Skye looked at oak leaf and then the two figurines. The halfling cradled them for a moment then looked at him with a nod. “Thank you. I have always marveled at the connection the druids have with nature, a kinship more of family. We hunters preserve the land and it’s beast from the evils, as I was taught so long ago. You have my word that while I stand, I will fight to see this coward vanquished and his hold on your home released.”

She placed the statues in a pouch

“Like the great Oak of these woods, may Silvanus watch over you and yours,” Oakleaf said with a solemn nod. As the party prepared for their hike back to Deadwater, Blackthorn appeared moved by Lenelle’s words. “Tell Joshua…tell him that tho’ Jason may be dead to the world, that Blackthorn will still protect him. I will journey to Deadwater when I am well enough to travel.”

Marigold and Thistle waited for them near the row of Magnolias. Thistle looked like he was roughly Marigold’s age, a lanky young man with sinewy limbs and black hair slicked back. “We leave when you are ready,” she said to the collective group.

Azatch nodded at Thistle and Marigold, "so you two are you going to take the shapes of animals when we near Deadwater or from the grove?"

He held the new javelin gifted by the archdruid lightly in hand, but stowed it as the group readied to journey.

"Thank you," Cela says, slipping the darts into her belt alongside shabbier ones.  "We're happy to have you joining us.  Deadwater has many faults but they don't deserve the barrage of the dead."

"Thank you," Lenelle said to Blackthorn, "I will tell Joshua what you have said."   

She considered what Azatch had said, supposing he meant they do so in order to avoid any issues with Deadwater's people.

"That may be a good precaution.  However, if possible, I would like to see any rift between town and grove begin to be mended.  They will be in our company, and we have gained respect with many of Deadwater's residents.  And many of them listen to Mercion, who I think will listen to us, when we present the truth to her." 

Azatch looked at Lenelle for a few heartbeats.

"You overestimate the townsfolk of Deadwater from my experience," he finally said. "It's the druid's choice though."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Mon 02 Aug 2021.

"The sooner we help these people. The sooner we can leave on the ship." Grog stated simply. "We do have a schedule to keep. They can't stay out there for more than a couple of weeks."

"Either way, we won't know unless we try," said Tara, philosophically.

“We will assume our wild-shapes to find the lost child.” Marigold didn’t answer Cela, but dipped her head in a shy smile that said it all. She stepped toward the front, leading the group through the row of magnolias toward the bridge. They crossed the bridge without any unnerving attention from birds, although a slender bird with white and pink plumage standing by the shore dipped a long leg into shallow pond water. Though the vines stretched overhead, they didn’t clutch at anyone’s feet.

“The Grove let us pass,” she said, stepping aside. She gestured at Azatch or Skye. “We will stay toward the back until you need us.” The journey passed a little more quickly this time without the detour to Sheila’s.

OOC:

Skye & Azatch, make a roll, anything relevant for tracking a wayward lil’ girl.

<OOC: Skye Keenshadow rolled 21 using 1d20+4 - survival check>

Azatch worked well with Skye as they started searching for the child who had run into the swamp.

OOC: 09:58, Today: Azatch rolled 20 using 1d20+3.  Survival Tracking kid.

Skye led the party unerringly back the way they came, while Azatch’s watchful eye helped them avoid trouble. The urgency of their return honed their focus to a degree that the heat and bugs of the swamp barely bothered them. Marigold applied a minty salve that repelled the bugs. They cut travel time by avoiding Sheila’s cabin. Gwyl hooted pitiably when they veered away from the hedge-witch’s quarters, though.

As Skye brought them within a half mile of the town, Azatch alerted her to a noise. Crying. Skye spotted a dazed Elise, wandering aimlessly and crying, holding a scrap of cloth in her hand.

Skye was one of the first to see the child crying and made her way to her, bow ready as she looked around. "See to the child. Azatch, help me scan for trouble."

The halfling looked around for any signs of traouble - tracks, blood, etc

Lenelle thanked the stars for the swamp-savvy of her allies.  Her impulse was to go to the distraught child --  but she grasped what Skye was doing.

And so instead she paused;  awaiting to see if danger would present itself.  And if it did, then she had her allies covered -- be it with celestial bolts, or unerring force-darts...

Azatch nodded, he drew out the javelin that the archdruid had gifted him and fanned out in an opposite direction from Skye, looking to scan the other side of the perimeter, his eyes peeled and ready to attack anything that threatened the kid and the group.

"Someone get the kid... ask her why she wandered off and why's she crying."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:33, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

Tara stayed alert.  Danger was far too common here; she needed to be alert, at all costs.

Elise ran toward Grog, throwing her little arms around as much of his thick leg as possible. The girl sobbed and clung desperately to the Minotaur. Skye and Azatch secured the immediate area with military efficiency, sweeping their perimeter for any signs of bloodshed or anything returning to spill more. Lenelle and Tara hung nearby, equally vigilant, readying their spells for trouble. Gwyl perched on a cypress limb immediately over his mistress, watching Elise quietly.

Azatch picked up a coppery scent. When Elise wasn’t watching them, Marigold nodded at Thistle. They  both transformed into wolves. Marigold confirmed Azatch’s worries with a baleful howl. Her nose pointed in the direction they’d started their trek to the Grove over a day earlier.

Skye noticed sparse traces of  cloth just over twenty four feet away. She cautiously walked up and saw what looked like the shredded remains of a rag doll. Nearby lay a few wisps of curly red hair. When Skye looked back at the child, she noticed that the cloth she held looked uncomfortably familiar. A handful of purple cloth just like the shirt that Pockets wore.

Skye knelt down, exploring the area, her keen training and sight catching the minute details of things most would miss - the tell-tale metallic smell in the air, confirmed by the druids now in wolf form, the cloth shreds that were hidden, the remains of the rag doll, and the hair.

She had seen the cloth before, and took a grim look on her face. She reached into her pack, unravelling her stone the halfling placed in it. She grasped it and sent her thoughts through the stone.  ~Damnit halfling - you answer me or by every god known i'll find you and put my foot so far up your ass, you'll have to open your mouth to unlace my boot.~


~POCKETS....ANSWER ME NOW~

to the visible eye, it looked like she was trying to crush a stone, but her mind was full of turmoil.

Skye heard nothing.

Tara considered, and then cast her spell as a longer ritual to detect magic.  It was certainly worth making the attempt, and it might reveal something of great importance.

Skye’s expression went dark, then started yelling obseneties in the halfling language. For a minute, she passed, cursing in her native togune before stopping and taking a breath. She looked at the others, pulling the, aside so the girl didn’t hear “We have a problem. This shirt belonged to pockets…..the hair I do t know. But rest assured two people have been taken or….” She pauses.

She looked at the girl and approached, her expression softening. On the outside she looked calm and happy, but inside she was full of turmoil.

“Do you remember me, from town? I’m a friend of grog’s. Can you tell me what happened here?”

"We need to get her back to town." Cela says.
  "It's too dangerous for a little girl out here.  And they're looking for her right?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 15:04, Mon 09 Aug 2021.

Sundos stands protectively close to the child. He stands with his shield ready, so the the kid is between Grog and Sundos.

His desire was to call out for Pockets.  However, brain was able to overrule his emotions and he kept quiet. Yelling in the swamp didn't sound like a good idea right now.

"Well the druids seem to have found a trail we can follow... so deal with the kid however you want, but we need to follow their noses." Azatch said as he moved over to follow Marigold.

Elise sniffled as she released Grog’s leg. The little girl rubbed the tears from her eye  and nodded. “Yes, I remember you. You always yell at Mr. Pockets.”

Wiping her nose, Elise appeared to muster her courage. “I know I’m not supposed to go in the woods, but Phoebe & I were playing ‘Princess Lenelle & Cela’. We were going on a special adventure to find a magical flower. We thought it was okay because it was still daytime! Mama says the monsters always come at night.

Well, Mr. Pockets looked for us, and he told us we had to go back home, but…but…!” Elise’s lip quivered. Before Elise could finish, though, the group heard a commotion.

“ELISE!” A frantic Miriam broke away from a band of villagers, racing toward her daughter and clutching the child in her arms. “Thank Pelor we found you!” A search party including Mercion, Joshua, and Laredon approached, as pleased to see the party as they were to find the missing child.

The shifted Druids fell in place alongside Azatch, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Nearby, Tara cast a spell to Detect Magic. She sensed…something nearby, but also sensed a resistance to her probe. She would need to focus to find the source of the active magic that she sensed.

Miriam broke her embrace, brushing Elise’s hair back and wiping her face with her blouse sleeve, “Elise, you nearly scared me to death! Child, I’ve warned you about leaving the gate! What were you thinking?!”

A smattering of voices joined Miriam’s.

“Brother Sundos, I am pleased that you returned safely from the Swamp!”
“Lenelle, how is Jason? Did you have to…?”
“Thank the gods we found Miriam’s daughter, but wasn’t there another girl?”

Miriam remembered Elise’s playmate. Curiously,  she peered around the immediate swamp. “Yes. My daughter’s playmate, little Phoebe McCay.” She looked back at Elise with growing concern. “Elise. Where is Phoebe?”

The child started bawling again. Her mother gripped her shoulders, trying to calm the girl enough to get an answer. Joshua broke away to check the trees, but shook his head when he couldn’t find the girl. The adults pressed Elise, who stared wide eyed. “Elise, you must tell me, what happened to Phoebe?”

Finally, the child screamed, “She took her!”

“Who? Who took Phoebe?”

Elise shook with sobs as she screamed, “The Witch, Mama! The Bad Woman who took Papa away! Sheila!”


End of Chapter 3!