Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn

Chrys sighs and packs up her cards.  "That's a real shame.  Y'can tell lots 'bout a person from the way they play their cards."  She winks at Lumen and Vesper, before clambering to her feet and dusting herself off.  "Anybody try just talkin' to it?"

Looking in the direction everyone else is, Chrys squints.  "Oi!  M'names Chrysoberyl!  You got a name ta share with us, lil' blue one?"

Lumen begins to slowly follow the blue fox, waiting for an answer to Chrys' question.

You get no response, but for the first time, you do see the odd, ghostly blue fox for the first time when its face appears from around the tree. It is no normal animal, but some kind of magical, almost glowing creature that most certainly does not originate from this plane. You see that circling its fuzzy blue ears, it has a crown of pink flowers, the same kind that you've seen it leave behind after dashing away the first two times.

It glances at Lumen with white opaque eyes as he begin to approach, and then shifts its gaze briefly towards each of you, before dropping its lower body in a playful motion and letting loose with a gleeful howl from its small snout. As it does so, it launches forwards and begin to dart straight towards Lumen, before quickly turning and scampering away from him. It then looks back with an almost taunting expression, as a flurry of pink flowers showers the air behind it. As it flees, you can see that the blue fox has not one bushy tail, but three. 

"I think it wants us to chase it!" Chrys says, gathering her things and hurrying after the fox as quickly as she can... which is not very quickly, as she not only is still short, and also trying her best to not needlessly destroy the forest in her efforts.

Lumen looks around to see if there's anything else for which the fox is providing a distraction.

Perception: 22

"Maybe it's not a talker. Actions speak louder than words supposedly." Eyes lighting up at the spirit's fully fledged appearance, Nym couldn't help but croon a bit under her breath as unbidden thought immediately came through her mind, 'Cute!' Watching it play bow to Lumen brought a surprised laugh out of her as she darted after it. Tapping the bard on the shoulder with a Guidance as she stated cheekily, "Tag, you're it! Might as well see where it's trying to lead us." 

Glancing around, Lumen doesn't see anything else in the immediate area that's out of the ordinary, besides the three-tailed, ghostly blue fox with a crown of pink flowers that's darting about from tree to tree. Chrys and Nym give chase and run after it, but the fox proves to be a difficult creature to catch. It's small and quick, and obviously at home in the thick forest, but every once in awhile, it stops and glances back at you, before rushing off in a different direction, and it occurs to you that it's actually "letting" you get closer and appears to be enjoying the playful nature of the game. 

A couple of times, you seem to be gaining on it, only to watch the fox disappear into a tree, much like you've seen Phelannie the dryad do, and then quickly reappear alongside a different tree about 30-40 feet away. It seems to wait for you to see it again and shift your own direction again before taking off and continuing the game, clearly letting you catch up again. Through all of this, masses of small flowers explode from the fox's "crown," and before long, the entire grove is filled with tiny petals that fill the air like large pink snowflakes.

Does the blue fox seem to mostly be moving in one direction?

Chrys, huffing and puffing, actually breaks into a smile.  "Now this is a nice change o' pace!"  The forest has been heavy and oppressive thus far, full of dangers untold and dangers which put themselves right into her and her companions' faces, for that matter.  The light-hearted chase with the friendly fox spirit lifted her spirits, and she felt almost at home, surrounded by dozens of the tiny pink flowers that reminded her of the fields strewn with wildflowers in her mountain village.  "Oi!  Lil' one, not all o' us can run as fast as you!" she yells as she runs after it.  "Where're ya takin' us?"

It's obvious that you can't keep up with the fox, but it seems to do its best to let you get close a number of times before darting off in a different direction or magically moving from tree to tree. Still, it's obviously enjoying the chase, or at least enjoying the act of making YOU enjoy the chase as a fun diversion from the seriousness of the task at hand and the horrors you experienced last night during the battle with the trolls. 

At one point, the fox darts right in front of Chrys. Mustering up some reserved energy, the dwarf puts on a burst of speed, and manages to catch up with the impish forest creature. In her excitement, Chrys leaps forward onto the creature to pin it to the forest floor. However, just as her strong arms close around the creature, it vanishes, leaving her sprawling in a burst of fragrant blossoms. You then hear a coy yip from across the woods. Looking in its direction, you see the fox, its three tails wagging in joy, as it nuzzles at a bundle on the ground. It pushes at the parcel gently with its nose, then looks you dead in the eye, before disappearing once again in a puff of flower petals.

Chrys pushes to her feet and plucks a few stray blossoms from her hair, grinning.  „Almost had ‚em!“ she cheers, pumping a fist.  Then, more carefully, she approaches the parcel and picks it up, inspecting it.  Looking up at the empty forest, she calls out, „Oi! Thanks!“ before sharing he discovery with the others.

Lumen just starts laughing, and waits for the package to be opened.

As you approach and unwrap the small bundle that's tied together with exceptionally large leaves and thin vines, you find five small soft sided, oval-shaped flasks that appear to be made from smaller, but thick, broad leaves, and sewn shut at the top with thin string woven from strands of what looks like the fibers from tree bark. Upon closer inspection, the flasks contain some kind of thick liquid. Loosening the string tops and looking inside, you can see that the liquid is a clear oil that sparkles with tiny bright, almost glowing flecks of blue, almost the same color as the fox's fur. 

Nym can't help but to scoop up a few handfuls of the discarded petals in the fox spirit's wake stuffing them into spare pockets and her coin purse. Who knows if they would even stick around. But if so, they would be a nice little memento. She couldn't help but let out a small exclamation of excitement as it seemed Chrys finally caught up to the spirit, but it was still one step ahead. Instead of just flower petals though, it had also left behind a small parcel, which the drow looked over the shorter woman's shoulder to peer at. "You think there's just more flower petals in there?" She couldn't help but wonder in amusement. But the truth was stranger than fiction it seemed, Nym's eyes focused in curiosity at the nature made flasks. It made her wonder if Duaric could craft such a thing, or if it required a fey's expertise. It took her a minute to realize that Chrys saw something actually inside the flasks already. "What do you think it is?" Silently raising an eyebrow to ask the dwarf permission before taking one to inspect herself. 

Arcana: 5

"I'm sure it ain't nothin' bad," Chrys says, sniffing at the liquid cautiously.  "But I got no clue what it does.  Maybe make ya run faster.   Or easier to hide.  Somethin' like what that fox was doin', is my guess.   Let's try somethin'," she says, carefully sticking the tip of one finger into the oil and then rubbing it against her thumb.  

(If there's no reaction to spreading the sample on her finger, she'll lick it with the tip of her tongue.  But since it seems like a topical oil and not a drink, she'll avoid that if she can. :P)

Lumen also wracks his brain to figure out if he's seen this kind of thing before.

Arcana: 14

Despite the appearance of blueish glitter in the viscous liquid, the oil feels smooth and slick when Chrys rubs it between her finger and thumb, but it dries quickly, leaving no noticeable film or residue. However, the blue flecks remain in a random array on her fingers and seem to glow with faint flickers against the light. Licking a tiny bit on the tip of her tongue, it has no discernible taste or smell.

Lumen and Nym both inspect the strange liquid as well, it's not apparent to either of them what purpose it might serve. Given the source, Nym would guess that there is probably some fey magic at work here, but beyond that, there's nothing to indicate what type or how it should be used. 

Kess makes a close inspection of the strange flasks as well, and after a few minutes, she says, "I have an inkling as to what this might be. During my weapon training, and also in my time spent studying arcane skills, I have heard of such oils that can be applied to weapons to give them a magical boon. In many cases, they are designed to be applied to swords, but if I'm right, then I don't know why they couldn't be use for other weapons as well, say for Chrys's hammer."

"Given the fact that we were told by Aelar that this strange blue fox could be considered a source of aid in our quest, it would make sense that the creature has provided us with gifts that could help us defeat Duskbringer, end her reign of terror upon the land, and save those children."

Lumen makes a sign of thanks toward wherever the fox might be, and tries to get oriented to where they were headed. He's gotten a bit turned around.

"Well, that's pretty neat.  Who wants ta hold on ta this thing for the time bein', then?" Chrys asks.  "Probably one o' us facin' off 'gainst that dragon should be puttin' it on the weapons.  It depends who's goin' after the kids, too.  'Lest there's some way for us to avoid splittin' up once we get there," she muses, obviously preferring the latter.

After the potion has been dealt with, she looks to Nym and Vesper.  "So, uh... which way are we supposed ta be goin'?  I got turned all 'round in that fun lil' chase there..." she admits sheepishly.

"I'm pretty sure that we're supposed to be going south. Nym mentioned something about old ruins before we ran into that spirit."