"What kind of beasts are threatening you?"  Froskan inquires.  "And where are thye?"

"A pair of shadow masses, as big as trolls, that scorch the earth and wither plants where they pass. They seem to hate life, and want to destroy this grove.

"My tree is a few hundred yards inside the grove." (She starts pulling on Trimyrai's arm towards the jungle-like forest, desperately.) "Please, we must hurry!"

In the direction she wants you to go, you can faintly hear some kind of angry growling... snarling... beast-like, but nothing you've heard before.

”Now, now. Wait one moment, everyone.” Jack says, interrupting the party, as he takes shelter by standing next to Reverie, the resident Paladin. “Chen said they’d be trying to trick us. He also said they abide by a ‘Do no Harm’ rule. So I’m a little confused here.” 
He looks at the direction of the Growling, and then back at the group. “It could always be a trick. Should I do the thing-“ He winks, with a smirk and nod to his drums- “or maybe do something new?”

(May I try to roll Insight on the Dryad to determine if she’s telling the truth?)

Trimyrai: (to the party) "It shouldn't hurt to take a look, if it obviously looks like a trap we can turn around. I want to help if we can."

Quote from BoboBoombang >>

”Now, now. Wait one moment, everyone.” Jack says, interrupting the party, as he takes shelter by standing next to Reverie, the resident Paladin. “Chen said they’d be trying to trick us. He also said they abide by a ‘Do no Harm’ rule. So I’m a little confused here.” 

(May I try to roll Insight on the Dryad to determine if she’s telling the truth?)

(OOC: Egg Chen was referring to the civilizations, in particular, the courts of the Archfey. If you run across any towns or villages, they will likely abide by those laws.

But if you run across some random beast or evil creature... nope.

You can roll for Insight.

Keep in mind, "Leroy" is encouraging Jack to show some Elven chivalry. If you delay and some poor Dryad gets wiped out, your sword will be nagging you for quite some time... If you avoid a trap due to your caution, Leroy will conveniently forget that it wanted Jack to rush in.)

(Oh lord, Leroy, you’re going to be the death of me...)

Jack grips his Leroy. “Leroy, relax. If I think she’s telling the truth, we’ll head on in. But we need to take caution here.” Jack then proceeds to glare at the Dryad, reading her facial expressions and the like to try and see what her goals are here.

Insight: 24

She's desperate. Worried about her tree, and her sister.

Jack only:

The Dryad stares around at your group, with everyone standing still and reluctant to help. Then, deep in the forest (in the direction of the growls) there is a woman's cry of pain. The Dryad gives a sigh of anguish, looks with disappointment at Trimyrai (who she thought would help), then runs into the forest. As she disappears into the woods, her voice gets fainter: (elvish) "I'll save you, sister."

(I realized Reverie knows Elvish, but I will remain to activate the helmet for good. XD)

Reverie didn't know what to do at the moment (and wondering why does she speak in Elvish when she calls out to her sister) when the woman disappeared into the wood until she hears a cry of pain that was faint. She darts to look back at the source of the sounds as she grips on her scimitar. ”Maybe we should go now. Trap or not, we can check on it before we step into the danger again.”

“There’s something wrong with her, guys. I can feel it in my gut. She’s...“ With a drumbeat, Jack implants the words into the group’s heads using a repeated Message Spell. ”crazy. She’s not lying, she’s confused. Take caution.”

Jack clears his throat, after the spell. He grips Leroy’s hilt, and gives a smirk. “Stop bugging me, Leroy. We’re going.”
”To her sister!” Jack shouts, hoping it means the rest will follow. He himself decides to inch closer to the woods, and, if the others show that they’re going, he’ll proceed to charge.

Froskan starts moving towards the sound of pain as well.

The party moves forward. The plant life is so thick, everything inside the grove is Difficult Terrain. The Dryad, on the other hand, seems to be moving normally, and her cries to her sister (in Elvish) continue to get fainter. On the other hand, the beast growls and the cries for help are gradually getting closer.

You hear Iskander exclaim, "I understood that shout!" He notices that the "help! help!" from ahead is in Common.

(OOC: Say if you want to do any actions as you are getting closer to the destination. I understand that you suspect a trap. But if you are watching for something in particular or have a specific action in mind, that will be easier to do than just being paranoid about everything... And you can make suggestions for the others in the party. For instance, do you want to stay in single file (might get ambushed) or spread out (harder to help each other) ?)

(OOC: maybe we are a little staggered in our running order. like the position of the markers for five on a die.)

(I’d suggest staying in single file. Probably with Reverie in the front, and Trim in the back, or something.)

As Jack’s charging, he’ll prepare one of a Bard’s best weapons- the Countercharm. A mystical performance that allows one to shake off opposing forces of the mind! He doesn’t know what will last, so as he charges, he provides the rhythmic drumbeat to shake off Charmers.

(With Reverie in front, that means Trimyrai and Froskan (in back) don't get the saving throw bonus from her Aura of Protection.

Some rolls for the DM... Those are some spectacularly bad Perception rolls for the group, sorry...)

Your group eventually catches up to the Dryad. There is a small hill just ahead, that is even thicker with plant-life, but the growth looks sickly and rotted. A short distance away from the hill, the Dryad has her back to you. She is leaning on the tallest tree in the area, stroking the bark tenderly, and speaking softly in relief, "the sister kept my tree safe."

Maybe because Iskander doesn't understand Elvish, but he looks at the tree while everyone else is watching the Dryad. He asks the rest of you, "should her tree be like that?" Now that everyone is looking, the tree has been split down the middle and charred, as if struck by multiple lightning strikes. It has been dead for some time; the wood is already dried and most of the branches have broken off.

Reverie looks at the Dryad as soon as she stops in front of the tree. She was focusing on the Dryad until she heard a question from Iskander. That causes her mind awake to see the tree's condition. Frowning deeply as along with her suspiciousness towards the Dryad, she looks back at Iskander. "She spoke in Elvish as she runs into this place... If it was her sister, she didn't need to say in elvish but her language. And I have been curious about it," she mutters, "Her sister kept her tree safe... But she is more relieved to keep her tree than mourn for her sister's sacrifice. Also, her tree... Something is not right." Then she asks in Elvish. "Aren't you sad about your sister than your tree's condition? Also, your tree has been dead."

(I just found out Reverie knows the Elvish language.)

Jack speaks in common to the rest of the group. ”Is it possible that this is the reason she’s gone crazy? Her Tree looks like it’s been dead for a while. Maybe it’s cursed or something, causing her to go mad? After all, this is supposed to be a place for Life, not Death, isn’t it?”

Trimyrai is looking around to make sure this isn't some sort of ambush or ruse. Trimyrai: (to the party) "The dryad does seem a little off. But this place is also odd compared to our plane."

Quote from BoboBoombang >>

”Is it possible that this is the reason she’s gone crazy? Her Tree looks like it’s been dead for a while.”

Froskan repeats out loud something he read in his arcane studies. (OOC: from the Monster Manual) "If the tree is harmed, she suffers. If the tree is ever destroyed, the dryad depends into madness."

(The only languages a Dryad knows are Sylvan and Elvish. Since none of you spoke Syvan, that's why she switched to Elvish.)

Responding to Reverie: "Are you insane? My tree is healthy as ever..." (tears are streaming from the corners of her eyes as she says this, and then her eyes narrow as she looks at all of you with suspicion) "Or are you threatening to kill it? Are you like all the other mortals that came before you, that must slash and burn trees in your mad lust for power? I will not allow it!"

Trimyrai looks left, right, forward, and back. Unfortunately, the thick plant life, swaying with the wind, is making it difficult to tell if there is anything around your group. He does notice (in hindsight) that the cries of "help!" and the creature growling, that you heard earlier, had stopped several seconds before you reached this area. (Around the time the Dryad got here.)

After Trim mentions this to the others, all of you notice that the plants on top of the small hill are getting taller and more concentrated...

(OOC: I will post a map in a few hours. You are free to continue discussing with each other what you want to do, or let me know where to put you on the map.)

• D = dryad, SM = shambling mound
• When I said "hill" (centered at F5), it is only a slight elevation, like a raised garden.
• Everything is Difficult Terrain, unless you can fly or have a magic lawn mower. (The dryad and s. mound have normal movement.)
• The pink-brown areas (like K7 and L7) are taller trees. They can be used for cover, and cannot be moved through (have to move around).
• For round 1, the mound has just assembled. The dryad has Barkskin and activated Shillelagh. (She has pulled a lightning-blasted branch off her dead tree, and will swing it like a baseball bat.)

Everyone in the party can go for round 1. Besides your action this round, include a roll for initiative, which will be used for round 2 and onwards.

”Well then, here we go then! Who wants to bet that one of these creatures is the cause for the other?” Jack says, looking at the large plant and the Dryad. “Who should we take out first- they Plant, or the Dryad? I think I’ll take the plant, thank ye!”

Jack will proceed to run towards J6, and proceeds to unleash a Verbal Assault on the Mound. “Hey! Ye related to any of those Tree monsters we killed a while back? If so, I’ll be surprised- I’ve heard ye hit more like a Pansy!”

(Vicious Mockery. DC 15 Wisdom save, or 3 Damage and disadvantage on the next attack.)

(Oops. Sorry.)

Init: 15