that the creatures that have trailed behind her have begun quarrelling with these new, fiery ones. She once again waves her hands in front of her face to rid the stench before she turns to... oh yeah. The crate. Even with her strength and Alex, there's almost no chance of them being able to carry this before they make it to the other section of this cave. Once again she turns to her... myconid... fellows... "Um... Kono kibako wa watashitachi futari de hakobu ni wa omo sugimasu. Minasan, watashitachi o tetsudatte moraemasen ka? (この木箱は私たち二人で運ぶには重すぎます。皆さん、私たちを手伝ってもらえませんか? , The crate looks too heavy for us two to carry. Are you guys able to help us?)"
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Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod) Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Maya Kurosaki- Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time Shijiro Otsune- Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan) Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian) Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Shugo looks a bit dejected when the old lady completely ignores him to yell at Renar...who has climbed a particularly nasty smelling tree. However, that expression vanishes from his visage as soon as the woman looks back at him. "Oh alright. Hehe, and you are right about that!" He says. Waltzing into the house after the old lady, he glances at the pictures and stops for a moment when recognizing Janina. Seriously? Wow it really is a small world. Ugh. Does that hothead just hate this lady's family or something?
When Signeta speaks up again saying they must be here to talk about Cezars, he opens his mouth intending to say he doesn't really care about Cezars at the moment, but he'd like to know if she knows her way around this place...but he ends up shutting up when the woman starts ranting about how the jerk had destroyed her home and effectively banished her to the underground for the time being. He glances around at the sad looking plants, feeling that annoying little spark of anger welling up again. He himself knows the worth of a Bonsai, not to mention his sister absolutely loves them.
He nods when Venet explains the situation, but gives Renar an odd look. Doesn't he remember Wolfie telling them he was there when this woman was beaten by that jerk? Ugh, whatever. "Right now we are just waiting for our friends to catch up, but if you have any tips for navigating this...place...that would be much appreciated."
Alex is confused for a moment when Ishshi says she say his friend yesterday... yesterday? That doesn't make sense... Then she describes the group and his eyes go wide. Suddenly excited he says, "That sounds like Simo and Elsa!" He bounces on the balls of his feet for a moment, nearly jumping with excitement. Could it really be them? It has to be! Who else would fit that description so perfectly? He looks to Jedwiga, "Your nephew is in Simo's party?! That's great!" Then he realizes that Ishshi didn't seem to like the group all that much, and his excitement simmers down. "Sorry if they attacked you." He says, then looks to the pheonix, "And that they offended you." His smile returns, as bright as ever, "And thank you so much for your help!" After how they made him duel to get his belongings back, he's rather shocked that they offered to brew potions for them. Well, they seem to be good people anyways, even if they are strange. He's glad they've decided to be friendly. Maybe they'll have to come back if the group decides they want to try finding the materials to make the potions and get to Madura.
Then the bullywugs come to face off with the fire newts, which leaves Alex a little sad. He would have liked to talk to these newts more. He feels like there is so much he could learn from them. It's really too bad that Simo and Elsa had gotten off on the wrong foot with these guys. They probably would have liked them if they'd gotten to know them (at least, he thinks they would). Fortunately, it sounds like they need to head into the forest anyways--and hopefully they will meet up with his old friends as well as his party! Things really are looking up!
"Alright then," he says as Ishshi moves to fight the frog folks. "It was an honor to meet you! I look forward to when our paths cross again!"Then he turns to Maya and Jedwiga, doing his best not to appear rude to the Myconids too but still feeling a little anxious about them.... good grief, you'd think he has some sort of phobia of mushrooms with the way he's acting. He feels really bad about it. "Uh... well. I suppose we should get going."
Once they've figured out how to carry the box, he'll start heading in the direction that both Ishshi and Pixel pointed them towards--the grove.
"Cezar must really have it out for your family then, he seemed keen on arresting Janina when we ran into him and promptly took him down. Hopefully she and the others made it to safety before the storm properly hit." Taliyah turns to look at the paintings on the wall. "Has your family known this Elmars's family for a long time then?"
The myconids are quite small, they're about as tall as Maya's ankles, and the box is pretty much equal in height. Nonetheless, six of them lift the box up and balance it on their flat, mushroom heads. It's cute, like something straight out of an illustrated children's book, but it's their only way of effectively carrying something this large for them.
The myconids release the spore for Maya to inhale. ("They talk about two fox Shifters, a Tiefling, and an Owlin, who is this lady's nephew. The male fox Shifter has red hair and fur, and the female one is white. If you want to go to the capital—assuming it is still standing; we haven't seen the surface in aeons—You can do so from the entrance is under that boiling lake behind their camp, and you will need an ice crystal and a pink amethyst geode to brew a potion that will protect you from the heat and the corrosiveness of the sulphur.")
Meanwhile, Jedwiga tilts her head, she still doesn't know who Alex is, but his being friend to her nephew's friend is interesting, indeed. "You know Simo and Elsa? That's... interesting to say at least." She says, stowing her shortsword. "You probably knew them longer than my dear Danils did, he joined their party this March and they became friends quickly, but he never mentioned anything about you at all. Guess we'll find out who you actually are."
And with that, the two of them make their way to the tunnel.
A few hours of walking later, you arrive at the 'tunnel'. This one is much smaller than the entrance from the lush area to the hot springs area, the myconids can walk in without a problem, but for you, you'll have to get on your knees and crawl inside it.
Eventually, you see light at the end of the tunnel, you get out and find yourself surrounded by a beautiful forest, fairies fly here and there, and the ceiling is lined with orange and red crystal, mimicking the two suns of Lancea. On the left of you, there is a wooden hut with all of your friends inside, along with an old lady who has her back turned to you. At last, you're finally reunited.
(Note: Since your party isn't separated anymore, you don't have to post in spoilers now.
"Right now as... uh..." *He stops and whips his head at Venet for only one millisecond before he continues* "As... she said... we're trying to escape a massive storm happening right now. Those guys seem pretty exhausted so we all agreed to stop here first before we continue on. We're not here to see you or anything. And I noticed Wolfy panicked when he saw you. Does that mean he was there when you were beaten up too? Or was it something else?" *He then whips his head to the front door, thinking that Alex and Maya would have somehow found their way here and need some extra guidance in finding their way back to the group*
"That poor little thing was so scared! He was crying with his tail between his legs. I don't blame him, though, I'm scared too, but he's much braver than me, because at least he tried to fight for me, I can't do anything much because I'm too old now." Signeta answers. "My passport expired exactly one second and Cezars accused—"
"Cezar must really have it out for your family then, he seemed keen on arresting Janina when we ran into him and promptly took him down. Hopefully she and the others made it to safety before the storm properly hit." Taliyah turns to look at the paintings on the wall. "Has your family known this Elmars's family for a long time then?"
"WHAT!?" She stands up on her chair. "Wh-why did he have to hurt my sweetheart like that!? That demon! Hell, even a demon has more dignity than that piece of rubbish! A prison sentence won't be enough for that... crabstick-licking freak! Anyone who hurt my baby must pay! He will be punished by God and he will forever burn in the deepest pits of Hell! And when I die, I will go to Hell myself and beat him, and beat him, and beat him, and beat..." Her sentence abruptly ends as she falls from her chair and faints. She doesn't seem to be injured at all and there is no sign of stroke or other old people diseases either. You know what they say, 'When a child hurts, their mother gets hurt tenfold.'
Judging from the picture, though, Elmars and Linus (Elmars' dad) is probably her customer. Bonsais are a nice decoration, and they also show how rich you are, a noble like him probably has a few in his bedroom.
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"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Maya smiles at the myconids when they translate for her... and then gasps when she realises that one of the component she recognises, which was amethyst, could have been obtained in the other path next to the one she's in right now. Eh whatever. She'll be traversing through this cave again anyways when she reunites with Shugo, Venet, Taliyah and her most important person of all: Renar. "Arigato, Arekksu-kun. Sore wa... Inazuma desu. (それ わ, 稲妻 です.) Inazuma... Renar-kun... Katana... Mean... lighto-nin." She smiles at Alex when she holds her son's silver katana. In exchange, she plucks out Shugo's sword and passes it to him. "We head... to... purpuru cave... next to... disu one... when we all... come back." She adds on (with a lot of effort) as the two of them... struggle to crawl underneath some tight spot just to get to the other passage; Not to mention that her white fluffy tail now needs a good clean from brushing into the sticky bushes. She's wondering how the myconids are able to do so let alone bring the crate with them underneath with ease. Though she's wondering: Who are those two fox shifters? Are they actual kitsune like her and her son? Or are they just normal fox people who cannot shapeshifter into foxes? She needs to know at some point, especially if they're Alex's teammates.
Eventually though, as she and the young paladin travel silently without asking each other a single question to each other, each of them find 4 familiar face as they see them walking out of a strange hut. And this is when her beautiful, wide smile returns too as she eyes them complacently (with her eyes shut once again).
"Arekksu-kun! Minasai! Watashitachiha kaette kimashita! (見なさい! 私たちは帰ってきました!, Look! We're back!) Shugo-kun! Tariyah-san! Renar-kun! Veneto-san!"Maya excitedly cries out when she sees her companions and waves at them as she runs over to give them a massive hug each. In fact when she eyes Renar, she gives him a minor scowl before slapping him lightly in the face. "Baka! Naze hashi no ue de an'nani watashi o kowagara senakereba naranakatta nodesu ka?! (バカ！なぜ橋の上であんなに私を怖がらせなければならなかったのですか?!, You idiot! Why did you have to scare me like that on the bridge?!) Sore ni, soko ni iru watashi no chīsana kinoko no tomodachi o kizutsukeru yūki wa nai yo! Karera ga watashi no mikatanara, karera mo anatanomikata ni narudeshou! (それに、そこにいる私の小さなキノコの友達を傷つける勇気はないよ！彼らが私の味方なら、彼らもあなたの味方になるでしょう! And don't you dare hurt my little mushroom friends over there! If they're on my side, they will be on yours too!)" She aggressively scolds him before reverting back to a smile and present him his katana... and then she briefly giving him a massive hug before turning back to help Alex retrieve all the equipment for everyone else. As she does so she has one final thought that only the myconids can hear as she puts her fingers up to her lips: Arigatō… saikai shite kurete… min'na to… soshite watashi no taisetsuna musuko to. Anata no terepashī o tōshite kare ni mo darenimo mada iwanaide kudasai, īdesu ka?Watashi wa kare no himitsu o eizoku sa setai to omotte imasu. (ありがとう…再会してくれて…みんなと…そして私の大切な息子と。あなたのテレパシーを通して彼にも誰にもまだ言わないでください、いいですか. 私は彼の秘密を永続させたいと思っています, Thank you... for reuniting me... with everyone... and my precious son. Please don't tell him or anyone via your telepathy yet ok? I want this secret to last.)
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod) Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Maya Kurosaki- Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time Shijiro Otsune- Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan) Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian) Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Alex rubs the back of his head, chuckling slightly, "Oh... yeah that sounds like Simo. He probably wouldn't talk about me at all...." Wait? Find out who he is? What is that supposed to mean? Oh well. "Simo, Elsa, and I grew up in the same town, but I haven't seen either of them in... well it's been a while. So it will be awesome to see them again! And to meet your nephew! If he gets along with Simo and Elsa, I'm sure he's a great guy!" Clearly, he's all but forgotten the earlier conversation about the young Owlin being rude to the phoenixes.
When he sees the party he rushes over alongside Maya, "Hey!!! I'm so glad to see you all!" It wasn't really that long since they were separated, but he finds it a huge blessing that they found each other so quickly. "And look! We found your weapons!" He looks a little bloodier than the last time you saw him, sporting a few new cuts... though they are mostly hidden by the armor his wearing now. He gives the guards a quick glance, "Uh... is it okay if we hang onto these? At least until we get out of the under dark?"He frowns, noticing a few people missing, "Where's Cezars?"His eyes go wide, "Did he escape!? And... where's Maigures and..."He starts looking around for the shifter and the aasimar, who had left to investigate the woods prior to Alex reuniting with the group.
"We ran into a friend of Cezar's ancestor after you fell, and she took him in exchange for giving us a path across the chasm. We didn't have much of a choice, seeing as she was a dragon who had served in both of the Wars." As Taliyah speaks, she frowns towards the end of the sentence, but then she sports a mischeivous grin. "As for Maigurs and his lady friend, well they went to get some "Fresh Air" after someone went climbing up a female gingko tree."
Shugo cringes when the woman faints and hits the floor. Perhaps telling her that Cezars attacked her daughter wasn't the best call. It's not like they can do anything about it anyways. As he debates on weather or not to leave her lying there, Maya rushes in surprising him with a hug with Alex entering the house after her. Wow, they sure caught up fast. He cringes again when the kitsune slaps Renar only to present him with his lost blade and give him a hug too. Yeah. There's no way those two don't know each other. He turns his attention to Alex when the young paladin walks in. Ignoring the boy's questions, he swipes his own sword away from him and quickly buckles it securely to his belt. There is no way he's ever letting it out of his sight again. "Haha. Yeah. What she said. Oh and thanks for returning this to me."He pats the dragon on his hilt, "You have no idea how important this is."
Then he gestures to the lady on the floor. "That there is the old woman that Cezars beat up by the way. On top of that he burned down her house and burned all her bonsai plants."
Venet does check on the woman regardless just to make sure. Then as Maya returns she smiles at the liveliness of her, gladly returning the hug. Her eyes go a little wide as Renar is slapped, it seems they have an interesting relationship as it looks like they know each other well.
She nods in agreement as Taliyah explains things, smirking at the last part. "That hot head wont be bothering us anytime soon, and I think we can hang onto our weapons at this rate. Do they really expect us to go unarmed down here after all that? That would just be silly."She takes her weapons back, then gives Alex a hug. "I'm glad the both of you are alright. Where's the owl girl?"
Arigatō… saikai shite kurete… min'na to… soshite watashi no taisetsuna musuko to. Anata no terepashī o tōshite kare ni mo darenimo mada iwanaide kudasai, īdesu ka?Watashi wa kare no himitsu o eizoku sa setai to omotte imasu. (ありがとう…再会してくれて…みんなと…そして私の大切な息子と。あなたのテレパシーを通して彼にも誰にもまだ言わないでください、いいですか. 私は彼の秘密を永続させたいと思っています, Thank you... for reuniting me... with everyone... and my precious son. Please don't tell him or anyone via your telepathy yet ok? I want this secret to last.)
The myconids nod, their telepathic spores can reveal even the deepest, darkest secrets, but they respect your privacy. If they don't, then you'd be screwed by now, since they'll know you're not from Lancea if they dig too deep—of course, you've gained their trust, and they will never do something like that do you.
The guards aren't here right now, but you're sure they will let you keep your weapons because you've been nothing but helpful to them. You helped clear out the necropolis and you found a way to cross the chasm without any risk, still, you should be present in court when the day comes, and luckily, getting to Madura won't be that hard... all you need to do now is to find the right ingredient for the potion.
As for Paulis...
Signeta regains her consciousness and sits up, "Ugh... I hate it when I do that... anyways." She groans and gets up to her seat. "Cyclone... the first time I saw one was Cyclone Majava, Category 4, and that was back in -1C 4920 CY. It didn't hit Kerwos directly like Cyclone Silidh, but the flooding was still very intense, and Madura was underwater. After Cyclone Majava died down, they began building dykes to prevent something like that from happening again. I haven't been there for a really long time, but if there is a safe place from flooding, it's got to be Madura."
She pauses for a moment, before continuing. "Come on, I know you're here not just because you got lost in the storm, you're after Paulis, aren't you?" She tilts her head, "And you've also met Elmars, and he wants you to work for him so you can meet Paulis properly?"
"Of course, an apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She scoffs, "When Linus was still young and not... forgetful and sick like you've seen, he likes bossing around people, even commoners. Well... that's what you expected from a leader, anyway, and he moulds his personality onto Elmars, and that's how it is today."
"Elmars thinks like a strategist, in his eyes, the world is a game of chess and everyone is on the board. He controls the pieces, and the world turns in his favour. He bought my bonsais not because of the decoration alone, but because he wanted diplomats from Prihyeh to feel more at home in his mansion. When they feel comfortable, they will be more likely to agree with whatever he spews at them, basic psychology." Signeta explains, "But he has one weakness, though—his ego is fragile. If you don't fall for whatever crap he spews at you, then expect him to break down right on that spot. If you want to be independent of what Elmars tell you to do, just keep saying 'no,' and if he fights back, win"
"Oh, and did he say Paulis is going to blow you up? Ha!" She giggles, "You don't need a letter or anything like that! He still loves collecting artefacts, especially one that revolves around Sol, humans, and pre-War civilisations. If you can find one, you should be fine, there are plenty of that around in the Underdark." At least there is still some chance of your adventuring on your own terms, but when the conflict between the People's Army and Elmars comes, you still have to pick a side. "I'm curious, though... what do you think Paulis is actually like?" Like his personality and all.
Jedwiga is standing in the hallway, along with other myconids, who translates all of that to Maya.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
"Umm, who's Paulis?" Taliyah has retrieved her staff from the box, and holds onto it both hands. "I just ran into this group a few days ago." she says to Signeta. "There hasn't been much of a chance to share what's happened before I met them so far."
"Oh, Paulis is a tortle that we did want to meet but we've gotten wrapped up in a bunch of other stuff since that idea came up. I don't think any of us are particularly fond of sticking with what Elmars wants at any rate. I would much rather just try and see Paulis on our own."Venet says, thinking back to his self-important demeanor.
Shugo nods to Venet's explanation, while pondering their situation. So they can bribe the guy with an artifact eh? Well that sounds easy enough, plus if the artifact is good enough he may be able to bypass this whole mess and go home.
To the old halfling's question, he shrugs. "How should I know? From what we've heard from people who know the guy. He just sounds like a grouchy old man who's tired of being bugged, which is perfectly understandable if what folks have said about him are true. Buuuut, I don't like judging people I've never met before." He agrees with Venet. Seeing this tortle guy on their own sounds much better then getting tangled up in this countries politics. Though at the moment if he had to chose, he'd probably go with the people's army. If Elmars is alright having a psychopath like Cezars running around and the simple fact that he seems to just enjoy being in power, then he really wants nothing to do with the guy. Not to mention, who knows what Birdie Boy will try if he finds out he's a noble even if he doesn't hold much sway in his house.
"That sounds great!" Alexander says. "Then we don't have to worry about taking a side yet..." He lets the thought trail off, realizing here probably isn't the best place to even vaguely mention the people's army. After a moment he goes a little more serious, "...But, what about all these townsfolk? We can't get them to Madura, we'd have to swim through a boiling lake to do that and there is no way we could make enough potions for everyone. Where are they going to go?" He looks around for the guards, but when he doesn't see them nearby he just sighs and says, "I'm all for adventuring, but I want to make sure we won't face penalties for going without permission. ... we are still prisoners after all. Unless they decided to drop all that since Cezars..."He trails off again, unsure how to feel about the guy no longer being in their custody. He was hoping to take him to the Church in Madura, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen now. Oh well, he can still visit the church whenever they get there.
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"It seems that Maya found a map somewhere in the jungle. I'll have Pixel out what section we're in so they know what direction we'll be heading in." Taliyah's eyes glow for a moment as she communicates with Pixel to tell him to point out our current location. She'll then follow Shugo to see if the old lady needs help.
"Ah, Alex is that a map you have there?" Pixel points at the diagram Maya gave him. "We're currently in this Grove right here, of at least should be."
Perception failed
Stealth failed
Renar climbs on a tree, the branch rattles and a bunch of yellow fruit falls down from the tree. The leaves on this tree look strange, it's about the size of your thumb and it shapes like a fan.
Then... the smell hits your nose, and everyone else in the vicinity too. It's rancid as if someone just dumped a bucket of vomit and rubbish on your face... Literally, it actually smells like rotten food and vomit, not an exaggeration. That tree you just climbed is a female ginkgo, a 290 million-year-old living fossil, with one of the worst-smelling fruits that ever existed. The smell was so bad to the point where some flying pixies dropped to the ground and fainted from the sheer vileness of the fruit.
"Bleugh!" Laine gags and leans on Maigurs for support, they are walking a few metres away from the old lady's hut. "What’s going on!?"
Maigurs coughs, looking at the ginkgo tree, right at Renar. "Can we have a bit of a private moment, please? Just... just get out of here! Come on, Laine, let's get some fresh air!" The two run in another direction, occasionally glancing back at Renar to make sure that he really isn't following them.
Meanwhile... the old lady gags too. She ignores Shugo (Obviously, anyone would) and stares at a cloaked figure on the tree. "Get down from the tree, now! That's one of the last ginkgos in Perkwunos!"
After Renar gets down from the tree, the halfling clears her throat. "Sorry about that... but I hope that'll teach you a lesson not to stand near a female ginkgo tree like that. Even treants don't want to root themselves near her, when her flower turns into fruit, the smell comes."
"It's one of the reasons why ginkgos might go extinct very soon, people can't stand the smell of a female tree, and male trees spread pollen which can be deadly for people with allergies, so they cut them down one by one." She sighs, "They've been here for such a long time, they were one of the first trees to reproduce with pollen, they were here when dinosaurs still roam Lancea, and now they're at risk of being wiped out forever. An entire chapter of biological history. Gone." She looks down.
After a moment of silence, she looks up at you, her expression becomes cheery once again. "Ah, sorry for my rambling, I'm Signeta, nice to meet you, young adventurers. Thank you for your offer, by the way, but I'm done with the watering today." She looks at Shugo and nods, "Come inside, wouldn't want to stand here all day, would you?"
With that, she leads you into her wooden hut.
The large chunk of her home is a series of shelves loaded with miniature trees inside a pot, these are bonsai, a practice of scaling down plants invented in Sekuris and spread across the world. Some of these trees have dates printed on the pot, and some of them date back all the way to -4C, that is 30,000 years ago, back in the time when barely any historical documents were even discovered.
On the walls, there are four paintings that stand out from the many:
The first is Signeta when she was still young, holding hands with another halfling, with a Tortle standing in the background.
The second is her and her daughter, now grown up, both in kimonos and standing under a Torii gate, the background of the second picture shows a large temple and a smoking volcano in the background—that is Miyato, the capital of Sekuris, and the volcano in the background is Mt Tachibana, the tallest active volcano in the western hemisphere.
The third is her and her daughter, now a young adult, standing in a port with young Elmars and his father (Who was the Duke at that time). Her daughter's face suddenly becomes familiar to you, that is Janina, which means she's her mother all along. Elmars has a bonsai in his claws too.
The fourth and last picture is her turning back to the same temple from the second picture. The Torii gate is still standing, but the temple is replaced with a pool of lava, Mt Tachibana in the background smokes even more intensely and there is lava coming off from its caldera.
The fourth one is probably the most recent photo of them all because two years ago, the world was informed that Mt Tachibana might be erupting soon. It will be a VEI 4 Peléan eruption: a lot of ash clouds and acid rain with lava flows near the volcano, but the initial explosion itself is relatively moderate compared to other types of eruption. Even though it isn't intense, it might pose a dangerous threat to Sekuris, since Miyato itself is a primate city and a quarter of the Sekurian population lives there.
Some of the pots have cracks in them, clearly caused by blunt force and not a natural crack. The rubbish bin has a lot of branches and plant bits too. "I guess you're probably here to talk about Cezars. Just leave him alone, if you mess with him, you might end up like me... or like my babies there." She points to a dark section of the house, where the shelf is filled with withered, brown, and dead bonsais.
"A month ago, I forgot to pay my taxes. Well, I was almost done filling up the forms, but when the clock struck, Cezars just came out of nowhere, as if he had been waiting for this moment for his entire life. He said he was going to arrest me because I couldn't pay my taxes in time, and of course, I surrendered...
"However, he wasn't done, he began smashing my bonsai and pottery. Centuries of work by my ancestors, gone in just a few seconds—and he dare called it a potted plant, how ignorant of him! Bonsai isn't just a plant, it's an art, given to us by God so we can create life just like Him, an art that takes generations to perfect and an entire Cycle to master!" Signeta shouts, slamming the table, before breaking down into fits of coughs. For Sekurians like Shugo, bonsai is everything, and you know her feelings well. The worst thing someone can do to a bonsai collector is to call their work a 'potted plant,' it's not just an insult to them, but a Sekurian culture as a whole, worse than putting ketchup in sushi or eating udon with a fork. People will spend thousands of gold to get a bonsai scissor, ten thousand for the dirt, and a million for the sapling. People don't just go around and plant bonsai for no reason, because it takes decades just to learn how to properly trim a tree.
The old lady summons her strength once again and resumes the shouting. "He wasn't done yet... he torched my store, and the fire spread to an orphanage next door! The firemen arrived and they got into an argument with Cezars... and he commanded his gryphon to grab them, fly them up, and throw them into an animal shelter! And guess what happens next, he also set it on fire! Luckily, no one was injured, not even the cats and dogs in the shelter... but I still got fined and now I have to live here in the underground because I can't afford to rebuild my bonsai storefront and I can't even afford to fly to Sekuris!"
Signeta pauses to reflect on what she has done, and then she lowers her voice, calming herself down. "Sorry... got sidetracked again. Just... leave him alone, alright? Don't even try to fight him, the next time you see him doing anything, just ignore him and let him be. Anyways, you all are strange... and you bring an entire village down with you too, what do you need, and why are you here?"
OOC Note: I'm really sorry, guys, but Alex and Maya's part is coming out tomorrow, it will also be quite long and I have to sleep soon. Again, sorry about that.
By the way, to answer Alex's question: no, the only weapon inside that box is any weapon your team carries.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Venet waves to the fey gathered, putting on a bright smile. She has always been enthralled by stories of fey, and knows them to be tricksy but usually only angry when crossed. If everyone behaves then they should leave the villagers and like alone.
She does frown as Renar climbs one of the trees. They could very well be a fey!
Her nose scrunches up at the smell that comes from the tree though and she hurries on to get away from it, catching up with Shugo.
"Cezars did all this?" she looks around at the womans face, the ruined bonzai, and the other charred and ruined bits they across the woman's home. "I am sorry that happened to you. He truly is awful. We did fight him though, and won. He um.. was taken by a dragon though? Either way I doubt he will be troubling you again any time soon." At her further questions of their purpose here she continues. "We are taking shelter from the cyclone above. I know it is not ideal for so many people to suddenly be here, but hopefully we will move on soon enough. We intend to find our lost friends as well. They fell further below while crossing a chasm earlier."
*Renar swiftly climbs down as he gags uncontrollably and runs into the hut with the others* "S... sorry, miss... I was trying to look for our lost companions whilst my ones here talk to you. Ever since we came here we lost two of our comrades as they fell into the caves, but I heard they're still alive and well. You could have at least, or let someone else, told me those uh... trees... were sentient, though. I wouldn't have climbed up if that's the case." What the heck... so even the trees in this cave have some sort of conscience?! This is so not like the Sword Coast at all... and seriously, that awful smell coming from them... Climbing trees in the Sword Coast was fine save for the fact that their branches are super fragile and could lead to broken bones. We don't have much fey around in our area so to see something like this is always... uh... Wait... "They're... extinct? So that's one of the last ones?" Yikes... I wished someone had warned me beforehand. When I hear something that's endangered or about to go extinct I don't recklessly tamper with them... *Overhears what Cezars did to the rest of the bonzai and grits his teeth in anger; He also glances at the pictures Signata has and notices the picture of Janina; His eyes widen slightly, but then he clenches his claws fists...* Damn it... that idiot Rixi... if we happens to cross paths again and he hasn't learn his lesson, I will personally do so to him myself in a way I won't describe even to myself... just like what Rixi would do when people he thought he could trust turn on him unexpectedly... and I've seen his brutality before for someone as young as he is. But... *He stops clenching* the gyoza lady's her daughter? That's news... and a coincidence, since we have to save her from the same guy that tried to terrorise us. Does he really hate this lady's bloodline or something? Or isi t just because of that one mistake she made? I really don't want to envision it... The fourth picture seems interesting. A volcano eruption? Yikes... that sounds really bad. The third picture has... Wait... that tortle... "Well uh... right now a dragon has um... taken him... into her lair. I doubt he'd be spreading terror, let alone leave her domain, under her watch. We're sorry about what he did to you. I promise you we're not following in his footsteps that's for sure. Also... *He points at the picture with the tortle* Is that...?"
"Right now as... uh..." *He stops and whips his head at Venet for only one millisecond before he continues* "As... she said... we're trying to escape a massive storm happening right now. Those guys seem pretty exhausted so we all agreed to stop here first before we continue on. We're not here to see you or anything. And I noticed Wolfy panicked when he saw you. Does that mean he was there when you were beaten up too? Or was it something else?" *He then whips his head to the front door, thinking that Alex and Maya would have somehow found their way here and need some extra guidance in finding their way back to the group*
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
For Alex and Maya:
"What language is that? Weird, sounds like Charan but doesn't sound like Charan," Ishshi taps her chin, the other firenewts seem confused too. It sounds so much like their language but they can only understand a few words like 'group' and that's pretty much it.
She walks around, thinking even more, before looking back at you too. "Oh! Think I saw your friend, came here yesterday inside the steamy lake." She points to the boiling, smoking lake behind her. "Tunnel underwater, but it's full of i'o... Uhh... I don't know what it's called in Lancean." One of her followers throws a bright yellow rock, and she catches it with her claw. "This is i'o. Our hide is resistant to it, but it stings your soft, smooth, surface-dwelling flesh."
"Your friend looks a lot like you too" She points at Maya, "Two of them have the same ears and tail as you, but the male one has red fur and the female one has white fur." She glances to the side, "White-fur one... scary. Didn't attack us, but she can summon ice... we chase them off, hopefully, they don't come back." Jedwiga raises her eyebrows at that statement, she might recognise those people.
"Furry ear people have two friends too—one looks like kuma, purple too, have horns and tail. The other looks like you." She points at Jedwiga, and the Owlin's feather stands on her back. "He's rude... thinks these fenuhunge are chickens." She points at the phoenix, who averts your gaze, squeaking and making a whining noise akin to crying.
"That's my nephew!" Jedwiga balls up her claws, "I swear, if I see him, he's getting the whooping of a lifetime! Where did he go?"
"That way." She points to her right, you can't see much due to all the steam from the thermal vents, but there might be a tunnel leading to the grove somewhere there. "It leads to the forest area, we aren't allowed in, plant people don't like us, you'll have to go alone."
She holds her claw up, "One more thing: the entrance to the big city is under that lake where your friends came from. Too hot and too acidic for you, you need Potion of Fire Resistance and Potion of Acid Resistance—we can brew it for you, but we need ice crystals from ice cave for potion of fire resistance and pink amethyst geode from amethyst cave for potion of acid resistance. You will need those two so you don't melt in lake." That also answers Taliyah's question about whether they'll get the villagers to the capital too: the only way to get to Madura is by diving under the boiling lake, and there won't be enough potions for hundreds of villagers to use too
At this point, the bullywugs gets too close to the firenewt camp and you can already sense the tension in the air. Some of the firenewts near you walk over to the frog people and give them an intense staredown, they press their face against each other like two boxers before they get to fight in a ring, throwing insults and spitting at each other. Fire and water don't get along, after all.
"Alright... you three should go, I'll teach some lesson to these savages," Ishshi says, before walking to the soon-to-be fight.
The myconids look at their allies in confusion, before looking back at Maya. They didn't release a spore, but it's clear that they're also ready to depart.
Charan Transcription:
ᐃᐅ (I'o): Sulphur, from Chinese Liú, meaning sulphur.
ᑰᒪ (Kuma): Demon, from Kra-Dai Guman, meaning ghost of a child (Also a false friend to Japanese kuma, which means 'bear.' Both Japanese and Charan kuma have identical pronunciations.)
ᕓᓅᕸᓐᗱ (Fenuhungi): Phoenix, from Chinese Fènghuáng, meaning phoenix.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Yet again, more words that she cannot understand, besides a few simple words like 'ears and tail', 'red male', 'female white' and 'white fur'. Her slightly irritated expression somewhat shits to a more puzzled expression as she whips her ginger head towards Alex... and then to her telepathic translators. "Uh... Kanojo wa... nanite itteru no? (彼女は何て言ってるの? What did... she say?)" She asks the latter as she also misses what she needs to get in order to cross the lava trenches; One of them was a cave that she could have travelled into should her sense of curiosity hadn't got the better of her.
Regardless, Maya wants to get out of here asap before her essence become coagulated by the awful stench that reels from this entire chamber, nevermind the fact that the creatures that have trailed behind her have begun quarrelling with these new, fiery ones. She once again waves her hands in front of her face to rid the stench before she turns to... oh yeah. The crate. Even with her strength and Alex, there's almost no chance of them being able to carry this before they make it to the other section of this cave. Once again she turns to her... myconid... fellows... "Um... Kono kibako wa watashitachi futari de hakobu ni wa omo sugimasu. Minasan, watashitachi o tetsudatte moraemasen ka? (この木箱は私たち二人で運ぶには重すぎます。皆さん、私たちを手伝ってもらえませんか? , The crate looks too heavy for us two to carry. Are you guys able to help us?)"
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod)
Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Maya Kurosaki - Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea
Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time
Shijiro Otsune - Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan)
Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Shugo looks a bit dejected when the old lady completely ignores him to yell at Renar...who has climbed a particularly nasty smelling tree. However, that expression vanishes from his visage as soon as the woman looks back at him. "Oh alright. Hehe, and you are right about that!" He says. Waltzing into the house after the old lady, he glances at the pictures and stops for a moment when recognizing Janina. Seriously? Wow it really is a small world. Ugh. Does that hothead just hate this lady's family or something?
When Signeta speaks up again saying they must be here to talk about Cezars, he opens his mouth intending to say he doesn't really care about Cezars at the moment, but he'd like to know if she knows her way around this place...but he ends up shutting up when the woman starts ranting about how the jerk had destroyed her home and effectively banished her to the underground for the time being. He glances around at the sad looking plants, feeling that annoying little spark of anger welling up again. He himself knows the worth of a Bonsai, not to mention his sister absolutely loves them.
He nods when Venet explains the situation, but gives Renar an odd look. Doesn't he remember Wolfie telling them he was there when this woman was beaten by that jerk? Ugh, whatever. "Right now we are just waiting for our friends to catch up, but if you have any tips for navigating this...place...that would be much appreciated."
Alex is confused for a moment when Ishshi says she say his friend yesterday... yesterday? That doesn't make sense... Then she describes the group and his eyes go wide. Suddenly excited he says, "That sounds like Simo and Elsa!" He bounces on the balls of his feet for a moment, nearly jumping with excitement. Could it really be them? It has to be! Who else would fit that description so perfectly? He looks to Jedwiga, "Your nephew is in Simo's party?! That's great!" Then he realizes that Ishshi didn't seem to like the group all that much, and his excitement simmers down. "Sorry if they attacked you." He says, then looks to the pheonix, "And that they offended you." His smile returns, as bright as ever, "And thank you so much for your help!" After how they made him duel to get his belongings back, he's rather shocked that they offered to brew potions for them. Well, they seem to be good people anyways, even if they are strange. He's glad they've decided to be friendly. Maybe they'll have to come back if the group decides they want to try finding the materials to make the potions and get to Madura.
Then the bullywugs come to face off with the fire newts, which leaves Alex a little sad. He would have liked to talk to these newts more. He feels like there is so much he could learn from them. It's really too bad that Simo and Elsa had gotten off on the wrong foot with these guys. They probably would have liked them if they'd gotten to know them (at least, he thinks they would). Fortunately, it sounds like they need to head into the forest anyways--and hopefully they will meet up with his old friends as well as his party! Things really are looking up!
"Alright then," he says as Ishshi moves to fight the frog folks. "It was an honor to meet you! I look forward to when our paths cross again!" Then he turns to Maya and Jedwiga, doing his best not to appear rude to the Myconids too but still feeling a little anxious about them.... good grief, you'd think he has some sort of phobia of mushrooms with the way he's acting. He feels really bad about it. "Uh... well. I suppose we should get going."
Once they've figured out how to carry the box, he'll start heading in the direction that both Ishshi and Pixel pointed them towards--the grove.
"Cezar must really have it out for your family then, he seemed keen on arresting Janina when we ran into him and promptly took him down. Hopefully she and the others made it to safety before the storm properly hit." Taliyah turns to look at the paintings on the wall. "Has your family known this Elmars's family for a long time then?"
For Alex and Maya:
The myconids are quite small, they're about as tall as Maya's ankles, and the box is pretty much equal in height. Nonetheless, six of them lift the box up and balance it on their flat, mushroom heads. It's cute, like something straight out of an illustrated children's book, but it's their only way of effectively carrying something this large for them.
The myconids release the spore for Maya to inhale. ("They talk about two fox Shifters, a Tiefling, and an Owlin, who is this lady's nephew. The male fox Shifter has red hair and fur, and the female one is white. If you want to go to the capital—assuming it is still standing; we haven't seen the surface in aeons—You can do so from the entrance is under that boiling lake behind their camp, and you will need an ice crystal and a pink amethyst geode to brew a potion that will protect you from the heat and the corrosiveness of the sulphur.")
Meanwhile, Jedwiga tilts her head, she still doesn't know who Alex is, but his being friend to her nephew's friend is interesting, indeed. "You know Simo and Elsa? That's... interesting to say at least." She says, stowing her shortsword. "You probably knew them longer than my dear Danils did, he joined their party this March and they became friends quickly, but he never mentioned anything about you at all. Guess we'll find out who you actually are."
And with that, the two of them make their way to the tunnel.
A few hours of walking later, you arrive at the 'tunnel'. This one is much smaller than the entrance from the lush area to the hot springs area, the myconids can walk in without a problem, but for you, you'll have to get on your knees and crawl inside it.
Eventually, you see light at the end of the tunnel, you get out and find yourself surrounded by a beautiful forest, fairies fly here and there, and the ceiling is lined with orange and red crystal, mimicking the two suns of Lancea. On the left of you, there is a wooden hut with all of your friends inside, along with an old lady who has her back turned to you. At last, you're finally reunited.
(Note: Since your party isn't separated anymore, you don't have to post in spoilers now.
"That poor little thing was so scared! He was crying with his tail between his legs. I don't blame him, though, I'm scared too, but he's much braver than me, because at least he tried to fight for me, I can't do anything much because I'm too old now." Signeta answers. "My passport expired exactly one second and Cezars accused—"
"WHAT!?" She stands up on her chair. "Wh-why did he have to hurt my sweetheart like that!? That demon! Hell, even a demon has more dignity than that piece of rubbish! A prison sentence won't be enough for that... crabstick-licking freak! Anyone who hurt my baby must pay! He will be punished by God and he will forever burn in the deepest pits of Hell! And when I die, I will go to Hell myself and beat him, and beat him, and beat him, and beat..." Her sentence abruptly ends as she falls from her chair and faints. She doesn't seem to be injured at all and there is no sign of stroke or other old people diseases either. You know what they say, 'When a child hurts, their mother gets hurt tenfold.'
Judging from the picture, though, Elmars and Linus (Elmars' dad) is probably her customer. Bonsais are a nice decoration, and they also show how rich you are, a noble like him probably has a few in his bedroom.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Maya smiles at the myconids when they translate for her... and then gasps when she realises that one of the component she recognises, which was amethyst, could have been obtained in the other path next to the one she's in right now. Eh whatever. She'll be traversing through this cave again anyways when she reunites with Shugo, Venet, Taliyah and her most important person of all: Renar. "Arigato, Arekksu-kun. Sore wa... Inazuma desu. (それ わ, 稲妻 です.) Inazuma... Renar-kun... Katana... Mean... lighto-nin." She smiles at Alex when she holds her son's silver katana. In exchange, she plucks out Shugo's sword and passes it to him. "We head... to... purpuru cave... next to... disu one... when we all... come back." She adds on (with a lot of effort) as the two of them... struggle to crawl underneath some tight spot just to get to the other passage; Not to mention that her white fluffy tail now needs a good clean from brushing into the sticky bushes. She's wondering how the myconids are able to do so let alone bring the crate with them underneath with ease. Though she's wondering: Who are those two fox shifters? Are they actual kitsune like her and her son? Or are they just normal fox people who cannot shapeshifter into foxes? She needs to know at some point, especially if they're Alex's teammates.
Eventually though, as she and the young paladin travel silently without asking each other a single question to each other, each of them find 4 familiar face as they see them walking out of a strange hut. And this is when her beautiful, wide smile returns too as she eyes them complacently (with her eyes shut once again).
"Arekksu-kun! Minasai! Watashitachiha kaette kimashita! (見なさい! 私たちは帰ってきました!, Look! We're back!) Shugo-kun! Tariyah-san! Renar-kun! Veneto-san!" Maya excitedly cries out when she sees her companions and waves at them as she runs over to give them a massive hug each. In fact when she eyes Renar, she gives him a minor scowl before slapping him lightly in the face. "Baka! Naze hashi no ue de an'nani watashi o kowagara senakereba naranakatta nodesu ka?! (バカ！なぜ橋の上であんなに私を怖がらせなければならなかったのですか?!, You idiot! Why did you have to scare me like that on the bridge?!) Sore ni, soko ni iru watashi no chīsana kinoko no tomodachi o kizutsukeru yūki wa nai yo! Karera ga watashi no mikatanara, karera mo anatanomikata ni narudeshou! (それに、そこにいる私の小さなキノコの友達を傷つける勇気はないよ！彼らが私の味方なら、彼らもあなたの味方になるでしょう! And don't you dare hurt my little mushroom friends over there! If they're on my side, they will be on yours too!)" She aggressively scolds him before reverting back to a smile and present him his katana... and then she briefly giving him a massive hug before turning back to help Alex retrieve all the equipment for everyone else. As she does so she has one final thought that only the myconids can hear as she puts her fingers up to her lips: Arigatō… saikai shite kurete… min'na to… soshite watashi no taisetsuna musuko to. Anata no terepashī o tōshite kare ni mo darenimo mada iwanaide kudasai, īdesu ka? Watashi wa kare no himitsu o eizoku sa setai to omotte imasu. (ありがとう…再会してくれて…みんなと…そして私の大切な息子と。あなたのテレパシーを通して彼にも誰にもまだ言わないでください、いいですか. 私は彼の秘密を永続させたいと思っています, Thank you... for reuniting me... with everyone... and my precious son. Please don't tell him or anyone via your telepathy yet ok? I want this secret to last.)
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod)
Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Maya Kurosaki - Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea
Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time
Shijiro Otsune - Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan)
Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Alex rubs the back of his head, chuckling slightly, "Oh... yeah that sounds like Simo. He probably wouldn't talk about me at all...." Wait? Find out who he is? What is that supposed to mean? Oh well. "Simo, Elsa, and I grew up in the same town, but I haven't seen either of them in... well it's been a while. So it will be awesome to see them again! And to meet your nephew! If he gets along with Simo and Elsa, I'm sure he's a great guy!" Clearly, he's all but forgotten the earlier conversation about the young Owlin being rude to the phoenixes.
When he sees the party he rushes over alongside Maya, "Hey!!! I'm so glad to see you all!" It wasn't really that long since they were separated, but he finds it a huge blessing that they found each other so quickly. "And look! We found your weapons!" He looks a little bloodier than the last time you saw him, sporting a few new cuts... though they are mostly hidden by the armor his wearing now. He gives the guards a quick glance, "Uh... is it okay if we hang onto these? At least until we get out of the under dark?" He frowns, noticing a few people missing, "Where's Cezars?" His eyes go wide, "Did he escape!? And... where's Maigures and..." He starts looking around for the shifter and the aasimar, who had left to investigate the woods prior to Alex reuniting with the group.
"We ran into a friend of Cezar's ancestor after you fell, and she took him in exchange for giving us a path across the chasm. We didn't have much of a choice, seeing as she was a dragon who had served in both of the Wars." As Taliyah speaks, she frowns towards the end of the sentence, but then she sports a mischeivous grin. "As for Maigurs and his lady friend, well they went to get some "Fresh Air" after someone went climbing up a female gingko tree."
Shugo cringes when the woman faints and hits the floor. Perhaps telling her that Cezars attacked her daughter wasn't the best call. It's not like they can do anything about it anyways. As he debates on weather or not to leave her lying there, Maya rushes in surprising him with a hug with Alex entering the house after her. Wow, they sure caught up fast. He cringes again when the kitsune slaps Renar only to present him with his lost blade and give him a hug too. Yeah. There's no way those two don't know each other. He turns his attention to Alex when the young paladin walks in. Ignoring the boy's questions, he swipes his own sword away from him and quickly buckles it securely to his belt. There is no way he's ever letting it out of his sight again. "Haha. Yeah. What she said. Oh and thanks for returning this to me." He pats the dragon on his hilt, "You have no idea how important this is."
Then he gestures to the lady on the floor. "That there is the old woman that Cezars beat up by the way. On top of that he burned down her house and burned all her bonsai plants."
Venet does check on the woman regardless just to make sure. Then as Maya returns she smiles at the liveliness of her, gladly returning the hug. Her eyes go a little wide as Renar is slapped, it seems they have an interesting relationship as it looks like they know each other well.
She nods in agreement as Taliyah explains things, smirking at the last part. "That hot head wont be bothering us anytime soon, and I think we can hang onto our weapons at this rate. Do they really expect us to go unarmed down here after all that? That would just be silly." She takes her weapons back, then gives Alex a hug. "I'm glad the both of you are alright. Where's the owl girl?"
The myconids nod, their telepathic spores can reveal even the deepest, darkest secrets, but they respect your privacy. If they don't, then you'd be screwed by now, since they'll know you're not from Lancea if they dig too deep—of course, you've gained their trust, and they will never do something like that do you.
The guards aren't here right now, but you're sure they will let you keep your weapons because you've been nothing but helpful to them. You helped clear out the necropolis and you found a way to cross the chasm without any risk, still, you should be present in court when the day comes, and luckily, getting to Madura won't be that hard... all you need to do now is to find the right ingredient for the potion.
As for Paulis...
Signeta regains her consciousness and sits up, "Ugh... I hate it when I do that... anyways." She groans and gets up to her seat. "Cyclone... the first time I saw one was Cyclone Majava, Category 4, and that was back in -1C 4920 CY. It didn't hit Kerwos directly like Cyclone Silidh, but the flooding was still very intense, and Madura was underwater. After Cyclone Majava died down, they began building dykes to prevent something like that from happening again. I haven't been there for a really long time, but if there is a safe place from flooding, it's got to be Madura."
She pauses for a moment, before continuing. "Come on, I know you're here not just because you got lost in the storm, you're after Paulis, aren't you?" She tilts her head, "And you've also met Elmars, and he wants you to work for him so you can meet Paulis properly?"
"Of course, an apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She scoffs, "When Linus was still young and not... forgetful and sick like you've seen, he likes bossing around people, even commoners. Well... that's what you expected from a leader, anyway, and he moulds his personality onto Elmars, and that's how it is today."
"Elmars thinks like a strategist, in his eyes, the world is a game of chess and everyone is on the board. He controls the pieces, and the world turns in his favour. He bought my bonsais not because of the decoration alone, but because he wanted diplomats from Prihyeh to feel more at home in his mansion. When they feel comfortable, they will be more likely to agree with whatever he spews at them, basic psychology." Signeta explains, "But he has one weakness, though—his ego is fragile. If you don't fall for whatever crap he spews at you, then expect him to break down right on that spot. If you want to be independent of what Elmars tell you to do, just keep saying 'no,' and if he fights back, win"
"Oh, and did he say Paulis is going to blow you up? Ha!" She giggles, "You don't need a letter or anything like that! He still loves collecting artefacts, especially one that revolves around Sol, humans, and pre-War civilisations. If you can find one, you should be fine, there are plenty of that around in the Underdark." At least there is still some chance of your adventuring on your own terms, but when the conflict between the People's Army and Elmars comes, you still have to pick a side. "I'm curious, though... what do you think Paulis is actually like?" Like his personality and all.
Jedwiga is standing in the hallway, along with other myconids, who translates all of that to Maya.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
"Umm, who's Paulis?" Taliyah has retrieved her staff from the box, and holds onto it both hands. "I just ran into this group a few days ago." she says to Signeta. "There hasn't been much of a chance to share what's happened before I met them so far."
"Oh, Paulis is a tortle that we did want to meet but we've gotten wrapped up in a bunch of other stuff since that idea came up. I don't think any of us are particularly fond of sticking with what Elmars wants at any rate. I would much rather just try and see Paulis on our own." Venet says, thinking back to his self-important demeanor.
Shugo nods to Venet's explanation, while pondering their situation. So they can bribe the guy with an artifact eh? Well that sounds easy enough, plus if the artifact is good enough he may be able to bypass this whole mess and go home.
To the old halfling's question, he shrugs. "How should I know? From what we've heard from people who know the guy. He just sounds like a grouchy old man who's tired of being bugged, which is perfectly understandable if what folks have said about him are true. Buuuut, I don't like judging people I've never met before." He agrees with Venet. Seeing this tortle guy on their own sounds much better then getting tangled up in this countries politics. Though at the moment if he had to chose, he'd probably go with the people's army. If Elmars is alright having a psychopath like Cezars running around and the simple fact that he seems to just enjoy being in power, then he really wants nothing to do with the guy. Not to mention, who knows what Birdie Boy will try if he finds out he's a noble even if he doesn't hold much sway in his house.
"That sounds great!" Alexander says. "Then we don't have to worry about taking a side yet..." He lets the thought trail off, realizing here probably isn't the best place to even vaguely mention the people's army. After a moment he goes a little more serious, "...But, what about all these townsfolk? We can't get them to Madura, we'd have to swim through a boiling lake to do that and there is no way we could make enough potions for everyone. Where are they going to go?" He looks around for the guards, but when he doesn't see them nearby he just sighs and says, "I'm all for adventuring, but I want to make sure we won't face penalties for going without permission. ... we are still prisoners after all. Unless they decided to drop all that since Cezars..." He trails off again, unsure how to feel about the guy no longer being in their custody. He was hoping to take him to the Church in Madura, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen now. Oh well, he can still visit the church whenever they get there.