Discovery in the Garden
After meeting at the Temple of Procan, the group follows the windy rocky coastal road toward the mansion, four miles east of town. The closer they get to the mansion the more they are protected from the gusts of the stiff wind blowing in off the water. But it does nothing to lessen the briny stench of the churning sea below. The decrepit mansion comes into view as they crest the hill, surrounded by a crumbling, six-foot tall stone wall with an ornate metal gate swaying slightly in the wind.
Darvin looks up and sees the gabled roof has several holes from missing slate shingles. "Well, I can see why the people around here think this place is haunted. The place looks like it could fall down around us."
"Should we just walk up to the front door? Or find another way in?" Thamila asks.
"I should think that going in the front door would be best. We're here to investigate the place aren't we?" Illayana responds.
Kenku and Darvin head through the gate first and into a garden with wild flora growing throughout. As they look around they see the flora climbing up and over the wall in some places. Despite its wild state, they can tell a well-tended garden once sat here. Near the house, the rotted wooden roof of a water well pokes out of the tall grass.
Illayana stops for a moment at the gate to investigate the giant overgrown rose bush. She touches the leaves, thorns, and flowers then begins whispering to them. When the eladrin crouches down, she finds a large burrow dug out beneath the thorny mass. Before she can back away, a giant weasel pops out of the burrow, hissing, and bites her. Illayana raises her arms, barely protecting herself from the attack. But a second weasel crawls out and grabs ahold of her leg with its teeth.
Darvin rubs his fingers over his holy symbol, a simple rose quartz disc whispering a prayer to Lathander, and points his mace toward the giant weasel attacking Illayana. A flame-like radiance descends, hitting the ground where the rodent was just a moment before.
Illayana's red-orange tattoos begin to glow on her golden yellow skin. She whispers to the spirits of nature, creating the sound of chickens near the house just past Kenku in an attempt to lure the weasels into chasing it. The weasel that didn't have ahold of the eladrin's leg turns and runs for the sound.
Kenku pulls out her scimitars, glances at the running weasel, and then moves towards the rose bush with the grace of an eladrin fighter. She swings first one scimitar and then the other, striking down the weasel that was biting her adoptive sister's leg.
"Thank you little one," the eladrin says.
The sounds of loud high-pitched squeaking and hissing can be heard from within the bush just before two more weasels pop out of the bush. They target the two smallest members of the party; the first bites at Kenku, and the second runs at Thamila.
The halfling calls upon the power of Neptis, hoping to blast the creature with energy before it reaches her. She fumbles with her pouch trying to pull out an aquamarine crystal and the spell fizzles out. The weasel knocks Thamila down, grabs ahold of her leg with its mouth, and then drags her back towards its den.
Darvin quickly moves up behind Kenku. With a short prayer on his lips, the human sets his hand on the kenku's shoulder helping her resist being knocked down and drug away by the giant rodent. Although a fierce fighter, the kenku is almost as small as Thamila.
Kenku says, "Thank you, Friend." And then expertly takes out another weasel with her scimitars.
Illayana grabs onto Thamila, attempting to pull the halfling free from the weasel dragging her into its den. Thamila's pants tear as Illayana pulls her free, and the halfling crawls behind the eladrin.
From behind the group, the tricked rodent runs and jumps onto Kenku's back to defend its nestmate, biting into the kenku's shoulder.
Darvin swings his mace sending the animal flying off of the kenku. The giant rodent lands on its side, and attempts to crawl away, but is so grievously injured that it mostly just lays there.
Within the rose bush, the cornered giant weasel defends its den and bites at the two women. Thamila barely pulled her foot out of the way of the animal's teeth.
"Eldath forgive me," Illayana says and swirls her hand in the air. Her tattoos glow a bright red-orange as she casts her spell creating a long vine-like whip covered in thorns. The eladrin flicks the whip at the giant rodent to keep it off the smaller woman.
Thamila holds out her aquamarine crystal and a flash of crackling, blue energy arcs between the crystal and the rodent. The giant weasel lays still at the mouth of its den from the combined attacks.
Kenku lifts her scimitar and feels the pain in her shoulder. Remembering her training with the eladrin fighters, she pauses for just a moment to ground and center herself. Then she steps over to the grievously injured animal and gives it the coup de grace while whispering a prayer to Eldath.
Turning to her adoptive sister, Kenku says, along with a whistle and some chirping sounds, "Illaya! OK?"
"Yes," the eladrin reassures the kenku, "Although I could use a moment to bandage up this wound. And it looks like our little halfling friend could use some tending to as well."
"Yes, please," says Thamila sitting up, brushing dirt and debris off herself, "That thing was so strong. I'm sure it would have drug me far underground if you hadn't helped pull me free. Thank you."
Darvin kneels next to Thamila saying, "Let me help clean up those cuts and take a look at that bite. After we've had a chance to rest, we should head into this house. We need to keep our eyes open, it seems danger could be anywhere, even among the plants."
"Agreed," Kenku said sounding like Illayana.
One of the hardest things about writing two stories at once is they are in two different tenses. Zira writes her adventures after they've happened. But with this story, I wanted to write the action as it's happening. I tried my best to find and fix any mistakes, but I'm sure you'll find spots where I've slipped into the past tense. Ahh well. If you do notice please let me know so I can fix it. Thanks.
Updated 4/22/24 - Fixing the color of Illyanna's skin and tattoos. I forgot she changed seasons from autumn to summer before meeting up with the group this morning. And changed 'Kenku said in her eladrin accent.'