"I think if it intends to feed,
then we are forced to fight, indeed,
But it if wants to pass us by,
The it is best if we would fly."


He points to the side, away from its path.

Leysa nods to Lysander and makes rom for the beetle to pass if it chooses. She still watches it warily, just in case.

Fenranir looked at the beetle...big...giant...beetle...his eyes going a bit wide. "There's something I don't see every day." After a moment, he blinked a few times and shook his head.

He glanced at the others and gave a small nod. "Sure. You guys have that sort of good luck often? Where things just pass you by?"

He grinned and began to step so as to be well out of the bug-thing's intended path, but kept his longbow ready.

Daladain raised a curious eyebrow. That was a big insect! He didn’t fancy tangling with it, that protective carapace looked pretty tough, and there might be more of them near by.

He followed the lead of the others and stepped to the side, keeping far away from the creature and allowing it to go about its business.

Insects, even giant magical mutant ones, are pretty much devoted to their purposes.  Not too bright, they don't stop to think about things.  They reach pretty basic conclusions like "is it food?" and "does it hurt me?" fairly quickly.  (the problems really set in when the answer to both of those is YES.)

So as the party takes cover in their defensive little niche, the beetle pauses.  Antennae wave in the air.

"I wonder what it eats?" Petunia asks quietly.

"Us if it gets us," Firefern whispers.

But after a few hesitant moments, the creature decides that it does not eat fairies.  It continues along its way.  As it passes, the carapace can be seen to full effect:  it's a perfect mirror.  You can even see yourselves in it as it passes.  Well, since it's a curved mirror, very distorted reflections.

"Very shiny bug," Petunia observes after its clearly past.  "Does anyone polish it or do they come that way?  It's the strangest thing, like the whole world bends around it!"

It's headed in the general direction you want to go:  Up towards that forested ridge.

It travels wide upon the trail,
So maybe we should be it's tail.was

Fen shot a hard glance at Petunia nd Firefern when they whispered to each other while the beetle was still too close for comfort. He didn't hold his breath, but he breathed shallowly as the beetle passed them. He frowned at his distorted reflection in the beetle's carapace. The frowning made it worse and he looked away from himself.

After it passed, he let out a relieved sigh. He glanced at the rhymer and gave a shrug. "I mean...we're going that way anyway, but...best we not get too close to it. Who knows if it'll sense us."

Leysa watched the creature carefully and curiously as it passed her. There was a small lump of fear in her heart and throat, but her curiosity shone through on her face. A small part of her was a bit sad it had not come to blows so that she could examine its remains.

At the suggestion they allow it to be their vanguard, she stuck out her tongue and squinted after it a bit then shrugged, "Seems harmless enough." So saying, she checked her belongings and hiked her skirt a bit to hurry after, at a safe distance of course.

Daladain turned to his companions and raised an eyebrow. “I guess we follow the shiny beetle then?” he quipped. It was indeed a strange looking animal, but an animal nonetheless. Such creatures were usually only interested in you if you were food, a threat, or a mate. As the group didn’t appear to be any of these it was fair to assume that there was no real threat, provided they left it well alone.

He followed the creature, maintaining a safe distance and scanning the distance for anything of interest.

Following the creature...

It's convenient, as it seems to be going in the same general direction.
What's even better is that it's moving at a nice, steady, easy pace.  You don't have to hurry to keep up.  Although sometimes it shows that it crosses rough terrain easily, and those parts are something of a struggle.

The creature heads up the wooded ridge, and down over the other side.

Following, you see that there is a narrow by very neatly and properly made road in the distance.  And some farmland!  You've rediscovered civilization, and as you recall from the maps back at the Guesthouse, this would be the road to Sanzi, and no doubt one of the small "Chaos Farms" scattered along it.

The bug apparently picks up something... it halts and its antennae twitch in the breeze.

It seems to have decided that it likes something from the farm ahead, because it adjusts its course.

The shiny reflective giant beetle is now headed on a straight line towards a small farming settlement.  You see a knot of houses in the distance.  Not many, but arranged in a neat, perfect square.

"I know that it is but a farm,
But it displays a lot of charm."

Fenranir was, for a while, content to simply follow the giant bug creature since they were headed in the same direction and it hadn't tried to eat them. Or poop on them. He didn't get too close to it for either of the above reasons.

But then he saw the farm coming up. He hesitated but then asked with a light frown on his face. "Sooo...what if it...intends to attack the settlement? Do we try and stop it?" He didn't relish the prospect. The creature looked...hard to hurt. Hells, it was hard to SEE.

A farm? Now that was interesting. Daladain couldn't help but wonder who, or what, might be living there and what they were farming. Out here it could be anything from miniature turnips to... to beans the size of houses! Farming wasn't really his area of expertise, and his imagination didn't run too far in the fresh produce department.

When Fenranir spoke he thought for a moment. "I guess if it attacks we help the farmer shoo it away. If it sees us as a threat it will most likely flee, most creatures are only looking for an easy meal and aren't willing to die for it. A lot of noise and fire and lights should scare it off." He sounded confident in his words, but out here who could know for sure.

Leysa chewed her tongue a bit as she watched the beetle approach the farm. Nodding, she moved forward at a brisker pace, "of course. We are not brute to allow people to be harmed. Whatever the cause. Let's overtake it, if possible." Leysa jogged at a brisk pace toward the farm to see what was the case and, perhaps, warn the people. Mayhap, they even knew of the mirror beetle and might have some information to add to the situation.

As they get closer to the farm, they can see that it is one of the region's famous Chaos Farms. The people here have learned how to channel the forces of the peculiar Chaos storms (which have the unfortunate effect of filling the canyons and badlands with all sorts of peculiar creatures and occasional spatial portals) into farms that will grow... well, one never knows.  If one knew, it wouldn't be chaotic, would it?  Chaos farms are never very large, you don't see endless waves of grain (or whatever) and they are prepared in ways that seem to direct and tame the chaos storms.  Every few months, they turn over a new crop of... something.

This time, it looks like the farm is turning out a nice crop of watermelons.

Another common feature of the chaos farms is the beast of burden of the farms of Montabon.  The people here have llamas.  There is something about them... other creatures can be unnerved by the supernatural, but llamas look it straight in the eye and say "bring it".

Of course they have their limits, and llamas will not stand and fight when giving something room is an obvious recourse.  So as the reflective spider approaches the farm, the several llamas in a paddock back away, giving the bizarre honking squeal that llamas have for an alarm call.

The beetle looks like its headed for the watermelons.

I see that he has so many feet,
but looks like he just wants to eat.

Fen gave a sidelong glance at they Rhyme Master and a small snort escaped him. "Well...I suppose so long as lives aren't in danger. I mean, losing crops would be awful I'm sure, but if the creature leaves the farmers and the llama alone, I suppose it is just another hazard of where you place your farm?"

He glanced at Leysa and then at Daladain.

Leysa nods, "Spoken like someone who never had to live off the land. It is unknown whether and how much losing such a crop would affect the farmers. They might be able to weather it, they might starve without the income."

Thus spoken, Leysa started to jog toward the farm, "Hello the farm! We're a party from Deluzion Break. You've a giant reflective beetle heading straight for your melons." Whatever might come of it, this was the course she had chosen.

They alert the farm rather than physically oppose the beetle.

The beetle uses the lack of opposition to get into the watermelons and chows down on a melon.

The farmers here were aware that something was up, as they heard the llamas give the alarm calls.  But like the party, they weren't quite sure what they were looking at.

The Fairies having decided that the party is doing the right thing.  With the creature being a vegetarian, it is at best a nuisance, not an enemy.

Petunia flies out in front of the group.  "It's just an innocent creature... a shiny one, that's true... but just a watermelon.  I'm sure they can spare a watermelon!"

She flies off to the farm.  Firefern sighs and explains:  "It's a fairy thing, you know, we're supposed to look out for nature and living creatures... I think generally it's foxes and rabbits.  This... this is new, but I think.. you know, you haven't hurt it this far, and that's... at least Petunia thinks... that's the right thing."

A farm family watches from their doorway as a large and very shiny beetle devours a whole watermelon.  Rind and all.

"Well it's not the weirdest thing that's happened," a rumpled looking woman says.  "If there's only one of them then there won't be more, at least.  And now we know what's inside these big green things."

She looks at the man who is apparently her husband.  "And you thought they were squash!"

"Nope.  Not a squash.  Red on the inside," the man says.

Petunia convinces them not to try to kill it, and the beetle its eats fill and goes along its way.  As it wanders off, the farmers invite the intrepid party in, welcoming to the little village of Tinzo, on the Sanzi Road.

By the way:  creatures observed and bypassed still count for experience, especially if they were never seen before!
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:33, Sun 21 Mar 2021.

Having come through the canyon and now on a fairly mundane path, the party can skip ahead directly to Sanzi, if desired.

(I am not the type to game out every single day)

Relieved that the beetle turned out to be nothing more that a farmer's nuisance, Daladain left the creature to it's meal and continued down the path.

Sorry for absence, happy to skip ahead.

Fen frowned at Leysa and replied, "No. No, I have not." No matter what he said thus far, he seemed to annoy her, or make himself more negative in her point of view. He shook his head.

But then he smiled widely and gestured towards the farmers, "SEE?? They said the same thing!" Right after the words left his mouth, he realized he probably should have just kept his mouth shut. "Well. Ahem. Anyway. At least no one is hurt and it only killed one melon."

OOC: I am good either way. Random encounters can be fun, but if you don't have something specific planned, we can fast forward.

Leysa watches it eat a single melon then wander off. She sighs dramatically then moves toward the farmers, "Happy that it was not worse. I'm Leysa by the Bye. I'd be happy for some hospitality."

Happy to skip ahead.

"Good day, my good farm folk, I pray you are well,
We could use a quick respite, so that would be swell."

Yes, I am with the rest.

From here they go to a new thread:  Sanzi.