Prophecies & Intrigue 9: Gnoll Easy Way to do This.

Onward they travel along the Gilded Roadway, leaving Trostenwald behind and heading northeast to Alfield. A mere 3-day journey on foot is not too bad. After the day they had yesterday, the simple dirt road, worn by foot traffic, hooves, and wagon wheels is a nice respite as it winds its way through the countryside disappearing into the horizon. The Marrow Valley grassland is starting to grow tall and move along with the breeze in entrancing waves in rhythm with their footsteps. Malkey's voice breaks the silence with a concerned tone, "You know guys, uh I think I should have talked to that Hellhound lady, she did meet up with Jenna. You know, the one that kidnapped me and threw me in a pit hundreds of miles from my home?"

Sai reassures him, "I wouldn't worry too much about it, she seems to be on the same route as we are. We'll probably catch up to her in Alfield."

"The past always follows you." Hungs wise words also imply that Malkey will have his chance again. "Hung is in good mood today." He adds taking in a breath of fresh spring morning air.

"Yeah, that's not gonna bite us in the ass. I'll file this away for a later 'I told you so' then." Malkey responds as they continue down the road.

"If we have to go back, then we'll go back" Sai Shrugs. They continue to enjoy the beautiful morning, discussing mounts and wagons and making bigger plans for their future now that they have a little coin in their pouches. The morning grows to a hot and humid afternoon and Hung points ahead at the horizon. "Don't point, what are you doing, we don't point!"d

"Hung sees someone over there." He continues to point, not understanding Sai's hint toward etiquette.

"Still, just don't point; we can see them." She says as he puts his hand down and they watch him approach. He is quite an unkempt traveler, barefoot, with tattered clothes, and brown stringy hair in his face. They start to hear that he is mumbling and muttering to himself quite erratically but it's not until he's almost up to them that they hear him properly.

"Always the question, never the answer! Never the answer, everywhere I look ..." He frustratingly repeats over and over.

"I don't think we should talk to this guy, he looks like he's on something." Malkey whispers as the distance between them closes.

As they are about to cross paths on the road, the consumed man seems surprised by their presence now that they are right in front of him. His eyes grow with excitement and hope. "Travelers! do you know the answer to the question?"

"Whaaaat ... Question ...? And why do you need the answer so badly?" Sai asks confused. Malkey and Hung keep quiet and stare at the man, watching.

"THE question, I've been seeking it for decades, all across the land so I can be FREE! Nobody knows! Perhaps you do..." He rants, then excitedly continues, "What wears a leather coat and can escort you to other realms without the aid of a magic portal?"

They all stop and think a moment and discuss some guesses, but they do not come up with the answer.

"Hmmpf, well if you figure it out, come find me!" He walks away, continuing his shambling and mumbling. Malkey tries to get his name, but it seems his question falls on deaf ears as the man just continues on.

They walk again in silence, Hung whittling, Sai holding her greataxe above her for some shade, and Malkey is still thinking about Trostenwald. They hear the birds sing, the soft breeze, and sometimes the sound of livestock as they pass farms here and there with lush green pastures. They also pass occasional patches of freshly tilled ground being prepped for planting, but they don't see any other travelers before it starts to get dark.

"I'll go see if I can rustle up some food for us, why don't you guys set up camp." Sai says as she sets up her longbow and starts looking around for some game. "Hopefully there's some rabbit nearby."

Malkey looks over at Hung, "This looks as good a place as any!" and they get busy, Hung collects some firewood and Malkey uses his firebolt to light it, not thinking about the long grass all around them. Luckily for them, there was no wind.

Sai manages to find some berries, she doesn't recognize them, but she collects them nonetheless, maybe Malkey or Hung knows what they are. as she's wrapping them up in her pouch, she spots a rabbit feeding on a long blade of grass with its back to her. But as she pulls her bow around to take aim, she fumbles as it got caught on her pack and the noise scared the creature away. "Dang it!" she heads back to camp and lays her bedroll next to the others around the fire and she takes out the berries, "Look what I found, I call them Blahzberries."

Malkey and Hung take a look and both recognize them to be blackberries but decline the offer neither of them being very fond of them, but they let her know they are edible. Sai pops one in her mouth, they're a bit sour, but she sees potential. She takes out her mess kit and prepares them over the fire with some sugar and honey making a jam, which she puts on toast. It's delicious, and she offers it to them, but they decline again. Malkey, after finishing his ration then decides to try it, she looks like she's enjoying it and she put in time and effort, he didn't want to be rude. "You know what, I'll take some." He's glad he did, "That is the best blackberry jam I've ever had! Thank you!."

Late dusk turns to night as the moons rise, the larger a half moon, and the red one small and dull on the opposite horizon offering little light to the plains. As Malkey's thoughts of the day continue to churn in his mind, the night wilderness starts to come to life making him more uneasy. A wolf howls in the distance, he jumps. "You know, she could be watching us, waiting. I really feel like we should have gotten more information back there. Too late now, it's not like people around here get a bag thrown over their head, kidnapped and thrown in a pit or anything." He sends Nutbag out to scout around and see what he can from the skies.

"I've got a crazy plan." Sai says and Malkey's interest is perkeed. "Maybe we can send a letter." Sai suggests. "I mean that question guy was heading back that way. We could notify, what's his name ..."

"Brad." Hung chimes in. "Brad is now leader of that town, woman is in jail."

"Yeah, I mean, he does owe us. We not only stopped the Hellhounds and the Starosta's plot, but we also know he admitted that he was gonna poison those wells."

"Hey that's not a bad idea at all, the letter I mean; but that crazy question guy? I wouldn't trust him as far as I can throw him and have you seen me!?!" Malkey exclaims.

"Perhaps he wasn't what he appeared to be at all." Hung postulates pointedly as he looks up at the starry skies.

"Ugh, you're right! Why didn't we think of that earlier!" Malkey says in clear frustration. If he hadn't written him off as a crazy addict or something, he probably could have gathered more insight!

"I'm sure we will be able to send a letter from Alfield." Hung remarks. Sai nods in agreement. They both know settlements have messengers of some type, either ravens or runners, but there are many types of communications in Exandria. All is not lost.

"We should get some sleep. I'll take the first watch." Sai states. They all settle in and Hung drifts off to sleep quickly and the snoring blends in with the crickets and cicadas of the evening. Malkey, laying on his back with Nutbag on his chest, looks over at Sai.

"Hey Sai, I've been meaning to ask you something. Back in the arena at Trostenwald, it looked like you had a ... moment, like a standing orgasm."

"You mean when I was drunk? Because I wasn't drunk in the arena." Sai offers, she wasn't sure whether she should talk about her little experience.

"No, after that, during the fight with Malachite." Malkey presses.

She decides to tell him, maybe he'll know something that she doesn't. "Well, I kind of ... saw a God ... I think. Named Ioun. She told me some things. About a prophecy, and crossbreeds. I don't know how to explain it. Do you know any queens around here?"

"Well, there's the Bright Queen in Xhorrhas where Hung wants to go." Malkey answers. "I'm glad you told me, we should probably tell Hung about this in the morning. He also looked like he had some kind of experience in the arena too." He looks over at his snoring sleeping friend and then drifts off to sleep.

Sai stares into the firelight surrounded by the thrum of the Marrow Valley nightlife, thinking about that moment and what she hadn't told Malkey. About how she was told she was somehow a part of the ethereal realm, how the struggle she had within somehow corresponds with what Wildemount needs from her, and how she and her friends are somehow the keys. Time passes quickly as she's lost in thought, and before long, she gets up and goes over to Malkey, gently pushing him awake with her toe. "It's your turn, all is clear." She then lays down on her bedroll and falls fast asleep.

"Oh ok." He groggily wakes up, wipes his eyes, and sends Nutbag to do another perimeter. Yep, the coast is clear, all is quiet for a while; then in the distance. Is that laughter? He sends Nutbag out again and this time, it is something of concern. A pack of Gnolls! He quickly wakes his friends as the laughter becomes louder and as he sees one coming through the grass he unleashes a firebolt upon it while Nutbag crop dusts it with its poison spray as they advance. The gnolls move into the light of the dying fire and Sai closes her eyes and pushes out from her shadow an echo of herself that runs up to the biggest one and cleaves it with its ethereal axe delivering the heavy blow as if it were Sai herself. Hung runs up and leaps toward another with his quarterstaff overhead clenched in double fists. He has perfect form as he builds his Ki and imbues his weapon with the energy bringing it down onto the top of his opponent's head, a loud CRACK echoing outward from the blow. Hung comes back around with his elbow but the creature moves out of the way causing Hung only to feel the soft fur of the beast. It growls at him and in retaliation lashes out with teeth and claws. Searing pain rips through Hung's body as he feels a strange sensation, he knows it's poison, and he's hurting badly.

As more gnolls enter the firelight, Malkey feels his own fire rise inside of him and it's as if he can see the very threads of magic that weave across Exandria. He sees how it moves and flows, inspired! He unleashes another firebolt, this time splitting a thread of the magical energy down the middle as it explodes from his pointed fingers causing two firebolts to fly forth painfully singing two of the foul creatures. Hung and Sai work together and take one down, four to go; three of them looking pretty rough. As the creatures lash out, now fighting for their lives instead of the thrill of a good evening pillage, Sai goes down succumbing to her wounds. Hung hangs on for a bit longer, struggling to keep standing, but also falls taking another down with him. The three remaining creatures turn and advance on Malkey, the last one standing. As they focus on their tiny target, poof; he disappears before their eyes. Confused for a moment, they look around for him and turn to see him by his fallen allies.

Malkey in a rush of adrenaline breathing heavily digs through Hung's pack then shoves the healing potion he had between his friends' teeth and orders Nutbag to tend to Sai before turning to face the gnolls again. His friends stand up. Sai takes a moment and closes her eyes feeling a second wind rush through her. Hung gets up angrily and gives it all he's got as he fights through the pain from his wounds. The tables turn quickly and there is only one left, they worked together until it was Nutbag's poison that finally ended the rough confrontation. But not for Malkey, he went ballistic and repeatedly stabbed one of the gnolls until he heard Sai say as she was catching her breath, "You know, I was hoping we could question one of them."

"I know exactly how that feels," Malkey stated matter-of-factly before getting up and going through the bodies for anything valuable and finding 70 gold pieces among the five of them which he splits between them.

"You alright?" Sai walks over to Hung noticing his obvious frustration.

"Maybe we should skin them and wear them." He angrily asserts before going over to the gnoll with the chain shirt, ripping it off, and donning it himself.

Hearing this, Malkey stops what he's doing and gets concerned for his usually passive friend. "You ok buddy?" He asks as he casts detect magic just in case it's not of his own accord but finds nothing more than last time, the spear still sporadically pulsing with slight magical energy. The same broken enchantment that he saw before when it was first found. Hung just sits in silence on his bedroll and tosses a stick onto the fire, he knows it's his watch. Sai and Malkey take the hint and go try to get some more sleep. Hung drains his waterskin dry, but he does not think that his disappointment in himself can be quenched with mere water.