022. "Just trust me."

[Corwin]

[19:53] <Kotono> roll 1d100
[19:53] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d100 and gets 70." [1d100=70]
[19:53] <Kotono> roll 1d100
[19:53] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d100 and gets 93." [1d100=93]
[19:55] <Kotono> Just past sunup the four leave Balmuria behind! The first day of travel east goes without incident. You pass tidy farms and homesteads, the forest encroaching as you head into the wilderness. The second day of travel is without incident, the party making camp in a small clearing.
[19:56] <Janson> "So, do you guys want to stop by Aralla on our way?" Janson asks his companions as he heats up some mushroom and vegetable broth over the fire. "I'd feel a bit strange coming by so close and not at least saying hello, but if you don't want to waste time that's okay."
[19:57] <Andria> "Sure, it'd be nice to see your old home," Andrea replies.
[19:58] <Aaeru> "Seconded!"
[19:59] * Janson smiles at Andrea. "Good, we won't take long, but if they ever hear I went by without stopping they'd probably complain. It's not much of a sidetrip at all."
[20:00] <Wayland> "I'm sure it will be fine, Janson. I've not been out here before, so a safe harbor would be welcome. Wayland grins.
[20:01] <Andria> "And we can meet your old friends too! I'm sure they'll be glad to hear that you're doing alright for yourself in the big city!" Andrea chips in.
[20:02] * Aaeru peers at Andrea. "Girlfriends, you mean?"
[20:03] <Wayland> "Well, were you popular with the ladies, Janson? Eh?" Wayland says, elbowing Janson.
[20:04] * Janson chuckles ruefully at Aaeru's comment. "Yeah, well, there weren't exactly many men to compete with... Oh, and speaking of safe harbour," he turns to Wayland. "A fey is the third nicest thing you could hope to meet out in these woods, so if we run into any please don't go blaming all of Pallanth's ills on them."
[20:05] <Andria> Andrea blinks at Aaeru. "Uh, well I guess those too? I just meant friends in general though..." she replies, not understanding the leap in logic.
[20:05] <Andria> "What are the first and second nicest?"
[20:06] <Wayland> Nodding with a sigh, Wayland says, "I can keep my comments to myself, as long as they don't bother me."
[20:06] <Janson> "A daugher of Jannath is best, obviously," Janson replies plainly. "And unicorns are even nicer than fey, but you're also way less likely to find one."
[20:06] <Aaeru> "Oh, they'll bother you," Aaeru assures Wayland, nodding.
[20:07] * Aaeru then glances at Janson in confusion. "Unicorns aren't fey?"
[20:08] * Janson shakes his head. "They're closely entwined, but to be technical they're not, no. The difference doesn't matter for most people, I guess..." he trails off thoughtfully.
[20:12] <Kotono> The party settles in for the night! The majority of it is pleasant and full of sleep. About an hour and a half before dawn Andrea is sitting at watch. It's quiet, birdsong not quite yet filling the forest. As Andrea watches...hm? There is a faint flash of pale yellow, faraway in the trees.
[20:15] <Andria> Andrea scratches her head, wondering what could cause that...not knowing if it was a good or bad thing, she plays the better part of valor and moves towards Janson to prod him awake. If it's a bad thing, they can wake up the others, but if not, better to let the rest continue sleeping.
[20:15] <Andria> "Psst...Janson," Andrea prods him. "Are pale yellow things in the distance good or bad?"
[20:16] <Janson> "Mghf... whu?" Janson half rolls over towards Andrea, eyes squinting at her as he processes what she's saying...
[20:16] <Janson> OOC: any relevant knowledge?
[20:16] <Andria> "I saw something pale yellow off in the distance...I didn't know if it was something to be worried about..." she admits.
[20:17] <Kotono> OOC: K:N.
[20:18] <Janson> roll 1d20+11
[20:18] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+11 and gets 27." [1d20=16]
[20:20] <Janson> "Mmm..." Janson wipes at his nose. "Prob'ly a will o' wisp. Won't bother you if you don't go near it, but wake us if it comes near," he murmurs, trying to swiftly fall back asleep.
[20:22] <Andria> Andrea nods and goes back to keeping watch, letting Janson go back to sleep.
[20:23] <Kotono> As Andrea settles back in, there is another flash of yellow. It's a little closer, then passes. A few moments later there is a white flash, this one where the yellow flash was before.
[20:25] <Andria> Andrea frowns, but lets it be for now, just keeping an eye out for it moving closer. For now, it's not like it's that much closer, so it might not come to bug them. Janson didn't seem too overly concerned so it'd be okay...right?
[20:26] <Kotono> A few more minutes pass, then...the flash of light is from above this time. It's a pale, ghostly blue this time, basking the entire camp in it's radiance.
[20:28] <Andria> "...oh, Janson! It's gotten cloooooooser!!!" Andrea exclaims loudly as she moves to prod awake anyone who didn't with her loud statement, looking upwards to see what this will o' wisp thing looked like.
[20:28] <Janson> "Urgh, what?" Janson grumbles and sits up, blinking and rubbing his eyes before he registers the unearthly light and looks up.
[20:29] * Aaeru awakens, lying on her back and staring blankly at the sky. She blinks a few times, ready to strike at a moment's notice, should there be a need for that.
[20:30] <Kotono> Looking up, you see a pale blue globe. It's about 20 feet up and flying above the camp, perhaps the size of a child's ball. It's heading to the east/southeast.
[20:30] <Wayland> Blinking awake, Wayland says, "...what? What's happening?"
[20:30] * Janson warily watches it go... if it's just flying over without bothering them, he's not about to bother it.
[20:31] <Kotono> As the party watches, there is a flash behind them - this one white, some distance away in the trees.
[20:32] <Andria> "The willow wisp thingie! It's gotten closer and Janson said to warn if it got closer and it's right above us and I didn't know if it was good or bad!" Andrea explains rapidly, looking fidgetty as she watches the flashes of light.
[20:32] <Janson> "Well, they're not attacking," Janson takes comfort from that, glancing at the other flash before keeping his attention on the globe flying over them. "No need to provoke them."
[20:33] <Aaeru> "They're not fey either?" Aaeru asks, continuing to stare at the globe above.
[20:34] <Andria> "So...they're not a bad thing?" she asks cautiously. "Are they just, I don't know, pranking us? Like Silver?"
[20:34] <Kotono> The globe passes in good time, heading to the east/southeast. Meanwhile there is a flash of green to the east, a passing glimpse of further light.
[20:35] <Janson> "No... they're not nice. People have been killed by them," Janson replies, now fully awake. "But generally if you leave them alone they leave you alone."
[20:35] <Wayland> Grumbling, Wayland rolls to his feet. "Bloody fey."
[20:36] <Aaeru> "How dare they not be these nasty globes of light, eh?"
[20:36] <Wayland> Wayland grumbles sleepily.
[20:37] * Janson chuckles slightly at Aaeru's wit. "I think it's just a bunch of them passing us by. We should be okay."
[20:37] <Kotono> As the party chats, yet two more globes fly above. Both of them are yellow, heading in the same direction. They turn the camp momentarily pale yellow, proceeding on and past them.
[20:38] * Aaeru smiles, continuing to lay on her back comfortably. "Since there aren't likely to be any people about, we should just stay put and look at the pretty lights? I'm good with that."
[20:38] <Janson> roll 1d20+1
[20:38] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+1 and gets 5." [1d20=4]
[20:39] <Andria> Andrea shifts a bit unconfortable at the revelation that these things have killed people before, but it doesn't seem they're evil according to Janson, so best to let them be after all... "How much further is it to your old home again, Janson?" she asks somewhat randomly.
[20:41] <Janson> "At this pace, probably four or so days. We'll probably run into Daughters before..." he pauses a moment and glances in the direction the wisps are going. "Before then..." he finishes distractedly, frowning in thought. "You know, I just had a thought. What if those wisps are fleeing something?"
[20:42] <Wayland> roll 1d20+2
[20:42] * Hatbot --> "Wayland rolls 1d20+2 and gets 13." [1d20=11]
[20:42] <Aaeru> "I figured they might be headed towards something, but that's probably likelier," Aaeru acknowledges. "Let's go and investigate?"
[20:44] <Janson> "I think we should follow their example," Janson suggests, shuffling over to start getting dressed and roll up his bedding for travel.
[20:44] <Aaeru> "Could there really be anything more fearsome than a troll, here?"
[20:45] <Wayland> "I feel like...like we should be going southeast. I'm not sure why." Wayland says.
[20:45] <Janson> "Giants are the obvious answer, but who knows? I've heard stories of devils and worse prowling these woods, although I've never seen one," Janson replies before blinking at Wayland. "You too?"
[20:46] <Aaeru> "I thought we were going to meet the giants for trade..." Aaeru says confusedly, before trailing off and glancing at Wayland.
[20:46] <Wayland> "Yeah." Wayland nods. "That, and I feel the ned to get airborne."
[20:46] <Andria> Andrea blinks at Wayland's and Janson's statements. "Southeast? Is there anything that way, Janson?" Andrea asks, since Wayland's already said he's not sure why.
[20:47] <Janson> "I don't know," Janson shrugs at Andrea's question, "That's why I want to go find out - I usually trust my feelings, and we can afford to take a little detour."
[20:47] <Wayland> "I don't know...I feel like I'm being pulled. It's strange."
[20:49] <Aaeru> "I think that if something is actually causing the lights to flee, we should go and take a look at it," Aaeru insists. "That way, if it's something really dangerous that we can't face, we'll know enough to retreat safely rather than take a small detour."
[20:50] <Andria> "I'm willing to trust in Janson and Wayland's feeling. It might also be what's causing all these willow wisps to move around, right?" Andrea chips in.
[20:50] <Janson> "I'd rather not," Janson replies antsily as he breaks camp. "Just trust me, we should follow their example."
[20:54] <Aaeru> "Didn't you say we should stay away from them, because they can kill people? I don't see how following them is doing that."
[20:55] <Janson> "This isn't normal behaviour for them," Janson stresses. "They put up some lights in the distance and lure someone into coming towards them thinking it's a lantern. They don't blatantly fly over what they're trying to lure."
[20:56] <Andria> Andrea helps Janson with getting their stuff put away. "Well, what if they're heading to a settlement of humans and people panic and they start to kill everyone because we're not there to fight them off?" Andrea comments. "Not that I think that'll happen, that was just an example, but I want to trust in Janson and Wayland's intuition." She pauses. "There isn't any settlement that way, right, Janson?"
[20:56] <Aaeru> "How do you fight them, just in case we have to?" Aaeru asks in resignation.
[20:57] <Janson> "Not that I know of, but we're pretty far from where I used to live, there could be something I don't know about," Janson replies to Andrea. "Hitting them works, magic doesn't."
[20:58] <Aaeru> "I can do that," Aaeru says, reassured. "Right, then. Let's go."
[20:59] <Wayland> "I can do that," Wayland cracks his knuckles. "I can do that real well."
[21:00] <Kotono> Gathering up, the party beginsto head to the southeast. About a half hour of walking begins to be punctuated with birdsong. The birds sing all around as you head further and further along! After a half hour, you can begin to see something through the faraway trees. A strong but not overwhelming light, as some great torch is shedding light farther ahead.
[21:00] * Janson starts briskly leading the way Southeast once camp is broken, keeping an eye out for any tracks that might show non-wisp forest inhabitants are also going this way.
[21:02] <Andria> Andrea squints her eyes, and places a hand over her brow as she peers off into the distance ahead. "That has got to be a lot of those willow wisps to give off that much light..." she mutters.
[21:03] <Kotono> OOC: Make a survival check, Janson.
[21:03] <Janson> roll 1d20+9 survivan
[21:03] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+9 survivan and gets 22." [1d20=13]
[21:03] <Kotono> Janson finds there are plenty of track son the ground from all sorts of animals. All head in this direction.
[21:04] <Janson> "Lots of animals going this way, too..." Janson comments, glancing up from the trail signs to focus on the light. "We'll know for sure what's going on in a couple of minutes."
[21:05] <Wayland> Wayland nods. "I'm not sure I like how this is looking. Seems eerie."