GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 8: Druids

In which we talk to the Wonderful Druids.




Last time, we talked to a wizard. Note: Balazar was unable to attend this session so we assumed he was drunk for most of it.

"We should go to meet my fellow druids," Fei began. "They may have information that would be of use to us. And things should be... alright, so long as our intentions are to get rid of the beholders."

"That is our goal," Sadun said.

"How likely are these druids to, let's say, throw someone? A yeet," Talna asked.

"What is this 'yeet' you speak of?" Elle asked Talna.

"Oh, it's a word from my language. For throwing something very hard a long distance away," Talna explained.

"I have practiced some elvish," Fei said, "but maybe a different dialect, as this word is unknown to me."

"It is from the Undercommon," Talna pointed out. "Pronounced 'yeet'. Or you could say, 'ya-yeet' as you throw the object. It's a sort of good luck charm."

"Anyway," Fei said, returning to the subject at hand, "so long as nobody speaks out of line, or too loudly... the druid meet is a peaceful thing, and has been for generations. Except for a few times when someone was killed. Usually we wait for violence until after the meeting now. So it should be alright if you come with me. Except... perhaps for Balazar. And Elle. I don't know enough about you yet Pip Squeak, but maybe you should also remain behind."

"Fine with me!" Balazar said, raising a mug of beer.

The group proceeded south, arriving at the area for the druid meet in the evening and setting up camp in a clearing near to where the circle would gather. As the fire crackled, Pip Squeak set to work fashioning a leather strap to hold his new magical glasses to his head. Cassian experimented with using his chain-hammer, but was unable to determine any new ways to utilize the tool, as Talna fed Biscuit the horse.

"Hey Talna, can you see me?" Elle shouted from the shadows around the fire.

"Yes Elle," Talna said wearily.

"Damn, I was trying to hide from your dark vision!" the gnome complained.

"Next time, try not shouting your position then," Talna suggested.

"Fei, will the druids be offended if we show up with our metal weapons?" Cassian asked, sitting down from his workout.

"Well, it is true that druids do not approve of the use of worked metal. It is a painful reminder of the woes of civilization, and the havoc the civilized world has wreaked on the environment," Fei explains. "And some of my fellow druids are a little bit... angrier with outsiders than others, so it may be best not to bring anything to provoke them."

"Very well," Cassian said. "I will leave my weapons and armor behind. Except my gauntlets, but I'll keep them behind my back the whole time."

"I too will leave my weapons behind," Sadun said. "I entrust Briarblade to your care Elle."

"I had best follow suit I suppose," Talna said, exchanging her armor for her clerical vestments.

"That is for the best," Fei said. "Come, the time of the meeting grows closer. Elle, Pip, it would be best if you stay behind and watch the cart. And your friend," she said, indicating the already drunk Balazar.

Sadun, Cassian and Talan followed Fei into the trees, which seemed to grow thicker as they approached. As they reach the treelike, Fez's fox mask began to glow, and a path appeared between the trees. After the four enter the woods, the path disappeared.

--------------------------

"I'm bored," Pip complained.

"They've only been gone for two minutes," Elle said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to follow them, I'm sure that's more interesting than staying here," the ratfolk said, poking about the trees. "I think I could get through here, but I don't want to trip any alarms the druids may have..."

Pip walked over to the section of trees where the group had entered and attempted to push through a narrow gap between them. He made it a few feet before the trees around him began to grow together and constrict his movement.

"It's no good, the trees grow too fast," Pip complained, coming back to the clearing. Snarling in frustration, he cut off a leaf from one of the nearby trees. The leaf shriveled before it hit the ground.

"Wait wait, let me try," Elle said. The gnome ran up to the trees where Pip had attempted to enter, and ran as fast as she could. At the last second she jumped, diving through a gnome sized hole in the trees, and rolled to her feet on the other side. "I made it in!" she shouted back towards the clearing.

"Oh, speed huh?" Pip muttered. He ran after Elle, and attempted the same trick, but got stuck halfway through. Elle reached up and pulled the protruding ratfolk through onto the trail on the opposite side of the magicked tree barrier. "Well, now we're here, let's go see what we can see!" Pip said. "And, thank you." The rat patted Elle on the head with his tail. Elle's expression was confused, but she accepted the gratitude.

They started attempting to follow what little trail there was, leaving the party's equipment behind them, guarded only by a drunkenly snoozing Balazar.

-----------------------

Fei led Cassian, Talna and Sadun along a trail only she seemed to be able to see. The group soon reached a clearing, in which six circles were carved in the dirt. A large tree stood in the center of the circles, marked with the druidic runes for the words "No Fighting".

"Ok Fei, these are your people, so please take the lead," Cassian said. Fei nodded, and walked to a circle marked for the moon. As she entered the circle, the runes not he ground lit up to match the glow from her mask. She motioned the other three to stand behind her, and they waited.

Soon, the sound of footfalls sounded from another trail leading to the clearing. The figure that emerged from the trees was dressed in heavy robes, and wore a mask representing a deer. Sadun thought the figure's pace looked familiar, and placed them as a ratfolk like Pip. The Deer Masked person walked into the Circle of Stars and nodded at Fei. Shortly after their arrival, a third druid entered the circle. This time the druid's loose rags did little to disguise their nature as a kobold. The mask the kobold wore was that of the Raven, and they moved to the Circle of the Hill.

Fei acknowledged the newcomer with another nod, and the group continued to wait for the remaining druids.

----------------------

"I'm not confident, but I think this might be their tracks," Elle whispered to Pip. She led the ratfolk through the trees. "I don't like this though, it feels like we're being watched."

"Do you hear something?" Pip asked. The pair paused a moment. 

"Footsteps," Elle whispered. "Into the bush!" The gnome pulled the startled Pip behind her into the bushes. From their hiding place, the pair observed a robed figure walk down the path. As the figure passed by, they noticed the figure had hooves, and wore a mask representing a monkey. The figure paused, looked at the bush they were in, tipped its mask, and walked on.

Elle was about to move on behind the Monkey-masked figure when she heard another figure approaching along the trail as well. She held Pip back in the bush, and kept quiet as a very bloody tabaxi stalked past wearing a mask of a snake. 

After the tabaxi had moved on, Elle stepped carefully onto the trail. "That was a scary looking druid," she muttered.

"The blood smelled fantastic though," Pip said in a distant voice. Elle gave the ratfolk a look, but ignored the comment in favor of continuing along the trail.

--------------------

In the clearing, Fei observed the newest arrivals cooly. The satyr druid in the mask of the monkey was quickly followed by the tabaxi in the mask of the snake. The tabaxi stalked over to the circle of the spore. Mushrooms spores seemed to drift from their blood-stained fur in the light breeze. The tabaxi swept is withering gaze around the circle and came to rest on Fei and the people behind her. The gaze turned into a glare of utter hatred. Talna matched the glare with one of her own. After a moment of stare down, the tabaxi drew out a wooden board and made a mark on it with a charcoal covered stick. 

The kobold druid cleared their throat, and seemed about to start talking when suddenly a commotion broke out from behind the tabaxi, and Elle fell out of a nearby bush. Talna immediately put her face in her palms. The tabaxi turned and looked at the gnome. "Is this one of yours?" the tabaxi asked Fei.

"I got lost! Sorry! Elle called out loudly. All the druids glare at her, and their hands glow as the bush behind Elle turned stiff and unyielding, preventing the gnome from retreating the way she had come. With a yelp, Elle tosses some rope in the air, attempting to escape to her pocket dimension, but the Rope Trick spell is quickly dispelled by one of the druids as well.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this," the tabaxi growled, unsheathing their claws and beginning to walk towards Elle.

"I am surprised you are alive Axy," Fei called out.

The tabaxi glanced over their shoulder. "I'll talk to you in a moment, I just have to kill this outsider first."

"She is with me," Fei confirmed. The tabaxi growled, but allowed Elle to run past to huddle next to Sadun and Talna. 

"So now you are coming here with outsiders, intruding on our pleasant meeting places," Axy says to Fei. "Why do you have an outsider here, in front of me."

"They are champions," Fei replied simply.

"So we should kill them faster?" Axy asks. "The champions are not from here. They do not belong here."

"You would not help against our common enemies even if you were chosen as a champion," Fei said.

"Two of the beholders do have to go, it is true," Axy allowed. "Though the one in my region has proven quite useful. Give me a good reason not to kill these... trash."

"Axy," the kobold barked out. "Calm down. This is the place of no violence."

"What they said!" Elle said. At her words, all the druids, including Fei, turned to glare at the gnome. Sadun clamped her hand over Elle's mouth to prevent any further outbursts.

"Fine," Axy said, after a moment. "Shall we begin? Parfa, what news?"

The kobold spoke up. "The north is well, very quiet up there. The beholder there seems to be at peace with the town, which is odd, but the forest is alive and thriving. It seems to be the most lively of our areas from what I have gathered. Taro? How is your section?"

"Well, nothing out of the ordinary. I spend most of my time sleeping, as we should," the satyr emphasized this last point, "as the plants will surely take care of everything. How about you Squin? Anything in your part of the woods?"

"It is rough going in the east," the ratfolk spoke up. "The plants are finally growing after the death beholder took over. I don't know why it has taken so long though. It is really frustrating that things do not grow the way they should." As they speak, their staff glows brightly, before fading as the druid calms down again.

"As for me, I deal with outsiders as I see them," Axy said simply.

"What of you, newcomer?" Parfa asked of Fei. "How has your time been?"

"When I first met these champions, they helped me dispose of a beholder husk. Since then, we have had several incidents, included one with the strange goblin Max. It seems a foreign god of gambling made a deal with this goblin, and it created this... energy where his arm was. There was an incident where this energy seemed to create a beholder."

"Did you deal with this outsider appropriately?" Axy asked, doubtfully.

"The goblin is dead, yes, but I do have bad news." The circle, which had been on the verge of applause at the death of an outsider, stopped to hear the bad news. "When the goblin died, and these champions can verify my tale, the black mask of energy grew bigger. It is in the vicinity of Serpent Lake. It appears to nullify magic near it, and draws living things to it."

"How are the plants, how are the trees?" Squin asked.

"We did observe birds flying into it, and not emerging, but we did not stay to see if it would stop expanding. As you know, we get our power from the magic of the earth, and I worry that if it is not stopped, we may lose access to our powers as the energy absorbs the magic of our world."

"I'm sure nature will sort it out," Taro said. "Nature always sorts these things out. We will just have to be careful to avoid the area until it gets sorted."

"I see a useful tool we could use," Axy said thoughtfully. "We could put wanted posters to take care of the magic items in the lake, and the outsiders would go there and be sucked into the void. A good way to thin the herd, as it were."

"We could try to talk to the wizard in the tower near there," Parfa said. "Or we could talk to the city. Maybe they would help us fix this energy."

"Talna, would you like to explain what we learned?" Fei asked.

"I would rather not," Talna muttered.

"I would rather not hear that one speak," Axy said loudly. 

"Oh, in that case," Talna said, stepping forward, "we spoke with the wizard in the tower. Pulling answers from him is like pulling teeth from a tarrasque-"

"He let you in?" Parfa asked. "Willingly?"

"Begrudgingly," Talna said.

"How did you get in," Axy asked, interested. "Give me details." The tabaxi pulled their wooden notepad from their pouch.

"How we got in is not important," Talna hedged.

"But it is!" Axy said. "We have been trying too... talk to the wizard for years. Decades. Isn't that right Taro?"

"Eh," Taro said. "I tried once."

"Anyway, he gave us this diamond, and said that if we throw this into the void as it pulses, the void should close. But if we get the timing wrong, it will kill us. He only gave us the one try though."

"Then you should absolutely try it right now," Axy said, with a toothy and unfriendly grin. "If you have a solution though, it sounds like you do not need help from us."

"Has anyone found the body, or at least the mask, of the dreamer?" Parfa asked, moving to the next topic.

"I have not seen any sign of it, above or below ground," Squin said.

"It is a lost cause," Axy said. 

"Have you seen or heard anything about it Fei?" Parfa asked.

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Then we remain below full power," Parfa said sadly. The kobold looked at the empty circle. "One day we will find your mask, friend."

"Last meeting I was at, I was still too young. Who was the moon druid?"

"Oh of course," Parfa said. "The dreamer has been missing for quite some time. They stopped coming at one point, which is fine, but they have not been here in a long time. We can but hope the beholders have not acquired their mask though, as a beholder with that power would be a nightmare. We still look for the dreamer, but for all we know they are dead. The last of the rabbitfolk. The last time we were in their territory it was devastated, as though a beholder had gone through the area."

"We did meet a rabbitfolk," Fei said.

"Where did you meet a rabbitfolk? We thought they had died out," Squin asked.

"We met them in a town to the east of here. They had a letter for their sister, and warned me to stay away from them," Fei explained. Squin and Parfa took note of this, clearly interested.

"Well, I feel it is not worth fighting against the beholders," Taro said. "They are part of nature now, and it is best to let bygones be bygones."

"Well, maybe two should die, but the peaceful beholder in the north seems alright," Squin agreed.

"Fei, we cannot deal with the threat of beholders until we deal with the outsider threat. Have you seen them build cities on land that does not belong to them? We should use the beholders against the outsiders. In fact, I have opened communication with the death beholder who seems very interested in killing outsiders, particularly the goblin you mentioned. The beholder will be pleased to learn of his death," Axy opined.

"I have one other question," Fei said. "Is there a way to get rid of an Old One?"

A hush fell across the circle. "Yes," Parfa said. "The host of the old one has to be killed, to send the Old One's spirit elsewhere."

"What if the Old One is sealed inside an object, which is attached to a person?"

"Yes, you have to kill the host and then destroy the object, so that the Old One's spirit has no links back to our world," Taro said.

"And if we can't kill the host?" Fei asked.

"Killing the host is mandatory, I'm afraid," Squin said. "Even if the Old One was banished somehow, the link to the host would be too strong. It is too risky to leave the host alive."

"Indeed, I shall keep that in mind," Fei said, noncommittally. "I have one final proposal. I know our rules prevent mingling with others often, but we have not had success in fighting the beholders in the past. I feel it may be best if we tried something out of the ordinary at this time. With your permission, I would like to work with this current group of champions. Perhaps we can make a difference in this way."

"That is perfectly acceptable," Parfa said. "You are a part of our group, but you are also a grown lass and capable of making your own decisions. If you feel it best to attempt to work with the champions, we shall not stop you. You have my blessing."

"Yes, it's fine, I don't care what you do so long as the world doesn't explode," Taro said.

"I'm not sure about these outsiders, but if you trust them with your life and with your mask, and they do not cut or burn down any trees, then I see no reason to hate them," Squin agrees.

"I refuse your proposal. Outsiders can be very persuasive about how they are 'meant to be here' because of some 'divine provenance'. You can do what you want, but if you work with them you are making an enemy of me, and I will kill any outsiders I see," Axy said coldly. "And the death beholder in my territory is to be left alive, so long as I have anything to say about it."

The circle is quiet for a moment. "If there is nothing further, we should adjourn," Parfa said at last. The other druids nodded assent, and the circles disappeared from around them. The masks lost their glow.

"Well, that was a good meeting, I am off to my hammock," Taro said. The satyr set off happily. Squin followed soon after, leaving in deep thought. Parfa and Axy began a discussion on the opposite side of the clearing from Fei.

"So Elle," Talna said quietly. "If you're here, who is watching our stuff? And don't say Pip, I saw him hiding in that bush behind the tabaxi."

"Balazar?" Elle said.

"You mean the same Balazar who was knocked out drunk?" Talna asked.

"Alright, we need to return to our things immediately," Sadun said, and began walking back to the trail, followed closely by Cassian.

Across the circle, Axy began to leave. "I hope you consider my words, Parfa," the tabaxi said, handing the kobold a letter. "And I hope you make the right decision."

As the tabaxi druid left, Parfa walked over to Fei. "I am very proud of you Fei. This is your first time in the circle, yes?"

"I was here once before, but when I was much younger and still in training."

"Well now you are officially a member of the circle, brava. I hope you are successful in your mission against the beholders. If you need help, you can always contact me." The kobold handed Fei a stone. "Remember, your life is more important than the champions," Parfa added, as they left the clearing.

As Parfa left, the clearing returned to normal.

------------------------

Pip left as soon as possible after the druids began to disperse. He found himself behind one of the druids, who seemed to be deep in thought. He realized he did not know the way back to the camp site, and settled on following the druid. After a few moments, a rat tail poked from under the druid's robes briefly.

"Hey," Pip called out in Queakish.

The druid froze, and turned around slowly. "Who said that," they replied, in rusty Queakish.

"I did," said Pip, standing up. 

The druid approached Pip slowly, and examined him closely. "You are from the underground village, are you not? I thought the tinker clan was exterminated."

"What?" Pip asked, confused. 

"Nevermind that, you are beautiful. Your stench is impeccable."

"Do you know where my clan might be? I can't find them," Pip said.

"Depending on which clan you are from, they are probably all dead. But you could repopulate..."

"With you?" Pip asked, examining the female druid closely.

"I appreciate the offer, but we druids cannot," Squin said. "And I have not seen any ratfolk in many ages."

"Can you direct me away from here then? I'm a bit lost," Pip admitted.

"Which entrance did you come from?" Squin asked. At Pip's befuddled look, she handed him some leaves. "Here, eat these, the magic should put you back where you came from... about thirty minutes ago."

Pip immediately bit down on the leaves, and found himself suddenly next to Biscuit the horse. Biscuit started, and began to bolt. Pip instinctively tossed a ball of caltrops in front of the horses path. Biscuit fell, throwing the sleeping Balazar and scattering the party's equipment across the clearing. 

"Oh, stop!" Pip shouted to the horse, as Biscuit attempted to get up and run further. Biscuit halted in its tracks. 

He had just calmed the horse down when the rest of the group returned.

"I don't know how you got back before us," Talna said, "but I know you were there too."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Pip said.

"Why is Biscuit hurt?" Talna asked.

"You have a clumsy horse?" Pip explained.

Talna glared at him. "I'll deal with you later," she muttered.

Behind Talna, Elle and Cassian were talking.

"Elle, please do not be so reckless in the future," Cassian said. 

"I can't promise that," Elle muttered, guiltily.

"Just... try." Cassian pleaded. 

The group gathered around the remains of their fire. 

"What is our next destination?" Sadun asked.

"We should deal with the Lake Serpent and get those weapons," Cassian suggested.

"Or we could fix the void. Or try to," Talna said.

"Those are both in the same area at least. Maybe we should all get a good night's sleep, and head that way in the morning," Sadun suggested.

TO BE CONTINUED