Rinn grimaces, shaken a bit by the size of the legendary beast. "Well, that was unexpected," he mutters. "Greetings, most noble Grathyvon. What a true honor for us to be greeted by such a majestic being. True, our journeys carry us in search of the grove. Pray tell, would you point us in the right direction?" the elf says in a somewhat awkward, deadpan attempt at being regal and diplomatic.

Persuasion: 16

Alys: You're fairly startled by the appearance of this creature that you've only read about until now and the only thing that you're able to recall is that this creature can release deadly clouds of poisonous gas and dwells in the forest. As for it's intentions, you are able to ascertain that this dragon is more interested in parlaying with you than killing you at the moment, but you can't tell why.

Kasha: Grathyvon looks at you when you offer up the peanut, slightly confused at your unorthodox offering, before an amused smile forms on his face, humored by your obvious naivete in this situation. He takes the peanut and eats it.

Rinn: "YES, YES. THE FLATTERY. YOUR KIND IS SO QUICK TO FALL BACK ON THAT TACTIC." He says, obviously bored with your weak attempt at kissing ass. He points towards the northeast end of the forest, the opposite direction of where you're traveling. "MY SPIES FOLLOWED THOSE BOTHERSOME DRUIDS TO A LOCATION THAT THEY BELIEVED TO BE THE GROVE SOME TIME AGO. BUT THE IMPUDENT GUARDIAN REFUSED TO GRANT ME ENTRY. PERHAPS YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO GROVEL YOUR WAY INTO THE GROVE. LOOK FOR A MASSIVE TREE WITH A POND IN FRONT OF IT. THAT WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'VE ARRIVED."  

"Massive tree, got it. Thanks, Grath." Kasha says. She reaches into her bag and pulled out a handful of chocolate covered peanuts, and places them on a rock in front of him as an offering. She bowed. "We'll put in a good word for you once we get there. Say hi to everyone!"

Bivaris finally gets over her own shock of seeing the dragon, and almost immediately starts to open her mouth wide for another rant. A moment of silence goes by before she lets out a huff through her nose and glares up at the dragon instead. "Hold the ****'n sending stone, Kesha. I got questions." She briefly glances over to the druid before returning to her passive-aggressive glaring. "Alright ya racist prick, we 'preciate ya clear'n up the goal fer us. But out of curiosity, what these ****ers do to ya anyhow? 'cause nuthin in life is free. 'nd give'n yer a big **** off dragon, it'd take a bit, I imagine, fer ya to bother with this sorta help'n out us 'wee' folk out of the blue." She states, boarding on the grumpy side in tone before crossing her arms.

"For that matter. What is this guardian anyhow that their refusal ain't worth ya put'n up more a fuss over personally over? What with ya again being a big **** off dragon who probably doesn't take much shit from anyone."

Upon seeing the giant Dragon, Furlong will immediately jump in front of Stella, being knowledgeable of how dangerous these creatures can be.

"Impudent guardian? I would be shocked to hear anyone is capable of saying no to such an imposing figure as yourself. They must have something important to protect."

Furlong narrows his eyes at the dragon. "Pray tell, what exactly is your interest in the Grove and these druids? what do you know of their plans? Perhaps our interests are aligned." In contrast to Rinn, Furlong's formalities are quite sincere.

Alys would remain ‘frozen’ in place, wide eyed glancing back and forth between the large dragon and her companions discussions. She’d tense up from B’s sassy lass shenanigans, only relaxing a little when Furlong would pipe up.

Seeing Kasha lay down a mound of nuts to offer the dragon, she’d notice a couple roll off the rock. Alys would cautiously approach to pick up the rogue peanuts and restack them neatly in their designated pile.

Alys would shuffle along with Kasha, staying close to the Druid in this forest. 

Stella blinks, a faintly annoyed expression appearing on her face when Furlong jumps in front of her. From behind him (since she knows he's not letting her get closer), she speaks in an even voice. "...Hello, Grathyvon. Regarding your willingness to help...do you perhaps have a reason to not like this Master that caused the corruption of the manner?"

Obsidian hides behind her legs like an intelligent cat and hisses at Gravython.

Bivaris, Grathyvon shoots you a dirty look, clearly not appreciating the way that you spoke to it. However, it's attention turns to Furlong and Stella who speak to it in a more respectful manner.

"YES. HARTLEY'S MANOR MEANS LITTLE TO ME, BUT I HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN KEEPING SOME ENTITY THAT REFERS TO ITSELF AS THE MASTER FROM ENCROACHING ON MY TERRITORY. PREVENTING ITS FOLLOWERS FROM BRINGING IT BACK WOULD BE BENEFICIAL. AS FOR THE SACRED GROVE AND WHY IT'S SO HEAVILY GUARDED, IT'S A SIMPLE MATTER. IT'S SACRED. ALLOWING SIMPLY ANYONE TO GAIN ENTRY WOULD DEVALUE THAT SACREDNESS. AND YES, I AM A DRAGON AND I COULD EASILY DEFEAT A MUNDANE GUARDIAN AND FORCE MY WAY INTO A MUNDANE ENTRYWAY. BUT NOTHING ABOUT THE SACRED GROVE IS MUNDANE. ENTRY TO THE SACRED GROVE IS LIMITED TO THOSE DEEMED WORTHY. IF THE WAY IS SHUT, THEN EVEN THE RAGE OF A THOUSAND DRAGONS COULD NOT OPEN IT. I ASSURE YOU, AS A DRAGON IT BRINGS ME NO SMALL AMOUNT OF EMBARRASSMENT TO HOPE THAT HUMANOIDS BE DEEMED WORTHY OF SOMETHING THAT I WAS NOT."  

Kasha gets a dodge ready in case Bivaris speaks in more naughty words again and upsets Grathyvon further. Kasha would continue to eat very slowly, listening to the dragon, feeling Alys step up close next to her, she offered her some of her nuts, carefully, quietly - never taking her eyes of the dragon. "I know him." she whispered. "He sounds very concerned about this situation. Best to let him explain the situation without agitating him, know what I mean?"

Then, leaning into Alys's's ear, she whispered. "Bad language never helps. Nope. You must be one with the forest, one with nature. Everything deserves respect. Even the evil dragons. You must know your place in the ciiiiiiircle of liiiiiife."  She kinda sung the last part.

"Oh sure, when I say it, it's arsehole o' aclock. But when the old fart says da same ****'n same it's all peaches and cream." Bivaris muterred darkly to herself after having looked away. She did not stop there, but at least her words are kept largely to herself. And on the plus side, short of the Dragon overhearing her mutterings, she wasn't going out of her way to antagonize it further. Though she would shoot Furlong a dirty look or two in-between lulls in the conversation. 

Silence was what Yvan was best at, as conversation wasn’t exactly his ‘thing’, especially when it came to speaking to LITERAL DRAGONS, but he was glad that Kasha was always ready and willing to talk. However, hearing Bivaris’ muttering gets a small snort out of him, but he quickly tries playing it off as him clearing his throat. 

"So our goal is of mutual benefit then?" Rinn asks. "Any assessment of the defenses we could face would also be beneficial...as you would obviously like to ensure our success, no?"

When Kasha leans in to speak to her, Alys would lean in, also not taking her eyes off the dragon. She'd eagerly accept the offer of chocolate covered peanuts, popping them in her mouth as she listened. She absentmindedly would start packing her pipe, nodding in agreement to what the druid was telling her. She'd light it, still staring up at the dragon and take her hit as Kasha sang to her. Upon her exhale she'd hold it out to the dragon, "Do you like green?"

Kasha smiled, looking at the camera with a look of mild surprise and amusement as if she was on The Office. 

Grathyvon looks at you perplexedly Alys, as no one had ever offered it green before. Actually, from your studies, this has never happened before, making this the first time in history that a dragon was offered drugs. 

"NO. I SHALL LEAVE YOU TO FIND THE GROVE NOW."

Grathyvon then flies away, not giving the rest of you a chance to make any other strange offers.

Alys would blink, then shrug and would pass to her left before documenting this historic encounter.

Vastra, who had previously been silent up until this point, takes a puff of the pipe. 

Kasha bends over, picks up the chocolate covered peanuts she placed for Grath, and pops them in her mouth. She makes a face that indicates she's pleased with herself and rejoins the group.

You all decide that it's time to follow the directions that Grathyvon gave you and head towards the Sacred Grove. You don't come across any more disturbances and while you do come across some small animals, they don't stay around to do surveillance. After two hours of travel, you arrive at the destination, a pond, with a massive tree behind it. Standing in front of the pond is what appears to be a child with light green skin, red hair, clothing made of leaves and vines, and a crown of antlers.

"Greetings. My name is Ilixia. You stand before the entrance to the Sacred Grove. What brings you to this place, adventurers?"

Kasha stepped out. "Oh! Hi there, Illxia! I'm Kasha. How's it going!" she handed her bag of chocolate covered peanuts to the child. "My nuts, look at how beautiful that tree is!" It was at that moment Kasha became completely distracted and kept eating, forgetting what she was going to say.