While initially taken by the scenery, and even tempted to take a few samples of the caves, Courage loses the thread of thought almost as soon as he finally notices the Eladrin. For all the tieflings apparent worldliness, a somewhat scantily clad Eladrin and a comely one at that is enough to warrant Courage keep his gaze elsewhere, and let Souperb play seeing eye dog. More than that, neither try to communicate with the Eladrin, trusting the others to handle any "negotiations".

Stella does her best to shelve her reaction to the eladrin's clothing level and focuses on talking. "Hello, Mahera? We've heard a lot of interesting stories about you, and well...it piqued our interest. We were hoping to hear your side of them as well. Especially the ones about the druidic ritual and turning the king's mate into a golden statue?" She gives Mahera a bright smile, hoping to appear friendly and interested.

"I thought that it would be fun to play a few pranks on those druids and that elven king. Things were boring here and those druids were stuffy."

Yvan's lip twitched into a grimace. Reminded him of a certain other druid, but at least they weren't this awful. "So you thought that cursing the whole kingdom was a fun idea?"

Courage grimaced as well, but would continue to keep his eyes averted and mouth shut for the moment. Souperb had no such compunctions, and would somehow manage to form an angry face using some pieces of carrots and peas yet still floating around its body for the expression. It is, however, not so bold as to perhaps act on a more expressive reaction. But the feeling and temptation to do so does begin to practically radiate in the humunculus' stance.

 "I didn't curse the kingdom, I spruced it up! It was boring beforehand, with nothing but stuffy old Elves. I made something new."

Alys would purse her lips and chew on them for quite sometime. She was trying to think back and compile all the discussions and suggestions made by the group prior to coming here. And now that they were at the cave with the druid before them, it was their chance to give something a shot. Best case scenario they succeed at a unique agreement, worst case, it results in a battle that was partially expected. Courage had given plenty of caution as well. So they must be careful.

The elf herself has only experienced tastes of mischief, but she'd try to dip into that nature to appeal to the Eladrin. Tucked behind Yvan, Alys would remove a few cloth layers, including her clerics robe. She'd focus on keeping what was essential: her cloak, and mithral plate. She'd only use cloth to pad beneath the armour arranging it to look more wild and tattered, then tie her cloak side saddle around her hips. Doing so bared both arms and one of her legs, revealing much more of her skin. Smoothing herself out, she'd correct her posture and inhale a deep breath to inspire, as well as instill in herself, courage and confidence to match Stella's and Vastra's. This was going to be her best attempt as seeming less 'stuffy' and perhaps assist her in gaining Mahera's favour.

To psych herself up, Alys would weave her fingers between Yvan's to give his hand a quick squeeze as she'd bounce on her tip toes a couple times. She'd then grab hold of her goodies and put on her brightest smile. The elf would bounce out from behind the goliath letting out some playful giggles. She'd be packing her pipe as she'd skip up to the Eladrin. "Stuffy you say!?" She'd blow a raspberry. "Booerns." Alys would then take a big hit off her pipe looking thoughtful before blowing out her smoke in playful O's.

"When you say you made something new, do you mean the pretty gold statue!?" She'd pipe up and step spin around Mahera excitedly as she'd ask for confirmation. "Oh I could only imagine if she and the others came back alive after all these years how discombobulated she they would be!" Alys would throw out a giggle to pause for thoughtful amusement. "What do you think? Reverse it all and they'd be SO..." The elf would make gestures, with sounds to match, of their heads exploding. She'd bat her eyelashes at the woman to consider her idea.

Then Alys giggle some more as she'd allow herself to get distracted by the beauty of the caves before returning her attention back to the Eladrin. "You said you like to play pranks right!? You can start with that!" She'd beam, trying to project like her idea was the best idea since before sliced bread. Click! Click! The elf would snap her fingers as if more ideas were coming. "Oh! Ouuu!" Wide eyed, she'd inhale another deep haul off her pipe, exhaling a huge cloud into the air before continuing. "And have you ever played a prank on a giant dracolich!?" She'd gasp and then clasp her hands together. "Wouldn't that be exciting!?" Alys would inch closer to Mahera with innocent excitement and a challenge. "You're like the definition of fun right!?" Big blue hues would look at the woman as if begging to play.

Rolls if need

Almost true to his name, Courage almost finds the meaning of the word again, and how best to implement it. Confusion and curiosity only further emboldened him, as Alys' words weren't quite jiving with what he knew of the elf. Yet he stops part way in the glance upward, shakes his head, and went back to admiring the cave mouth instead, listening intently for the call to arms, but... trusting whatever was going on, Alys and the rest had it well in hand.

Mahera seems more receptive to Alys when she speaks, since she did a pretty good job of making herself look fun and un-stuffy. She looks like she's contemplating something, then goes back in the cave for a few moments, before coming out with a dark purple diamond and a small red pearl. "Smash the purple gem to make the elves normal again, touch the golden lady with this red pearl to make her normal again. Come back and tell me about the looks on their faces when you're done! I wanna know!"

The second Mahera returns with a pair of gems, Alys pings her eyes wide. "What are those!?" And then she giggles. She'd of course listen to the Eladrin's instructions as she'd skip up with her hands held out to accept the diamond and small red pearl. The elf would let out a happy hum and kind of do a little dance in place to show excitement. "Ouuu these look cute with my outfit though!?" Letting out a snort, she'd giggle again. "I'm kidding! Of course I'll smash and poke in the right order!" Alys would smile a big dimpled smile. "I'm pumped to tell you all about it! And when I do, you'll have a plan for us to prank a dracolich right!?"

"Sure thing. What's a dracolich though, I've never heard of those?"

(I was basically waiting/hoping for anyone to insight her to make sure she’s not lying or setting Alys up with a trap? Keeping her occupied. Passive insight of 13 enough? Or even for someone to appear as a ‘smarter one’ to fill her in on the dracolich?)

Alys would wait for another’s input, but after a long pause, she’d snort and break into giggles. She’d inhale a deep haul of her pipe before blowing out another puff of smoke. Using her magic, she’d animate it to mimic a dragolich as she’d bounce around and explain what it was. Sometimes she’d pause as if to try remember little details to add. 

(@ixi: Honestly hadn't consider it too much. At least the lie detection bit. Though in fairness from the perspective of Courage, gonna roll that at disadvantage, since he's actively trying to avoid looking at her, limiting what cues he can pick up on. As far as the dracolich bit, he was perfectly fine leaving that to others, least his boring more 'textbook' detailing wind up ruining things.)

Insight: 10.

As much as Courage seemed... distracted with almost everything/ANYthing else that wouldn't require him to look at the Eladrin. But he had decent ears and a watchful Souperb... actually, Souperb wasn't to be much help, seeing as the homunculus was incapable of speech. But he had good ears, so it had to count for something! Maybe. Either way, if something does rub him the wrong way, he'd be sure to press something in the back of his shield and whisper a warning into it. One that Alys and only Alys, strangely enough, would pick up on as words coming out of radio.... not that such things properly exist at the moment.

Neither Alys or Courage think that Mahera is attempting to trick you. 

You do as instructed, smashing the crystal and it immediately feels like some weight was lifted from the land. The foliage retreats back, still looking lively, but no longer overgrown and encroaching upon the kingdom like it was before. You can now see the remains of roads and other indicators that this was once a civilized, thriving kingdom. While there aren't any elves here, you can at least guess that they must have been restored to normal as well.

Stella looks relieved as the jewel does what it's supposed to, and gives Mahera a smile and a slight bow. "Thank you very much, Mahera."

Courage watches the reversion with no small amounts of awe and fascination. Despite not quite fancying himself an alchemist or the like, he cupped his between index and thumb, unable to help considering how the effects of the magic might somehow be replicated in the future... just in case. Perhaps such things could even be used against the undead somehow, smothering them with an overabundance of life.

Without realizing it, the last part Courage actually muttered aloud, and would continue to stay in his own head for some time after or until someone grabbed his attention again. Which in this case wouldn't be Souperb, as the homunculus had taken it upon himself to go flying around for any possible fruit bearing trees for closer inspection. If given enough time, Courage does eventually come around again, and turning to the others with his gaze still lowered say, "Shall we get going, then?"

Yvan had been prepared for a fight. He didn't think this would have been an easy battle for the Misfits, even if their enemy was 'solo' (druids could do many things, he knew, and calling in allies might have been one of Mahera's specialties). When Alys had given his hand a squeeze, looking as if she was psyching herself up for something, he couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion. Had she always done this before a fight and he simply didn't notice?

No. Alys had been preparing herself to do something completely different than what he had in mind. He watches her as she approaches the elf in a silly and playful manner, clearly appealing to Mahera's mischievous nature.

And it was working. 

At first, he was taken aback, surprised that the eladrin had been so receptive to the act, but then when he gazes upon Alys, his look softens and he couldn't help but give her an encouraging smile. This was honestly the best possible outcome for them, and it was all because of her. He felt a bit guilty, being more of a bystander than anything else, but she didn't need his (or anyone's) help, really. 

Once the purple gem had been smashed and the foliage around them had looked bright and lively, he feels a wave of pride and relief wash over him, and he only hopes that Alys felt accomplished in what she had done. If given the chance to, he would bring their hands together once more, and press a gentle kiss on the crown of her head. You did this, he says to her softly through their link. You continue to amaze me every day, Alys. 

And yet there was a straggling thought... A mere worry in the back of his mind that he brings up to Alys; Is there a way to ensure she won't try to do this again...?

You return back to the ruined Elven city in order to make sure that the elves have been restored to normal by the breaking of the crystal. The elves have indeed been returned to normal and are reacting to this change in a number of ways. Some of them are attempting to figure out what caused their sudden return to normality, while others begin to profusely thank their deity of choice. Others still break down in tears, either in joy over their restoration or in tears about what happened to their civilization during their feral state. At the moment, the lot of you haven't been noticed.

Stella glances around, noting that they're sure to be noticed soon, even if they haven't now. After all, they don't exactly fit in here. "Let's get to the throne room quickly," she suggests.

Both Souperb and Courage marveled at some of the changes as the group passed on through the city. Though that wanes quickly thinking of the elves they fought to death before, hearing Stella suggestion, the tiefling promptly nods and mentally makes ready to pick up the pace just as soon as the other three seemed to be about the same.