Elielle pauses for a moment, taken aback by the strange appearance of this humanoid. But she quickly brings a pleasant smile to her face. "Yes, good morning to you," she says as she continues to hopefully keep moving along with the rest of the group. 

Kiafra eyes the rabbit-headed farmer with a little suspicion, but follows the instruction that he has been given, raising his right palm up.

"I see you", he says by way of greeting, as is the custom of his tribe.

He does not carry on walking u less Korin does, simply waiting and squeezing the haft of his trident a little tighter.

The rabbit head tilts to the side curiously, eyes locking onto Kiafra. "What an odd greeting you have." Korin tenses beside you. And then the leporine man chuckles. "You must not be from these parts at all. That is very interesting. Tell me, what woods are you from?" Your guide relaxes, glancing over at the tribesman with a small nod to continue the conversation, carefully.

"From a distant land", Kiafra replies sure that he is far from home, waving his arm in a motion that indicates far away. "Not from another wood, from wide open plains full of grass", he answers.

He looks to Korin, hoping he has answered satisfactorily.

"Not from another wood? Nonsense. Surely you have trees where you're from, do you not?" The rabbit-man says, shaking his head. "And what of the rest of you, do you also claim home as some strange woodless land?"

Korin catches Kiafra's glance, and nods before answering for himself. "There are trees, but sometimes they are very sparse."

"I come from snow-covered woods." Darren says, equal parts wary and curious of the creature before them. "Much quieter and colder than these." He ached to ask questions of his own, but their guide had made the dangers of this place clear, so he would not overstep.

Elielle seems to hesitate over what to say. 'Now what all did Korin say?' she thinks.  Finally, she speaks up. "My home was a place with few trees." She looks to their guide to see if she should continue to move along or halt and converse with this person. 

"My people roam across the plains which borders many woods amongst other landscapes", Kiafra clarifies, but the way he says 'my people' has a little bite to it. He shifts his gaze to the path ahead, eager to get moving to avoid tripping up with the rules.

"Are the grasses of the plains not woods to creatures smaller than you or I?" The strange entity asks with a teasing tone. "They are inferior woods, but woods nonetheless."

He looks over the rest again, seemingly satisfied with their answers. Then his gaze locks onto Elielle. "Pray tell young one, how is it you came to be here?"

Korin opens his mouth to answer, but the leporine man holds up a finger. "Pardon me sir, it is impolite to answer a question not posed to you. I was speaking to the young lady."

Elielle had tensed when the strange had looked right at her to ask a question.  She had glanced to Korin and for a very brief moment felt relief that he was going to answer.  But that didn't last as the man cut him off. She takes a breath and slowly responds. "Thank you, kind stranger. Some of the details are fuzzy to me.  But I was in a place for drinking when a strange event occurred. I climbed a ladder to get to this particular forest we now travel through." 

When the strange creature comments about grass being woods to smaller creatures, Kiafra frowns as if considering.

"Hm..perhaps. But if woods must contain wood, which grass does not, perhaps not", he says not committing to either argument.

The rabbit's eyes widen, "Oh my. It's been quite some time. You had better make sure you stick to the wandering way then."

Kiafra's reply rouses a chuckle from him. "That's clever, I'd almost say you were from here. Did you grandfather or some such relation have a lover out here perhaps?"

He waves a hand. "No matter. I would invite you all into my cottage for tea, but I suppose that isn't possible for you."

Kiafra simply stares back at the rabbit-folk, completely lost for words at talk of one of his ancestors having a lover from here. His eyes narrow as he appears to contemplate the possibility of the idea.

"I'm sorry kind gardener, I don't think it is possible for us." Darren says with an apologetic bow. "Thank you for the offer."

The leporine man chuckles, plucking a cabbage leaf from his basket and walking forward to hand it to Elielle. "You needn't fear so much, take this and be on your way then."

"Happy travels to you all, and may you find what you're looking for." With that, the odd rabbit-man goes back to tending his cabbage patch, humming a joyful tune.

Korin lets out the breath he had been holding, bowing a farewell. "Thank you gentle caretaker." He waits for the rest of you to make your farewells, then continues on down the path. When you're well out of ear-shot, he lets out a relieved sigh. "You all did well. Keep that up, and if our luck holds, we'll be out of these strange woods without a major accident."

Kiafra breaks from his reverie to acknowledge the farewell spoken by the rabbit-farmer.

"May the wind guide your way", he replies inclining his head.

With that he follows Korin down the path.

"How far will we have to travel?", he asks, his trident still held firmly in one had, and his shield strapped to his other forearm.

Elielle looks at the cabbage, not quite sure why she was given that. "Thank you for your generosity," she says as she takes the leaf and prepares to leave, following Korin. "And yes, a shame we could not enjoy your company more generous stranger."

As Korin comments after they are out of earshot, she replies to him. "How far do we have to go? I do hope it will not take too long." 

Victor Zeroyavich

Victor had been standing near the back of the group. His instincts were going crazy, his sense of danger causing him to whirl at even the slightest sound. He zones out for most of the conversation, ignoring the blabbering of Korin. Clearly, the guy was mad, blabbering on about strange rules. Lying was something most people didn't like, though Victor didn't particularly care. But not accepting gifts? By most peoples standards, that was strange. But, whatever, none of this mattered. This is all a dream he tells himself I'll wake up in the tavern with a nasty hangover

As they talked to the Leporine Man, Victor paid little attention, mumbling out an unintelligible answer to the question of origins. No one cares where he's from. All they care is where he's going. His eyes dart around, his mind in other places. Specifically, places focused on making sure nothing comes out of those creepy woods. His eyes search the shadows of the trees around them. He's been in some strange places, but this tops them all.

As the group continues on, he continues fiddling with the stone in his hand, feeling the smooth polish of it. He studies the grooves in it, tracing his slender fingers along the patterns, pondering the ancient origins of the artifact. As he fingers the stone, he feels a strange energy between his fingers, and looks down. His eyes catch the slightest trace of blue light, but just as fast it is gone. Strange he thinks another thing to add to the list of wacko stuff I've found.

As the rest of the party begins to question their strange guide, Victor looks on, studying Korin's face intently. While the man did seem to speak truth so far, Victor still does not trust him all the way. For that matter, he doesn't trust anyone all the way. He doesn't quite know why.

Korin scratches at an itch on the back of his head as he walks, answering the twin questions. "It varies. Could be hours. Days." As you venture further down the winding path, you find the woods growing thicker. "Here's hoping we're on the shorter end this time."

A few minutes of silence goes by before he makes an observation out loud. "You're all rolling with this very well. Used to weird things happening are we?"

"Hey, I saw what happened to... um... well, I saw what happened," Elielle says. "Somehow the silence saved us. And you knew just what would work. So not hard to just roll with what you said!" She continues at a steady pace along the road. "I'm just... uh, well, I just wouldn't have known to that. Even if I had been able."