The elf stands motionless as the goblin surrenders his weapons. "Then it is an agreement, outsider." he states in Elvish, sheathing his hookswords and pulling out a silver brooch of a leaf once the weapons slide to the ground. "Wear this while you travel through the life bloom, and you will not be stopped by any Joraga." He tosses it to Kayn as he looks at the rest of the group, observing how they handle the agreement.

"No Joraga will willingly travel with an outsider, and I will not ask one to do so. But I will tell you this: avoid travelling south. A great basilisk lives in the southern half of the life bloom. It desecrates the environment, turning our people and the animals into stone. Stay due west and hug the mountain, and you will avoid it."

Kayn nods to the merman, "We will need to run," he says in common. "We cannot harm any creature or plant in this forest. This is the price to pay for entering. Either that, or we leave. This is the way of the Elves." 

"My thanks to you, immortal one," he responds to the elf in his language, "You have offered all of the charity outsiders can hope for and we will respect your terms." He accepts the brooch and places it on his tattered clothing.

"He says there is a basilisk to the South that ruins the living," Kayn tells the others in common, "We should avoid that direction."

Vesra popped the dagger she never used out of her belt and offered it to the Elven man. In her other hand, she produced a bloom, similar to the brilliantly colored flowers she had seen throughout this magical jungle. "It is an honor to walk in your Life Bloom," she bowed her head. "We will do our best to offer the respect and reverence this beautiful biome deserves."

She turned to step backwards, and then realized she was forgetting something. "Ah Petunias," she swore softly, taking off her backpack and rummaging around until she found her Kor hooks. She rarely used them, as she was mostly awful with them, but they were a symbol of her past and she couldn't deny their usefulness. "My apologies, I forgot I had these," Vesra said as she laid them down next to her dagger.

THe druid returned to her place at her sister's side. Come on Vashie, she signed encouragingly. I don't like it much either, but we don't have a choice. I know that if the going gets tough, you can still kick their sorry behinds without your hooks, though. 

Ellangil eyes the masked elf for a long moment. His immediate instinct toward the proposition of laying down his weapons was abject refusal, but he found himself stuck in a difficult situation. He could not make war on the Joraga all by himself and his traveling companions seemed prepared to acquiesce. Neither could he reasonable suggest another course of travel or let the group go forward without his protection, so...

Eventually, he lays Virile and Valiant on the spongy, mossy ground. He makes a point of keeping his hatchet concealed in his travel bags, just in case.

Not happy to give up his weapons, Ato nonetheless recognizes it may be the best course. The tales he's heard of the Joraga do not often have such peaceful endings. The trickster works in mysterious ways indeed. He steps forward and adds his spear, shortsword, javelins and daggers to the pile. All of them, a bit surprised with himself even as he does so.

He offers a wordless bow of his own to the elf before stepping back. "I hope you know what you're doing Kayn. Most of us don't have your spells or creatures at our disposal instead of weapons."

Kayn looks to both Vasha and Veythe, noticing their hesitation and says, "This is the price... If you do not do this, we leave. If a stranger walks into a place you call home, that stranger must abide by the rules. Taking shoes off, leaving weapons at the door, or anything else. We must do this to enter." 

Veythe pursed her lips and crossed her arms. She did not want to surrender her weapons--there was too much of a chance that they would be harmed within the Life Bloom. Did these elves not account for self-defense? She'd be happy to surrender her arms if they had a means of assuring the party's safety, otherwise the deal was merely another way of ensuring their slow and inevitable deaths. Cowards Veythe thought and a part of her wanted to snarl.

She hated situations like this.

"Kayn," Veythe ground out. "While I trust you...I do not trust them. There is no guarantee that will we survive the journey. This is a death sentence, not the rules of a house for guests. They merely do not wish to do the deed themselves." She clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. "Cowards the lot of them."

A Basilisk, though...one that harmed their great peoples? Veythe wondered if the party could, perhaps, be up to getting rid of the beast. She eyed the group. Quieter, Veythe said to Kayn, "However we might be able to make a better deal. This basilisk, Kayn...if the party is able, we might be able to clear the beast and pave way for the Joraga to revive their members." She tried to recall if she knew any information that might be useful on the basilisk. What could the beasts do again...?

Her mind must be failing her. She couldn't think of anything aside from scary.

(knowledge: nature 7 ; Veythe remembers shit all)

Veythe's words cause the elf grip on his sheathed hookswords to tighten. He spits at the ground, looking at her, and then to Kayn. "I should cut her down for that insult." he says through gritted teeth in Elvish. "But her proposition is a fair one. We have lost some to the basilisk, and more who tried to revive their friends and family. If you outsiders can kill the basilisk and bring us its head as evidence, then we will let you pass through the life bloom with your weapons."

Kayn nods to the elf and says to the others in common, "He says we can attempt to remove the basilisk from the lifebloom. It will prove we have no ill intentions towards the Joraga and we can keep our weapons as we travel the lifebloom." He then glares at Veythe, "Do not insult them again... they're not like a vampire in the city or a rogue on the street. We are strangers and they are protectors." He honestly thought better of Veythe. She was supposed to be another level head in this group. He may have misjudged her. 

"Is that worth the risk? It will be fastest to get directly across, won't it? Kayn, can you ask what other specific dangers we should look out for?" Ellangil, of all people, gave up his weapons but the bard is causing trouble? Vasha he expected, but not Veythe.

"Aside from the Basilisk," Kayn asks the Elf in his sing-song language, "What other creatures should be avoided?" He was reluctant to ask too much of their elven hosts, as their kindness in allowing them to continue their travel far exceeded what he expected. Taking on a Basilisk... he wasn't sure if this team would survive such an encounter. Basilisk eggs would be a lovely prize though!

Another Joraga elf leaps down from the foliage above, landing near the -now visibly frustrated- original elf. He whispers something into the original elf's ear, causing him to nod his head. He turns to Kayn, and in his sing-song tongue, says, "Return to this spot tomorrow afternoon with the basilisk's head. I will be waiting here with one of our village mystics, who is adept in alchemy, and can produce a reagent which will cure those turned to stone."

"The basilisk has scoured the southern region free of other threatening creatures. There is a small tribe of minotaurs north of us, though they keep to the mountain and only come down into the life bloom to forage and feed. We've kept them in check." His tone-of-voice indicates mild annoyance as he finishes. "Now go, watch where your feet fall, and don't look into the beast's eyes."

"Thank you again for this kindness," the goblin says, once again dipping low in a bow. He offers the elf the brooch before he starts handing the weapons back to his companions. "We will heed your advice and return with the Basilisk's head."

Once they all have their weapons strapped on, Kayn turns to Vesra and says, "Ready?" She would have to continue leading. No one else knew the forest as well as she did. 

Veythe, through the rest of the exchange, kept her lips fully sealed. She wanted--desperately--to point out to Kayn that while these elves may be protectors that did not excuse their desire to see the party dead. None of them would have known of the minotaurs if the conversation hadn't turned, Veythe feared, and with the comment of 'don't go south' the party would probably have gone north. Then, without their weapons, they'd be dead. Veythe tightened her fists at the perceived duplicitous nature of the elves. She hated duplicity. She hated that there was nothing more she could do aside from point out the obvious. She hated that they--Kayn, the party, she couldn't be certain who anymore--didn't trust her.

Smell a rat...Veythe hissed between her teeth and turned away from the group. Fine. Fine. She'd say nothing for now and merely focus on trying to keep them alive. If they didn't want to believe her that was on their heads.

Since the Life Bloom things had gone rather sour, and Veythe was disliking this expedition more and more. First her social blunder--whatever it was, she still didn't understand--and now this? Just. Perfect.

Quiet, she watched and waited for Vesra to make the decision on where they would go next.

The group picked up their weapons, uncertain if the action was a relief. Yes, they were able to have their weapons while traversing this dangerous terrain, but now they were tasked with killing a basilisk? None of them seemed to be completely sure what a basilisk was, other than that it could turn people to stone with its gaze. Not comforted by the fact, they followed Vesra's lead, travelling south through the life bloom.

The forest was thick and fairly dark as they travelled [portions are heavily obscured or covered in dim light]. At times the foliage on the ground was too thick, forcing them to climb and balance their way across thick branches which grew parallel, twisting together with a branch of a separate tree. Vesra's guidance through the forest provided the group with a much quicker route of travel, as she was able to forge a path through the easiest parts of the forest, either on the ground or in the trees, expediting their journey. Regardless, the trek seemed to cut longer and longer into the day, with no signs of a basilisk.

Several hours seemed to pass until they came across a beautiful scene: a small lake, maybe 100 feet in diameter, glistened in the waning suns' light, as the foliage failed to over encompass it. The far side of the lake ended to a cliff, perhaps forty feet in height, though the lake seemed to cut into the cliff as a small lip hung above the waterline, like a partially submerged cavern. As the group approaches the lake, Vesra spots in the distance, about sixty feet away, a pair of humanoid stone statues near the edge of the lake, with one of the statue's heads missing.

Ellangil laughs and shrugs as he retrieves Virile and Valiant.

"A lizard?" He says. "No problem."

-----

Once upon the scene of the pool, cavern, and statues, Ellangil goes on the prowl. Both blades drawn, striding in a readied crouch, he explores the area for any sign of the lizard-thing with too many legs.

Kayn stays further from the pool atop his gnarlid. He wasn't sure how a basilisk works in turning others to stone, but he wasn't about to go wondering around like the barbarian was. Instead he watches, keeping an eye out for any odd movement. 

Kayn hops off his gnarlid and sends it off to follow Ellangil. It sniffs the ground for any sort of creature as it follows. Animals always have a scent, and gnarlids are exceptional at smelling those scents out. When something odd piques his interest, Kayn says to the others, "Something... not sure if it is basilisk, swam into the water recently." He looks pointedly at the Mer and shrugs. The gnarlid scratches the earth at the spot to mark it and returns to the goblin.