RP:Deceiving a Dryad

Quinmyutiotu knew the general layout of the forest's canopy well. She raced through the trees, partially hidden; an agile figure jumping from one thick branch to another while giving chase. A mischievous little pixie had plucked one of the dryad's precious quetzal feathers from her tangled hair, and made off with it. Naturally, she had to get it back. That thought flew right out of Quinmyutiotu's mind halfway through the chase, however. Now she just wanted to see if it were possible to actually match the pixie's speed and catch up to the fast creature. It dipped, doubled back, began to turn but changed its path mere seconds later, before eventually zooming out of the treetops and down to the forest floor. The dryad followed suit, but her landing was far from graceful; her jump to another tree branch fell too short, resulting in an unpleasant looking tumble to the earth, with poor Quin in an awkward looking heap of ruby hued feathers and the furs that covered her to keep out the chill. By the time she's on back on her feet, skull mask readjusted and all, the pixie is gone. Feather too, unfortunately. The dryad's painted lips curled into a frown while her bare back leaned against a tree trunk. Looks like she lost this time.

From a smallish tree near to the on against which the dryad leans, movement can be seen. First, a two eyes blink open, one at a time, within the wood itself. A nose and chin thrust forward, followed by the rest of the skull. AS if climbing from the wood itself, a small dryad appears, roughly humanoid in shape and brownish-green in color. Once fully emerged, this apparition stares, wide-eyed, at Quinmytiotu.

Quinmyutiotu didn't see the dryad emerge right away. It took the feeling of eyes upon her for her to notice. She froze like a deer caught in headlights. From the eye sockets of her cockatrice mask, Quinmyutiotu's eyes stared back, just as wide-eyed at the other dryad. Could it be? She hadn't seen another one in quite some time. She inched hesitantly closer, before coming to a halt right before the smaller dryad. While lowering herself a bit to get a good look at the other's face, she sniffed at her, then grinned. If Quinwere capable of speaking, she'd greet the other dryad, but instead lifted a hand to wave, after stepping back, of course.

Sanlig , standing off to one side in an illusion of invisibility, smiles to himself. His fingers dance like a puppet-master's upon the wood of his staff, focusing and enhancing his magic as the illusion spins on. The dryad continues to stare at Quin throughout the inspection, neither blinking nor moving. In response to the wave, the illusion bows its head. "I am Iep," it says, its voice smooth and soft, yet seeming to echo from the very branches of the forest canopy. "And it is good that you have come."

Quinmyutiotu continued to grin, practically from ear to ear. It was difficult to express how happy it made her to see another dryad without being able to speak, so she nodded an unnecessary amount of times and fidgeted quite a bit. With an introduction made, she crouched on the ground, locating a dried patch of dirt. With a dead twig plucked from the tangled curls in her hair, Quin scratched into the forest floor. "I am Quinmyutiotu. Most call me Quetzal."

Sanlig has a problem now; Iep can see the words, but Sanlig is not Iep. Very slowly, concealing the movement with a gust of wind, the invisible human creeps forward to read the words, before settling down behind a bush. Iep, after a lengthy study of the writing, nods her head. "Welcome, Quetzal, to my hallowed grove. Where do you come from?"

Quinmyutiotu pulled the furs wrapped around her a bit closer to prevent herself from shivering at the gust of wind. It was a successful distraction so she couldn't spot Sanlig. Again, Quin crouched with the twig. "Thank you," she scratches into the dirt, after rubbing her introduction away with an open palm. "I live here. In Sage. There's a group of us that live together." She stopped to glance up at Iep, head canting off to the side before she begins writing again. "What about you? Do you know any others?"

Sanlig's illusion affects a sad look, and the surrounding plantlife seems to follow suit. "Alas," say Iep, heartfelt sorrow in her voice, eyes downcast. "My sisters have been destroyed." She looks up at Quinmyutiotu, adding, "Can it be that your tribe has not yet been attacked?"

Quinmyutiotu frowned. She couldn't imagine any of her own being destroyed. Iep's story was absolutely heart wrenching. Her head shook from side to side, while she started scribbling away again. "We keep ourselves hidden and change location periodically. Sometimes we come across folk with ill intent and have to defend ourselves, but those encounters are few and far in between."

Sanlig causes Iep to smile pityingly, shaking her head. "Then you do not know. Our forest is under attack, dear Quetzal. The invaders are targeting trees that house our sisters, and they are killing them." Iep points at several tree stumps in the area which, in addition to showing signs of being cut down, are also blackened from fire. "The screams are the worst part," the illusion continues, raw grief filling her voice. "Every stroke of the axe, every lick of the flame...I will never forget."

Quinmyutiotu blinked. She knew that occasionally trees were taken by other races to build homes, but never had she seen so much destruction in one area. Her expression turned sour behind her mask, and she wrote with a bit more aggression than necessary on the ground. The twig in her dirty fingers was accidently snapped midsentence, so she had to pluck out another one. "The forests shouldn't be cleared in such large numbers like this, Iep. We should band together and do something to put a stop to it."

Noxe picks his way slowly through the thickets of dense underbrush that crowd the forest floor, taking care not to make a terrible racket in the process. A ponytail of grey hair hangs loosely down the middle aged man's back, nearly past his shoulder blades, swaying in the rhythm of his motions through the ever thickening forest. The towering structure of that Ancient tree draws always closer as Noxe continues toward his destination, using the tree as a guidepost in the fog, and he would stop there to rest for a period before moving on. However as he nears the trunk, the wind shifts subtly and brings a foreign scent through his nostrils. Noxe pauses with his back leaned against a tree, just beyond view for anyone standing near the much larger trunk of the ancient tree, and listens intently.

Sanlig doesn't notice Noxe, as yet, although the human is crouched in a bush, hidden by an illusion of invisibility, some distance from the conversing dryads. Iep, therefore, does not notice Noxe, either. Instead, she simply replies to Quin, passion showing plainly on her bizarre face and resounding in her voice. "I am glad you think that," the small dryad says. "The outside world takes us for granted, ignores us and, now, is attempting to drive us to extinction. It is in our best interest to put our peaceful ways aside and go on the offensive, for only by responding to this terrorism in force will we be able to stop the torture and death!"

Quinmyutiotu keeps her eyes fixated on Iep, causing her not to notice Noxe nearby. If she could talk, she'd say a whole lot more than she scrawled on the forest floor with the twig in her hand. "Definitely. You're right!" Quin writes, "We should stop hiding and get stronger. Maybe even attack those with ill intent that get too close to our trees. Kill them, if we have to." The dryad couldn't believe herself. She typically avoided conflict unless it was absolutely necessary, which was rare. It looked like that might change now.

Sanlig smiles to himself, his prey caught on the hook. With a deft dance of his fingers, he begins to reel in the line. Iep's eyes seem to dance with light as she says, "Yes! We must kill them, and it cannot always wait until they approach. We must make pilgrimages from our homes, kill our foes, and let the green growth of purity cover their bare bones! When my sisters died, I saw who is at fault..." Iep trails off for a moment, as if the memory is too much to bare. Then, Sanlig swings the net, as it were, to fully complete the snare. "It was the ogres that did all this. They lumber through, find our trees, and destroy them." Indeed, old footprints of massive size can be seen in the loam on the forest floor. Iep continues, "We must make our way to Gamorg, and obliterate the city. Let nature reclaim what it once held, and let new sisters spring from the ashes of the ogres' vile homestead!"

Quinmyutiotu had never seen an ogre before, but heard of them. If they were as vicious as the stories she had heard about them, the dryad was worried. That small amount of anger displayed moments before diminished. She took a moment to think over what to write, twirling the stick between her fingers before putting it to the ground. "Perhaps we can try reasoning with them first, before swooping in?" Her eyes went to the massive footprints in the ground nearby. "We'll start small. Humans use our trees to build their homes. I've seen them. They travel in small groups. Lumberjacks, I think they're called. We'll stop them first, like practice? Then when we're sure we're strong enough, we'll move on to the ogres.

Sanlig causes Iep to rear up in indignation. "The humans only take in small amounts; they listen to the advice of their druids. What they do is nothing at all like what the ogres have done, and will continue to do. Your tribe will turn out like mine if they are not stopped. They want all the spirits of the wood to perish, so that they can use our trees unmolested to fuel their war machine!" The small dryad seems shocked that Quin would even suggest hesitation.

Quinmyutiotu preferred to view things as games. Naturally, she hated to lose. A situation like this was just begging to be morphed into a game for Quin to play. While rubbing out the patch of dirt she wrote upon again, stick poised to write more, her eyes rolled behind the skull mask obscuring her face at Iep's shocked demeanor. "I understand what you mean," the dryad hastily writes, "Truly, I do, but you fail to see that we are no match for them now. We need to plan. A solid, foolproof plan. Going in there with our few numbers untrained is essentially suicide. Going in with our few numbers, but with training and the knowledge of everything about their homeland, their numbers, their habits and the like on the backs of our hands gives us the advantage. Understand?"

Sanlig, in his blanket of illusion, smiles to himself again. Iep appears to consider the suggestion for a time, before nodding her head. "Of course," she says. "It would be good to spy first. They are big and clumsy, and do not notice much; it will not take much effort to remain unseen. We must all watch them, and report our findings at least once a week. As well, I will focus on finding more sisters to join our cause."

Quinmyutiotu grinned, her head bobbing with a nod. Yet again, she writes on the ground after wiping the words she wrote before away. "Perfect. We'll begin very soon, then. After there are enough of us gathe-" Her scratches in the ground stopped as a thought crossed her mind. "Wait. Gamorg is on the island to the east. Surely they aren't taking trees here. There are forests on that island." She began to feel suspicious, but continued on. "The elves there can take care of the ogres."

Sanlig makes Iep shrug her shoulders. "I admit, it does sound strange. I do not know why they have moved here...perhaps they are planning an invasion? Perhaps they have already killed the dryads on their island, and are moving on? Or, perhaps they are working for someone? The elves are too busy with their city and, I'm told, pirates. They care little for the trees."

Quinmyutiotu frowned, then wrote some more. "That's quite a bit of a stretch. You said so yourself. They're big and clumsy. I'm assuming they aren't entirely bright. Why would they travel all of this way for trees when they have a region of their own so far off? Surely they can't navigate on one of those water vessels. Boats?" She's unsure of the word, so quickly scrawls a vague picture of a half circle ship with triangle sails to explain further. The mute continues, "We could ask the elves on that island ourselves, you know. I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to contact them, if we venture out of the forest." Quin had never left the comfort of Sage and Enchantment before, except on very rare and very brief occasions. All it took was a message, thogh maybe she could find a runner.

Sanlig has Iep give Quin a withering glare. "I think I know what I saw. I know what killed my sisters. But if it will make you feel better, I will find an elf from there to talk to you. Tell me when and where, and I will bring one such being to confirm this. I can only hope the ogres do not return in the mean time..."

Quinmyutiotu took the glare Iep gave as a hostile one, and as somewhat of a challenge. She sighed. For a final time, she uses the stick to write. "I'll locate one of them myself. Whoever runs things over there, if need be. It wouldn't be right of me to ask you to do anything, after all of the unimaginable things you've been through." Her head lifted, the dryad's frown replaced with a warm smile. "I'll go into one of the nearest towns and find a messenger now. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon! Maybe I could bring one of the elves here to prove it. Until then, I'll be leaving." Quin stands, using her bare heel to rub out the words scrawled upon the dirt after she's sure Iep has read them. A hand lifts to wave before the dryad jumps into the tree, and scampers off.

Sanlig curses to himself, and hurries off after the dryad, letting Iep fade away behind him.