Chapter Five: Melshaef and the Lost Mother

[Sherwood]

Luna nods, feeling both disappointment and relief that things were going to be moving at a comfortable pace for them both. "Perhaps we should start making our way back to the wagons; by now I am sure the rumors are flying about how naughty we are being with each other."

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

Wolf looks at Luna in a mildly unimpressed manner, slightly raising one brow as he exhales. Then he lets go of her and turns around to take a few steps away towards the middle of the clearing.


"You want to go already?" the ranger asks without looking at the sorceress. Instead his eyes scour the treetops and the sky above. "But I don't think we've been away for too long. Surely we all deserve a respite now and then. I bet the others are too busy unwinding to even think about where we might be. Especially Otiorin and Bria. They seem to be going through something that is not unlike this." Having said that last part, Wolf looks back at Luna and gestures towards her and him.

 

[Sherwood]

"Well, a few more minutes alone couldn't hurt. Besides, I like being with you." She gives the ranger a genuine smile as she pulls him into her arms. "So, what should we do with our time out here? Do you have any ideas?"

 

[Purr]

• Bren, Otiorin, Bria, Powerpaw, Stewart
• Luna and Wolf

• 
  
  
  The moment after the book becomes a conflagration of blinding, burning orange, Bria whirls to Otiorin, wincing once. She opens her eyes and raises her hand. Her voice is pure and clear.
  
  
  "Asteallo!"
  
  
  Perhaps she is unable to summon the focus and will to cast for herself, but for him, it is another story. The shocking, stinging pain all over his face and hands vanishes, replaced by a feeling of rejuvenation and newness. He was wounded, now he is whole. The only reminders of his painful wounds are the blackened bits of smoky soot all over his face, hair, and hands and the crackling remnants of a glowing book binder at his feet.
  
  
  Powerpaw looks at Bria and then to Otiorin. All he can think to say is, "Um... Oti-face? You looks ridiculouses. You O.K., face?"
  
  
  As Bren produces his enchanted ointment, Powerpaw explains that Bren is going to help her with the pain in her neck. Once this gets through into Bria's muddled mind, she accepts it by leaning fully and freely on Otiorin's shoulder with all of the trust and warmth a girl and give a guy. Doing so reveals her neck and the dart to Bren, but it also seems to comfort Bria a great deal.
  
  
  "That's one thing... I like about you... Otiorin...." she murmurs dreamily, "Here I am... as clear as a mudslide falling in a pond... and I know I can trust you... You have no intention.... of taking advantage of me... Other men would be tempted... but not you... That is so wonderful of you.... I hope you see that."
  
  
  Bren applies one use of the Restorative Ointment to Bria's wound. The first thing that happens is the dart pops (actually pops!) out of her neck and lands on in Bren's hand. Her wound seals up, the red, aggravated swelling around the injection point calms and becomes the color of Bria's slightly-tanned skin.
  
  
  Clarity and alarm fill her expression. Bria of the Ko sits up. Turns right to Otiorin and reports, "Otiorin! The Daughters want to make you a Forest-friend! Bren informed them a half-drow was responsible for destroying the ancestral home of the Wild Elves. Please take them up on it?" The worry for him only makes itself clear at the end of her statement. Then she touches her perfectly-healthy neck, thinks a moment, and asks everyone. "What happened? The last thing I remember was running down the road trying to find you."
  
  
  
  
  
  Just then, Stewart takes up his trumpet and blares it in an unmistakable signal of warning. Then he turns to Bren as if offering explanation. His momentarily-irritated tone seems like one brought on by the memory of his words: "Standard procedure? There was no such thing. Bilal used to blow this trumpet to call me whenever he fine well pleased..."
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  The only company Luna and Wolf seem to have is the moonlit beauty of Shandra's Evergreen and the cool, calm breeze cutting through her many trees and flowers. The feeling of freedom comes with the wind and all the magical, incredible forces that draw two loving beings to each other. There in the still of the night, the only sounds are of insects and birds and the occasional skittering furry creature that ambles along its own path of life.
  
  
  Spoiler

  [media]
  [/media]
  An elemental part of Luna, call it the fire in her spirit, rises in a way not known to her, while the wildness found only in true ranger men comes alive inside Wolf, like a flower sprouting from the earth. It is a moment desired by many, but shared only by few.
  
  
  It is more than romantic desire...
  
  
  It is more than animal lust...
  
  
  It is love in its purest form.
  
  
  But not too long into the moment, an alarming series of blasts that can only be sounded from a trumpet suddenly launch into the night... Its distance? Not over two miles away.
  
  
  Its direction?
  
  
  The Road of Kings.
  
  
  

 

[Sherwood]

With the sound of the trumpet, Luna snaps her head over to face the direction of the horns. "Oh, bloody hell. That has to be the wagons! There must be something wrong! We have to get back." She stands and brushes off the few stray twigs from her dress, all business now.

Spoiler

Level 0 - Message, Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Ray of Frost


Level 1 - Shield x2, Enlarge Person x2, Unseen Servant, Gravity Bow


Level 2 - Extended Mage Armor, Scorching Ray x2, Blur


Level 3 - Haste, Fireball, Flame Arrow


Level 4 - Extended Displacement, Ball Lightning


Force Missile x8

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

Wolf also faces the direction of the signal. "I wish it weren't so, but I can't think of anything not wrong that would be worth calling us back over at this hour. I guess we'd better go. This way." he says and starts leading Luna directly back to the wagons.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Light. Noise. Fire. Pain.


The sensations went through Otiorin's senses like lightning through an oak tree. He reeled back, his hands and face smouldering, then Bria's magic coursed over him and his wounds were gone, leaving behind nothing but soot, ashes and embarrassment.


"Damn that bard to whatever hell his God brought him to!", he hissed, even as Bria leaned into him, "I should have guessed he would have booby-trapped his damned book. From what I learned of him before I killed him, he was an underhanded whoreson bastard, so it wasn't beneath him."


He paused as Bria told him about what the Daughters of Summertime had said.


"Forest-friend, huh? Well, I suppose it would make dealings with others in the forests easier, since my ears tend to make me an instant target of suspicion. But later, for the moment, we have a great problem heading our way."


He swiftly recounted the things he had seen and heard at the camp of The Painless, adding in a scowling rebuke at the young monk for her recklessness in wandering the roads at night alone.


He paused a moment at Stewart's words, his eyes narrowing and a light smirk quirking his lips.


"I think I have the startings of a plan, but we need Luna and Wolf. Where are they?"

 

[Kaerri]

Just then, Stewart takes up his trumpet and blares it in an unmistakable signal of warning. Then he turns to Bren as if offering explanation. His momentarily-irritated tone seems like one brought on by the memory of his words: "Standard procedure? There was no such thing. Bilal used to blow this trumpet to call me whenever he fine well pleased..."

Bren offers Stewart a wry half-smile. "Well, his lack of consideration serves us well now, at least, for it means you can blow it to summon us, and still stay in character. Our foes may just think he's misplaced his bedroom slippers or something." He frowns down at the dart in his hand, holding it carefully lest there be some remaining poison on its evil tip. "Nasty thing, this." He wraps it in a spare handkerchief and tucks it away in his pack for later examination, then returns his attention to Bria and Otiorin. "A plan, you say? Could you explain now, or would it be best to wait until we're all assembled?"

 

[Captain Hesperus]

"A full muster of our numbers would be best for what I have in mind, but first I must ask, how well known is your face hereabouts? Also, how good are your acting skills?", he said with a sly grin, "Stewart, do we have any rich garments that might fit me? An exact fit isn't necessary, in fact a slightly large garb which would fit over my armor would do well."


His grin spread across his face and he chuckled with mirth.


"Oh, some may say that this will be a fine caper indeed!"

 

[Kaerri]

"Mine? Eh, it depends, really. Most of the 'bad guys' haven't gotten the chance to talk about me after our little encounters." His eyes narrow in remembered irritation as he thinks of one who did get the chance, but shakes his head and lets it go. "I'd say anyone who knows adventurers in the Highwind area probably at least knows my name, and possibly a general description. We aren't quite there yet, though. And as for acting skills..." Bren sighs ruefully. "Rather terrible, actually. The closer my role is to myself, the better chance I have of pulling it off. Or I can probably stand in the back and play big, dumb bodyguard."

 

[Captain Hesperus]

"Then that's exactly what I want of you. Big, looming, air of imminent violence and unpleasantness, that sort of thing. Perhaps if you could wear a hooded cloak, just in case one of these Painless has happened to catch sight of you at some point in the past. Better safe than sorry. I don't fear for our lives,", he said, remembering the 'brutes', "much. But the captive may be in danger if we get rumbled too early."


He started to brush the soot and ashes off his face with his hands, trying to put his lapse of 'rogue's protocol' behind him and glanced around impatiently.


"Oh by all the luck gods, I do hope Wolf and Luna aren't too indisposed. I want us to at least be fully appraised of this plan together and I kind of need Luna close at hand. Ah!", he shouted loudly, "BRONZE! Could you and the hobbits catch up a second? And bring your weapon, please."

 

[Sherwood]

Thanks to her magic footwear, Luna is able to maintain good speed as she runs with Wolf back to the wagons. Soon enough, she is able to spot them in the distance. She looks over at Wolf. "If there is trouble, lets not just barrel into there without some information." With no contact from Sparkle other than dreams of steak and belly rubs, Luna chooses a different target for her magic. Using her Cantrip of Message to allow a quick two-way message between her and Bren, she says, "Wolf and I are outside the wagon, about a hundred feet away, hidden in the forest. Is it safe to approach, or is there some trap inside the wagon?"

Spoiler

Level 0 - Message, Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Ray of Frost


Level 1 - Shield x2, Enlarge Person x2, Unseen Servant, Gravity Bow


Level 2 - Extended Mage Armor, Scorching Ray x2, Blur


Level 3 - Haste, Fireball, Flame Arrow


Level 4 - Extended Displacement, Ball Lightning


Force Missile x8


The cantrip I'm using allows two way communication, so Bren will be able to reply with a short message in return. Good choice of a spell there, huh?

 

[Purr]

• Powerpaw, Bren, Otiorin
• Luna and Wolf

• 
  
  
  As Otiorin scolds Bria, her reaction is to stand before him and give him her fullest attention. Otherwise, her expression is virtually without emotion. She appears to be listening to him with the wholeness of her very being. The Ko monk nods or shakes her head when appropriately and does not say a word, but instead shows him a similar respect as if he were some master or elder of her sacred order. It is as if she has been trained on what to do when being chastised or rebuked by a worthy authority, and her behavior shows that she has chosen to call upon on that training.
  
  
  Only when Otiorin is finished does she act. She slowly bows and replies, not as a young person attempting to pacify or please, but as a full-adult taking complete responsibility for her every action. Her words are as carefully delivered as a sword-stroke. "Apologies, Otiorin. I was clouded, thinking only of what I wanted. I was not thinking of what was best for everyone. I will remember to ask someone to accompany me." She concludes by bowing a second time and looking to see if he has anything, anything at all, to add. The Ko healer appears mildly punished, but also enlightened by the same process. Bria seems to feel wiser for it.
  
  
  Powerpaw taps Bria on the shoulder and they murmur a little and nod to each other while Bren and Otiorin talk about the plan of action. Shortly, they return their attention to the situation at hand. After hearing Otiorin's plan, Bria turns again to Powerpaw and pats him on his nose. "Looks like you had best stay out of sight. Maybe on top of the wagon toward the rear where you can keep an eye on things, yet kind of remain out of sight?"
  
  
  "Yah. I tink dere iz enuff night-time up dere ta hides me if I stays low." Powerpaw nuzzles Bria in a cat-like fashion and scales the wagon with feline ease.
  
  
  Meanwhile, when Otiorin begins to try and free himself of the black soot adhering to his person, Bria withdraws a handkerchief from inside her robe and approaches him without hesitation. "Hold still." She dabs the cloth with water from her water-skin and cleans him up with the skill of both a lady monk and a healer. In moments, Otiorin's face and hands are fully bathed. Bria uses her handkerchief to help her pick up the remnants of the burning book. Then she disappears inside for a few moments. When she returns, she appears ready.
  
  
  Stewart rubs his chin and gives Otiorin a once-over. "If you are thinking what I am thinking, the less light we have here, the better. As for a large cloak, I will give you my best. I shall summon the Meadowsweets." Stewart enters the Adventurers' Wagon and returns quickly with the hobbits in tow and a large, beautiful white fur cloak, worthy of any noble.
  
  
  "Here we are, love! How may we be of service?" Whittle asks. Both she and Bonny appear as eager as ever to help you.
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Wolf moves through the mysterious maze of Shandra's Evergreen with the ease of a wraith in the night, but not so Luna. It seems every errant root in the darkness moves up to trip her and every head-height branch claws at her hair causing her to stumble about. Streams appear shallow, but Wolf suspects rightly where they are truly deep. Luna finds herself forced to follow her pleasant guide or flounder lost in the moonlit wood among the choruses of chirping insects and occasional sound of not-too-distant animal in the brush. Were the land not so dark, Luna feels she would have an easier time of traveling through it, but by the time they get halfway to the Road of Kings, her hands and heels are caked with dirt and her robes are a mess. Wolf, on the other hand, and when moonlight chooses to illuminate him, looks every bit the savage prince of the land - at home, relaxed, and except for his boots, none worse for the wear.
  
  
  Several times as the wandering couple races along, Luna stumbles in small depressions in the grassy earth, but Wolf is there to help her from falling. It seems that the going out here took but many minutes, all traveled at a leisurely pace, but now that the trumpet of danger has sounded, it is taking twelve forevers to cross the same distance.
  
  
  Still, neither the purple cloak of the night nor the twists and turns of Shandra's Evergreen will stop them from reaching their friends soon.
  
  
  

 

[Sherwood]

Luna struggles to keep pace with Wolf, but feels every stumble clearly as an accusation that someone needs her, and she is not moving fast enough! She brushes a stray leaf out of her face as she races along. "Good Boccob! Just how far were we from the wagons? It seems like we have been running half the night to get back!"

Spoiler

Level 0 - Message, Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Ray of Frost


Level 1 - Shield x2, Enlarge Person x2, Unseen Servant, Gravity Bow


Level 2 - Extended Mage Armor, Scorching Ray x2, Blur


Level 3 - Haste, Fireball, Flame Arrow


Level 4 - Extended Displacement, Ball Lightning


Force Missile x8

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

"Not incredibly far, but..." Wolf says during one of his regular turn-arounds to check how the sorceress was doing, "Maybe slightly too far to come back on a moment's notice. I didn't expect us to be called upon so soon." He tries as hard as he can to maintain a relatively direct route while avoiding the worst parts of the terrain, in Luna's favor. "My mistake. I'm not used to bringing people with me when I go out. Forgot it would take longer. We're not far now, though!"

Spoiler

- Entangle


- Detect Snares and Pits

 

[Purr]

First Wolf and then Luna emerge from mysterious Shandra's Evergreen to walk once again upon the Road of Kings. The moonlight fills the fabled highway with a mystical path all its own, illuminating all things beneath it, including the fire mage. Wolf sees a Luna with dirty palms and face, damp footwear, and a dress marked and mussed by many plants and the marks of trees upon it, and - for just the briefest of moments - Luna does not appear to be a fire mage at all, but some anxious young druidess come from the forest to the road. Hers is a wild beauty in the night, waiting but not wanting to, eager to move toward a destiny shining before her.


Wolf spots the wagons first. They are stopped. You are not far from the wagons now and in short moments, you finally come upon what was once the prison wagon. As you pass it on the way to the Adventurers' Wagon, both of you notice there appears to be no one at the reins, yet this last statement also soon proves untrue - the reins appear to be floating in the air all by themselves while the six great horses they command rest easily before them. There, before you, the massive Adventurers' Wagon, truly a building on wheels, looms above you and as you walk beside it, you see Bren's hulking war-horse tied to the back of it, calmly socializing with the team behind the gelding.


Then, there is a soft scraping sound and the clink of metal against metal, coming from above you from the roof where a pawful of dagger-long sharp claws grasp the edge, and with it, there comes a sound no wagon has ever made...

Spoiler

[media]

[/media]



The bone-chilling growling lasts only a few seconds until a great pair of crimson eyes appear to peer hungrily down on you both. Then recognition dawns in those violent orbs.


"Oh, hai. Welcome homes," comes Powerpaw's silly-sounding voice. He retracts his claws and jerks a thumb toward the fore of the wagon. His other paw holds his composite bow with two arrows. "Otiorin an' Bria ran inta troubles. Mebbe you wanna be part of half-elf-face's plan? Moar-plan-moaaaar!"





Powerpaw cups one paw and calls out. "Hey, you guyz up front! We haz Luna an' Wolf!"

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

"Powerpaw..." Wolf utters in recovery. "One would think you'd be able to catch our scent and know it's us without frightening us to death up close." He studies the environment cautiously, as if Powerpaw's words made him expect more of this trouble any second now. "But if there's a plan, you know we want in. Right, Luna?" He turns to look at the lovely mess of mud and stubborn twigs and leaves that was the sorceress.

Spoiler

- Entangle


- Detect Snares and Pits

 

[Sherwood]

Luna does her best to straighten out her dress and fix her hair. "Absolutely. Let us go find out what has happened and lend our skills to the solution." She heads towards the inside of the Wagon straight away.

Spoiler

Level 0 - Message, Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Ray of Frost


Level 1 - Shield x2, Enlarge Person x2, Unseen Servant, Gravity Bow


Level 2 - Extended Mage Armor, Scorching Ray x2, Blur


Level 3 - Haste, Fireball, Flame Arrow


Level 4 - Extended Displacement, Ball Lightning


Force Missile x8

 

[Purr]

[QUOTE="Wolf Rawrrr]
"Powerpaw..." Wolf utters in recovery. "One would think you'd be able to catch our scent and know it's us without frightening us to death up close."

[/QUOTE]
Powerpaw grins and shakes his furry mane. "Ain't happenin' unless you come from a directions where I iz downwinds of you, an' even den, doezn't bet on it. Best ta announce yerself first, Wolfie-face."

Spoiler

What Powerpaw is saying in game terms is: "Fighters typically suck at Perception and I'm a fighter." And it's true enough to be a long-time running joke in our tabletop games. Rangers and Rogues are super-skilled compared to fighters. Even Barbarians get twice the base skill points Fighters get. Wolf would be aware of this.


Here's the why behind the joke: A Fighter gets only two base skill points per level (and guess how many fighters put their high stats into Intelligence for more? Heh!). In D&D 3.5 and prior, Fighters just usually did not have the skills points to throw into Listen, Search, and Spot skills. Here in Pathfinder, all three of those skills are nicely woven into the Perception skill.


Even being what he is, Powerpaw gets no racial bonuses to Perception. Therefore, while Powerpaw is magnificent in melee and intimidation, his Perception skills are one of many things he will likely never be great at. =)

 

[Sherwood]

"Well, we are here now. Let us go inside and see what the drama is that called us back from our . . . well, that called us back." Luna heads for the wagon and goes inside, looking concerned. "We heard the horn sounding. What's going on?"

 

[Purr]

As Luna rounds the front of the Adventurers' Wagon and looks up the steps to the driver's seat, she is able to see Bren, Otiorin, Bria, Bonny, Whittle, and Stewart there outside together.


EDIT: I neglected to mention the Meadowsweets.

 

[Sherwood]

"We heard the horn being sounded; what is going on? I don't see any obvious signs of trouble, but there was some reason sufficient to call us back."

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Otiorin glanced around as the others appeared, even as he took the cloak from Stewart.


"Welcome back, you two!", he exclaimed, "Looks like we're all here, so I'll bring you up to speed."


He quickly related his story to Wolf and Luna, telling of his encounters with The Painless, both at their camp and on his return to the wagons.


"So that leads to my plan. These Painless are coming here, with the intent of selling their captive to Bilal. But Bilal is dead, so I'm going to replace him. I need everyone to be in character, referring to me as Bilal and acting as my staff and, ermm, slaves. Wolf, I want you and Bren acting as burly hired killers."


He handed the fur cloak to Bren, "Wear this, cover your appearance as best you can, to prevent The Painless from identifying you. Luna and Bria, I need to ask you a huge favor. Bilal was the kind of merchant known for extravagance, I mean, we saw it when we were first introduce to him, so I kinda need you to be, well, harem girls? I'm not asking for anything.... odd, just be lounging around the throne and.... dressed skimpy, maybe? It's for a good cause, that poor woman was in a poor state and I want to save her, but at the very least we need to trick the slavers into believing in him. What do you all say?"

 

[Sherwood]

Luna bursts into uncontrollable giggles for a moment at the thought of how much Wolf was going to enjoy seeing her in her harem girl outfit. After mastering her emotions, she nods. "I will have to raid the clothing supplies of the Wagon, since nothing I have would be appropriate to what you want. Also, it will be useful to all of us to have me nearby in disguise; most people do not anticipate that there is any sort of threat to the scenery, and I can cast most of my spells without having a pouch of material components. How much time do we have before this meeting is expected to take place?"

 

[Kaerri]

"Hmm." Bren smiles as Otiorin outlines the plan. "Worth a try, at the least! And if they don't fall for it, we'll still have the upper hand, for knowing what's going on ahead of time." He looks over the fur cloak. "This looks rather expensive for a 'hired sword' of the type Bilal would hire. How about I just use my own, plain cloak and hood, and you take the rich one?" He tries hard not to grin at the thought of Bria and Luna as harem girls, and is mostly successful. "And the non-combatants, aside from Stewart, can stay out of sight as much as possible? Powerpaw too, I'm thinking. He doesn't look much like a 'pet,' but he could be just behind the door in case of trouble."