[IC] Chapter 2-3: Safe Haven

[Shanna Rendin]

It had been...fascinating watching this group's dynamic for a few moments while they were 'threatened' by a seemingly harmless fey. Then again...all fey were tricksters at best, and at worst... Well, we shall see what happens, shan't we? She follows along.

((Doh! Just realized Shanna has a +15 in Know: Planes. >_< I'd ask for a roll on that, but it looks like we might be moving on.))

[Toot]

[OoC: I'm a little confused.  Knowledge Nature states it deals with Fey which should also deal with their Seelie and Unseelie Courts.  So I'm not sure where Knowledge planes would fit in except for maybe how the Faerie realm fits into the Planar Cosmetology with other Planes.   ]

Toot continues to scrutinize everything very closely.  As a Fey and a Doodid, he was well aware of the Fey and their tricks.

"Shananana?" Toot asks then waits for her to answer and if she doesn't, Toot will repeat himself.  "You sure you not have extra paper?  Me think me need go sticky soon.  Don't think these fey want me to mess up their pristine forests."

[Lugar]

Merri mulls it over for a moment.  Fey weren't her strong point.  "Well, we have no other leads at this point.  Perhaps this little fairy will lead us somewhere useful."  She would follow, but she would not trust.  Not yet.

Okay, Merri, I will follow you. - He activates his ring again and again like a paranoid and follows Merri, Lugar, Portho, etc.

[OoC: Remember you move 3/4 speed when the ring is activated, because half your time is spent ethereal.]

[Shanna Rendin]

[[Right...sorry]]

Shanna decides not to look at him as she says "Then perhaps you should have taken care of that before we left.  You knew it was going to be a long trip, young man.  We're not pulling over now."

As she says this, she tries her hardest to hide a smirk of mirth while following the group.

[Silent Giant]

Merri mulls it over for a moment.  Fey weren't her strong point.  "Well, we have no other leads at this point.  Perhaps this little fairy will lead us somewhere useful."  She would follow, but she would not trust.  Not yet.

Okay, Merri, I will follow you. - He activates his ring again and again like a paranoid and follows Merri, Lugar, Portho, etc.

[OoC: Remember you move 3/4 speed when the ring is activated, because half your time is spent ethereal.]

OOC - No problem, his speed is 40

[Merrinna Starsong]

Merri wonders at what point this party turned into a circus sideshow. Probably while she was dead.

She sends her familiar up above them to get a good look while she keeps an eye on the grig.

[DM Surranó]

Merri's air elemental rises to look around but reports nothing of interest, other than the oak forest with some very old trees. To the northeast, it can see the upper flow of the river that cascades from the cliff to form the lake. There is a slight breeze carrying the scent of flowers, and unsettling silence.

Myshnue leads the party through a treacherously twisting path, often barely visible to all but Toot. The tiny doodid has to direct even Boo to keep track of the other fey.
Eventually the party is led to a hollow beneath some old tree trunk. Myshnue instructs the party to wait about twenty feet from the entrance to the shallow cave and utters something.
"Don't do anything foolish," he warns, "Dozens of eyes watch your every move."

Those who speak Sylvan understand the sentence.

"The defenders of Crystal Lake have arrived."

A minute passes until finally another figure appears out of thin air, sitting on a branch above the party's head. She's about as small as Portho but has much fairer skin. She has a gnarled staff; looks like an expended magic wand of the big folk; and wears a green cloak over a weathered, but still slender body. A silver brooch and some hairpins studded with precious or semiprecious stones sell her rank within the community. Toot looks over and over her carefully and thinks she's also fey but even the doodid cannot recognise the creature.

"Meet Cranberry, our elder." the cricket-fey says. "Elder, I found these people worthy of having a chance to face your challenge."

Cranberry looks over the weirdly mixed group with piercing eyes.

[Portho Nihilbuck]

"Challenge?"

[Silent Giant]

"Challenge?"

Yeah, he said challenge - he stops blinking
But what challenge and how much is the reward?

[Lugar]

Watching Merri send her air elemental into the air was impressive.  Did it have a name, he wondered?  "Hey Toot, I bet you wished you had one of those! Ha!" He says to the little Jermlaine.  "Me, I would summon a nice solid stone animal."

...

Lugar backs up Silent Giant, his axe still resting on his shoulder, and looks around trying to spot the dozens of eyes. ~ Probably more bugs, Lugar thinks about the dozens of eyes.  A spider has what, at least twelve... ~ Then the little Fey-man brings out his leader, "Cranberry," and mentions a challenge.  While Portho asks more about this "challenge" Lugar hears coins dropping together in his mind, but maybe he confused 'change' with 'challenge.'