Gnomecalypse [5e solo hexcrawl]

[Smilex]

In the vault of Notagem the gnomes tend to measure time based on the activity cycles of the whisper gnomes. To other gnomes this is a mysterious phenomenon during which one by one these skulking silent creatures just spontaneously wake up and start washing themselves or making breakfast or whatever each of them thinks is pertinent. To the whisper gnomes themselves the situation is quite different. You're still sleeping and somebody magics into your brain with a message spell telling they have to pee or that they've seen the weirdest dream about bouncing talking diamonds. And it goes on and on.

While whisper gnomes are silent, most of them also enjoy their silent interactions. They tend to send constant messages. 'I just saw Madhop trip on a molerat!' 'The water is too metally today' 'Anyone else itching between their toes?'. It's like a constant feed of messages, like a choir of twittering birds.

Brand: Everyone who likes likes turnips, give me a thumbs up. I'll get one for you when I come back from foraging! Hextag mealsforfree.

Hackbar: I heard there's a talking goat in the mountains. Anyone hear more, tell me about it! Hextag magicanimals.

Grimdog: I'm going to explore to the south. I hear there was a dragon in the ocean and I wanna see it. Smell you later! Hextag Yeehaw.

Chute: I'm really sad that Crystal is still missing. Can't believe the chief hasn't sent anyone for another rescue mission. Hextag Friends.

Quietgone: I talked to the mites in the cesspools and there's a new type of fungus they've found. Anyone want to try it? I hear it bubbles when you eat it. Hextag Highminded.

Young Hushedfly was actually a silent whispergnome. Her father, Arclight, the most powerful sorcerer of the tribe, was known for being a reclusive individual but Hushedfly was even more so. Often the only way to find actual silence and calm was to get away from the vault. It used to be forbidden to leave the vault to the outside world but ever since the chieftainship was transferred to a new leader she has also ventured to the world under the stars.

It was a time they called spring. There was still snow in the outworld - not much, but every shadowy spot was white. Notagem's entrance or exit as it may be was in the side of a large hill or possibly a small mountain. It was the eastern side of a chain of mountains, The Sunset Shield it was called.

To the east the hills descend to the border of a lake. The lake's usually called Mask lake but some call it the Screaming lake for there's sometimes an eerie wailing heard from somewhere beyond.

And then there's the hills themselves, continuing both south and north.

Sun was still out but it wouldn't be too long until it would hide behind the western tops. There has been scattered showers through the day. A day like any other. Yet there was a general uneasiness to you.

[WindStruck]

Ah, silence was golden.

Hushedfly had gone out again, but not really for any particular purpose. Just for the sake of being by herself and being amid tranquil silence. Though the wind may blow or there may be the patter of rain sometimes, or even the chirping of a cricket, she didn't mind these things, though. Anything as long as it did not come with an annoying hextag after it.

Hushedly decided to make her way east to the Mask lake. She liked dipping her feet in the water or even going for a little swim when feeling adventurous. Though she hadn't been lucky yet (or unlucky) to hear what wailing what other people were talking about. Maybe it was just some stupid rumor. As Hushedfly made her way along the earth, she took care to move without a sound.

We can probably assume traveling quietly whenever possible!

If you ever want a stealth check, let me know!

[Smilex]

You carefully move towards the shore. You try to step only on stable stones to make as little noise as possible. You pass a small rabbit that skitters away when it sees you. You climb onto a slightly higher rocky cropping to get a clear view of the east.

The lake is large but not so large that you couldn't see the ends of it. You could reach the north shore and come back before the next day has gone too far. Somewhere in the north you can barely make out a plume of smoke.

On the eastern shore there's a forest which goes on further than you know. Somewhere in the far distance beyond the forest there's a tree that rises as high as the western mountains. It's difficult to know how far it is. The skytree seems to be surrounded today by some green clouds. That's something you haven't seen before.

To the south the lake stops at some cliffs. You hear there's rapids there and another lake that's lower. The rangers call it lake Littlesea.

You know a couple of gnomes have made boats and you try to see if you can find them but they're nowhere to be seen. Instead you can see a field of dead reeds on the shore. Suddenly you catch a glimpse of something moving there. It's too distant to see it clearly and it's seemingly trying to stay in cover.

In the sky there's a few birds. One of the birds seems to be hunted by what looks like a luminescent pixie or something similar. They're far distant.

You're at aj03, near Notagem. The sun is up and it's close to falling behind mountaincover.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly creeps near a tree (or a rock??) to blend in with a singular object. She tries to peer at whatever is in the reeds. She tries to estimate how big it is. And perhaps, if she just stares long enough, maybe she can make out some details?

I don't know what aj03 refers to. Is there some sort of map I missed?

perception: [roll0]

[Smilex]

aj03 is a coordinate yes. There's no maps because gnomes don't really know how to make proper maps yet but if you at some point want to figure out where a place is relative to another, the coordinates will give you a slightly better idea.

You settle behind some rocks. Rocks are safe. Plants, not so much. You watch for a while to observe a gnome-sized dark creature walk on two legs partially submerged in icy water. It wanders in the reeds for a while and settles to lie in the water.

The shore and the creature are about forty meters away and you're pretty sure the creature hasn't observed you.

You remember some vague stories about bestial changes that faerie magic has done to gnomes that were punitively driven out of the vault. They say wild magical effects used to be stronger and more common.

Other stories tell of rangers seeing creatures that were almost but not quite gnomes. The old chief commanded some such creatures called xvarts.

Or maybe it's a large dark beaver. You've seen such a creature once with your own eyes.

[WindStruck]

Huh. Yeah, it was still kind of hard to make out. Wasn't the water kind of cold? Maybe it was just an animal.

Well, if it was just lying down...

Hushedfly opts to wait a while. If whatever this creature is keeps lying still in the water, she slowly approaches, provided there is cover. That is, she tries to quietly move to another object to hide behind. Being 40-50 feet away from the creature is a good distance.

stealth: [roll0]
and advantage: [roll1]

perception: [roll2]

[Smilex]

The air is cool and so must the water be. There's still some ice floating farther in the lake. Not much of it, but a bit.

The creature looks more and more to have a gnomish shape as you approach it. It's skin is very dark green, almost black. It's naked and it lies in the water with its face down. There's no sign of movement from the creature.

At this point you notice there's a whispering horn-like sound that comes when the wind hits the dead reeds. Bird sounds are slowly decreasing.

At this point you're maybe ten feet from the edge of the water.

[WindStruck]

Like this creature in the water, Hushedfly was also naked. This was her preference, however, so that every part of her skin would blend in with her surroundings. Hm, its face was in the water for a while now... Either this person could breathe water somehow, or they were probably dead.

Why lay down like that? Perhaps some sort of magic compulsion? Hm, maybe something to do with the reeds. In any case, if something was compelling them to end their own life, Hushedfly did not feel she wanted to do that. Her will wasn't overwhelming or absolute in the matter, but yeah. She was pretty sure she preferred living instead of drowning herself.

Welp, this would make an interesting story to tell her family, but it was somewhat disappointing that this was here to foil her plans. If the water was so cold, she probably wouldn't be in it long anyway. Something was to the north, too. From the smoke, a fire? Probably trouble. Hushedfly decided to head south towards the cliffs and rapids. First she moves away from the water for better cover, in case something was lurking in or near the water. She treads silently and cautiously, as always.

[Smilex]

Let's say that your character's faerie blood makes her more ok with cool temperatures. She doesn't have cold resistance but she's not bothered by moving around au naturel in refrigerator temperatures. She would probably be more troubled by high temperatures that would be ok for a human. This is just a flavour decision, no rules effects.

You turn your path towards the south. For about an hour you travel without catching sight of anything that interesting. The sun goes behind the mountains. It's technically still day but the light is dimming down.

You continue to circle around the lake while keeping distance to the water. Eventually you start small rodents among the rocks. They come out at twilight. Nothing too curious about them.

You come to the cliffs that separate the higher lake from the lower one and here you almost stumble into another whispergnome. It's Grimdog. He's having a snack, a recently caught vole that he's eating raw. He's sitting, looking south over the lower lake, almost invisible while leaning on a rock, camouflaged by his skin. He's got traveling gear, obviously meaning to be away for a while.

The sight is impressive. The way down isn't a single drop, but the ground level drops about 35 meters at a distance of 150 meters. There's several drops of a few meters. Beyond is the lake Little Sea and looking into the distance you can kind of make out how somewhere far in the south another set of cliffs makes the far shore of this lake. Beyond that should be the actual ocean.

If you continue to the east you will come to the rapids though you've never seen them, only heard of them.

[WindStruck]

Oh, Grimdog. Yes, he had said he was going to the south to explore, hadn't he? Funny that she should see him here, though.

Hushedfly considered sending a message. Maybe something as simple as 'good luck' or 'stay safe', but then again, what would be the point? She stood behind her rock for a long time, watching him eat and gazing at the scenery and just agonizing over the decision. But eventually, Grimdog had finished his snack, and she still hadn't said anything.

...

Maybe it would just be better to be completely invisible. To never be seen. To have never even existed. No, stop thinking that.

Eventually, Hushedfly lets Grimdog be on his way without so much as a goodbye. She decides that she would like to see these 'rapids' to the east.

[Smilex]

In a few minutes Grimdog picks up his things and starts walking climbing down toward the lower lake. He seems oblivious to having ever been watched.

You continue on your way. In just a few minutes you reach the rapids. The waters of Lake Mask leak over in a waterfall that collects in a small pool about 4 meters below. From there the water quickly flows down between rocks only to reach a second waterfall. A third, the largest one plummets straight into lake Littlesea.

The rocks are slippery from the water in the area. You might be able to jump over to the other side but in the dim twilight it would not be that easy. It would take acrobatics.

Occasionally you can hear a crash as a piece of ice falls over the waterfall and gets crushed on the rocks below. Interestingly you also hear something that sounds like animal noises in the water. For lack of a better word it sounds like a whinny.

In the eastern horizon you can see a tiny bit of a pale blue glow. There's not enough light to figure out any shapes or such but there's a light source there.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly would like to climb down to the first pool below if she feels it's relatively safe and doable, and also if she doesn't think she'll be hit by any falling pieces of ice. She'd like to take a dip in that pool and rest. But then again, it still might be annoying with the sudden sounds of crashing ice interrupting the ambient noise every now and then.

Then those whinny noises start. Hushedfly tries to pinpoint where exactly that noise is coming from, and what might be making it.

perception: [roll0]

[Smilex]

You spend a while looking for a safe way down. Eventually you find a spot that seems safe enough and you cautiously descend to the level of the first pool.

The pool is about 25 times 6 meters in general size though it's slightly triangular. You suspect you could swim through the pool without being caught in a current but the occasional block of ice falling from above doesn't seem safe. The next pool further down might be safer.

You try to seek the source of the whinny. It seems to come from near the water and it's only there occasionally. You close in on the actual rapids and when you're only a couple of meters from the water gushing between the rocks then you catch sight of the source.

In the foam of the water you catch the head of an animal. Your first thought is there's a horse swimming in the water. You freeze out of surprise for a moment. When you see the creature again it looks more like the water is the head of an animal, a horse to be more exact. And as soon as you make out it's form, it dissipates again.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly blinks. ...some kind of... water spirit? Maybe it enjoyed the foam of the rapids?

She wondered.. was it nice? Hushedfly gingerly approaches the foaming water and runs her fingertips through it.

[Smilex]

You seek out the thing with your hand and touch its head. You feel not just the foamy and frothing water splash but there's something solid, like threads in the form.

The thing reacts to the touch. It tosses its head and tries to bite at you but it's sluggish, slow, as if tired. It seems to react reflexively.

It pushes its form upwards and rising from between the rocks it does look like a watery horse. You're not entirely sure if it actually knows what and more importantly where you are.

Please give me a roll for iniative in addition to whatever else you choose to do next.

[WindStruck]

Ack! Now Hushedfly wasn't sure what she was dealing with. Not a creature of water. Something in it?? Maybe not enjoying the water, either. Struggling?

But still, it wasn't happy with her presence at all, apparently. Even if it needed help, seemed she couldn't do anything. Especially if it was coming after her.

Hushedfly quickly withdraws from the creature, backing away from the water, and remains motionless for a while, hoping it just doesn't see her or come after her.

initiative: [roll0]

Using disengage action. And...

Stealth: [roll1]

Advantage: [roll2]

[Smilex]

The creatures moves first, but seems to be unaware of exactly where you are. It lumbers over you dripping water and looks for you waving its head around.

From the slow speed of the creature's movements you suspect you could outdistance it easily.

At this point you rush from under it and withdraw to a further distance.

Finally it seems to catch your form. Seeing you rapidly distance yourself it says sluggishly in sylvan
-Come quick. Come to the water where it's safe. The panther will get you otherwise.

And almost immediately after you hear the growl of a panther somewhere in the darkness behind you.

[WindStruck]

What? This had to be some sort of trick! It was just trying to bite her and could barely see where she was now! How did it know about some panther further away?

insight: [roll0]

Needless to say, Hushedfly's initial assumption is that the creature is lying and wants to lure her into the water to eat her.

[Smilex]

Seeing that you're not lured in the creature withdraws back into the water.
-Don't blame me when the panther gets you.

While it seemed slow to begin with, it seems to be lacking even more vitality now. Once it's back in the water it doesn't even whinny anymore.

Now there's only the sounds of water falling and a deepening darkness. Clouds are flowing from the southwest and they're covering the moon and stars.

The animal noise seemed too pertinent. Also it seemed kind of limited, as if created by a spell effect. You now only see the distance of darkvision.

[WindStruck]

Ah yes. It was a trick even Hushedfly could have done herself, creating illusionary sounds. The creature's ruse was rather transparent, just like it.

"Why do you want to hurt me? I'm sorry to have bothered you," she says, maybe confused about its motives. Or maybe they didn't matter to begin with.

Hushedfly wondered if the creature could even hear her still, though it probably wasn't a good idea to linger here.

[Smilex]

There's no longer any answer from the creature.

Your insight fails to suggest a reason.

You suspect it can't know where you are and you could, with a bit of acrobatics, cross the rapids over the wet rocks.

You could also go further down. There might be a better place to cross there.

Or you could continue your way south on the western shore of lake Littlesea.

In the far east the pale blue glow continues.

As you're evaluating the situation you notice a flickering flame in the darkness, somewhere far below and to the east. It moves as if carried by someone who must be either on a boat or on the shore of the lower lake.

You're still at aj03.
You're starting to become aware that you'll become hungry soon. Carrying no rations you need to forage regularly.

[WindStruck]

Well, this was probably about as far as Hushedfly wanted to go for now... though maybe, if she wanted to cross, there'd be an easier way to the north, via a swim?

She'll climb back up the rocks the way she came, and walk along the shore of Mask lake a bit. She'll even try going for a swim there. Whether or not she actually crosses will depend on how far it is to the other side and if there is a current. But in any case, she had been wanting a little swim the whole time anyway.

[Smilex]

'The night is safe' the rangers say.

The most trouble Hushedfly has is locating the place where it was easy to get back up to the higher area of the cliffs.

The shore of Mask Lake is pleasant in the night. CLoud cover eventually breaks and in moonlight she can see the fish come in to nibble at things they find in the mud close to shore.

When she's having a swim, nothing bothers her. It's just her and the emptiness of water. Hushedfly isn't a very strong swimmer so she's not going too far out. But when she sticks her head underwater and dives for a moment that's the most calm she's ever had.

When she starts to get cold she eventually comes back up and starts back to shore. At that point she hears the wailing. At first there's just surprise, despite she knows about the possibility of hearing the sound. But the sound has such an emotional, blood-curdling quality. It feels colder than the icy water even at this distance.

It's not the lake itself that screams. The sound definitely seems to come from across the lake, to the north-east. The wailing only continues for a minute or so, but it feels like a long minute.

After that there's a message in your head.
-When you break the water surface, people can hear you from afar.
You immediately recognize the blunt and direct style of your father.

[WindStruck]

Oh, it was her father! He must be close, considering that he was able to send her a message.

Hushedfly responds: Hello, Father. Where are you?

She could do this, as a response was almost always possible, even if you didn't know where the original sender was. As for his advice, well, she really tried to make as little noise as possible when swimming. But she supposed that she messed up a bit this time.

Quietly wading to shore, she shivered a bit as she looked around, though it would be difficult to locate her father without a hint, no doubt.

perception: [roll0]

[Smilex]

Arclight walks to the shore to greet you. He scowls, which is common. His looks usually vary between disappointment, anger, annoyment and hidden rage. He's an intimidating sort but he's never threatened you in any way. Rather he's taken great care of you throughout your life and taught you about silence and stealth. Intimidation is just how he channels his sorcerous charisma.

He's got black dragon bloodline traits. His hair is wild and kept loosely in check by a leather cord. His feet are scaly black though the black doesn't look reptilian but has an oily tint.

While looking at you he casts another message. He basically never speaks.

-If you slide into the water you avoid splashes. If you wary the speed of your slide, you decrease the waves you cause.

For a moment he just lets his frowns drop and you a content smile on his face and there's a small nod which your recognize as acknowledgement of your stealthiness.

-You look hungry. Have you forgotten to hunt? Your mockery spell could easily get you bats, rabbit or fish. Here, have some jerky.

Finally he continues...

-When you're done with your travels for the night, you should come and see what the mites have under our vault.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly gladly accepts some jerky and she message back, 'Thank you. Have you been following me?' Seems like the obvious answer would be yes, but who knew, really?

She honestly felt bad about using the mockery spell. She accidentally discovered its power one day and hurt someone. Since then, she has taken even more care to not insult anyone, or just avoid people completely. There was a reason she usually came back from her little excursions quite hungry. She couldn't bring herself to do this on an unsuspecting creature. And besides! It wasn't stealthy.

Hushedfly sat down with her father a while and chewed on the jerky. She messaged: 'Will you be home later?'

I'm curious about the family situation. Does she have a mother, or was that some kind of Fae? Grandparents? Siblings?

Or should I make this up?

[Smilex]

-No. I was hunting.

For a while he just sits and watches you eat.

-Yes. Your mother will want whatever I catch fresh.

Your mother is Anydots, a forest gnome. She's considered the best tanner and leatherworker in the clan by many. She's also the half-sister to the current chief. She's an emotional, melancholy individual. Anydots is usually pushing herself with work because it settles her mind.
Despite your father being a sorcerer, you think your bloodline powers are actually from your mother's side. Her side of the family has many bear totem barbarians. Maybe one of the earlier generations mixed up with a spirit bear or something.
Your family exists in an interesting interesting situation in the tribe. Your father was one of the closest allies to the old chief. Most of chief Fey-tricker's allies are now clearly considered socially undesirable by the majority of the tribe. Because your mother is close kin to the current chief, Almondgrape, your family is still in the middle of things.
When your father is hunting, he usually does it with ray of frost. Sometimes he hunts with sling and true strike cantrip.


The moment continues for a while. You just sit side by side. Then he rises and messages to you.
-I think I heard a rabbit.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly continues to sit a while and watches as Arclight does his thing. It's not that she didn't want to help or was lazy.. Okay, well, she was lazy, but in this case she likely wouldn't contribute anything, or could even hinder her father's hunt.

And so she just sat still, and quiet, blending in with the ground, and waited to see how her father's hunt went. Or perhaps he wouldn't be back?

[Smilex]

Hushedfly watches as her father slowly creeps out of the range of her darkvision.

For a while she expects her father is going to appear again. ...That doesn't seem to happen.

Somewhere in the far distance there's the sound of a small avalanche.

A while later the wailing on the lake happens again.

Looking at the moon... it's probably not even midnight yet.

Notagem should be just a couple of minutes away. Where to next?

[WindStruck]

Admittedly, Hushedfly was a little disappointed when her father did not return. But she supposed he was busy.. doing something actually useful for the tribe and all that.

She was content to laze and sit there for a while, but eventually she felt a little bored. Looking for some purpose to her outing, or perhaps even her existence, curiosity compelled her to stand up and stretch when that wailing came from across the lake again.

Maybe she might catch a glimpse of something if she walked a bit northward? Or then again, almost certainly not. But in any case, Hushedfly felt like wandering north, so north she went.

[Smilex]

The terrain isn't really difficult as such, but there's hills. You see fine with your darkvision, but the distance is limited. This makes it a little bit difficult to optimize the route. You're sure one could find a more direct path than what you end up taking but you feel no hurry.

At one point you hear a bear somewhere to the west, but there's little to be gained from arguing with a bear so you end up continuing north a little longer.

The lake remains steadily on your right for a good while but then you reach the point where the lake simply ends. Now there's just hills. And at that point you hear the most curious sound. It is a series of clanking noises. They stop for a while and in a few moments they restart.

You sneak a little bit closer and you get to a small hilltop from which you can hear the sound better. A little bit beyond the edge of darkvision in the moonlight you can barely make out something moving. And when it's moving, it's steps are making the sound you've been hearing.

At this point you only detect one creature and its size is not much larger than you are.

[WindStruck]

At this point, Hushedfly could continue staying in place, listening for a while, to some rhyme or reason to the pattern.

Or, this probably being the case, if she felt it was reasonably safe, she could creep a bit closer until whatever this was was just within the range of her dark vision.

[Smilex]

You stealthily approach a little bit closer and you see a small flatter area between the hills. There is a gnome-sized humanoid. The individual has a widebrimmed hat and their feet glitter occasionally in the moonlight. When they walk around, there comes the clanking noise you've been hearing.

In the area there are a number of corpses on the ground. They seem to belong to a number of creature types. There's large many legged creatures with exoskeletons and long tails. There's mediumsized humanoids. There's a few canine creatures. Finally there are plant things with large stalks and larger bulbs at the top https://i.imgur.com/tEgYhLz.png.

The walking individual is examining each corpse thoroughly. They don't seem to be particularly alert so you don't feel like you're close to being discovered.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly does not get closer, but she does continue observing for a while in confusion and/or fascination. She wonders, did this person kill all these things?

[Smilex]

The individual continues their examination for a while. At times you hear exclamations like:
-Bumnuggin owlpellets!
-Bleeding thieves!
-Crock and crickets!
-Vampires, why did it have to be vampires?

Finally he grabs one of the canine creatures and starts dragging it towards the position where you are. As he comes closer it looks like the animal is a coyote with its head crushed by something blunt.

As he's approaching you can see he's got metallic, likely silvery boots. Otherwise he's got a leather coat, a loin cloth and a straw hat. On his belt he seems to have a kusarigama. Oh, and he's got a single golden nipplering.

[WindStruck]

Uh oh.

Hushedfly tries to quietly slink away before this person gets too close and sees her.

stealth: [roll0]

advantage: [roll1]

[Smilex]

You retreat back to the top of the hill and beyond where you notice he stops at the lower part of the hill.

He climbs on top of a large rock and lifts the coyote up from its hindlegs until the coyote is hanging and he ties it into that position.

Then he proceeds to lower himself back down. Then he makes a cut with his sickle into the neck of the coyote. Finally he removes his hat and lays it down to catch the blood that's coming out from the coyote.

And then he sits down and waits.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly's curiosity was far outweighed by her caution. She may have wanted to send a message inquiring what he was doing, but that would alert him to her presence.. even if he might not know where she was at the moment. And it seemed this person could be dangerous, too.

For now, however, she decided to get her information simply by watching silently.

something about vampires. Does Hushedfly have any idea what that is?


Religion: [roll0]

Also now that he took his hat off, is he more like a gnome or something else?

[Smilex]

There were no undead in Faerie. The whole world was suffused with vitality of life so there was no way for undead to exist. Also technically religion was nonexistent too. No gods were known. Hence, no clerics or paladins either.

The individual looks like a gnome, but you're not quite sure of his subrace. His jaw is quite strong. He's a bit on the hairy side though all hair is short.

Both of you spend quite a bit of time just waiting. Eventually he drinks some of the blood he's poured out.

-Coyote, poor boy, we're just passing through history.

Then he puts the hat back on his head which results in the rest of the cloggy blood falling all over the rest of him. Then he simply rips off a front leg from the coyote and starts eating it.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly grimaces to herself, feeling like she has seen enough. She still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, aside from the obvious: that this gnome was consuming a corpse.

She decides to head back to Notagem on a more direct south-southwestward route, foraging for a bit of food on the way. She'd prefer something like nuts, mushrooms, roots, berries, or maybe even grubs.. but no animals.

survival: [roll0]

[Smilex]

It's relatively early spring in a relatively rocky, mountainous territory. Fare's poor. Digging for roots is also difficult with no tools. Even the insects haven't woken after winter.

You do find a few shrubberies which you can make sprout leaves with druidcraft. The leaves, you know, can be used as tea or as material for a herbalist's poultice.

You also find a few goats that are sleeping. You know that some of the clan members are experimenting with herding them and growing them for a regular milk source.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly might be lying to herself if she thought she wasn't even a little disappointed, but what the heck. It's not like she was a 'ranger' or anything. And it made sense that there's not really anything to eat just lying around. As long as the sprouted leaves weren't appealing to eat immediately, she wasn't really interested either. Oh well.

While she passes by the goats quietly without waking them, she does, however, make a mental note about them. Perhaps Hackbar would be interested in these goats. Hushedfly should probably at least tell her about them.. assuming she seemed to be in a good mood and interested in the information.

Before making it all the way back to Notagem, Hushedfly rests a while, gazing up at the stars and maybe she even naps. The quiet and solitude was something precious out here, and perhaps something she wished would last forever. It couldn't. But she'd rather prolong it.

[Smilex]

You find a ledge that's difficult to see from the surrounding areas and protected from the worst of wind. You lie down looking at the stars. At one point you see some large birdlike thing cross the moon and you wonder what that was.

You've walked a long way in difficult terrain and you're quite tired. It's no surprise when the sleep comes.

It's a deep dreamless sleep. Relaxing. Still, you wake up feeling very cold. While moving it's easy to stay warm, but after the sleep you're shivering.

It's still night. From the place of the moon you suspect that dawn can't be too far off. You realize there was a noise that woke you up. THere's a series of small rock slides. Something big is moving close by.

[WindStruck]

Ah! Hushedfly hoped it was just one of those goats or a bear or something.

She tries to stay as still as possible and not shiver, hoping this thing passes without noticing her.

[Smilex]

The sound of falling rocks draws nearer and nearer.

An enormous face of rock leans forward to look at you from behind another ledge and looks straight at you. It speaks gnomish.

-Hello. I am Chrnogor!

A stony appendage comes to view beside the face and twists into a slightly bent shape.

-Look! My arms are huge!

[WindStruck]

Drat, Hushedfly was seen. Somehow, this huge rocky being knew exactly where she was! Her father probably wouldn't be happy about that. But at least Chrnogor seemed friendly!

"H-hell-lo.." Hushedfly stammers, partly from cold and partly from fear. "Y-y-yes.. th-they are q-quite big.."

[Smilex]

Chrnogor emits a weird crackling sound and continues.
-Chrnogor rules the mountains.
-If it jiggles, it's fat. See... No fat!

He shakes his 'arms' and indeed there's no jiggling, just a rain of pebbles.

There's another crackling sound which might be laughter and the thing continues...
Did you find those gnomes you were looking fo?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly blinks, rather confused. "Umm.. I w-wasn't l-looking for a-anyone. I w-was sleeping," she tries to say as matter-of-factly as possible.

Thinking perhaps an introduction was in order she says, "M-my name is Hushedfly." Though she was still awkwardly laying there on the ground.

[Smilex]

-Nice to meet you... Hushedfly. Chrnogor is pleased. You're sleeping close to the nest, not in the nest. Why? Nest is safe for little gnome. Gnomes in the ground, not over.

Chrnogor pauses and looks around.

-Black ones and goblins wander here. No more purple ones though.

[WindStruck]

It took a little while of thinking for her answer:

"Oh, um. I leave the 'nest' because .. it's.." Hushedfly shifts a little uncomfortably. "I just like it better out here."

"What do you mean black ones and purple ones?"

[Smilex]

-Well, you. You children of the ground. What are you anyway? Don't you usually have sleeves? Where are your sleeves?

-Yes. The guys that were looking for their friends had sleeves. You're not one of them.

-Did someone take your sleeves? Did the bad guys take your sleeves? Was it the goblins?

-Goblins, I tell you. They're no good. No good at all.

[WindStruck]

"No one took anything from me. Bad guys haven't found me," Hushedfly says. "I guess I just never had sleeves. Don't worry, I don't want any.."

Was the giant talking about clothes? Hm, probably.. Sleeves were a part of a clothing after all. As for his first question, she wasn't sure.

"Um.. I don't understand. Don't you know what I am? You said little gnome.. ground child.. Is something wrong?"

[Smilex]

Of course I know what you are. You speak the true language so you're one of the children of the ground. But what are you? A selkie? There's so many of you! We saved so many of you!

You think something is wrong? Nothing is wrong. We won! Faeries escape. No more lords! No more ladies! No more rain of blood. No more cullings of the walking. You see any bad guys, I'll take care of bad guys.

Chrnogor flexes both of his 'arms' and emits another crackling sound.

I won! But you know... It's not about winning. It's about maintaing a hard surface and a hard interiori. That way you always win. You grow up to be like me. You can beat an archfae, guaranteed.

You know what. I'll tell you a secret. The secret to hardness is pressure. You need as much pressure as you can get. That way you get hard, tough... Like me!

And then Chrnogor emits another crackling sound.

-Have you seen any fat gnomes? I'm looking for a gnome who's pro-fat.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly was growing more confused.

"Um.. I don't think I'm a Selkie??" What was a Selkie?

"Are you saying there was a fight with the Faeries? You fought against them?" That would explain why they disappeared? "I don't think any of us really knew what happened. We were all underground many years ago.."

"Fat gnomes? Um. Maybe in the 'nest'. Why are you looking for one?"

[Smilex]

-Selkies, them swimming gnomes. All that swimming so sleeves would get in the way. ... Or was that spriggans? Hmm... Redcaps?...Svirfneblin? ... There's so many of the chosen.

-Yes I fought! And conquered. We beat the Faeries. No Pity, no remorse. Faeries can't stop me.

-And you fought too. The rebellion. The fights against the fomorians. The shakings of the pillars! The pulling of roots! Underground, that's where you can win a fight against faeries. That's where the roots are. You got to get them by the roots.

-Let me tell you about fat. Fat's waste. When I was a young elemental I was full of oil. I sloshed when I moved. That's when I learned about pressure. Most elementals live in places full of crystals and meditation and geoids and all of that. Stale, calcified. So many oily guys. That's a place with no pressure.

... They say pressure creates chaos. They say that no movement is best, is most solid. But you got to have change to make you better. You got to go through the pressure to turn yourself into a winner. Besides you know what oil is? It's just dead ents! Pressure got that right out of me. Those fights against fomorians, wrestling a fomorian in a volcano, that was pressure.

[WindStruck]

"Uhm.. R-right..." Hushedfly says.

"H-hey, do you know how to whisper? Like whisper, really quietly, so no one else can hear you? Maybe I can show you a neat trick."

She tries to cast message, briefly pointing at Chrnogor: 'Like this.'

[Smilex]

Chrnogor waves his hands around his head and looks around.
He answers to the message.
-Who's there?
Then he looks at you and points at you emitting another crackling sound.
The message continues.
-That's a good trick. Let me show you one.

He sinks into the ground and his face reemerges on the ledge you are on in a way that you're on his forehead.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly gasps and begins to climb to her feet before realizing it was Chrnogor's .. face?

"Oh! W-wow... That is a good trick," she says.

"You are like one with the Earth. Have you seen our home like that?"

[Smilex]

Chrnogor makes a weird expression that's difficult to read given that he's an earth elemental and you're viewing his face upside down.
-No. I am the boss of the mountain. I don't wander around like... like a sylph. I am Chrnogor, son of Chugush. I stand over the land.

Then he goes uncharacteristically quiet.

[WindStruck]

"Oh. Sorry.." Hushedfly says. Whether it was the bringing up of an uncomfortable subject or simply the fact that she got Chrnogor's duties wrong, it seemed pretty evident that the elemental was not happy anymore.

An awkward silence filled the air as Hushedfly simply sat on Chrnogor's forehead.

[Smilex]

Chrnogor stays quiet for a while. Then he relatively quietly mutters
-There might be goblins running in the western passes. I must go but I'll be back to watch this side too. If you see any fat or pro-fat gnomes, send them to me. I'll teach them about pressure.

Then the creature's face fades and you're back on a normal ledge by yourself. The sun is still not in the eastern horizon but it must be close.

You're still cold and a new cloudcover is forming in the south suggesting new rain might not be too far off. Hunger is also creeping in again.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly waits a little while, but seems the elemental is really gone for now. Hm, she didn't know what to think of the whole interaction. Normally she wouldn't be approaching something like that or be engaged in such a conversation, but it was kind of forced on her. Better a conversation with a jovial earth elemental than something else that would want to eat or squish her. She decides she just might seek Chrnogor out later, but probably not in the very near future. He wasn't a gnome from her tribe, and the same politics and drama, bragging and pontification, nagging and disapproval wasn't something that annoyed her. But on the other hand, maybe he was too much. In so many different ways.

Hushedfly sighed. What would she rather have as a companion? A lifeless stone?

She sat on her protected ledge a while longer, watching the clouds as they rolled in from the south. The cold was something she was used to.. mentally anyway. The cold was something she was far more willing to endure than going back. The chill and the breeze and the hard, cold hard ground beneath her were all unique sensations that helped describe and know her environment. It wasn't just an uncomfortable, negative feeling that should be avoided. Though she still found herself shivering again.

Hushedfly waits for the first hints of dawn to approach on the horizon. Or the rain. Maybe she'd like to get rained on before she headed back. Notagem wasn't too far, after all.

Sounds like exhaustion levels will be coming. That's fine.

Would I be making a constitution save?

Just in case: [roll0]

[Smilex]

I'm assuming you ate well before leaving for your travels so you're not yet in exhaustion territory. You just rested and while the weather has been cold we kind of went to the direction that your character is rather ok with cool temperatures. There's definite discomfort at this point but collapse is not near.

Also, yes, Chrnogor is a bit much, lol.

It turns out that the rain comes before the dawn. It starts as a slow, surprisingly warm drizzle.

After enjoying the rain and moistening her mouth with the steady flow of droplets you eventually start back towards Notagem. Eventually orange conquers the horizon and you start seeing to a larger distance. You make note that the ledge you slept on was a part of the largest mountain in the close vicinity. Rangers call it Black Peak.

The better lighting allows you to correct your course a little bit and you're back home at the moment sun starts to actually crown in the east.

A couple of gnomes who have been fishing through the night are returning at the same time. You find the two gnomes who were in the nightshift, supposedly keeping watch... they're actually asleep. There's a distinct smell of wine.

[WindStruck]

Sneaking past the watch was going to be a challenge Hushedfly had anticipated... Well, apparently not.

Hushedfly enters after the two fishers, and she discreetly makes her way inside the caves, sticking to walls and shadows and such whenever possible. She stays still whenever there are people passing by. She's trying to head home, wherever her mother would be when she goes to rest. Hopefully she'd be able to see her mother before she slept.

Hushedfly always tries to sneak in and out. But of course, sometimes she gets seen. It's a fairly awkward situation for sure, one which she often tries to avoid with yet more stealth, rather than.. conforming.

[Smilex]

Most people in Notagem live in the higher caves. Moving through this area you are noticed by a couple of gnomes but nobody bothers you with more than a quick 'hi'.

Your family has an area of your own in the lower known territory. Nobody really knows all the passages. There's a waterway near your dwelling. You can hear the flowing water if you stop to listen from where you sleep.

Anydots is tying pieces of leather to hang out to dry. She's calm, working in her own pace, lovingly. She's got your little brother swaddled next to her. He's quite furry, obviously taking after mother's side.

You have a visitor. She's Highpick the warrior. She's staring at your father.
-I think you should take responsibility for Fey-tricker's actions. You did support him for a century.
Arclight messages something back to her.
-I didn't see any fomorians. It was just a bunch of xvarts.
Again the answer is messaged.
-So now you're hiding behind the new chief?
...
-The young braves saved me and with your powers they could've been able to save Crystal too.
...
-And Buffalove.
...
-The Chief hasn't acted yet and there's no reason to believe he's going to.
...

You get the feeling that the conversation is moving in circles.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly quietly moves to a corner behind Highpick and sits, beginning to blend in with these surroundings.

She didn't interrupt the conversation at all. She just listened, trying to piece the conversation together with the one side she could hear. At least she knew what her father was like.

[Smilex]

You notice that Arclight is very much annoyed by the conversation and you gather that the discussion has continued for a while. As soon as Arclight notices you, he casts a spell. The result of the spell is that Highlight rushes up from the bench she was sittin on and runs away in fear.

He stands up and brings you a bowl full of nuts and pieces of roots and some fish eggs. Then he brings you a claycup of water.

Anydots asks:
-So how was your night? If you want, you can clean yourself with sand in the next room or would you like to warm yourself under a wolf pelt?

For a while a normal scene is set. Everybody is just ... being theirselves.

Anydots is the first to break the silence.
-Dear, you didn't need to listen to her. Almondgrape is the chief now and we support the chief.

Arclight messages her something and then to you.
-I feel like I should do something.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly accepts the food and drink and sits on the pelt. Warming up for now! Definitely warming up.

"It was good," she simply says, very softly. When it came to her family, she didn't bother using messages. She felt there really was no need to, and it was a bit of a hassle to send a message to everyone. This would be especially true when her little brother got older. "I saw some interesting things if you are willing to listen.."

"What is happening?" she asks.

[Smilex]

Anydots starts explaining with a feverish pace.
-Highpick wants your father to go look for the two lost gnomes - Buffalove and Crystal. She blames the old chief and everyone associated with him for their disappearance. Just because she thinks that it doesn't make it something we need to care about. She can't just burst in to our home and start ranting. I mean I'm sorry that she was kidnapped by xvarts along with the two others but she's safe now and we're happy about that. ...
Arclight never controlled xvarts. They might have been Fey-Tricker's allies but not ours. If anything Highpick should be blaming herself. I mean she was their guide when they went exploring. Who comes into peoples homes and behaves like that?

Anydots pouts. Arclight frowns and messages something to her and then to you:
I went to look in the southwest at the hive where the young braves saved Highpick. There were no more xvarts there. The area was taken over by nekkers. Those creatures don't work together. I don't know where the xvarts or the captives might be now.

Anydots starts to work with leather again and continues:
-All the more reason she can't expect you to do more.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly merely shrugs. Yes, she agreed it would be pretty presumptuous to assume her father had anything to do with this, and also rude for the other to barge into their home flinging around accusations. She was beginning to feel annoyed again, probably like her family.

"Wouldn't you need a large search party to have any chance?" she asked. Then she continued to chew on her food.

[Smilex]

Arclight messages you:
I'm happy you didn't have to see the times when the outside was truelly horrible. We've always lost gnomes. They rarely come back. Highpick doesn't realize how lucky she is. The ones who survive continue to multiply the clan. We grow from below. That's the way we maintain life.

Anydots shows you a pair of shoes that she's made. They've got pointy toes.
-Now that you're venturing outside... wouldn't you at least consider some shoes? There's all sorts of spiky and poisonous things there.

Arclight sends another message:
-The chief won't call for a search party. There's a small chance that some ranger might find a clue somewhere. I suppose Feytricker might also come back and he might have some information.

Anydots waits for a moment and says.
Most people like to wear clothes. I suppose there's a reason that young boy keeps looking for you here.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly shrugs noncommittally. The shoes would probably ruin her camouflage and ability to walk quietly. And besides, she could just be careful to avoid thorns and stuff, couldn't she? "Maybe later.." she says. It was kind of sad, Anydots was probably the best leatherworker in the whole tribe, yet her daughter had for the most part refused to wear anything she made.

She nods to her father and then looks curiously at her mother.

I'm guessing she means Grimdog, Poker, or Pre-pair.. or maybe she's referring to someone else that was never named yet!

[Smilex]

Gamemechanics-wise 'no armor' is sufficient to get the bonus but flavourwise you're of course correct. Carrying anything would make you more visible.

Anydots looks at the baffled faces of you and Arclight.
-I mean... There's mountains full of stone and yet he's been doing prospecting at a spot where he can see the path to our cave. He's been there for a month. You can't tell me neither one of you has noticed him.

You vaguely remember a meek-looking rockgnome nearby at the waterway. For the life of you, you can't remember his name but you do remember the weird combination of bulging miner's muscles and attempting to stay out of anyone's way. You remember going to get water from nearby and him just trying to do some sewing.

-You two. Always so deep in your heads. How do you observe so much and never notice these things? Sigh. ... I'm sorry. I'm still a bit on the edge.

Arclight goes and hugs her. Your brother interrupts the scene with some bawling. Anydots picks him up to nurse.

Arclight messages you
-I'm going to sleep. Do remember to visit the mites.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly nods to her father again.

Then she messages her mother: 'I was told the mites did or found something and I should have a look..'

She'll get up to leave.

[Smilex]

The mites are creatures you've seen a few times. They look like wrinkly dirty pale blue gnomes except they tend to have very bulbous, uneven features and patchy hair. They're usually about 50 to 70 cm in size. They tend to smell awful.

The mites live in a network of small tunnels below Notagem. They live out of and in the refuse of the gnome tribe.

You descend into the darkness. The tunnel is moldy and narrow. At one point you find a patch of rainbow-coloured slime which smells like honey and you avoid it. The climb is not physically difficult as the narrowness of the path makes it difficult to fall.

In a few minutes you find yourself in a chamber with a wet floor. The room smells like ammonia. You see worms wriggling in the mud. It's not the greatest way to end a day.

You see two ways out from the chamber. The first one is very wet and leads further down. The other one goes back higher. This path looks to have a series of insect egg pouches on its walls. All paths are made for creatures smaller than you but you can crouch through.

[WindStruck]

Suppose Hushedfly wouldn't know which way to go already? And crawling around like this is normal if you want to visit them?

Not sure which way to go, Hushedfly tries the path that descends first. She tries not to slip on the dampness, but guess that's hard when you're on all fours anyway...

[Smilex]

Mites are friends but they're not pleasant and until recently their presence was kept secret from most of the tribe. The few times Hushedfly would have seen them would have been when they'd come up and collect garbage.

There's a number of known paths to their territory. This is the one that's closest to where you live.

The muddy chute down continues only for a couple of meters and then there's a drop into a lower chamber.

Under the drop you can see a beautiful giant spider's web a meter below you. About a meter further below that there's a pool.

At the edge of the pool there's a ledge and on the ledge is sitting a wrinkly mite lady with sores all over her face. She's dressed in a carved out pumpkin and she's patting the back of a large spider. Given your stealthiness she hasn't noticed you.

[WindStruck]

After hesitating but thinking why else did she come here in the first place, Hushedfly raises a hand and points a finger, sending a message to the mite lady.

'Hello. I was told.. your people found something important?'

Well, those exact words weren't used, but if it wasn't important, why did her father insist that she come here twice?

[Smilex]

The pumpkin lady moves around looking in all directions in an exaggerated comical way.
-What are you? Are you a centipede or a spider? Maybe a scolopendra? We've got a home for you, yes. We can be great friends. Come here and mommy will give you yummies. Don't be afraid of my spidey here. She's only the third most venomous creature in this room.

Then she finally looks up and notices you. She gives out a surprised shout and jumps back. Then she starts talking gnomish.
-You've only got four limbs! A gnome has come to visit. Welcome! Jump down, we'll talk better when I don't have to bend back to look at you. It's an injury you see. My back hasn't been the same since I tried to imitate an earthworm and cracked it.

[WindStruck]

"J-jump down..? How am I supposed to get up, then?" Hushedfly asks, obviously quite weary of the situation. And there was also a giant spider web in the way too. Wouldn't she get stuck in it?

[Smilex]

-You could go that way. She points to the exit she's nearest.
-Or that way. She points to the other exit.
-Or maybe you'd like to climb back up the way you came? We so like to show you higher-ups all the ways of our world. She's got a look that seems like the most earnest thing ever but your insight tells you she's anything but.

-My sons can carry gnome manure by the bucket but I'm a bit light to carry you back up. Maybe the spider would do it?

She rises up and starts moving towards the exit that's farthest from her.

...


Mites, nobody's ever accused them of being pleasant. Your knowledge of the history between mites and gnomes is not the greatest but you know that they were very loyal to chief Feytricker for a couple of hundred years. For fey-origin creatures they're apparently trending lawful, but also, not pleasant.

Here's a suggestive image of the general type of creature we're dealing with:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/17/39/a31739b03458327fa47a3dffe70ef4e9.jpg

The following is info that might be actually spoilerish but you might already know it anyway depending on how wide your gamer knowledge is...
In most campaigns that deal with the era that corresponds to fantasy middle ages mites are traditional enemies of gnomes. This game exists in a time before the relationships turned that way. There's a few thousand years between the game moment and the standard mite of bestiaries. Other changes have also occurred through the years.


-Would you consider that a worm can go up and down the wall, even inside it. If a gnome is so much better than an earthworm, why can't a gnome crawl through the earth?

There's a temple down that way. She points to where she's slowly treading. But I can't show you what's there if you're up in that tunnel.

If you want to, you can roll acrobatics to dive into the pool between the web's strands or to tightrope the web to its edge and jump to the ledge. Or you could try something else.

[WindStruck]

Well, a bird could fly, and a fish could swim and breathe water. Could a gnome do any of those things? No. But she'd still say she'd rather be a gnome than a bird or a fish or a worm.

"I think I'll just, um, try a different way down. I would hate to ruin that beautiful spider web. It must have taken hours to make," Hushedfly says. It wasn't really the real reason Hushedfly didn't want to go down, but perhaps a reason this mite woman could appreciate.

[Smilex]

The pumpkinlady turns back with new cheer.
It is a fine web indeed. It's the type we use to catch garbage that flies down chutes. We filter everything. Never can know when there's perfectly good refuse just flowing in during a flood. This is the time of meltflow's, coldest most sporadic floods. We have to watch our webs carefully at times like these.

-Swivel here. She pats the spider again -She's the fifth strongest spinner we have. If you have an axe you could get through her web, but those strands are bound fifty times round each other. I've seen a fifty web stop a log in floodwaters.

She keeps droning.

-We don't get many logs here. It was good treasure. We usually have to spelunk far for quality stuff like that. That log is still the queen's bed.

She steps into the pool and... walks with her feet just a few centimeters under water.
-There's another, tighter web here, for smaller items, like stone tools if we're lucky. Below that there's a third one for things the size of a nut. That one's only five times twisted. It doesn't have to carry that much weight but it could catch an acorn.

Her leg slips through the web and she has to rise up again, which she does, laughing. Her movements are quite awkward. She doesn't look nimble to begin with and the pumpkin that's her clothes seems to limit her movements. -One needs to be a little careful with these. They can slip from under you. She can do sticky webs too but they wear her out. She beckons to the spider with her hands. -Would you help mummy out, dear?

The spider lifts her up and positions her back on the ledge.

[WindStruck]

"Um.. right, right, that is quite fascinating. I shall, um, try a different way down. ... ...bye?" Hushedfly says.

She backs up, crawling backwards. Once back in the place with the intersection, she tries the other way that seemed to go up, careful not to touch any of those insect sacks.

[Smilex]

You carefully avoid the eggsacs though not without a couple of close calls. You start hearing more and more insect noises and you finally come to another chamber.

On the sides of the chamber there are a number of very large cockroaches, one of them about as large as you. The floor of the chamber has a pool that reaches the edge of a hole that continues further down.

In the ceiling of the chamber there are five inflow chutes. From the smell of the pool you suspect some of them lead to holes that are used by gnomes for disposal of garbage or urine.

There's what looks like a crafted walkway on your right side a little higher from where you are. There looks to be a way out that way.

On your left there's what looks like two large holes in the wall were manually covered by packed earth.

Close by around one egg sac there's more of the rainbow colored goop you noticed earlier.

A final particular thing that you notice is that there seems to be a cockroach leg that's wiggling on its own at the chamber of the floor.

The chamber has a roundish shape. If you want to get to the filled holes or the crafted walkway without getting into the pool that should be relatively easy. To get to the holes in the ceiling would be quite difficult and require athletics. You're not sure how the cockroaches will react to you though.

[WindStruck]

Yeahno. Nope. Hushedfly didn't want to be contending with giant roaches as big as she was either...

She really didn't know what she was doing. Wouldn't that crafted walkway going up lead back away from mites anyway? She just sighed. This was all kind of scary and gross and claustrophobic.

Hushedfly decides to just go back home. Maybe if whatever the mites found was so damn important, her father would just tell her what it was.

[Smilex]

You climbed back home and after cleaning yourself up you had a pleasant day's sleep. Exhaustion brings deep sleep and there were no dreams.

Next evening came and you found yourself guarding your little brother while mother and father were gone. Your brother is called Sling. He's always easy and always positive. Even though he's not yet very good at talking, he's trying to approach you, to contact you, to understand you. His furry hugs are warm, honest and tickly.

During the early evening you noticed that the miner close to your home is peeking towards your home every now and then. But he does seem to be actually working with something, something that involves water.

Later on when your father came home he seemed frustrated. He messaged you that he had been trying to get the chief to start planning how to protect the vault. The chief had been more interested in the rapidly diminishing stores of fermented juices and soma. The months after the change in power had been filled by festivities, playing around and everyone more or less doing what they wanted.

When you asked your father about what the mites had found he first just messaged you that you should see it for yourself. When you pressed him on the issue he explained a little bit more:
-There's an enchanted boarhead the mites are guarding. The item seems to cause the dead to come back to life. Now the head is broken and the enchantment is also almost without power. But the real thing I wanted you to see was the place where they're keeping it and that place can not be explained.

The dead moving. That's not a magic that existed in faerie. Anything that died was rather rapidly devoured by something that still lived. Yet Arclight had told you that some of the fae ladies and lords had been looking for such magic. It had always failed in Faerie, but now the magic existed.

Whispergnomes were generally sending hexedmessages about the lack of wine or guesses regarding if Grimdog was going to come back alive. A new thread of conversation was going on about increased goblin sightings in the west.

It was all getting a bit much. Another day and you wake up to the next evening. What adventure would you have tonight?

[WindStruck]

I take it that the hexedmessages are something that behave rather custom? Normally the Message spell is only affects a single target within about 100 feet. So I guess while in Notagem, messages can go to all whispergnomes?

Hushedfly decides she'll head out again. Maybe she'll head east, and see the forest on the other side of the lake?

[Smilex]

It's the regular message spell technically. But the whisper gnome society is very gossipy. It's kind of a cultural hivemind thing. While technically the individuals like silence, they tend to mostly be silent towards outsiders. Within the in-crowd there's cultural competition for who gets to tell others about a new thing. The whisper gnomes are not anti-social rather they're insular and anyone who doesn't know the message spell can't penetrate how their social network functions.

Arclight would have explained to you the following:
The background to all of this is how during the times of slavery all whisper gnomes protected each other. For an individual it was difficult to know what the fae lords and ladies wanted because they were chaotic and evil. The nobles played games that were deadly to the individual. But if whisper gnomes spied on the nobles they could guide others that were in danger.

For example... Say a fomorian would order a slave to bring them apples to eat and then mention something about having changed their opinion, that they'd prefer grapes and would humiliate or destroy anyone that brought them apples... the whispergnome network could transmit info about the changed circumstances.

Protecting the network was crucial. If the fomorians found out about the message network, they would realize they were being manipulated and they would kill all whisper gnomes. Keeping all whisper gnomes loyal to the network used to be crucial. After the cataclysm it's just cultural. There's no strict necessity for continuing the hivemind behaviour but now it's just something that's always been done.


It's evening, though the sun is still over the mountains. It's a relatively cold, clear day. The wind is coming from the east which is not common. It's also dry. Druidcraft suggests no rain tonight.

There's birds in the sky, they're flying in from the south. The sky tree in the east is slowly starting to great the beginnings of new green leaves.


You know there's a chance to meet someone with a raft or a boat near the lake.
You know about the rapids with the kelpie to southeast.
You could also circle around the lake from the northside.
Which way do you head?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly takes it slow, and she tries circling around the lake from the north side. She'd prefer to keep away from that other gnome-like person with metal boots that was drinking blood and.. well, probably killed all the other stuff near it.

[Smilex]

You start towards northeast, staying at a safe distance from the shore but near enough that it doesn't create too much additional distance. There's a plume of smoke in the northeast and for a while you're travelling straight towards it.

In the first couple of hours the journey is uneventful. You see a few rabbits and a few goats from a distance but nothing particularly strange or interesting. Once you think you see a ranger scouting to your left on a hilltop but a moment later they're gone again.

You are moving closer to the lake than where you met the silverboot gnome and you don't see any sign of him. You keep as well hidden as you can and as twilight descends it's all the easier. When you're at the northest edge of the lake you find a furry humanoid next to the lake. They're filling leather flasks with water. They have more of a snout than a nose. Their head has a black and white striped pattern like that of a badger. Unlike any badger you've ever seen they have small horns though.

The area is a combination of small hills and brushland. It would be no difficulty to avoid the individual. They rise and start towards somewhere further from the lake, seemingly towards the origin of the smoke in the north. They seem unarmed and they've covered themselves in a loincloth. The flasks they're carrying with leather straps that go over their shoulders.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly observes the furry being for a bit, but ultimately leaves them alone. She'll continue walking along the edge of the lake.

[Smilex]

You watch as the badgerperson slowly walks up from the lakeside and passes you at a distance of about 20 m. You notice they're walking along a path. This is apparently a regular trip for them.

At about this point you feel the earth rumble a little. Onwards from where you're skulking about 40m away you see the earth start glowing green slightly. And then from the ground bursts up a roundish thing that's shedding green light. It keeps coming up and up and the you realize it's not moving as much as it's growing.

It looks to be an enormous turnip. It keeps growing though the pace decreases until it's about two meters high. Then it starts to grow a green stalk that pushes even higher, probably five or six meters high. Finally yellow flowers appear at the top. At this point the green glow slowly starts fading.

The badgerperson stops to look at the situation and stare, then they start northwards again, moving more briskly than before.

You've heard of this type of a thing. Sometimes a pocket of remaining faerie magic empties out through a growth spurt of local flora. Apparently it used to be more common. You've heard that for the first couple of hundred years these kinds of giant roots sustained the gnomes of the vault. The mines used to be extended in search of eatable roots as much as for any other reason.

[WindStruck]

Wow! Like the badgerman, Hushedfly was also thinking it's a good idea to keep her distance from that turnip. At least, for now. It might be an amusing thought to somehow roll that thing all the way back to Notagem, though honestly it would be a bad idea since it would no doubt be very noisy and attract a lot of attention doing that. As well as probably being tiring, if it was possible at all!

Well in either case, Hushedfly decides she'd rather continue on how she was going: eastward, to the forested side of the lake.

[Smilex]

You advance eastward.

As you move, the terrain starts to flatten and the brushes come more plentiful. In the final hour of twilight you see that towards northeast there's quite a flat area where the ground continues to slowly descend. Somewhere in the far distance you can barely see a small herd of some large shapes moving about.

When you turn your gaze right you notice the northeast part of the lake actually has an island. It's not far from the shore and it isn't particularly large though it has a small hill. From the other side of the lake it had kind of blended to the background but from here it's clear enough even in early moonlight. More interestingly you can see a white glowing shape move on the island. It looks to be slightly taller than a gnome but generally of the same shape.

It becomes more and more difficult to stay distant from the lake while following its shape. Eventually the brushes start becoming larger and scattered trees start to mix with the brushes. At this point it's getting really dark. You've never been close to a significant number of trees. You're aware of stories of walking trees attacking gnomes so moving in their midst becomes one of the spookiest things you've ever done. At times you feel like you see one of them take a few steps. Other times their creaking reminds you of snoring. Happily the woods are not thick at all. The trees are quite distant from each other. Even then they feel like they're pushing up to you.

When the wind happens to turn a little to come from the southeast you can hear the faint sound of music, somebody's playing pipes. The shore continues south. You're also quite near the island.

[WindStruck]

The island seemed like an interesting place to go.

Hushedfly would try to swim to the island, taking it pretty slow so as not to splash water or create big ripples.

[Smilex]

You carefully wade into the cold water. The island is not far, maybe thirty meters. You feel something scrape your leg. You look down. You brushed against a daggerlike horn. At the other end of the horn is the nose of a large creature. You see the rest of the creature's corpse lying in the shallow water. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0c/9c/a3/0c9ca3215b7d0c72dfd6754470a9859f.jpg
The creature looks intact. You can't see anything that would have made enough of an injury to kill such a huge beast.

At this point you hear a drizzle of water behind you. On your left, about twenty meters away there's what looks like a forest gnome peeing in the water. They seem to have goatlike legs and small horns on their head. The individual doesn't seem to have observed you. Instead they keep peeing and they start humming. It seems like a variation of the tune you heard coming from a distance. It's quite jaunty.

The island isn't too far. As you look to that direction you see two other rhino corpses in the water. On the highest point of the island seems to be an obelisk. You can mostly see it's shadow against the stars.

I'd like to ask you for a roll of arcane and another of history.

[WindStruck]

And suddenly, dead giant creatures and peeing gnomes! :smalleek:

arcane: [roll0]

history: [roll1]

[Smilex]

Unfortunately the confusing situation doesn't allow you additional information (with the very low rolls) :(

As you try to take the situation in, you notice the appearance of a white glow from the island. The white glowing form of a very tall female gnome floats into view from behind some rocks. She seems to glide without moving. She's dressed in flowing robes. She's not moving towards you but seems to be circling the hill in the middle of the island.

Meanwhile there's more peeing noises and humming.

[WindStruck]

Well, this suddenly wasn't a great position to be in!

However, Hushedfly decides to keep heading toward the little island for now. She'll let the guy keep peeing (and avoid getting that water mixed on her) and perhaps will get a somewhat closer look at whatever this other robed gnome woman is.. hopefully without alerting anyone.

[Smilex]

You slowly wade through the water until you're deep enough that you have to swim a little. Happily, there's no more corpses.

The white floating lady seems quite large, certainly taller than the tallest gnome you've ever seen. As you approach them, you notice their form is also quite haggard, though beautiful.

The furry gnome, having relieved themselves. Starts yelling in a slightly slurred way:
-Oi, Lady of the lake! Listen to this one, I made it for you! May it bring you calm and happiness! and he adds with little less gusto -Though I know it'll bring you neither. After which he starts playing a set of pan pipes. The tune is a ballad, mostly melancholy, but still energetic and with moments that suggest hope.

The white lady doesn't seem to react to the music at first.
You finish your swim and start wading back up on to the island itself. At this point the white lady pauses. She's near the hill to your left, about 20 to 30 m distant and she looks like she's finally listening to the melody.

On the island there's plenty of small rocks to hide behind. The hill itself is in front of you and it's less than ten meters high. You can see the dark obelisk on top a little better now. It seems to be actually shedding a sort of very dark purplish-indigo light in small amounts. You don't see any plants, even brushes on the island.

[WindStruck]

Hm. Lady of the Lake. Perhaps this woman floating around the island...

If Hushedfly had to guess, perhaps she was some sort of spirit?

With no life on this island at all.. this wasn't a good sign. Though Hushedfly will at least for now, hide among the rocks and listen to the song and wait. Would she ever be spotted by the lady? And more importantly, would she be angry?

[Smilex]

The tune continued for a couple of minutes. It was a skillful composition, somewhat made worse by the inebriation of the piper. At this point the piper himself is too far for your darkvision so the song just seems to come from the darkness.

The lady continues to listen as long as the song continues. Then the floating spirit turns to face more or less towards you and starts screaming. Immediately you realize this is the wailing you've previously heard all the way on the other side of the lake. The screaming makes your blood chill and you imagine that if you were just a little bit closer the voice would stop your heart and rip your essence apart. Reflexively you protect your ears with your hands and push yourself down behind the rock.

While the scream may seem to last a lifetime, it only takes a few seconds. Peeking behind the rock you realize the Lady of Screaming lake is approaching. Her face is flickering between perfect beauty and skeletal effigy. She doesn't look straight at you. She's obviously aware of your presence but apparently not your exact location.

The water is about five meters from you and then the land on the other side is about 30 meters away. The obelisk on the hill is maybe 50 meters away from where you are. In the dark you can see many rocks and not much else in your immediate vicinity.

Please give me whatever rolls your actions need and a couple of wisdom saving throws just so I don't have to ask them in another post. Spooky.

[WindStruck]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Though Hushedfly did not say this at all or scream, even. She may have really wanted to. Her reaction to the screech towards her was more like a pained, disfigured cringe as she clutched her ears.

And then she kept coming.

Yipe!

Hushedfly got up and immediately bolted away from the lady. Going to shore, to water wasn't her priority.. no, it was getting as far away from this lady as possible first. But she wasn't sure if she would make it at this rate.

If this ghost lady pursued her in any small way even after Hushedfly started swimming, she was probably going to be dead. With little other recourse, she can only just cry out, "Ah! Help! Please play another song!"

Athletics: [roll0]

Just trying to sprint away from the lady of the lake and swim as fast as I can away after.

wisdom: [roll1]
wisdom: [roll2]

[Smilex]

You dash into the water shouting to the piper. There's a confused reply from the other shore -Is there someone on the island?

The Lady of Screaming lake sings a few notes in crescendo and you feel an attempt to enchant you somehow but you shake off the spell before it clutches you.

You run through the cold water, this time not trying to avoid splashing noises. You know she must be catching up to you. There's no way you could push through the water as fast as she flies.

Her shriek is now close behind you. Fear strikes you even more than before but the fear just makes you want to push further away from the island.

Then the pipes start again, first just a long single note, then a second one, rushed. You can hear footsteps. The piper is running on the other shore towards the spot opposite to where you're crossing. They're trying to remember a tune while running. They stumble a little but continue.

You can see white light reflect from the water's surface now. The Lady is near.

And then the sound of the pipes becomes more focused, the tune picks up. It's a simple tune, a children's song. But there's passion and fury in how he plays it.

Behind you the Lady starts singing along the tune
-There was an old woman lived under the hill,
And if she's not gone she lives there still.
Baked apples she sold, and cranberry pies,
And she's the old woman that never told lies.

There was an old woman
Liv'd under a hill,
And if she ben't gone,
She lives there still

You swim and the reflection of light is broken. But you can hear the voice farther and farther behind you.

In front of you the naked man with goat's legs is blowing into a small set of pan pipes as hard as he can. He's jumping in the darkness, crudely dancing to his own song. You reach the point where you can rise up from the water and start walking again.

The goatgnome lowers the pipes from their lips and states
-Ma'am, you seem wet and lost.

Banshee. in Irish folklore, a type of female fairy believed to foretell deaths by singing in a mournful, unearthly voice, 1771, from phonetic spelling of Irish bean sidhe "female of the Elves," from bean "woman" (from PIE root *gwen- "woman") + Irish sidhe (Gaelic sith) "fairy" or sid "fairy mound" (from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit").

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly pants somewhat as she finally reaches shore. And she nods.

"I, um.. yes, maybe? Not completely lost. But I guess lost enough to wander into.. that..."

She looks behind her, back toward the island and the floating spirit.

"Um.. thanks. Seems she really does like your songs," Hushedfly says, sheepishly.

[Smilex]

The goatman nods.
-It's easy to get lost in the dark. You must've mistaken the lady for the queen, but the Lady of the Lake is passing on. Her time is gone.
He seems almost sober in his focused state of mind. After having a second look at you and after you comment his songs he bows down to you.
-I am called Headroom. I am a humble servant of songs, merriment and laws of the party. While stating this he makes a flourish with his hands that makes him look anything but humble.

The Lady enjoys many songs, particularly the ones that were made by her before the cataclysm. The stress on her is strong so I do what I can for her. Now, please, dear lady gnome, where do you hail from? Are you a formal envoy?

While talking he helps you out of the water and attempts to direct the both of you to start walking southeast.

[WindStruck]

"The queen? I, um.. don't think I have met any queen before..." Hushedfly says. For now, she hesitantly walks with him.

She nods to the man as he introduces himself. She quietly responds, "I am Hushedfly."

"An envoy? I am anything but that..." she says softly, sounding rather confused. "I am just a wanderer. My home is near the mountains and called Notagem.."

She wasn't sure how much information she should be divulging.. or who this goatman even was, really, aside from the name he offered. Still, he seemed friendly enough, and probably even saved her from the wrath of that banshee.

[Smilex]

As you walk he stumbles several times. At first it seems like his head's heavy with drink. Then you notice there's a clear difference in how difficult it is for him to avoid branches that stick out versus how little his speech is affected. Then you realize he can't see in the dark.

-Pleased to meet you, Hushedfly... He starts humming and singing
-Fly away, fly away over the sea,
Sun-loving swallow, for summer is done;
Come again, come again, come back to me,
Bringing the summer and bringing the sun.

You notice that there's a flickering light in the distance and your route is towards it.

-Notagem? So it exists! Indeed, one should never discount something just because it's a myth. Please tell me more! Do you all dress like that in Notagem? And what happened to your wings? Or are they under your skin like those of a ladybug? You are of the female persuasion are you not? Or is the look an enchantment?

The light in the distance seems to be a flame and it's moving. Someone's carrying a torch. You also hear the sound of breaking branches.

He points to that direction.
We were sent to collect dead wood. Queen Mead doesn't want any live ones hurt but we need wood to keep warm. We always do the collecting in the night. It's a tiresome thing but needs must.

[WindStruck]

"I believe I'm in the minority.." Hushedfly says. But this was too many questions all at once.

"I.. I don't.. we don't have wings." As he keeps talking she begins to nod her head only to begin shaking it in a confusing manner.

She stops. "W-wait.. where are you taking me?"

[Smilex]

Headroom, the goatman turns to you.
Dear ma'am, I would not presume to take you anywhere. But if you want to go to the same direction as me, I'll be getting back to my friends, for they need watching and encouragement.

He pauses.
You can hear more singing and pipeplaying in the distance.

I don't want to presume too much but if you'd like to join us, we could offer you some soup, some mead and some company. If you then want to accompany us back to the court, you're welcome to do that too.

He pauses again and looks towards where you came from.

Ma'am I don't know where you were wandering to. But I request you kindly to join us, if for nothing else, I'd enjoy the variety in company. For a while he sounds positively imposing. Then he hiccups.

After a moment of thinking he adds.
-If you come to the court, you'll meet other gnomes as well.

...

You hear voices raised in an argument from near the torchlight.
Headroom sighs and says "I'm needed." Then he puffs out his chest and starts walking again.

From the depth of his sigh you realize he's not a young goatman any more.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly wasn't sure what to do.. perhaps coming along for a bit wouldn't be such a bad idea?

"Okay.." she quietly responds.

She follows, though reluctantly and carefully behind Headroom, trailing back a ways.

[Smilex]

You walk between the trees for a while. You left early in the evening so you reckon it might be midnight now. You are getting quite hungry.

Surprisingly quickly the forest starts getting even more sparse than it was before. You suspect the forest is actually only a narrow strip of woods along the lake's eastern side.

You see a small group of people who all seem to be of the goatman variety. You count six of them in addition to Headroom. You see a very badly made fireplace with a small fire. On it is a claypot which almost suffocates the fire. There's piles of branches, each of which is tied together with rope.

You can see they've been using stoneheaded axes. In the area's trees you see some marks. Some live branches seem to have been cut. Three of them are arguing about whether a particular tree is live or dead.

Headroom immediately walks to them. He makes up a small ditty about the virtue of patience and then makes a point that they should always respect the queen's relatives, no matter how distant from the court they are. After this the four of them start a short dance while all of them repeat the singing of the song.

One of the other goatmen approaches you with a leatherskin that smells faintly of alcohol. Why my eyes must be lying. Headroom brings a nymph with him. Would you care for a dance?

Hearing this Headroom jumps around and approaches roaring and yelling: All of you are not to bother her! She's not a nymph and she doesn't know the courtly ways! She's a gnome and an envoy of Ainsel. Do not make any assumptions regarding her. She will be allowed to join us if she wants but no harassing or prodding questions! Give her time. Then he somberly turns to you and continues.
I apologize, the young ones are boisterous and full of energy.

For a moment the other goatmen and sneers but then he shrugs and has a chug of mead.
I was just making an offer of nourishment, master skald. He puts the meadsack hanging from a branch next to you.

Ainsel = 'Own self' as in 'My own self' or myself.

[WindStruck]

Well, Headroom's reaction did seem quite over-the-top to say the least. She thought the outburst was strange.

insight: [roll0]

wondering if it all seemed like an act or not genuine

Something nagged at her, thinking this whole situation just wasn't right. How long or how far did she think she could trust them?

[Smilex]

You look at the older goatman wondering. He's definitely passionate about what he's saying but passion is in his nature, not in the subject matter. He doesn't seem like a person who is easily moved from his path. He has the air of a showman, a fanatic, a martyr and a sage. It's clear he's doing his best to help you but you feel it's all circumstantial. You are not the thing he's protecting in truth but he's protecting something that you represent. He's definitely not lying but he's working the audience. As for whether he seems good or evil, you get the feeling that his motivations are good though he might find himself occasionally on the wrong side of an argument. His actions with the white lady would suggest there's also compassion in him when there is no audience to attract.


Here's a couple of video clips of people who are behaving in a manner somewhat similar to this person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMLgHQwZF68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrKeseMRABs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oehry1JC9Rk


The mood of the situation shifts. A couple of the goatmen pour some soup for you and one of them asks if you've got a favourite song. The one who offered you mead and a couple of the others continue to collect wood. You note they're all male. Headroom watches everyone and nods in approval.

The younger goatmen ask you a series of relatively innocent-seeming questions while giving you distance and space. They seem very interested in you but wary so as not to be further scolded. It's obvious they consider Headroom their leader though in a couple of faces you can also see a smidgen of resentment.

You watch how the goatmen gather wood. They're energetic, haphazard, boisterous. In a moment serious work turns into jokes when one pokes another's tail with the very tip of a torch. A chase ensues and they end up wrestling and laughing. A third barely manages to pick up the torch to avoid fire spreading.

The soup seems barely heated but it smells fine. The mead smells exquisite.

In a while Headroom comes to talk to you again. He points to the east and says:
There's plains there. Small hills, quite barren really. About an hour's walk to that direction is the court of queen Mead. We will leave soon enough.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly quietly accepts some soup, tries a sip of the mead, and watches as the goatmen work. An almost inaudible 'thank you' escapes her lips.

When Headroom points to the east in the direction of their court she softly asks, "Would you tell me more about your court and your queen?"

[Smilex]

The soup is lukewarm at best. It's eatable though and you've had worse. The mead is something completely different. It's quality is of the highest order. It's rich and flavourful. It has layers of experiences to it. It's fresh and cool, yet simultaneously warm and spicy.

Headroom smiles at you. He starts talking
-Queen Mead is unaging and invincible. My parents and granparents and their grandparents have all served Queen Mead. She's a good queen who stands against the Queen in the Forest. The Queen in the Forest is actually a giant spider. Any who fall under her webs are devoured - either quickly or after having been tied into webs for weeks.

He pauses to look back towards the lake
-The Lady of the Lake is said to have been a wood nymph, our queen's predecessor. But she's said to have caused a horrible disaster which caused all the land to become barren. Most faerie magics failed. Most faerie courts and nobles fell. Now her existence is a pain in payment for what she's done.

Headroom has a sip of mead.

-Queen Mead's court is full of joy and merriment. We adore our queen who gives us drink and sanctuary. The young ones, so innocent. They don't understand how lucky we are. You know... The stories say there used to be bad nobles in ancient times. There's stories of every manner of bloody butchery and horror. Our court is completely different. I would do anything to protect it.

He pauses to give instructions to the younger satyrs. They slowly start to get their piles of wood together. Headroom seems to surprisingly pick the largest one. You realize that while he's getting on in age he is also quite bulky.

-The court is mostly us satyrs. Satyrs have very few females so the boys get curious around you women. That's why they're reacting to you like they do. The court has had gnomes too, not many but they've been around for a long time. Stories say that some of them used to be from this Notagem. For a hundred years though all we've seen is gnomes from the far south. They say their tribe lives in a forest.

One of the younger satyrs comes up and says.
We're ready whenever you are!

Headroom sighs and stands up.
-Indeed.

[WindStruck]

Hm. Well.. paranoia and mistrust could seep into and taint everything, if allowed. But for whatever reason, Hushedfly felt satisfied with Headroom's explanation.

With a nod, she says, albeit sounding somewhat hesitant, still, "Alright. I .. I suppose I will join you. If it is not a bother. It all sounds very interesting..."

And some part of her was thinking, 'Wow! Faeries? Queens? Shall I meet one for real? Some that are not all bad? Perhaps these satyrs already count.'

Though she was small and her words seemed somewhat reluctant, her actions did express a certain eagerness, as she actually began collecting some stray sticks that the others had dropped.

[Smilex]

The small group starts eastwards. For a few minutes there's brushes and a few small trees around you but after that there's nothing. Every side of you there's just darkness. The land is completely flat and nothing is yet growing. It's eerie in a new way. You know you must be visible to anything that is in the darkness. The torches the satyrs carry make it impossible to think of stealth.

Anything could be out there, watching.

When you look around you finally see something far in the south. There's a glowing ring there. You realize you must've seen this same ring a couple of days ago but then you saw it from a different direction. It must be huge to be visible at such distances.

A couple of times you think you see the eyes of some animal at the edge of darkness, reflecting torchlight. They don't approach.

Then you pass a small hill. You notice that a there's a small cruse stone wall that's been built on the hill's side. The satyrs don't seem interested in this and the journey is continuing.

You're now moving into area AI04. Also you've reached a milestone. At your next long rest you can advance to third level.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly is uncomfortable feeling so vulnerable, out in the open. Though her options are pretty much non-existent. She could maybe only hope to stay far away from the others bearing light and torches, but she still had pretty much nothing to take cover with, and would be all alone.

Hushedfly does not stray far from the others, and though she may be interested to approach the wall or the ring, if the others do not approach them, she does not.

[Smilex]

The group continues past the crude wall. After a few minutes of walking you observe another hill in the distance. A large tree stands in it's center. Then you see that there's another stone wall that's been built to a height just above the waist. It's quality is not that impressive. You reckon someone a little stronger than you could just topple parts of it by pushing.

Behind the wall there's tents. They're not many. You would guess their number to be fifteen or so. They're made of leather. The area is quiet. No fires are burning. Somewhere between the branches of the tree there's a light spell going so not everything is dark.

When you get closer you start noticing details. There's some pit traps outside the wall. You can see piles of dead grasses in the are on the outside of the wall. The ground inside is mostly burnt. All plant life except the tree itself has been removed. This looks to be the only aspect that this community has been careful about. At one point outside the wall there's what looks like sixlegged turnip that had been trying to climb the wall until it was hacked in two with an axe.

The younger satyrs start laughing and rejoicing they've reached home. They run to the wall and toss their bundles of firewood over it. They proceed to climb over and dance spontaneously.

Headroom smiles and turns to you.
-I present to you the court of Queen Mead!

[WindStruck]

A bit of wonder and curiosity marks Hushedfly's face as she gazes about the encampment. For a "court" perhaps she was expecting something a bit more... just how far had the Fae fallen? She was almost certain that more could be found in or near her home.

Well, she didn't want to be rude. She nodded and smiled gingerly at Haedroom as she walked inside, still awkwardly carrying her little bundle of sticks.

"Thank you for bringing me..." is all she said as she continued to look around.

[Smilex]

The satyrs are not nighttime creatures naturally. The young ones in particular start doing preparations to go to sleep.

Headroom shows you around a bit. He starts by showing you a well they've dug. Next to it are a number of clay jugs they store water in. Then he points to you an are they use as a refuse heap/latrine. He shows some racks for drying materials. Their construction seems very familiar. There's a small crude kiln and an area scattered with stoneworking tools. All the construction seems exceedingly crude when you compare it to what the rock gnomes regularly achieve.

He continues to show you an earth cellar they've dug to store things and another cellar that he calls a catacomb.

From everything you see, you suspect Notagem is at least six times larger a community than this court.

Finally he take you to the tree. He makes a hushing gesture with his hands and whispers
-We don't want to wake anyone up, certainly not the queen.
The tree's trunk is maybe three meters in diameter. It's trunk is covered by beehives that further increase it's bulkiness. You can hear a slow buzzing noise from them. The tree goes as high as you can see with dark vision. Despite it being very early in the spring, the tree has small leaves and even blossoms. Far up in the branches are a small number of lights of differing colours. They remain mostly stationary though they seem to pulse a little and they are variably obscured by the swaying of the branches.

-Our queen shelters us even in her sleep. She keeps her leaves long into the winter and she brings them out again to help us early in the spring. He bows and goes to one knee in front of the tree.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly looks at the other uncertainly. She eventually, slowly follows suit to, lowering herself to a knee.

But she looks over and whispers, "Your queen is.. this tree?"

[Smilex]

Headroom gives you a look as if you'd asked whether the horns on his head belong to him. Then he seems to interpret your question as if you were asking whether this tree in particular was their queen.
He whispers.
Yes, she's a noble oak. She stands alone apart of the puny striplings that shelter the spider queen. There's no tree like her. There is only one and she is the queen.

He stands up and looks at the tree for a moment.

-Magnificent, isn't she?

A small branch grows out of the side of the tree. It sprouts a berry.

Headroom seems overjoyed.
-Thank you, your higness. Your loyal Headroom thanks you.

He takes the berry and eats it. It looks familiar. You've seen a druid create goodberries and this one is similar. You're not sure if oaks have berries.

The branch speaks in sylvan.

-You've pleased me and this is your reward. You, new girl. I require you to introduce yourself.

[WindStruck]

Magnificent, isn't she?

Hushedfly looks back toward the giant tree, bewildered. She had no answer. Just.. usually her people were not comfortable around trees?

A branch and a berry grow, which does not alleviate her confusion even as the satyr begins thanking the tree.

Then it speaks to her. She whirls her attention back to the tree in surprise. "Oh! I.. I am Hushedfly... from Notagem."

[Smilex]

There's a pause. The branch shrinks away. Then the branch comes back.

Hushedfly, envoy of Notagem. It pleases me to receive you. Witness my power!

You see a white flash behind the tree. Immediately after you start hearing a pounding, like falling stones. There's a yelp, and a howl. And then a sound of canine animals quickly running a way barking.

Headroom nods and you and waves you to follow.
You walk towards the sounds and you can see an icestorm ravaging an area of land immediately outside the wall. Behind the wall there's the corpse of a coyote, pummelled by the blocks of ice.

You hear the voice of the tree again from a lowhanging branch.

You're welcome in my court Hushedfly. Now tell me your news of Notagem.

You hear people moving near the tents. A couple of heads poke out to see what's making noise.

[WindStruck]

Wow. Poor coyote... And quite an impressive display of power indeed.

Well.. Hushedfly begins. "It seems Notagem was thought of as only a legend? It's not."

There's some silence as she thinks of what else to say.

"Um.. where else to begin...?"

"Our current chieftain is called Almondgrape, and it seems there is still unfavorable opinion among many for the former chief, Feytricker... Um. What sorts of news are you interested in.. your highness?" She wasn't exactly sure what to call the tree, but she just sort of copied Headroom.

"I am afraid I did not come this way as an envoy."

[Smilex]

As you look at the coyote, you see worms and beetles appear in the corpse in almost seconds. Weeds and a couple of flowers push out from the body as well...

...

-Almondgrape... What a fine name. But which one are they, an almond or a grape? Getting rid of a Feytricker is good. You've done well in Notagem...

There's a moment while the queen stays silent and another berry forms on a low branch next to you.

-This is for you. It is a gift for your tale. ...

Then she continues to answer your question.
-Why... I'm interested in courtly news, royal news, important news! Tell me about the soil there. Do the rabbits plague Notagem as well?

She doesn't seem to register your claim of not being an envoy. Maybe the idea is impossible to her.

While she's talking you observe a redhaired gnome lady approach the three of you from one of the tents. She smiles a wide smile while also looking quite sleepy. She looks like a chaosgnome.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly squints. "Um.. Almondgrape is just a name. They are foods he is fond of: in particular, fermented grapes. But he is, in fact, a gnome."

When the other berry forms, Hushedfly gingerly reaches out to carefully pluck it from the branch. "Oh.. th-thank you..." She tries nibbling on it.

"Does it hurt when I .. do that?" she asks, seemingly overtaken some curiosity.

When the queen tree asks about rabbits Hushedfly responds uncertainly. "Well.. there are rabbits nearby.. and the soil is, um, rocky..."

She turns curiously to look at the red-haired gnome.

[Smilex]

-A gnome as a leader? Hmph. I assume the true leader doesn't want to reveal themselves, yes that makes sense. Maybe it's a fungus that lives in his brain?

The tree drones on until you comment on the berry. The berry itself tastes the same as the goodberries you've tried back home. It's delicious, refreshing. It removes the pain from your tired feet and gives you nourishment worth the meals of a whole day and night.

-I don't feel pain easily. My bark is strong and the berries are meant for my loyal friends. Everyone who stays under my protection gets the berries to feed them.

She creates another berry and the approaching chaosgnome picks it up, smiles and does a small curtsey. She gives a small delighted laugh at the taste of the berry.

The tree listens to your short tale of Notagem.

-Bad soil AND rabbits. Well, what can you do. You hear this, Headroom? This is the best court in the world!

Headroom nods.
-Yes your highness.

The chaosgnome looks at you, sizing you up. Then they open their arms and approach you... They grab you... and hug you for a moment. Then they withdraw and say
Thistle, nice to meet you.

Then she simply takes a step back as if nothing else needed to be said. Headroom gives her a nod and plays a small ditty with his pipes.

The tree goes:
-You may all go back to sleep safely. It was just a show of my awesome powers. The court is safe. No evil coyote will catch you in the night. Headroom, show Hushedfly of Notagem a place to sleep!

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly takes the hug uncomfortably and passively, like a giant doll simply being squeezed by a small girl. Guess she didn't really know what the other gnome was going at first.

After Thistle introduces herself, Hushedfly merely nods in return.

Well, it seemed she was being dismissed. She'll follow Headroom for now, but she wasn't sure.. would she actually be spending the night here?

[Smilex]

You, Headroom and Thistle walk towards the tents.

Headroom says:
-You see how it is... Our queen can protect this area from anything. She can produce food to sustain us through the worst winters. And she actually does these things. We can rely on her. With her there's something that we can build on. This is beyond the wild, beyond predator and prey. This is something greater we have here. There's no other place of safety, anywhere.

Thistle sneers a little.
We did alright in the forests.

Headroom frowns and continues.
Yes. You survived. And you had so much fun that you chose to come here instead of staying with your tribe.

Thistle shrugs.

Headroom points at one of the tents and says.
-That's the one of us old folks. You can stay with us.

Thistle points to another tent.
-There's room in mine as well.

[WindStruck]

"Aren't the forests dangerous?" Hushedfly asks, still rather paranoid of trees that would eat her.

Now it seemed she had a choice of two places to sleep, although she wasn't tired yet...

"Um.. well.. I'm not really tired yet.. and I think, maybe I should head back..."

[Smilex]

Thistle smiles, though she seems to have an everpresent smile.Even when she shows annoyance she just wrinkles her nose.

Headroom looks maybe a little frustrated.
-Well we will not stop you. It was good to have you visit, though I'm sorry it has to be this short. The hour is late and I feel about to collapse. Thank you for telling us of Notagem. Maybe we can help each other in the future. Now I must to bed. Good night.

And he withdraws.

Thistle seems to quite full of energy, not tired at all.
-I'll walk with you. Are you a whispergnome?
She's been only wearing a leather loincloth but now grabs a furlined cloak from her tent and a knife with her.
She also puts on footwraps.

Which direction do you head towards or do you want to spend more time exploring the court?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly merely nods to Thistle. But then she messages: 'Yes, of course.'

The message will continue. 'You seem to like it here. Were there other types of gnomes where you came from?'

As for where they walk.. well, Hushedfly wasn't sure. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to be walking in the barren darkness all alone. She'll probably just walk the perimeter of the small wall with Thistle as they talk.

[Smilex]

Thistle walks along with you and continues to smile all the time.

-It's nice here. Like he said, there's food and safety...The satyrs can be a lot of fun as well.

Her words are very nonchalant, she speaks matter of factly, as if things were self evident and as if using words was ... a strain.

-There were forestwalkers.

You move across the wall. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the choice of just talking a walk aroun the wall. She seems perfectly satisfied just walking and watching you.

-Lots of forest gnomes and us imagos. Few whispergnomes.

You walk a whole round around the wall and all the time she doesn't seem to feel any need to add anything to the conversation. Finally she asks.

-Are you fine without wrapping your feet?

Her sheer happiness at the physical activity makes you think of your mom a little, though your mom feels sneakier than Thistle.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly nodded along as they talked.

"I'm rather used to it," she said with a shrug. "I should be fine.."

A faint smile creeped upon her face as she said, ".. as long as I don't step on an actual thistle."

Ah, an actual attempt at a joke.

[Smilex]

Your joke makes the smile on Thistle's face change a little bit. It looks maybe a little more satisfied.

After your second full round around the wall Thistle asks
-Do you want to go look for rabbits?

Your body's feeling good. Looking at the moon you know it's some time after midnight but there's a lot of night left. The air remains coolish and the northern winds are kind of strong here on the plains.

[WindStruck]

"Rabbits? ..I guess you mean to hunt them and such. The queen here seems to not like them.."

Though Hushedfly realized she hadn't really answered the question. "Um. I don't know. I think I should head back..."

[Smilex]

Thistle answers a little defensively
-I don't want to hunt them. I like looking for them. Then if I find one, I like to look at it's breathing. They breathe quite fast. Sometimes I find a sleeping one and carry it around as if it was mine. Then I let it go.

When you say you're about to leave she quickly asks

I'd like to come with you. Just a little while maybe. I want to see the way towards Notagem.

While you're discussing the wind keeps rising.

[WindStruck]

"Oh... Oh. That sounds nice," Hushedfly says, nodding approvingly.

"Perhaps you can come a ways. Maybe we'll even see a rabbit."

Though she wasn't sure how many rabbits were out at night. Then again, maybe the night was safer for them as well.

[Smilex]

You start walking back towards the west. In the night's emptiness you're not entirely sure if you're taking the same angle on your path as when you were coming this way but you're definitely going west.

Thistle follows you in direction but sometimes pauses to try to show you things. She points at a bunny's burrow and goes look if there's one in or sometimes pauses to point out a pile of droppings. The largest, she claims are by rhino or buffalo.

This only happens on occasion so your overall pace isn't much slowed.

As you progress you start encountering more rocky and hill terrain than thickening brushes. You feel you must've gone a bit awry. You can't see the lake or clear landmarks. Just the vague shadow of mountains to the west.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly peers about a bit awkwardly. She'll message, to be extra quiet out in the wilderness: 'Seems I've strayed a bit. There's.. supposed to be quite a large lake. Perhaps I've gone too far north.'

Yes, Hushedfly could only assume she had gone too far north. The lake was quite big, after all, and if she had gone too far south, she'd have certainly ran into it.

She'll try to correct her course by veering more south or southwest.

[Smilex]

You start going a little bit more left and hope to see water. Instead you find a pit trap.
There's a large pit that's been dug on the natural walking path between two small hills. The bottom of the pit is about three yards below you. You don't see anyone there. The pit is oval in shape. You can't see any sharp edges anywhere to suggest a particular tool was used to dig it. The earth that has been removed is in small piles in a large area in the vicinity. You can also see signs that something has been dragged out from the pit at some point over to the opposite side. There's marks on the edge of the pit of something scraping.

Thistle whispers to you
-That looks interesting. I wonder who's hunting here.

You can see some animal tracks in the area but you're not quite sure of their type.

-I hear there's badgers in this region. Talking badgers. Headroom calls them Ryven. Maybe it's them. They can be savage if they're angry.

Everything is silent. I doesn't seem like there's anyone nearby.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly turns to Thistle and asks, "Do you, um, know what region this is? In relation to the lake I was talking about?"

"It.. can't be far off..." she mutters to herself.

[Smilex]

-Not really. I like going with others and with the satyrs we always go to the woods. In torchlight everything's different, full of shadows.

She leans over the pit's side.

-What if there's somebody there? Like a rabbit.

She turns to you and now suddenly seems serious.

We need to find a rocky spot where to spend the day. In daylight we'll see where we are. Rocky terrain won't grow plants tomorrow, not in this cold weather.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly peers into the pit. With her darkvision, she should be able to tell if something was in there.

She nods. "I guess you're right. Maybe up on higher ground?"

[Smilex]

In the pit there's a few large rocks that block your view in small areas but everything seems quiet there. Rocky terrain, difficult to dig in.

You look for a good rocky hilltop and you find one nearby without too much trouble. You shelter behind a high rock on top of the hill. SHe offers half of her cloak to you for warmth and shows she's got four goodberries with her - enough to last you both through a couple of days without any other nourishment.

She keeps asking you for stories of Notagem. She's much less inclined to talk herself. It doesn't feel like she's being secretive she just really wants to know things about you and Notagem. Also she seems like the type of person who's more inclined to push for action. During the next hours though you end up finding quite a bit about her background.

When she does talk, she tells you about how thirty years ago she decided to leave the camp of Forestwalkers in the south. They knew about the court of queen Mead and she decided to follow a ranger who was going to visit the place.

She tells you that there's a great firebreathing beast that lives in the south. It's a fiery bird that can burn the forest monsters. They call the bird salamandergander. It doesn't hunt gnomes though it is dangerous. The forest gnomes used to live in the burnt parts of the forest and survive by following quietly in the monster's tracks, eating roots hidden in the burnt ground.

Later they learnt to remove bark from the trees in the night. This would kill the trees and allow them to survive living in the dead forest that gave better shelter than burnt grounds. Even later they've even made a truce of sorts with some woodland spirits allowing for mutual coexistence. Still, the idea of a tree that was friendly to gnomes used to be magical to her. This is why she sought out queen Mead.

When Thistle finally met the queen she wasn't impressed. She considers the queen annoying. The satyrs instead, them she loves. She's partnered with most of the satyrs in the camp at one point or another. She even has three kids with them. They all grew up to be satyrs themselves and are now already acting like adults.

Lately satyrs have started to tire her. They grow up quickly and they grow old quickly. With the wild life they live they get injured easily and die of random silly things. Headroom is someone she respects though. She's started to want more gnomish company and maybe something new in general.

[WindStruck]

Hushedly listens and talks to Thistle.

She'll explain a few things. Their tribe basically consists of six clans of different types of gnomes. And the mites. And they pretty much live underground. It had been that way for a long time, and only in the more recent years had they started going out.

She expresses a lack of connection with most everyone, except perhaps her family, and also goes on to explain the whispergnome network a bit. And how she finds it pretty bothersome. Some message are sprinkled in for added emphasis.

She started coming to the surface for the peace of quiet and tranquility in the night and maybe for the curiosity.. though perhaps it can be gleaned maybe she was hoping for something better, too.

[Smilex]

The idea of the mites confuses and excites Thistle.
-So they LIKE living in garbage? And they deal with every trash and mess?

...

She emphasizes that she's looking to find something better too.
I heard that the forestwalkers have a new leader and she's doing great things. I had been considering going back to that direction until I met you. They say she's an oracle who can figure out mysterious things. Now I'm really liking the idea of Notagem though.

As you wait on your high vantage spot, the morning starts to slowly come. In the twilight you see that you're somewhat more north than you expected, maybe two kilometers. You can see the lake in the south.

Another thing you see is a duo of badgerpeople. They walk into the area from the west. They walk cautiously, on all fours to the pit trap and check it. You can see they're armed with clubs and wear crude crowns made of bark.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly just shrugs when Thistle asks about the mites. Well, she supposed that assessment was accurate enough.

"I knew we went too far north.." Hushedfly softly says.

Then she sees the badger people. She started to get a little nervous. She could probably hide from them easily enough, but Thistle would probably stick out.

She messages: 'Um. So you don't think we'd make them angry if we were just sitting here, right??'

[Smilex]

Thistle says
I hope they don't try anything. They don't look too bad though. With the reputation they have, I thought they'd be larger.

She casts minor illusion to create the form of a rock between you and the badgers.

The badgers move to check the pit trap and then one of them says
Look, there's tracks. Something came close to falling here.

The second one answers
Soddit. Never lucky.

The first one moves closer to where you stood a while ago.
Eh, maybe it was a someone or someones instead of a something.

Like who? That no-goody Woody dudey?

No boots. I'm thinking gnomes.

You sure? This way? Should be west, not east.

They came from southeast and then they've been circling around. Who knows where they've gone.

Let's go back. Who cares about gnomes.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly silently lets the conversation unfold. Yes, it's probably best if they just walk off, uninterested.

She just looks over towards Thistle with a shrug. "Guess we'll be sitting here all day then. Unless you want to walk around these hills a bit..?"

[Smilex]

When the badgermen leave, Thistle says...
I don't think so. We should sleep. You look tired.

For a moment she leaves it at that but then adds

Next night we will find new adventure. Let's prepare ourselves. Besides, the sunrise is pretty enough to watch...

This would be a good time to advance Hushedfly to level 3.

[Smilex]

You soon fall asleep.

Once near noon you wake up and see https://i.pinimg.com/originals/66/7b/ce/667bce4d1b5fb44926e8ec477ef2f07e.jpg a group of such creatures wandering around the hill, looking for something. After a few minutes they tread away.

Later you wake up a second time as a large bird is making noise. It's circling overhead and first you suspect it's trying to see if you are food. Then you notice it's actually being chased by a small cloud.

When the sun starts to be near the mountains again you're feeling refreshed. Your first day spent out of home. Thistle greets your waking with offer of a goodberry for the night.

A while ago the badger people were near again. I'm happy you managed to sleep through that.

You move towards the lake and you find yourself near the island of the banshee, though a little past it on your way back west. In the remaining daylight the island doesn't seem that threatening. You spy no glow to suggest the presence of the phantom. The obelisk on the other hand is substantially more easy to spot in daylight. It stands on the island's central hill and reaches toward the sky in a forboding manner.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly thanked Thistle with a soft smile for the berry. Then she had quietly guided Thistle down south to the lake. Finally, they should easily be able to make it back home! Hushedfly felt anxious about it. At once, it would both be some relief, though she would hate to see how her family worried so. And any other drama going on over in Notagem.

She'll message: 'So you'll want to go to Notagem as soon as possible, right? Most of us are awake at this time. Or would you rather look around at the scenery first?'

[Smilex]

Thistle answers smiling
If one just moves toward some goal... doesn't one miss out on everything important?

She pauses to toss some flat stone on the surface of the lake.

After a while she points at the Banshee's island, particularly the monolith.
Did you know that stone reveals secrets? It hurts you, but it tells you things. Some of the satyrs have been there in daytime. The Lady disappears if the sun is high so they got out again alive. I wonder how it reveals things. Does it talk? I don't really want to be hurt though. Is there a place you'd want to go?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly shakes her head. "I didn't know that. What do you mean it hurts you, though? What did the satyrs say it does to them?"

"You know, I was there, on the island last night. That's how Headroom found me. It turns out the Lady of the Lake likes his songs and is rather enraptured by them. But otherwise, when he doesn't play.. I suppose she can sense any life on the island and just screams at it. She damn near killed me..."

When asked where she wants to go or what do do, Hushedfly shrugs and says, "I like to swim." Though admittedly she wasn't really good at it.

[Smilex]

THistle listens carefully to Hushedfly's words. CHoosing her words carefully she answers
They didn't have any wounds, I mean they didn't bleed or bruise or anything but they said they felt the life drain out of them.

She tosses another stone into the lake.
I can't play the pipes as well as Headroom does. I wonder if she'd like my drumming as well. Maybe she'd dance? That would be funny.

Then she puts a foot into the water.
Brrr. It's cold. I wish it was warmer. If we had a really large clay pot we could heat water in it and swim in warmth.

She frowns a little.
I wish I had a spell to resist cold. I can heal though, and I can make animals like me.

[WindStruck]

"Hm.. I don't think it's a good idea to touch that," Hushedfly says.

Putting a hand in the water herself, she then says, "Yeah, it is colder this time of the year.. There is even ice still in the water."

She'll lead Thistle around the lake over to the west side. "I think there's rabbits around here somewhere."

[Smilex]

The two of you move to the west along the beach. You watch the sun descend behind the Sunset Shield mountains. Looking at the mountains you see a small avalanche near the top of Black peak. The spring is starting to melt even the highest areas.

For a moment you wonder whether Chrnogor was involved somehow.

You get to the angle of the beach where you can start heading southwards. Then you hear a curious noise, like metal striking rock. As you approach it comes more consistent, though still irregular. You also hear what sounds like a battlecry of a lone gnome from behind a nearby hill.

Should we see what that's all about?
Asks Thistle.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly will message: 'Maybe? I avoid crazy things like that. Might be this one guy I saw with metal shoes, surrounded by corpses, and drinking blood...'

Ick.

'Here. Just don't try to attack anyone or make loud noises and you should be fine.'

Hushedfly will reach out to Thistle and cast invisibility on her. She'll head on over to the sound of the noise, relying on her natural stealth.

also expending a sorcery point to extend the invisibility

[Smilex]

Thistle mutters
I'm so good at making sounds.

Then she smiles and disappears.

You and her steps move around the hill.

You see a familiar gnome, it is Highpick. She's stading on a small rock and using her pickaxe to hit at something that's around her feet. In the dim twilight you have trouble seeing what it is at first.

There seems to be little reason not to move closer though. You step nearer and you start seeing that there is indeed something small that's scuttling there. They look like large beetles, the size of two extended fingers. The way they act seems unlike anything you've seen insects do. They're acting like a team, snapping at her feet with their pincerlike jaws, attacking this or that leg while she lifts the other to squash another bug.

A large number of the creatures are lying on their backs, maybe half of their total number. Some of the ones that are still moving are starting to eat the ones that are dead.

[WindStruck]

Well, at least it wasn't some probably-crazy cannibal gnome. It was just Highpick. Wait, was she in trouble??

"Highpick!" Hushedfly exclaims. "Are you .." Okay? Need help? Lost? She didn't finish the sentence.

"W-what's going on? Why don't you just run from the beetles?" she said, backing up slowly.

[Smilex]

Crystal keeps hacking at the little critters
I couldn't protect Crystal or Buffalove. I couldn't escape the xvarts by myself. I couldn't convince your father to rescue Crystal... But... I'm... not ... RUNNING FROM... BEETLES!

The beetles are starting to run out. There must've been at least sixty of them to start with but two thirds of the little critters are now crushed.

Thistle starts to tap her drum and sing with a low throaty voice.
You get temporary hit points every round while she does this. So does Highpick.

Highpick seems surprised.
What's that singing? I think it's taking away the pain from their bites.

You look at the beetles a bit more. Their body seems to have a very stupid anatomy. THey're almost all mouth and legs. They certainly seem more magical than ... real.

These bleeding ripperbeetles have been appearing more and more. I wish we knew where they're coming from.
She stomps the last beetle.

Thistle stops singing and whispers to you
Should I stay hidden?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly kind of shrugs at first but then shakes her head at Thistle. "Um. I brought a friend."

...

"Are you alright?" Well, barging into her home saying stupid things was annoying, but she didn't like the idea of her being bitten up by beetles.

[Smilex]

High pick huffs and puffs out of exertion.

Thistle, still invisible, says
Hi.

Highpick seems confused.
Huh? So you actually DO have an invisible friend? It's not just something that people say. That's a surprise.
She smiles a bit, which is quite a typical for her.

Thistle giggles.
You can't even sleep without somebody watching you unseen.

Highpick seems aghast and taken aback.
I didn't need to know that.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly sighs. "Thistle,
you can....."

Hm. Hushedfly cast the spell. Couldn't she dismiss it somehow herself?

[Smilex]

Invisibility stops if the invisible person casts a spell or attacks. Skaldsong is neither. It also ends if caster declares they stop concentating on the spell.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly will stop concentrating on it then.

[Smilex]

Thistle appears. She immediately goes and hugs Highpick who looks paralyzed by fear.
Hi. Are you from Notagem too?

Highpick says
Huh? Who are you?

Thistle goes
I'm Thistle, envoy of myself. Who are you?

Highpick
I'm a guardian of the tribe or... something.

Thistle says
Nice.

Highpick
Uh-huh?

Thistle
So...what are you guarding the tribe from?

Highpick
Just, you know... Stuff. Just generally guarding. Doing my thing.

Thistle
Oh.

[WindStruck]

"And you're way out here?" Hushedfly asks. "Was there some sort of beetle problem?"

[Smilex]

I was looking for bugs, but something larger. Many have reported that there's been giant scorpions in these parts. It's
a bit early in the spring for them. I was wondering why they would have woken up so early.
Highpick says.

Thistle raises an eyebrow but then looks weirdly eager.
I wonder if I could ride one.

Highpick is about to protest but then says
I'd like to see that, but only if you succeed.

Thistle asks
If we get bored of Notagem can we go look for scorpions in the mountains?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out for a while.

"... I, uh, can't stop you, but you said something about making animals like you so I hope it's not dangerous?"

"Also I've no idea where scorpions are.." she mumbles.

[Smilex]

Thistle notices the reactions and says
I wouldn't ride it if it didn't like it... But scorpions carry their young on their backs I think. Maybe if I was nice to one it would give me a ride too. And yes, I do have a trick that makes animals like me.

Highpick says
That would be interesting and definitely worth seeing. If you were going to Notagem first, I'll come with you. I think I can still fix these boots.
She points at the chewed leather around her feet.

There's no other encounters before you get to Notagem. Are you going directly to your parents or exploring something else?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly nods and says, "Why don't we go back then. I hope my parents are not too worried."

[Smilex]

You travel home without incident.

Your mother guilted you a little for being away without telling her. Your father was maybe a little bit proud for having you prove your abilities to survive once again. They were surprised by Thistle's appearance but they offered her a place to stay in a side-cave.

Your father was even more proud when you messaged about your new abilities. He gave you a couple of life-gems in honor of your advanced ability to find adventures. The life-gems are remnants of faerie magic. When eaten, unbridled life force fills the person who eats them.
They may have random side effects but they heal 1d8 points.

You've been home for a couple of days when you first see Thistle flirting with the rock-gnome engineer near your home. A day later she asks you to have a chat with him too.

He introduces himself as TheMouse.
Yes. The is a part of the name. Thistle tells me that you're the stealthiest lurker that ever was. I need the help of someone like that. I think I've managed to find a path to where Crystal and Buffalove are, but I need the help of someone who's a capable scout. The path is probably guarded and my step is not light. Would you help me?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly gives her mother a more sincere hug than usual as an apology for running off. And she would have made it back maybe late yesterday if she hadn't gotten a bit lost. But hopefully everyone found her story about the journey and the other court very interesting.

--

Hushedfly nods hesitantly at TheMouse. "I'm interested in helping.." She looks about a little nervously, however. "Could you explain more, though? What do you mean you found a path?"

[Smilex]

Last winter there was a sorry piece of business when a group of braves found that there's a faerygate far below our community. They inadvertedly opened the gate and our old chief ran in with some of his xvart accomplices. Chief Almondgrape chose that we should block the paths to down below and many of us working gnomes spent a week moving dirt to fill passageways. Chief had a party at the end of that since we stopped an invasion, or so he said. While I was working I didn't see any signs of a fairy invasion.

Later, when Highpick said that she, Crystal and Buffalove were kidnapped by xvarts... I started thinking again. The only place we've heard of xvarts really congregating is down there. Highpick even said that the place where they were kept had a tunnel of some kind that went back towards the direction of down below us.

Since then I've been listening to what the mites say and they tell me it's all quiet down there. No explosions of fungusmen, no armies of fomori. So I wanted to check things out. I looked for the way the water takes down. I drilled into a small river path and two days past I succeeded. climbed all the way down to the cavern of the gate.

It's a green glowing thing in a huge cavern. Nobody's guarding it. There's just some fungi around and a bunch of xvart tracks. Now xvarts aren't the smartest of gnomekind, or the strongest. A number of our junior warriors apparently killed the xvart chief while rescuing Highpick.

So I think it would be possible to rescue the kidnapped duo. But I don't think I can do it alone. At least I need some help in scouting what's there. That would help in making a plan at least.

Themouse goes through the speech with a very serious look on his face.

Thistle says
That was a lot of talk. I don't think I've heard you say that much at one sitting before.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly seriously listens to the whole thing as well, silently nodding along, so intently focused that her skin seemed to meld into the surroundings. It looked like TheMouse was talking to a wall.

After a brief moment considering what was said she messages back. 'I'll do it. But.. you think the old chief is somewhere in there too?'

[Smilex]

Hushedfly seriously listens to the whole thing as well, silently nodding along, so intently focused that her skin seemed to meld into the surroundings. It looked like TheMouse was talking to a wall.

After a brief moment considering what was said she messages back. 'I'll do it. But.. you think the old chief is somewhere in there too?'

Themouse looks cautiously impressed by the melding of Hushedfly.
Then when Hushedfly casts message, he looks a bit off, maybe even irritated and answers in plain speech
Uh, I'd like to find out where he is. Knowing without checking doesn't seem right to me. I never trusted Feytricker but I'm not that keen on how Almondgrape is handling
chieftainship either. Maybe that's just the way things are... that everyone needs to find their own path no matter who's in power.

Thistle muses
Notagem's a beautiful place but I don't think your chief is doing right by it either. I've been with a tree that takes better care of it's charges.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly looks at Thistle a little concerned. "Y-you really think so? Though you haven't been here long..."

Well, that either meant she was just jumping to conclusions, or everything was obviously that bad.. but it wasn't really, was it??

"Have the others treated you alright?" she asks, completely going off topic.

[Smilex]

Thistle says
Oh yes, this Notagem is lovely, nothing to complain of... so far.
I met your chief Almondgrape yesterday. He was smashingly drunk and was nipping on mushrooms while fingerwrestling some other gnome who's name I didn't get. There were six people having sex in the room and somebody was playing songs and singing.

That's the way I would do it if I had power. But I think that I would be a terrible chief. ... Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'd be a great chief too.

Themouse talks without emotion
Almondgrape got his chiefdom because he's stronger than Feytricker was and because the hunters like him. I think we need to take things into our own hands here.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly sighs and says, "Okay, well, I'll take a look around."

...

"Um. I guess I'll go now? Where is this passage you dug?"

[Smilex]

Themouse leads you to the spot where a stream flows near your home. Then he uses a lever to dislodge a large stone that's covering a hole.

Before anyone else has a chance to do a thing, Thistle crawls into the hole.
You've made this so large! I can easily get in here!

And she disappears into the depths.

Themouse suggests you move after Thistle
A lot of the corridor is quite tight. We should go in the right order as much as we can.

In the tunnel, the first ten meters or so are dry. Then you reach the tunnel of the stream itself. The water isn't flowing too fast but you worry what will happen if there's a rainstorm. The whole tunnel might be full of water?

Nevertheless, now it's easy going. Thistle pushes onwards relatively fast, but she pauses every now and then to mention a pretty or interesting looking stone formation or gemstone jutting out of a wall.

The tunnel is long, you lose track a little but you suspect you've gone down maybe forty minutes. Then Thistle suddenly disappears from front of you. There's an open space there.

The water of the stream forms a waterfall, dropping down about a meter and a half onto a sandy beach. Thistle's standing on the sand and looking to your left.

There, in the middle of darkness glows a green, slowly pulsating light orb. In the green light you can see a huge cavern, with a lake in the middle. A sandy beach stretches to the light orb and also to the opposite direction - who knows how far it goes?

As far as you can tell the beach is deserted. There's some old tracks of gnome feet in the sand, but nobody's moving anywhere.

You and The mouse get on the beach and The mouse points at the green orb.
That's the gate.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly will look a little sheepishly at the two but will finally end up messaging them.

First to Thistle. 'Okay. Shhh..'

To TheMouse: 'You suggested I scout so.. you two try to keep out of sight and keep quiet.'

Then to Thistle again: 'You'll stay here with TheMouse, alright? Try to be quiet. I'm sneaking and this could be dangerous...'

Hushedfly will cautiously approach the portal and view it from several directions to see if she can see anyone or anything else beyond it.

perception: [roll0]

[Smilex]

Thistle and Themouse stay and watch Hushedfly proceed.

Hushedly sneaks toward the green glowing orb. It's about 3 m in diameter. While the light becomes annoyingly bright as one gets closer it is actually possible to see a space behind the light.

There's a sound that comes from beyond. It's a series of droplets, falling onto water or stone. The sounds are random, but simultaneously they seem to have a melody, a theme that repeats while also changing.

The space beyond is a cave. It's walls are mostly grey-brown stone but there's a lot of white, blue and purple crystals in the walls too. The crystals poke into the room through the ceiling but not near the floor. The area is reasonably open. The room beyond is maybe 20 m in diameter and there seem to be at least two exits.

You can't see anyone inside.

In the ground, on this side of the gate there's a lot of gnomish footprints and some larger ones too. It also looks like something was dragged through into the gate.

[WindStruck]

Okay, Hushedfly doesn't think there's anyone on the other side. She'll hop in!

[Smilex]

You jump into the green...
and land on a normal stone floor.

The chamber you find yourself in has three exits. Two of them go down and one of them goes up.

Given how alert you're being, you have no trouble noticing that actually you are not alone in the room. On the wall, on the opposite side of the view that you had when looking from the other side of the gate, there is a yellowish brown moving blob of quivering jelly. The jelly slowly starts to slide down the wall.

Another thing you notice that this place echoes. A part of the rhytmic repetition you heard earlier, is actually the echoes of each waterdrop coming down from the ceiling. Even more curiously, you notice that the echo is not perfect, it varies in tone and pacing.

I'm presuming that you're being stealthy as always.

[WindStruck]

A jelly? That's odd. Hushedfly studies it for a moment and also takes a closer look at the exits.

i assume she knows what it is but just in case

[roll0]

Is there anything that distinguishes the exits from one another?

[Smilex]

The jelly moves slowly and it seems to sense your presence somehow as it's moving directly towards you. It seems icky and possibly dangerous.

The exits... two of them, as mentioned, move down. These two are closest to each other. The third one that goes up is separate. All the floor seems wiped clean, no tracks. Only small stones here and there, the only things unpolished, or maybe undigested.

Moving around the room... even quietly, creates echoes. They seem less weird near the upper exit, more so near the lower ones. Near the upper exit, behind an outcropping of a rock there's a whistle carved from stone.

[WindStruck]

Well, Hushedfly knows to keep away from the jelly. It looked far too hungry.

For whatever reason, maybe curiosity or whim, she tries going down one of the passages. What was causing the echos?

[Smilex]

The echoes seem to come mostly from the crystals, but the aberrations in the echoes...

You move into one of the corridors that go down. It curves while you proceed and you quickly get the feeling that it just loops back to the other corridor that goes down.

Your actual search though... You seem to find the spot where the aberrations are the strongest. It comes from near the ceiling. Then you suddenly realize that there's a mist there. And in the mist there's a face made of wisps of smoke that's looking straight at you. If it's possible to evaluate how smoke looks at oneself, you'd say it looks perplexed. It's trying to figure out if you're really there. It's a thing you've become accustomed to when in stealth.

[WindStruck]

relevant knowledge check? [roll0]

It bombed.


Huh. Hushedfly didn't know what that was at all... but as her basic philosophy with most things was, let sleeping dogs lie. Best to leave before it was really positive she was there and did something. If it did anything.

Since the passage seemed to loop around, Hushedfly will continue in the direction of the loop she was going, in order to head back to where she started. Hopefully since she was not backtracking, she wouldn't be coming upon the hungry jelly.

And after that, assuming nothing else has really changed, she'll try the upper exit to the room she was in.

[Smilex]

The mist follows you a little while but then loses sight of you. It spends a while going round and round but your stealthiness wins the day.

The ooze, you notice is slowly entering the looping corridor and continues on it's downward path.

Moving to the upper exit you notice that the odd echoes disappear soon after you're out of the entrance cavern. They're either accidental or possibly a feature that functions as an alarm. The corridor continues for about 20 meters without features and then you come into another room. This one has even more of the glittering crystals, they fill not only the ceiling but the walls. Many of them have a light in them so the room glitter with an array of colors.

The path continues out of the room in the same general direction.

Inside this room there's a statue of a beautiful gnome. The gnome is posed standing straight and looking at the person who's entering. It's eyes are made very well, they look as if they followed your movement.
Suddenly it sounds as if the statue was whispering.
You think you hear the word
Ask

[WindStruck]

At first, Hushedfly doesn't know what to do, but she tries using her message cantrip eventually. 'Ask what?'

[Smilex]

The voice in the air continues in a silent whisper
The magic of the oracle only responds to voiced questions. The request for healing must likewise be voiced.

[WindStruck]

So what is the rest of this room?

[Smilex]

The rest of the room is quite empty. It's just a very beautiful alcove for a whispering statue.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly look at the statue and blinks a bit before saying, "I'm looking for some people of my tribe. Crystal and Buffalove."

[Smilex]

Nothing happens. You suspect the thing only responds to questions. It seems more like a thing than a person.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly sighs and eventually asks, "Where are the people of my tribe known as Crystal and Buffalove?"

[Smilex]

The whisper answers
They are beyond the cave's veil, held captive in a place which you will only reach with this.

A clay whistle that looks like this
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukkopilli#/media/Tiedosto:Kukkopilli.jpg
appears in front of you on the floor.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly looks a little confused and picked up the whistle. She guessed you'd have to blow into it.

"So, um.. assuming I find them, how do I get back?"

[Smilex]

Again, the whisper answers
The gate placed by the Overbeing lies broken. This path will stay open until the gate is rebuilt. If the whole demi-plane were to be undone, the magics that created this world would return you to the place you came from.

You notice that the lights inside the crystals have dimmed down after both questions. You suspect they might go out completely after another question.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly will leave the oracle statue alone and try blowing on the bird whistle thing...

[Smilex]

The whistle makes a nice sound, glows pink for a moment and then the glow wanes.

From the path forward you hear a crumbling noise, like rock sliding against rock and a raspy voice somewhere distant speaks a few wrods in terran.

The voice and the movement sounds make you thing of Chrnogora.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly takes a few tentative steps forward. Was the path opening?

[Smilex]

The corridor that was open, stays open - both the way back and the way forward.

No new openings appear. You suspect that maybe this place doesn't have the lock for which the whistle is the key.

[WindStruck]

So it sounds like the way forward was always open anyway?? :smallconfused:

Well, with that seemingly settled, Hushedfly sets the artifact down at the base of the statue and continues to silently walk down the passage before her.

[Smilex]

So it sounds like the way forward was always open anyway?? :smallconfused:

Well, with that seemingly settled, Hushedfly sets the artifact down at the base of the statue and continues to silently walk down the passage before her.

Yes. It says so in post 196. No matter. No harm done.

As you continue, you start hearing the sound of running water, just a slow trickle, but nevertheless.

Proceeding onward, you come to a spot where the corridor opens into a large cavern where you see a stream flow into a muddy pool on the floor. The stream is beautiful, like a ribbon of stars. You realize there's something shining moving in it, they look like glowing crabs. The stream enters this cavern from the opposite side of the chamber, along a tunnel that looks to continue the path upward.

You would have expected there to be an ugly chemical smell here, but instead the air is full of musky, warm aromas that change from moment to moment.

In the middle of the pool of mud there's a dry area that rises above the pool. On this patch there's a mound of dried mud or clay. From different parts of this mound stick out two hands, one of which looks like a male gnomes, the other looks like a female hand. The female hand seems to have a ring.

In the muddy pool itself, mud churns, raises almost creating the form of a creature and then collapses again to join the rest of the mud.

Behind the pool there's a stony snake statue. Where the snake's head is supposed to be, there is the upper part of a female gnome. The thing moves slowly and looks towards you.
The stone itself tells me of your coming. I am a guard and you will not pass me.

[WindStruck]

Sorry, been trying to think what Hushedfly would do here....

Hushedfly takes some steps back as the statue approaches.

She supposed it could tell where she was if she simply touched stone. So many of her abilities probably wouldn't help. But the statue seemed a bit.. talkative?

"W-what are you guarding?" she asks.

[Smilex]

The creature stops before entering the pool.

I guard the path through the Crystal cave. It's an old contract, formed with the Overbeing.

It reaches into the mudpool and grabs a long of stonestaff or maybe it's a spear...

The faeries may have fooled us in the negotiation, but the contract is binding. We guard what they ask of us, because they guard the newborns. That's the litany, that's the contract. I will keep it for it is set in stone.

The creature waves it's spear at you.

As long as the fae keep the gnomes, I must stand guard. So I will stop you.

Despite it's threatening words it's not approaching you.

[WindStruck]

"But, but, I am a gnome. And there haven't been Fey around in a long time. Nobody has 'kept' us for years and years .." Hushedfly says.

[Smilex]

A likely story. I say that I'm here to help gnomes and suddenly you claim to be one.

The creature rotates 360 and looks at you again.

Admittedly I've never seen a gnome. I doubt they even exist yet. They were under way, soon to appear so long. Chrnogora claimed that he'd seen some back before I took the duty in this demi-plane... So I suppose some might be around but the fae are watching over them, taking care of them, not letting them run loose, I'm sure.

The creature scratches it's back with the speartip
You simply can't be a child of stone. You're not even made of stone.

[WindStruck]

"Oh, Chrnogora! I met him some days ago. He is boss of the mountains now, and is always talking about pressure and how it made him strong."

...

"Well. I suppose there's no chance he would meet you here now, is there..?"

Then again, it seemed the rock giant hardly knew what a gnome was himself, anyway.

"Hm. There must be some way to prove I am a gnome." She recalled a few tricks she knew, the only explanation being her Faerie ancestry. She tries creating some effects with Druidcraft, anything from the sounds of rumbling stone, to the orb of a bright sunny day, and perhaps making a mushroom grow if they were lucky enough to have such a thing here.

[Smilex]

The stone serpent-woman listens, looks at your magics and says
You are very talented. I would not like to strike you with my spear but I will do it if you try to come closer. ...

She makes a strange crackling noise as if something inside of her was moving.

But it's plain to me that you know Chrnogora. He was always a leader, he always took charge and acted while we others pondered. When we spent ages thinking how lovely it would be to have children, the way the softer races do, he went and looked for a way to do so. He talked us into making a terrible deal with the fae. He convinced us that what we could not achieve on our own, could be done if united with something else. So we gave of our essence to the fae, to guard and to grow into new beings, children of stone. As payment they took our service.

She sighs.

If you see Chrnogora, please tell him Derake stands ever vigilant, as agreed, as ordered.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly tries to remember that name and message. "Alright. I will."


"And what of the others? There is not much back the other way. Two of my kind, captured by xvarts, must have come through here then. So how did they get passed you?"

[Smilex]

Derake says
The master and mistress of the realm were present. Their retinue I allowed to pass. It was a number of blueskinned creatures of your size. Perhaps they were the xvarts you speak of.

[WindStruck]

"Do you mean Feytricker?" Hushedfly asks.

"Or... do you mean a Faerie lord and lady?" That got her anxious and curious. Maybe she should be scared too? But she didn't really feel that way.

[Smilex]

The Overbeing gave this demi-plane to Caerwyn and Porpherio to rule. I don't know much of them. Nevertheless the nature of my contract informs me when they are present or allow one to pass. This Feytricker I know not. The name is unfamiliar.

The stonecreature doesn't feel like she's lying. She seems quite open and plain.

[Smilex]

You might have seen a painting on a stone wall in Notagem. The painting would be somewhat cruder than this but nevertheless, the name oft the thing is 'Overbeing'
https://64.media.tumblr.com/575b4f5b3872b60cdab19633bdeafae1/tumblr_nbv10b1snI1thxsmlo1_1280.jpg

[WindStruck]

Caerwyn. Porpherio. Hmm.

Hushedfly didn't think she had heard those names before. And it didn't seem like there was much else to do here, unless she wanted to anger this guardian and get skewered.

"I see. Farewell then, Derake, and may we meet again under better circumstances.."

Didn't look like she or any of her 'friends' would get past here today. But maybe they had some leads they could look into. Hushedfly will head back to the portal.

[Smilex]

There are no obstacles on your way back.

Themouse and Thistle are standing right next to the gate, they look like they've been trying to listen what was happening in the other plane. When you reappear, they're obviously relieved.

Thistle says
Did you succeed?

Themouse comments
I'm happy we didn't lose you.

Thistle continues with her questions
Is someone chasing you? Should we be scared?

Themouse gives a wary smile and then says
Maybe we should move a little bit away from the gate to discuss. What did you find?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly shakes her head. "I wouldn't say I succeeded. Or.. maybe I would? I'm not being chased either."

She takes a breath and tries to explain. "That portal. It leads to a demi-plane. I think Crystal and Buffalove are beyond there. A statue said so. But.. the way ahead is guarded by some other creature made of stone."

"I don't think the three of us could get by her. Even if we did.. I couldn't tell you what is after. But I think we need some information. She said something about Fae keeping us gnomes. And a contract. And some names. Maybe I should ask my dad what he knows..."

[Smilex]

The others agree with you. They're very intrested in your story. Neither one wants to go fight the earth elemental.

The natural course of events is that you climb back up the tunnel and look for your father.

You find Arclight in the process of preparing his daily spells. Your mother is meanwhile trying to teach your brother to put on pants.

It's a relatively calm moment in the day, or night as it may be.

Anydots looks at the three of you and comments.
All wet. Dry yourself up with this towel I made. Even you'll eventually get cold otherwise.

Thistle and Themouse take off their clothes and dry them over a fire that Anydots has set up. There's a crack in the ceiling that allows alot of the smoke to escape all the way up and out but the cave does get smoky when she has the fire going on for a longer time.

Arclight finishes his studies and messages you
I can see in your look that you're expecting me to finish. I'm sorry I couldn't be faster. I want to be prepared every day and spellcraft takes time. What's on your mind dear?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly messages her father back. 'Have you ever heard the names Caerwyn and Porpherio?'

[Smilex]

Arclight ponders the words a little and then just messages
No.

A moment later he continues
They don't really sound like gnome's names. Are they fae? Caerwyn sounds sylvan, it could mean 'Fair fortress' or 'Beautiful wine'. It's a name that would suit a warsome lord as much as a dryad. Porpherio just sounds like it means 'Purple'. They're a curious combination, both fitting together and not.

[WindStruck]

Hushedly messages, 'I think they are Fae names...'

'We think we've found where Crystal and Buffalove are. But the way is blocked by a stone guardian. She seems so confused, though. She doesn't even know what a gnome is!'

'How long have the Fae been gone? There must be some way to prove that they have left, or that we are gnomes...'

[Smilex]

Arclight listens and then messages after a little bit of thinking
A stone guardian? That sounds confusing. Elementals of earth and stone have been our friends since the beginnings of the rebellion ...at least. It's been over three centuries since the cataclysm, since the faeries disappeared ...for the most part. Warriors of stone can be very dangerous. Even fomorians couldn't destroy the mightiest of them.

Arclight then pauses for a while to think deeply.
We are what we are. What somebody calls us is just a name. So if someone wants to give us a name, it doesn't change us. If you want to convince someone to use a name, it's not a matter of proof, it's about talking them into it or ordering them. Minds of stone can be very set on their ways though. Maybe we could find some other creature of earth to mediate...

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly nods. With the final piece of her father's advice, she thought she had the perfect idea of who to talk to. It would just be a matter of finding him...

(I think she's been sitting at the fire the whole time with the other two).

She quietly says to Thistle and Themouse, "There's a stone giant I met a some days ago outside our caves. I think he may be able to help. We just need to find him."

[Smilex]

Thistle is thrilled about the idea of meeting a stone-giant. She's obviously quite curious to see how big a giant is.

Themouse smiles. It seems he might have hear of the creature but he keeps his thoughts to himself.

The three of you leave to the outside. Snows are almost all gone now. There's more daylight every day. Today is rainy though. It's evening. The trip to the root of Black peak is uneventful enough.

But Chrnogora is nowhere in sight.

Themouse says
We could start circling the base either to the north or the south.

Thistle says
I think it would be more fun to climb up looking.

Themouse answers
More dangerous too. Are you a good climber?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly shrugs. "Don't think I am that great of a climber."

"Chrnogora said something about orcs or goblins and went off that way." She points at the direction he appeared to leave those days back.

[Smilex]

Themouse states
The western passes? That could mean to the north of here or to the south of here. But the braves who found Highpick went southwest and they also saw goblins. Let's go southwest.

Thistle whispers to you.
When he's not all shy, he's kind of bossy.
Then she giggles.

Lacking a reason to go north, the group starts heading south. You walk about an hour looking for a way westwards.

Then you hear a bleat. And a small goat jumps to you from somewhere in the dark.
Gnomes! Oh, you're not the same gnomes. But you're not bad gnomes are you?
The goat says.

[WindStruck]

Wow a talking goat?!

Hushedfly looks a little surprised at first and shakes her head. "We aren't bad gnomes.. wait, there are other bad gnomes?"

[Smilex]

The goat says.
I'm a goat.
He jumps around a few times and twiddles his tail at you.
See!

Themouse says
Yes, you are?

The goat continues
I'm a good goat but there's bad goats too. I know. My brother's been bullying me. He pushed me down a ledge once and I got stuck between boulders. It was a gnome that helped me out.

[WindStruck]

"Oh.. I see..." Hushedfly says.

"Well. It was nice to meet you."

She turns as if to go but then stops to ask, "Um, hey. Have you ever met a rock giant named Chrnogora?"

[Smilex]

The goat nods several times.
I heard my parents say there's goblins scouting southwest. Chrnogora usually looks for them. He's certain to be there. I'm sure. I'm sure.

The goat follows you for another hour but then says he's getting tired.

You continue on your way for two more hours until you find a promising-looking pass towards the west.

About an hour more through the pass and you do see the familiar form of Chrnogora, a rocky humanoid large enough to be a small hill on his own. He's sitting and resting and you're approaching him from behind him.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly looks at the others a bit awkwardly before speaking up.

"Chrnogora. Hello."

That was it for now. The rock giant was normally extremely talkative, so she figured she would let him do the talking for now.

[Smilex]

The huge elemental turns around. It looks tense for a moment but then slumps just a little.
Gnomes. That's better than goblins. I was already considering whether I should bury you in a rockslide or just smack you up. But now I don't have to.

Chronogora looks back westwards one more time and yells toward the other end of the pass.
I'll get back to you!

Then he gives his attention to the three of you once more.

Thistle says
You're really large for a nature spirit.

Chrnogora goes:
That's the kind of nature that I have.

Themouse turns to you and asks
Is this the one we're looking for? He seems dangerous.

Chrnogora emits a crackling noise and then says
I am dangerous... if you're a bad guy. Did you come to see me swat goblins around? You missed the best parts. I clapped a goblin between my hands right there.
He shows some red splatter in his palms.

[WindStruck]

"Umm, no. I don't think I want to see that.. but good job?"

She wasn't sure what to actually think of those goblins. Maybe they were the bad gnomes that goat was talking about.

"Actually, I met a guardian named Derake. She wanted me to tell you that she stands ever vigilant, as agreed and ordered."

"You must have known her a long time ago, right?"

[Smilex]

Chrnogora smiles.
Oh, Derake. She's so stuck-up. ... But that's good! That shows she can handle the pressure. If she continues to do what she needs, she might turn into a real diamond.

Chrnogora makes the crackling noise again. You suspect it's laughing.
How did you end up meeting her?

[WindStruck]

"Oh, well.. we were looking for our missing tribemates. I guess somehow they were taken through a demi-plane she was guarding.."

"It's just strange, though. She said she had to be there for as long as the Fae keep the gnomes, but didn't you say they were driven off? My dad says they've been gone for 300 years."

[Smilex]

Chrnogora reacts with anger, enough to lose his pronounciation
Vot? She doesn't knov? Raargh! Dis makes me so ... so ... aggravated. Hov could she not have heard...

He punches the mountain wall which surprisingly makes little noise as his fist more or less slides in it. Nevertheless this act seems to calm him a little.

He leans forward so that his face comes close to you.
She should have stopped that contract thousands of years ago. I thought she meant that she was doing, you know, guarding the way I'm doing it. I thought she was somewhere on the eastern isles or north and had a nice mountain of her own.. And now, instead... I hear she's still doing work for those treasonous faeries.
...
When we found out that the faeries were not taking care of gnomes but rather that they were abusing you, we had a meeting. We don't really like having meetings but we had one. We debated and some of us chose to call the contract void and start fighting the faeries to free you, you, gnomes.

...

See they cheated us. They told us that gnomes were not yet fully grown. That you were just seeds that would require constant supervision... the way plants do. Since you were part fey we thought that could be true. They told us we should keep away until their work was done, that we would just spoil the crop before you were ready. You were so little. We thought you were going to grow to resemble us more.
...

And now Derake is still somewhere helping fae of all things.


Chrnogora makes a weird grimace. He tenses his arms and sits down. He squeezes his eyes shut and then he stands up. Where he sat a moment ago is a diamond, the size of a gnome's fist. He picks it up and gives it to you.

Give that to Derake if you see her. She'll know it's from me. Tell her that the contract is fulfilled and she is free of it.
...
What a wonderful coincidence that you passed this way. Now Derake can be in peace. Can I help you with something? You do this great thing for us. Can I help you now?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly picks the diamond up and looks at it.

(did he really just s**t out a diamond?)

"Um.. is there some kind of message in this?" she asks skeptically.

"The.. the thing is that Derake doesn't even really know what a gnome is.. I told her I was one and she thought the idea was absurd. We are called child of stone, right? But.. we aren't really made of stone."

"I think even if she believes this is from you, she is prone to not believe my words."

[Smilex]

He's an elemental so he doesn't actually have organs such as a gut or colon but he did create a diamond out of his internal materials.

Hm. That makes sense. I will teach you a few words in terran. That should help her believe.

... He proceeds to do so, just a few sentences, not the full language. But you feel that given some time he could teach you more of it.

After the lesson Chrnogora goes back to an earlier thing you raised.

You said earlier that gnomes are not made of stone. You are though. Your bones are a kind of stone. Your essence too is partially of stone. But it's not the elemental stone that we're made of, it's a combination of deep stone and faery essence that created you. You're something new and I don't understand all of it. It's due to your origin that you have the natural traits that you have. There's new spirits in the land, a new power. And it's all about you. You'd need an oracle to understand it better I think.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly nods. "Okay. Thank you..."

"Are you going to keep killing goblins now?" she asks, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Actually, have you ever met bad gnomes? Or do you think goblins are what a confused person might think a bad gnome is?"

[Smilex]

Chrnogora gets a serious look when the talk comes back to the matter of goblins.
This land is still weak. Goblins bring an alien magic with them that doesn't belong here. It's not the only one. I will defend Blackpeak's sides from anything that comes. Anything. That's pressure. Keeps Chrnogora strong.

Then when you ask about bad gnomes...
You're all a bit unruly in comparison to us stonepeople but ... you're so ... cute. I don't know. Maybe a mind that's capable of all kinds of thoughts is even better than one that's crystal. Hum. No. That makes no sense. Stonemind is best but you're still cute. Maybe you develop stoneminds later? Maybe gnomes need some kind of purification? It's too complex though. I'll stick to defending you. You can develop as you want.

Thistle says
I don't think I'll develop a stonemind, thank you. Teaching those words was interesting though. I'd like to learn more. Maybe I could then sing to stones.

Themouse says
You're a good defender. Please continue to do so.

Chronogora beams at the minor praise
I will!

[WindStruck]

"Hm. Stonemind? I don't know what that means. It must be hard to think like someone else, but I'm glad we can still just talk.."

Hushedfly smiles slightly at Thistle. "That could be interesting."

She nods and looks around at everyone. "I guess we should head back."