Soar hears this, and says in common, still, "you're not going to hurt us or turn on us, are you?" and begins to try to extricate her from the tree by pulling her and, if she can, pushing the tree away with her foot or hip. She nods at Jalt and Bazavur with assurance, asking for some help, confident the party is either helping someone or can handle themselves against a trick.

"No, of course not," the elf woman says.

Jalt and Bazavur begin to lift; it's hard work, harder than you thought; the tree is heavier than it looked. You get to the point when Soar is just about to start pull to free the woman, when she speaks. "Thank you, dear, that's enough now." Jalt and Bazavur, the weight suddenly disappears as the tree stands on its own, without your help. The elf stands up, with no sign of pain or injury, and regards you all. She smiles, as two other nearby trees shift and move, joining their fellow at the edge of the tiny clearing.

"So, heroes," she says in common, sounding satisfied. "Always good to meet a hero. Not everyone would bother to help a frail old woman alone in the forest. They might fear a trap," she says, a glance in Tangle's direction, "not an unreasonable fear. But a hero will help anyway, and that's worthy of a reward. I think I know where you're going. And you're on the right track. I grant you my blessing. May your hearts prove true where others fear to tread."

The woman picks flowers from her hair that you swear were not there a moment ago, then twists her fingers to weave them into garlands as if by magic. She lays a garland around each of your necks, if you allow it.  Will you?

Soar starts in surprise as the old woman speaks, and then freezes when the tree moves. She looks around, wary, looking at Tangle... and eases quite a bit as the woman smiles. 

She listens, and almost raises a hand to quibble at being called a hero, but pauses. "...Thank you? Wow. I'm Soar, and these are my friends. I'd love to know your name. And do your tall friends here have names? I have to assume you knew we were coming, which is impressive. So I'm inclined to believe you may in fact know what we're aiming to do. Thank you for your... blessing. You can see here from the flowers in my armor and on my weapons that we've got similar taste. Can you tell us more about what we're going to face? And do you need any help getting to your home?"

Tangle holds a hand out to stop the woman when she makes to put a garland around Tangle’s neck. “It is not distrust of strangers, but knowledge of bargains made in the Feywild that prevents me from accepting your gift.”

A green dragon, young hero, the woman replies. As you have fought already, no? I learned this from the grass you stood upon. One of you jumped upon its back and fell off; I learned this from the tree you fell upon. My friends are still deciding upon their names; it's not a decision to be hurried. My name doesn't matter; I am a caretaker of sorts, so you may call me Caretaker. Perhaps we will meet again. As for heading home, that is a very good idea.

The woman turns into a snowy owl and flies away; the three trees go trudging off after her in the same direction, eastward.

Those of you who accepted the garland don't feel anything from them. Soar did, right? Tangle didn't, what about Jalt and Bazavur?

Jalt would have let her

Soar did accept, and, the spell still active, examines it with it running, and if it seems beneficial, harmless, or bad, would tell Tangle. "I appreciate your caution, and I was wary too. But this isn't the Feywild. She didn't make a bargain, she offered a gift, so I don't think you have to worry about a deal going bad. I liked her. I think she meant well, wanted to help, and seems powerful. Reminds me of... Elspeth." Soar says, looking at the departing owl and trees. She's wistful, remembering the loss of someone she cared for.

Eventually, she's ready to move along, once the others are.

Soar doesn't detect anything with her spell coming from the garland.

Everyone ready to head on?

Tangle is ready to resume their trek.

Soar scoops up any garlands that aren’t picked up (just Tangle’s?) and suggests that there isn’t any harm in accepting help from someone. She offers it one more time to Tangle, and if it is not accepted, she places it around her wrist. The one the Caretaker gave to Soar she weaves into the flowers already in her armor. Inspired, she keeps an eye out for any flowers she sees and replenishes the other flowers in her skull armor, and tries her hand at weaving a flower garland, and offers them to the others as they walk. If the one she has around her wrist accidentally makes it onto Tangle, she will insist she had no idea. (Let me know what rolls this requires, sure to fail given Tangle’s awareness.)

Soar, that's a Sleight of Hand against Tangle's Perception, and her passive Perception is pretty high, but go for it.

You follow the trail left by the majority of the retreating cultists, through the gloom of the night, Bazavur stumbling occasionally but managing to keep up. As you get closer to morning, and consider the possibility that it might be time to rest, you begin to pass through an area of the forest where spider webs are more and more common, and though there are some ordinary small webs, some larger ones suggest there may be giant spiders or similar nearby. The webbing becomes thick enough to make it harder to see ahead, and threatens to become thick enough to hinder your progress. You have no idea how large this part of the forest is, but the tracks clearly lead through the web-laden area.

Will you continue to follow the tracks? Will you do anything to help your progress?  Or will you take a different route?

Tangle, who is probably in the lead (but not scouting ahead, so still within 10 or 15' of the party) draws her magical sabre and starts cutting webs, while extending her senses to try to not be taken unawares. She will, of course, stop and talk if anyone else in the party clears their throat or makes words.

Perception: 25

Moving forward, Tangle leads the way, slashing through the webs; they offer no resistance, but it's time consuming and slows your progress. The rest of the party follows behind, taking where to walk where Tangle has walked and avoid straying from the path into the remaining webs.

You walk like this for about twenty minutes, the webs getting thicker and closer together. Tangle cuts another web, and steps forward, but this time she sees movement up ahead. She can't discern what it is, but there's something - perhaps several somethings - creeping slowly in your direction.

What will you do?

“Something moving ahead,” she warns over her shoulder, and shifts her shield on to her arm, tightening the straps. She crouches defensively and peers into the webbing.

AC now 20. Taking the Dodge Action.

And something in the webbing peers back.

Roll initiative please.

Tangle’s initiative: 16 

(Son of a… posting again because no exiting of posts, right?)

Tangle’s initiative: 21 

Jalt initiative: 17

Soar: 12

Bazavur initiative: 18