Edrie runs up to where Tol and Olaf are entangled, "This plowhand has saved me more than once. I won't let him drown. How do I help, Tol?"  The wizardess seems at a loss for what to do.

Lady Bronwyn hurries to where Edrie is.  "He is my liegeman, and he is caught in their charm.  It may still be broken if we act within the day.  If it settles in, his mind will be caught for a year." She bends down and grabs a boot, "Help woman! I'll not let his allegiance be adulterated."

Baron Agwain callously observes, "A proper lord would have brought these chaotic elements to heel.  The man is caught in peril his lord allowed to flourish.  Perhaps his ensnarement will teach our Lord the Duke."

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 62):

Hearing the kafuffle behind his, turning slightly enough to see people holding Olaf back, he relaxes his bow string.  Once more speaking in the common tongue You must stop your enchantments sisters, I do not wish to harm you but I shall leave you now, may your time be full of frolicking and love.  He isn't sure he knows what Frolicking means but he'd heard people say if before of people in the water.

And with that, he Fog Cloud to hide the Nixies from everyone, centring on the water so that it covers all to the edge of the banking then goes, turns and walks to the struggling companions holding Olaf.  He  knows that someone walking can still gain purchase to the land and move forward even if people are holding them, so he moves over and picks Olaf up off the floor by the back of his armour, utilising the other's grappling as an aid for him to gain purchase.

Would you like a Strength Check to lift Olaf off the ground with one arm or will it require two?  Heluvianal doesn't want Olaf to stop his walking, only his ability to direct it so they can move away from the riverside.  Olaf, friend, be at peace, my sisters will move on.  He couldn't in all consciousness hurt his sisters but he would have done if the spell and his strength were not enough.

Between Heluvianal and Tol's gargantuan strengths, Olaf cannot long resist the party and he takes his place in the line.  He clearly looks grudging and calculating as he takes his place among his comrades.

The Nixies are clearly vexed by Heluvianal's intervention, and the rest of them--there's ten in all!--make a number of rude gestures as the party departs.

Lady Bronwyn advises Tol privately, "Do not be fooled.  He is under their magic.  He will bide his time and then try to escape to them.  Only a dispelling of the magic will rid him of their influence. And then, only if we can enact the dispelling within 24 hours of the casting."

"Our court magician is from the Moonshaes where such creatures are more commonplace.  He has versed me thoroughly in our lessons."

What do you do?

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 68):

Once Olaf was back with the group, Heluvianal helped frog-march him on their way back, he knew the magic was strong and was surprised that a Dwarf would succumb where a Human didn't!

Once all were back on horseback that could be, the man of the wild woods tired Olaf to the saddle of a horse...'to make sure he didn't fall off in his confused state'.  Then turned into a mouse and watched him from the horses mane.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Tue 28 June 2022.

"If we can get you back to your books in time, can you break the enchantment?" Tolantra asked Branwen quietly as she watched Heluvianal tie Olaf onto his horse. "Olaf and Edie are our most powerful casters, but I believe such magic is beyond them. Even if Olaf was in a position to cast on himself."

Bronwyn brushes her hair behind an ear and replies, "Gwydion could, or Delfen Yellowknife.  Its mostly a matter of whether or not they have it prepared today, of course. Or if there's a scroll."

Hearing his master's name had the Wood Elf's ears prick up even higher than normal.  He had half heard what was being said but put it together quickly.  I could always ask him.  If he can get it prepared before this time tomorrow, that would suffice, yes?  This was well beyond him and that was only useful if Master Yellowknife even knew the spell.  He surmised he must do living in a city that was probably half diseased anyway, not like living in the forest.... He gazes back to the forest and his kin then remembers what was said to him, he was half-way between worlds.

Bronywn nods, "Yes.  We don't have to rush terribly, but we must move purposefully."

Tolantra nodded and climbed back up onto her horse. "Then let's get moving. Olaf has been a good militiaman; I doubt Daggerford would want to lose him for a year."

((ooc: Heading out. Purposefully, as Bronwyn says.))

Uktar 9, 1357

The party returns to the road as the autumnal sun shines down weakly overhead.  What had escaped your attention in the night is the beauty of the changing leaves all around.  There have been several miserable and rainy days you've travelled together, but this one while personally exhausting is pleasant nonetheless.

Ahead in the distance you hear a strange disturbance.  It's really like nothing you've heard before.  Deep roars of--panic?

As you draw nearer the commotion is revealed.  Four bears have pushed over a dead tree, and it has shattered across the road.  From its middle spills forth golden honey and a sturdy honey comb. (Make a wisdom check)  Two of the bears are busily feasting on the honey while the other two are being driven away by a swarm of bees.

What do you do?

((ooc: Wisdom check: 1d20 = 8 Success.))

Tolantra held up a hand, halting everyone. She waved backward, and gestured for them to give the bears space. She had no quarrel with them, and she would really rather not have the chaos of combat break out right now, when she didn't know how Olaf would react, and didn't trust the baron not to flee, or stab them in the back.

((ooc: Unless the wisdom check reveals something very surprising, Tolantra is going to try to avoid combat.))

As the backed away, Tolantra edged over to Heluvianal. "There's a hand sticking out of the tree," she murmured. "Keep note of where we are. Once we've gotten Bronwyn back, we should return and see what the bees are hiding." Then she drifted over to Celadhel and said the same thing.

In reply to Tol (msg # 76):

As the bears were seen, Heluvianal left off the horse in mouse form and changed into his normal self. It may have been why he missed the arm.

Leave this to me Tol.

Heluvianal had met many forest creatures and never had one that was indifferent leave his company anything but friends.  It seemed to be the way with his people, so now he felt he should do the same, not to take the honey but to encourage the bears to be non-hostil towards the group he was in and to get a closer look at the arm.  He may even break off some of the honey comb and give it to each of the bears if he is able.

The Wood Elf walked with a natural, unthreatening, even friendly pace towards the bears, greeting them like old friends and tries to help them get some honey comb.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Tue 05 July 2022.

In a better world with more enlightened bears Heluvianal's assumption that the bears bore no ill will toward the party may have been correct.  Apparently, however, between being deprived of their honey and stung repeatedly these bears are angry at the world.

As Heluvianal gets within range of the bears tussling with the bee swarm, they lash out at him--though only one claw connects for 4 points of damage.

Roll initiative.

Tolantra watched Helu walk towards the bears, uncertain whether the elf was a genius or a madman. While she didn't want to watch a man be mauled to death in front of her, she did feel at least a little vindicated when the bears turned on him.

Not wanting to turn her back on the Baron, and uncertain how Olaf was going to react, Tolantra grabbed one of her throwing hammers from her saddle and lobbed it at the closest bear. Her split attention wasn't doing great things with her aim.

((ooc: Initiative: 4
Attack: 14 total (I forgot to add the kit's +2 bonus to hit on the roll)
Damage: 11 (I assume bears are Large creatures?)))

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 79):

Eeeeppp!!!!  He was lost for words, this didn't usually happen to him, not the loss of words but bears turning, maybe it was because of the distance from the woods but.. Stay Back All, I'm going to Change  It wasn't the bears fault that he was over confident in this instance, maybe if they'd left it a little longer!

He then casts Wall of Fog around the Bears so the group could get passed then puts his Mouse Ring on his finger.

(ooc:  Initiative = 7)

The party springs into action quickly.  Celadhel strikes out first with a magic missile sending a pair of magic darts into the hides of one of the raging bears.  Shortly thereafter Tol follows up with a thrown hammer on the other.

Heluvianal's Wall of Fog serves to confuse the bears and bees alike.  The two hostile bears having been stung, struck, burned, and blinded by fog flee the combat, but the other two seem to have fallen for Heluvianal's charms and merrily munch on their honey (they will not prove a danger to the party--well done).  The bees are disoriented by the fog, and the swarm is dispelled as they flee for cover. (I looked this up--this is a real thing. https://richmondsfblog.com/201...ekeeping-in-the-fog/)

Edrie places a watchful eye on Olaf, and her mistrustful nature is rewarded when she catches Olaf straining against his bonds in an attempt to take advantage of the confusion.

Baron Agwain and Lady Bronwyn maintain a defensive posture.

At the end of the first round, there are no threats present.  What do you do?

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 82):

Seeing that the plan worked and it was safe once more, Heluvianal changes back to being himself and walks out of the cloud, giving soothing words to the bears.

He looks inside the log.

"It's all OK, these two are not interested in anyone, just move passed as I check the arm."

He was so proud of his achievement and thanked the mouse Mage who made his ring, he then check the bears, then the arm/body in the log.

Tolantra hopped down from her horse and trotted forward to retrieve her hammer. She kept well to the side of the bears and retreated to her horse as soon as she was rearmed. She also kept a close eye on Helu; ready to come to his aid if the bears changed their minds. Once back on her horse, she nudged the group into motion, getting folks around the bears as Helu suggested, so that they could get under way once he was able to determine what was in the tree.

Within the hollow of the rotted trunk a corpse is encased in honey comb, but little can be learned from the hand.

Gingerly peeling away the comb it becomes clear that this is the body of a dwarf warrior. The body has been here a long time, but the honey has had a dramatic preservative effect. Over his hauberk is rusty chain mail, a cloak of elven make, a coin purse, and a battle axe.  Both the axe and the cloak have resisted any form of corrosion.

It's possible that the pattern of the cloak or the maker's mark on the axe could be used to identify their origin.

Does anyone have a proficiency relevant to investigate these items?

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 85):

Wood Elf meets Honey Comb meets Bear.  Haluvianal passes some of the honey combs to the bears to ear and throws a few bits out not far from the trunk in the directions the other two bears were in case of their return. He then pulls the body and the axe out of the trunk, taking some of the honey to eat as he looks over the warrior.  Calling over It's a Dwarven Warrior by the looks of him, Elven made Cloak and Axe have resisted corrosion but that could have been the preservation effects of the honey.  What do you want to do with him, wrap in cloak and take back?  This honey may help those whom were wounded too in that fight.

He wasn't sure if his abilities with herbalism and being wary would help identify equipment or the body but he sure knew that this Dwarf didn't put himself in that tree trunk.

There is no way he put himself in the tree trunk and he looks like he may have been important

Somehow the pouch ended up in his hand as he took a bit of honey comb off of it and felt the weight.  He may have been a distance away from the group but that didn't mean he would pocket a pouch from a dead person for his own gains.

The bears and bees driven off, Tolantra swung down from her horse and approached the dwarven corpse. Going down to one knee, she took in the dwarf's condition and gear as she murmured a prayer of remembrance to Dumathoin, and then added a second to Haela for good measure.

"We'll bring him with us back to Daggerford. He deserves to lie in stone among friends, even if we can't send him back to his home. The dwarves of Daggerford will know of a place he can rest." Wrapping the cloak tighter around the fallen warrior, she added quietly, "He can ride with me."

((ooc: I have both Ancient History (Dwarven) and Weaponsmithing which might be useful ID'ing the dwarf and his gear. Both scores are the same (15) and I rolled a 1, so I succeeded easily.))

Heluvianal pockets the coin pouch unseen just before Tolantra gets there.

Tol seems to have just the knowledge and skills necessary to tease out some tantalizing hints.  Though her education occurred in the South, the stories of the tragic Northern kingdoms are well known in the South.

((Rolling a 1 on this check, I'm inclined to give you as much information as you want--and yet--these history proficiencies are supposed to be regionally or racially focused.  I have enough info to make you a PhD in the region, but I'm going to give you something brief unless you choose to focus in Ancient History (Dwarf) or Ancient History (The North) ))

Finding a dwarf warrior in an elven cloak seems--likely a cloak of elvenkind, by the preservation--utterly stupefying.  The only thing that seems to make sense is the 100 year participation of the dwarf hold of Dardath in an expirment called Phalorm, or the Kingdom of Three Crowns. At the Council of Axe and Arrow, the moon elves of Ardeep, the shield dwarves of Dardath, the rock gnomes of Dolblunde, the lightfoot halflings of Athwater Vale, and the humans of Delimbiyran agreed to unite.  Their kingdom was eventually washed away under endless waves of goblin kind. Phalorm was founded some 400 years before the founding of Daggerford.

The axe bears the marks of the Ironstar clan--the legendary Ironstars who ruled the Ironstar Realm, innovated Darksteel, and learned to imbue weapons with magic.  The refugees of that fallen realm became entwined with the royal lineages of many surrounding dwarfholds--Dardath one of them.

What doesn't add up is the age of the body.  The process of mellification has preserved it well--that's true--but there's no way that this body could be 500 years old!

Tolantra gave a silent whistle as she pierced things together, and at the questions that the corpse still presented. She didn't tell any of the others; she doubted whether any of them, with the possible exception of Celadhel, would be interested. But now she was doubly determined to bring this dwarf back to Daggerford.

((ooc: Not going to loot the body or anything. I want to cast detect magic, but I don't have it memorized today, so that'll have to wait for tomorrow. Heading back to town.))