Tasya's Story

Tas and Stripe watch cautiously waiting for the wagon and camels to pass, before returning to the road and following the rider on the other horse.

The purple-shashed rider waits for a minute, then urges the horse on. Once out of sight, you hear the horse begin to gallop down the road in the direction away from Vidhaya. A few minutes afterward the wagon pulled by camels emerges into view. It is driven by a single wizened man who appears to be native to the desert. The wagon has a number of garden boxes fixed to its roof, which are filled with vegetables and flowers. Other potted plants hang from the wagon's main cabin walls. The wagon is rather long due to an extended flat bed behind the enclosed cabin. The flat bed appears to be a small mobile garden. It has a large barrel in its center with some kind of water irrigation tubing extending to the plants. The wagon moves fairly slowly toward the city. As it moves by you can smell the scent of flowers and herbs.

Tasya has no tine to sit idle and smell the flowers. As quickly as she can, the acrobat races off after the rider trying to catch up.

The wagon just about passes the mouth of your hiding place when one of the hanging pots shakes loose from a rope as a wagon wheel runs over a rock. The pot turns sideways causing dirt and a pink flower to fall to the canyon road. The wagon continues on. As soon as you feel it's safe you lead Stripe out from the rocky pass and move back to the road. When you get close to the flower in the road you think you hear a faint wheezing and a tiny cough come from it on the ground.

You look down the road to see if you can spot Mariquette on her purple mount, but she must have already turned the bend.

"You there in the pot." Tasya calls out to the sound in the broken flower pot. "I'm in a dreadful hurry. Are you alright?"

A tiny spritely but not energetic voice sounding weak and sickly says, "Water, water, please...need water."

Tasya's eyes narrow, as she tries to see whatever it is that is speaking. She moves Stripe over to the broken flower pot, pulls out her waterskin, and pours a bit of water onto the plant and pot. "I really must be going..."

When you pour water onto the plant, the voice let's out a sigh as petals and leaves that already had begun to wither on the the arid canyon road seem to perk and full. The 'flower' suddenly stands up. It appears to be some sort of plant sprite.


The pot is broken around the sprite who is about 7 or 8 inches tall. "Thank-thank you. Me you save. Rock is so parchy. No water. Die-die would me." The creature looks strait up at you and says, "You I owe, I do. Please take-take me to place moisty and soily."

Tasya leans over as far as she can and reaches one with one hand to scoop up the tiny plant being. "Jump...if you can. I won't leave you here to perish in the heat, but I need to catch up to my friend before she gets too far away."

As you reach down and cradle your hand the sprite jumps in it. You lift her up and place her on Stripe’s neck where she grabs his mane and says,

"Yes-yes, go-go, catch friend!"

You quickly urge Stripe into a gallop. Once you pick up speed the sprite starts bouncing up and down holding tightly onto Stripe’s mane. The sprite exclaims, "Petalwing happy-happy! Wind so blowy on stripey four-leg."

You gallop around the bend and a go short while longer until you notice a dagger wedged between some small rocks in the road and slow down to examine it. It is definitely one of Mariquette’s. Just as you figure that out Mariquette leaps out from behind a large boulder just off the road and jumps onto the boulder.

She says, "Saw you pass through the city gate. Thought I’d catch up. But when I didn’t come across you, Figured you must’ve hidden from the wagon on the road. Glad you got out safely. So you say to Jahore?"

The sprite says, "Hi-hi" to Mariquette.

"Well, what do we have here?" replies Mariquette.

"This is Petalwing." Tasya tells Mariquette. "She fell off the wagon we saw passing by and I couldn't leave her to the heat."

"Petalwing, I am Tas and this is my friend, Mariquette." She pauses and adds, "We need to get to Jahore to reunite with our troupe mates."

" I see," says Mariquette with a smirk.

Your introduction and explanation of the current plan prompts Petalwing to say to Mariquette, "Hi-Hi. Me Petalwing." And then to you she says, "Okay. Yes-yes. Catch more friends we do! More bouncy four-leg." She then pauses. Her demeanor becomes suddenly somber before asking, "Moisty and soliey in Jahore?"

Before you can even respond to the sprite you hear a horse's painful squeal come from behind the boulder Mariquette jumped out from.

"My mount!" exclaims Mariquette.

Jutting out from behind the rock you see a giant scorpion tail.

Tasya moves Stripe out of the range of the scorpion, pulls her crossbow, loads it, and prepares to shoot the giant pest. "Where?...agh!" She sighs.

Taking a steady aim, Tasya fires upon the large scorpion.

Mariquette's horse continues making gut-wrenching sounds of being in pain, but you can hear that it is flailing its hooves and trying to protect itself. Taking advantage of the fact that the scorpion's attention is on Mariquette's horse, you react quickly. You manage to prompt Stripe to move further away while you fire your crossbow at the protruding scorpion's tail. Your bolt solidly lands its mark. The scorpion screeches; its tail writhes. The hit distracts it from its prey, hissing it leaps up onto the boulder. Just as it does Mariquette hurls two daggers simultaneously at the creature.

Mariquette's aim is as sure as ever and both of her daggers bury deep into soft sections between the predators natural armor plates.

When the scorpion hisses Petalwing tries to hide in Stripe's mane.Tasya's Current HP: 24, Temp HP: 0
Scorpion Current HP: 25, Temp HP: 0

The angry creature leaps between you and Mariquette.

Petalwing screeches, "Ahh! Look-look! Stingy thing close-close!" Suddenly she disappears, but you can tell that her form is still holding onto Stripe's mane and in fact she has just gone invisible.

The scorpion lashes at you and Stripe with a claw but you are just out of it's range. So it flings its stinging tail at Mariquette.

Mariquette attempts to side-step the the scorpion's tail, but it moves too fast for her and the sting pierces clean through the purple scarf she's disguised in, directly into her chest. She collapses from the force of the blow and falls into shock as the poison rushes through her veins.