Willowspeak

Zander slung his pack over his shoulder. It had a little bit of weight to it from all the things he had packed. He looked around at the group. His gaze stopped on the newcomer, the merchant, this man seemed interesting. He had no reason not to trust the man. But a part of him obviously was nervous about him. Zander knew the trip would entertaining, he then looked down at his rings which made him think of his family. A smile began to grow on his face. He couldn't help it the thought of telling his family about the trip around the dinner table just made him happy. After being lost in his daydream Zander looked up and saw Thoroark walking off. He adjusted his pack so it rested a little easier on his shoulder and then he took off running down the path.

Before he caught up he slowed down to a light jog and then he got a strange feeling. It was like someone was watching him. He looked behind him and no one was there. He shook off the feeling and told himself he was imagining things. He followed Thoroark closely and when they reached the orange leaved tree he picked up a leaf and stuck it in his bag. He was planning to try something with it later. He walked over to Allan and pulled him to the side, he looked at Lauren for a second and then whispered to Allan "You like her don't you." He then let out a childish laugh.

He followed Ark out of town and to the strangely leaved tree, tilting his head as Zander picked a leaf. He wondered what he planned to do with it. He looked at the group as Zander drew him aside. "You like her don't you?" Zander asked him. Allan stopped dead and stared, eyes wide with surprise. What a strange accusation! He'd only known Lauren for the past half an hour. To imply something such as that...!

Behind Allan's brash and occasionally foolish exterior, he was shockingly sensitive. As such, his face went bright red, his jaw clamped shut, and he stared at his feet. "I d-don't know what you're talking about." He brushed passed Zander and quickly returned to the part, strange thoughts racing in his innocent little mind. He couldn't even look at Lauren straight! "Damn Zander! Putting weird ideas in my head!" He thought to himself. Allan had little to no experience with the opposite gender, having grown up without a mother figure of any kind, unless you counted Aisha.

He coughed into his fist and tried to focus, looking up at the town's name sake, Willow peak. The jagged mountain of was home to a great deal of interesting things just waiting to kill anyone who unknowingly attempted to scale it. Fortunately, Thoroark and Lauren were here with them, and would be able to safely guide them up the summit.

Lauren was walking in silence following Thoroark and thinking on what could go wrong with this little trip. She couldn't help it, she was kind of pessimist and avoiding bad scenarios was her job, so she had to think about them. "Some humans may also be looking for the plant, and we may need to fight them for it." she wondered "Or one of us may catch some kind of cold, and transmit to all of us and we could be unable to walk and eventually die in the mountains, frozen to death, or worse..." that was bad. "But the most likely is that some kind of creature may live near the plant." she murmured.

She was getting ready to ask Thoroark in what areas the plant lived in so she could think on what creatures lived near when Allan started coughing into his fists. She immediately remembered the scenario about the cold. So she quickly got to him and pressed a hand to his forehead (in her tiptoes) and started asking some questions. "Do you have headaches? Do you feel cold? Have a drippy nose? Does your throat hurt?" She did so wile looking at his eyes and with a worried tone, she was not dying in a mountain trying to look for some plant used in candle making! So she needed to make sure he didn't have a cold.

Michael was disappointed that this Aisha was not coming along, but he was not deterred from making the trip. He could talk all day and all night just to try to get a good price, but none of that mattered when there was no product to buy. If this herb was so important, then he'd need to make sure they could carry as much as they could down from the mountain. If that meant sharing the load, so be it. But if this place was dangerous enough to warrant a champion to stay in the village, it wasn't exactly comforting.

Staying to the rear of the group, he kept a good twelve paces between himself and the large man. This, he hoped, would keep the younger ones from lagging to far behind. Despite the difference in length of stride, Michael felt confident he'd be able to hold the pace. Plus it gave him a good chance to judge everyone's abilities. The lead man was strong, sure enough, and if was able to use that metal strapped to him effectively they'd be pretty much set. The younger ones seemed slightly more odd.

The one Michael perceived to be youngest, blond and blue eyed, was wearing two rings. Intuition told the merchant that they were magical, possibly amplification. Only as powerful as the user who wears it, which caused Michael to worry slightly. The kid could only be fourteen, fifteen maximum. What kind of power could this kid possibly generate. The second oldest was a brown haired girl, lithe and built like an animal. Someone who knew the wilderness, no doubt. Possibly too well. She carried a bow and, Michael would bet, knew how to use it. Her age was difficult to place. She looked to be fifteen or sixteen, but carried herself with the experience one would expect to see in someone at least half a decade older. Maybe she was just short. If that was a sign that she wasn't getting enough food, then maybe she wasn't as good with a bow as Michael hoped. The oldest of the younger ones looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. This one carried a large sword, a large one at that, and was lightly armoured. Looking at him reminded Michael of a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. One piece of armour there, another there. Only the legs and one shoulder were visibly protected in any way. Somewhat slapdash, but maybe it was slightly enchanted to give wider protection. 'Hopefully, anyway. Watching the three younger ones interactions made Michael pine for a quick return back to his home on the caravan routes, laying inside one as the uneven road slowly rocked him to sleep like a mothers embrace. Shaking himself loose from the nostalgia, he wondered if... 'You know,' he realized, 'I never got that any of these people's names.'

"You know, before we get any further, I'd like to know some things." Being in the rear, he knew he had to speak up, but since they were barely on the mountain yet he felt safe in making a little noise.

"First off, I'm Michael. Hopefully I'll get some names out of the rest of you. Secondly, even if you won't tell me what we're looking for, at least tell me you know where we are going. Thirdly, what kind of things are you expecting we might run into on this adventure? Lastly, who signed the permission slips for the children to come along?' There was no malice in his voice, at least non discernible. If anything, the only tone was that of concern, especially when combined with the thought of what a Death Maw might be and what it could mean to someone inexperienced.

His face went a deeper shade of red as Lauren put her hand against his forehead, as if checking for a fever. "Do you have headaches? Do you feel cold? Have a drippy nose? Does your throat hurt?" He brushed her hand away lightly. "I'm f-fine. Something in my t-throat is all." He turned away a little abruptly and fumed. Damn that Zander! He gave Zander a light punch to the shoulder as soon as he was in reach, not really hurting him but expressing his displeasure quite clearly.

He turned his head as he heard Mr.Merchant speak up. "You know, before we get any further, I'd like to know some things. First off, I'm Michael. Hopefully I'll get some names out of the rest of you. Secondly, even if you won't tell me what we're looking for, at least tell me you know where we are going. Thirdly, what kind of things are you expecting we might run into on this adventure? Lastly, who signed the permission slips for the children to come along?"

So, his name was Michael, that was good to know. "Well, I'm Allan, we're looking for an herb that only grows on the mountain just over there." He pointed over at Willow's Peak and resumed speaking. "We might run into trolls, goblins, large bats, and who knows what else. They tend to live in the caves on mountains like this one. Just be prepared for... Well anything really." He unsheathed a small length of this sword, pushing up on the cross guard with his thumb, as if to demonstrate that he, at least, was indeed prepared. "If you don't think you can handle it, you should probably head back to town before it's to late." He the sword fall back into the scabbard and kept walking. He chose to ignore the last comment, as he couldn't think of an answer that didn't involve punching the man in the teeth. There was a small group of people in town of people who'd lost their teeth making stupid comments like that. They met on Wednesdays. He'd attended one time. They'd given him a cake. He shook his head at the thought. Those people are weird, but nice enough.

Thoroark sighed heavily and increased his pace a little,hoping to reach the mountain before the moon even poked it's cold white head out from the cloudline.

"Firstly,nice to meet you I'm Thoroark the Giant of Willowspeak, You can call me Ark. Secondly if you haven't noticed the giant spiral of an icy peak that we're making a beeline for then I'm not sure what to tell you. That there's the towns namesake,Willowspeak. One of the deadliest mountains you'll find in the south of this world. There are of course worse ones like Maw's Hollow and the stupidly named Death's Spire. But we can't have everything sadly,third best will have to do. Thirdly WE are expecting as Allan pointed out, Troll's,Goblin's,Large bat's and the likes. I personally thanks to my reputation amongst this mountains inhabitants, am expecting thing's like colossal ice worm's called Death Maw's, Frost Scorpions, Crystal Golems, Maybe an Avatar of Lightning or two. The last one's just because this place is tall it has nothing to do with me. Lastly I'd more be asking who signed your permission slip, half these kids have probably had more combat experience then a travelling merchant. I can't speak for Lauren but this isn't the first errand Zander and Allan have come with me on." Thoroark answered,more grumpily then usual. Rubbing heavily at his right eye again before shaking his head vigorously and increasing his pace once more. Eventually taking his first step's onto lightly snow covered grounds. The base of the mountain having appeared seemingly out of nowhere considering they were within tall green grass not two minutes ago.

"Welcome to Willowspeak, Called that only because it was too morbid to call it Widowspeak. Lots of sad love songs and tales of adventurers climbing it to never return to their loved ones. But we'll ignore the gossip and get to work, the plant is somewhere near the mid-point, in a cave ussually so trolls are already a given." He announced to the group, bringing his sword off of his shoulder to rest more comfortably in his hand,ready to swing at the first hint of movement.

Lauren calmed down when Allan said he was okay "Don't overreact Lauren, it's just a simple errand, don't overreact" she thought for herself, she starting thinking about more dangerous scenarios and how to avoid them, at the same time she was checking their surroundings. Then Michael started talking, she was about to tell him her name and make a proper introduction until he said the children comment. She turned around and looked at him, boiling with rage, she was ready to start yelling some colorful words about what who she thought was kid when Allan spoke, she waited until he was finished. But he didn't mentioned the comment, then Ark also started talking. Lauren was starting to calm down. But he also called her a kid!

But seeing as she was more calm she figured that starting a fight would only delay them and she didn't knew if the group was able to stay in the mountain during the night, so she turned around again and continued walking forward with a quicker pace. "And my name is Lauren, but I'm not a kid I'm 18 (probably, but they don't need to hear that) and I've been walking forests like this since I remember, and little side note, don't call me a kid ever again." The last sentence was said with an harsher tone. Then she continued glaring at the path ahead still trying to calm down, she needed to fix her anger issues.

"Well," spoke the merchant, "nice to see there's some kind of fire in your souls. I feel much better now. So two warriors, a ranger, a sorcerer, and a merchant go up a mountain for some herbs. Can't wait to hear the punchline for that one." They hit the thin layer of snow and Michael moved the cuff of his jacket to check the enchanted gloves he was keeping under his mittens. Touching the fabric he felt for the charge within the enchantment and nodded. Full and keeping charge, as expected. Enough for a good four strikes on whatever came towards them, then at least fifteen seconds to get another chance for some kind of defense.

"So; Trolls and Goblins shouldn't be to bad, I think I have something in mind for those. Large Bats could be worse. Death Maw sounds lovely, probably lots of teeth. Frost Scorpions are probably gonna be the worst thing. Ice Golems... well, hopefully our young sorcerer here has something in mind." Emitting a slight sigh, Michael touched each of the six rings he kept on his fingers. He knew they were ready to go, just a simple flash and a lot of smoke, but touching them made him feel more secure. The penny though, that was only half charged and it would take a lot of fire to finish.

He pulled his collar up tighter around his neck as the cold wind bit into his skin like an angry knife. He took the two punches from Zander and shrugged. Zander's faculties must be out of order, punching an armored shoulder. He turned to look back at everyone. "Watch where you step up ahead, the snow can hide holes in the ground more deadly than any Troll." Taking his own advice, he stepped up to a tree and drew his sword. He leapt and kicked off the tree to reach a thick branch and cut it cleanly at the base. He landed, crouching as he hit the ground to prevent injury, and sheathed the blade. He used a thick knife to cut off the smaller branches, making a rather rough walking stick, about four feet tall. He used this to test the ground before he took a step, checking for holes or other unpleasant things. He looked and talked like a fool, but apparently he was quite lucid.

His steel plated boots crunched in the snow with each step, and soon the whole world turned white and blue. He didn't have to worry about frost bite, all his equipment was made with frost troll leather, and each metal plate has been treated with a mix of Troll's blood and salamander oil, making them highly temperature resistant. He kept his hand on his sword, the other hand checking every step with the walking stick. If anything did happen this trip, he'd be ready. He wore no smile now, focused on the job at hand.

Thoroark nodded at Zander and placed a hand on his head lightly,ruffling his hair. Being careful that his blade didn't cut anything and that the hilt wouldn't hit the teens head,at least not hard. He offered a kind smile and then hefted the blade back onto his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it,If he's a liability then he'll end up Troll Bait. That's something we can use more then extra baggage." He replied,his tone and wording much colder then the smile that adorned his face. It was a strange and haunting effect that left even Thoroark bewildered. He rubbed heavily at his eye once more,despite knowing it would only irritate whatever he had gotten stuck in it, probably just a piece of stray wheat or something. The giant heard Allan's suggestion and nodded,using his ice-pick as a guide,poking small holes in the ground as he walked further up the base of the mountain, not much as of yet but Crystal Golem's and Screeches didn't need holes,they made them,or poked out of them occasionally. Kind of like little shiny gophers that want to tear open your intestines.

He felt kind of bad for The Merchant,poor man was being taken halfway up a mountain with nothing but words of death and a bunch of increasingly grumpy travelers. Lauren was in the same boat and yet he felt she might be enjoying Zander's and Allan's company just a teensy bit more then Michael. Not much could be done about first impressions until they made camp,they'd have to spend the night on the mountain so he'd have to spare some brew for the teens and perhaps a small amount for Michael. Unless The Merchant came prepared for the frosty adventure,which was always a possibility.

"Alright ladies and gents, Whatever equipment you've got,list it to me. I need to know what we need to grab from the wilderness and what we already have. I think I have one or two little camps that haven't been ransacked by scavengers or the likes so,you know. We may have to deal with some very...small,camp sizes for a group this big but I'll just stand guard outside,it'll be fine. I'm tough enough and ugly enough to stand the cold."He joked,hoping to lighten the rather deathly mood he'd helped to create.

Zander chuckled after Thoroark messed up his hair. He was then slightly shocked by the giants word about the merchant. He was expecting some words of wisdom about how we shouldn't judge people or something like that. It surprised him that Thoroark would say something so dark. It didn't unnerve Zander it just made him think. Zander stopped for a second a concentrated he focused on his fire ring putting as much power into it as he could and then released it in the form of a large fireball. The ball of fire melted a line in the snow which gave Zander a path to travel along. The boy took his bag off his back and opened it. He counted up his things and let Thoroark know what he had "I got two blankets, food, and water." It may not have seemed like much, but for Zander it was all he needed. He barely ate anything,he could start his own fire, and melt the snow into water with his fire. So this was really enough for him to survive off of and he could help the group by giving them food and water if they didn't have any. Zander then approached Thoroark and let him know "I can set up a small fire when we need it."

As Allan chopped the branch from the tree, a low and hushed grunt could be heard, almost like something was in pain. A nearby tree, when the party had continued on, slowly and quietly uprooted itself, using their footsteps as cover to move quickly.

A section of the bark creaked and split, revealing the face of a treant, awakened by the injury of the tree nearby. The treant, now fully out of the snow-covered ground, slowly began to drift towards where the party stopped. Once the treant was almost within its arm's reach, which was made from several heavier branches twining together into an arm and hand shape, it raised its leg into the air, both of which were made from twined roots, and slammed it into the ground, the booming impact knocking snow off of nearby trees, and instantly grabbing the attention of the entire party.

The treant's eyes began to glow a bright amber, signature of a treant becoming enraged, as its crackly and rumbling voice boomed forth,
"You shall not leave this place!"

As its first attack, it swung its massive arm at Thoroark, as he was the closest and largest, attempting to bludgeon him with the sheer size and weight of the massed branches.

The giant turned to the origin of the booming and ducked under the Treant's swing,swinging his ice pick up so that it lodged into the gnarly branches that made up the massive arm. Hoping his weight would atleast slow down the wooden creature a little bit. He was almost flung off as the arm eventually halted but the cuffs around his wrist kept him attached to the creature.

Thoroark grimaced and grabbed the handle of the pick again,quickly pulling himself up and onto the creatures arm,he let go of the lodged picks handle and grabbed hold of the other pick at his belt with his free hand,preparing to shove the thing into the other side of the arm if it began to throw him off. Of course now his arm movements were limited by how far the stretchy cord could reach but it was better then falling,and the giant could still use his weapon. Which he happily had managed to hold onto.

"Zander,Fire would be nice! Allan go for the other arm! Lauren and Michael aim for the head and the legs. Quicker this thing loses limb's faster it falls." Thoroark roared,tearing one of the cuff's off his wrist and throwing the ice pick down to the ground for Allan. Hoping he'd get the message and try and replicate Thoroark's actions,hopefully he wouldn't get hurt doing it but it was hard to tell what could happen in situations like this. It was just a good thing the heavy Treant seemed slow for now,otherwise he wouldn't have had time to do much other then block. Finally Thoroark turned around and stabbed the heavy blade into the Treant's Hand,aiming to cut off any fingers it decided to grow.

The treant roared in pain as Thoroark's heavy blade went into its hand, lopping off what was going to be a hand. As a reaction from this, it lurched forward, and then swung its arm again towards a nearby boulder, attempting to crush the large man against it, or at least to get him off of its arm.

In the same movement, with its other arm, the treant scooped and compacted some snow from the ground, pressing it hard enough to make it more solid, and flung the barrel-sized ice ball directly at Michael, who the massive creature assumed was the most inexperienced.

The Treant surprised Michael, but not as much as much as it should have. His life in the caravan taught him two things. To heed all warning and assume problems are bigger than suggested. Thoroark's almost casual iteration of the kinds of creatures to be found on this mountain put a fear into Michael better than any zealot ever could; as such the merchant was trying to think of any and every creature that would decide to call this rock home. A Treant was somewhere in the middle of that list.

What was more uprising was the quick reaction of Thoroark, his battle readiness was something worthy of a bard's song. The giant was climbing onto the great beast and hacking away at it like an enraged lumberjack. But what was most surprising of all was the rate at which a white sphere that the Treant had scooped from the snow began to increase in size.

'Oh.' The realization hit Michael quicker than the ball of ice would have, allowing him a few precious moments to react. It was coming too fast to dodge; bracing himself he put one foot behind him and bent both knees, turning his torso to the right and stretching his hands out to the side. As the ball was within a meter Michael turned himself sharply. He slapped at the mass with both hands and felt the surface give way. He felt his heart stop. If the ball was too soft the lack of strong impact wouldn't let the enchanted gloves trigger and he'd be crushed by the weight.

A fraction of a second later he hit the more solid mass of the snowball and the gloves released their kinetic energy into the strike. Michael could feel the change in inertia as the ball changed trajectory; instead it rolled past at an angled path and rammed into a tree, cracking the ball in half and scaring some onlooking birds out of the branches. There stood Michael, his entire front covered in a layer of snow. During the sudden change in direction whatever snow wasn't completely attached to the mass was shaken off and massed itself onto Michael's face and body, turning him into a white silhouette from the waist up.

He stood still for a moment before he could regain his wits. Coming back from his stunned state, Michael shook himself of the snow and began to remove the wooden rings from his fingers and took a copper penny from his pocket.

"Allan, this is enchanted." He approached the young warrior and shoved the penny into his palm.

"If you can, spit on this and rub. It'll start to spark. Throw it down that things gullet quickly or you'll lose your hand. Put some fire in its belly. If you're going to look away from the Treant, look behind it or you might go blind for a few seconds." Patting the youth on the shoulder he approached Lauren, handing three of the wooden rings to her.

"They flash and smoke after you blow into them. You can use one for cover or distraction. If you use your arrows with them maybe you can pin some to it's face and stun the beast." Lastly he went to Zander.

"Focus your fire on its legs, burn away a knee or something. Anything else you can think of, whatever keeps it from moving around as much is perfect. If you can melt some snow maybe you can make it slip." Satisfied with the plan, Michael backed away from the fight and checked his gloves. 'Only a quarter charge. Great.' Looking around he looked at the keg-sized snowball that the Treant had thrown at him. It was too large to use, not to mention broken in half, but it gave him an idea.

"If this Treant wants to throw things, the lease I can do is return the favor." Taking handful of stones from the ground, the merchant picked through and took a smooth one. Tossing it upwards to test the heft, Michael tried to come up with what he was going to do. 'Best I can do is pester the thing, cause a good distraction while Allan tries to get up and put that coin to good use. Throwing stones might not normally hurt a Treant's rough hide, but if the energy was boosted I could really cause some damage. And I should get a good twenty stones out of the charge I have left.' Plan decided, Michael took a pitcher's stance and pelted the small stone at the walking tree's hide. It shot forward faster than one would expect, a sure sign the enchantment was working as intended. He could hear the whir as the wind was parted by the stone mass and swiftly flew to the Treant's bark, embedding itself into the wood. Penetration, but nothing deep enough to cause structural damage. But it would hurt like hell, and that would satisfy Michael's needs.

He was surprised by Michael's reaction to a treant's idea of a snowball fight, and looked at the penny he was given. "Consider it done Merchant." He drew his sword and tossed the stick, kicking up a pile of snow as he bolted for the treant, yelling at Lauren as he passed. "Aim for the knees!" He scooped up the ice pick and came around to the left of the treant's still extended arm. Michael's stone kept its attention away from him and he leapt and twisted in the air, plunging half of the picks blade into the newly formed hand, and pulled himself up onto its arm. He let go of the pick and drew his knife, leaping again and driving the knife into the woody shoulder. He hefted his bastard sword and looked down at the arm he was secured to. The area on the inner side of the "elbow" seemed weaker, thinner, so he aimed for that. He got a good hit, cutting almost half way through the elbow, nearly severing it and certainly rendering it useless. Just to be safe, he gave it another good hack, severing the arm completely. He sheathed the blade quickly and held tightly to the knife as the treant thrashed and howled like a well made bassoon. Muttering a small prayer to whatever god was watching, he spat on the penny as directed, gave it a good rub and kicked off the shoulder of the treant, tossing the penny straight into the mouth of the roaring treant. He landed a little lopsided, unable to correctly judge the ground's surface and fell hard on his shoulder. It would bruise, but other than that he was fine, more importantly, he'd successfully severed the treant's arm and deployed the enchanted penny.

When the Trent first appeared Lauren was too stunned to move, she had never seen one and that she was surprised was an understatement. But Thoroark fast reaction was enough for Lauren to start moving as well. She quickly started firing some arrows to the head of the beast, but with little impact. "If only I had fire" she thought, but now was not the time to think on what she didn't have. She barely looked when the thing aimed a snowball to Michael, she was more worried in not hitting Thoroark with her arrows.

But them the merchant approached her, with a lot of snow on him, but apparently without injuries, he gave her three rings and said the instructions. She was thankful for the aid and started felling bad, apparently he was not the burden she thought he would be. She used one of the rings in an arrow she shot at the Trent's head, she hoped this could distract him for a while. When Allan ran past her and yelled "Aim for the knees!", she didn't need to be said that twice, she started shooting a barrage of arrows at the Trent's knees, it didn't do much damage, but it hindered it's movements.

She was getting ready to shot another arrow with one of Michael's rings, but she didn't have any. "Dammit, I'm out of arrows!" she cursed, well she still had the rings. And she was fast, so she decided on running and trying to capture the Trent's attention so that her companions could finish it. And she did a small note to herself, she needed to start learning how to save her arrows.

The treant roared in agony from a severed arm, wounded legs, and now being ignited from the inside. the flames quickly spread to the creature's entire body, turning the raging beast, into a flailing inferno.

The burning treant eventually lost balance, and collapsed into the snow, crackling and splitting from the fire consuming its body. The creature let out its last pained words, before fully dying.
"I am only the beginning..."

Zander was slightly caught off guard by the Treant. He positioned himself out of reach of the Treant. He tripped and fell into the snow, but got himself up quickly and brushed himself off. He watched as Thoroark fought the tree and how it attacked the merchant with snow. After the merchant defended himself he came up with a plan that Zander felt was reasonable. He focused on his ring, fire engulfed his hand sparks of red and orange flowed around it. The fire grew until it was a large fireball, Zander then let it go and it sailed for a short distance and then slid along the ground like a bowling ball. It smacked the Treant in its right leg and Zander watched as the fire began to spread.

When the creature was finally taken down by everyone's actions Zander stood there for a moment. The merchant wasn't such a liability after all. His quick thinking actually helped take down the Treant. The boy then approached Allan who had taken a fall during the fight. he laughed at him for a second and then tried to see how badly he was hurt. When Zander saw nothing that needed his healing he patted Allan on the back and said "That was a graceful fall, you need to teach me how to do that." he then ran off to the front of the group. He decided to use his ring to melt the snow and make a path. It tired him a little, but it would help get the group up the mountain faster to set up camp.

He pushed himself up with his good arm and watched the treant become a raging bonfire from the inside out, and heard its dying words. A shiver went down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold, and he knew that the treant meant those words. But they'd managed just fine, with only a few bruises here and there. Well, he was the only one actually bruised, but Michael was covered in snow. Quite unexpected, that the merchant would prove so valuable an asset. That penny sure had done the trick.

He looked up at Zander as he came over and laughed at his jest. "That was a graceful fall, you need to teach me how to do that." He smiled as he pushed himself to his feet and replied, "Oh I don't know Zander, it did take me many years to master the art of falling such as I just have." He rolled his shoulder experimentally and winced at the pain. It was nothing serious but it would ache for a while. After the flames died he approached the treant and removed his knife, cleaning it off with a small rag before sheathing it. He knelt next to the dead treant and found a large section that was largely undamaged. A few hacks with his bastard sword later, he had about one foot by a half foot section of perfectly good ironwood that would make a very nice handle. He stuffed it in his bag, found his walking stick and made his way back to the group, grateful for the path that Zander cleared for them.

He looked back at the dead treant, its eyes only now beginning to fall dim, and prayed under his breath that this creature would find peace after its death. He didn't know who he was praying to, anyone who bothered to listen he supposed, but he felt that something, somewhere up there, was listening. Watching. He turned back to his companions and kept walking, his conscious lightened.

Lauren sighed in relief when the treant finally collapsed, his words worried her a little, but she brushed it off, it was a treat of a dead creature after all, but she made sure she didn't forget it. She approached the corpse in order to retrieve some of her arrows. Of course a lot of them were broken and useless, but she could still find 9 in good conditions. She could grab some branches when they settled camp and make more, but for now, 9 will have to do.

She took out of her pack some "bear feet" as she called it, it was just a bunch of twigs that together made a circle, she also had some fur in it to keep her feet warm. But the main purpose of it was keeping her from sinking in the snow, she putted them on and then turned back to quickly follow her comrades. She stopped next to Allan, who had fell from the treant, but after eavesdropping, no, unintentionally hearing, that sounded better, his interactions with Zander she presumed he was okay. But since he was helpful she decided to give the courtesy of asking if he was alright. "That was a nasty fall, are you sure you are okay?" she asked, still looking ahead.

Absentmindedly, he checked the edge of his sword for nicks or dullness. It had lost a fair bit of sharpness, having just cut through solid wood. He sighed and sheathed the blade, he'd have to sharpen it when they set up camp, but more importantly, what kind of magic had the Merchant used to stop the snow ball? It would've had to be something that works around kinetic forces, probably some kind of amplification magic to create an extremely powerful punch combined with spacial magic to condense the force of the punch to a single point. He may not know a thing about using magic, but as a blacksmith's apprentice in a town like Willowspeak, learning how enchantments interact with each other is crucial.

He rolled his shoulder experimentally and winced as it popped once or twice. The pauldron had helped some, but he was definitely bruised. He rubbed his shoulder until Lauren walked up, and he let his hand fall. "That was a nasty fall, are you sure you are okay?" She asked without looking at him. He smiled, looking a bit like himself again. "What, worried about me? I'm quite fine I assure you. To fight a Treant and defeat it while taking nothing more than a bad fall is a win in my book." He punched her shoulder playfully, like two friends who'd known each other all their lives would. "What about yourself? It would seem you've used up the majority of your arrows. I can make more if you need them, as long as you can find a tree that won't try to kill us." He chuckled at his own joke.

When Allan punched her shoulder in a playful way, Lauren froze for a second, she was not used to have contact with people, even more if it was a friendly contact. But she quickly tried to hide it by pulling her hood up, pretending it was because of the cold, when Allan asked about the arrows she also let out a small smile due to the joke. "It would be great if you could make some, do you mind if I pay in advance?" she said as she pulled out a small pot from her bag, it was made of wood and the lid showed signs of being used often. "It is a moisture of some herbs, it's good for bruises and it also relieves some pain." she had seen him rubbing his shoulder, and with what happened earlier she assumed he had some kind of injury, but was to proud to ask for help.

Lauren was trying to be friendly with him, since he was also friendly with her and wasn't a crybaby like most of the wannabe heroes she found. Actually, now that she thought about it she could try to be friendly with the rest of the group, they seem nice, and they were all strong fighters. She just needed to get used to communicate with them. And make sure she could control her bad temper.

As the Treant fell burning, Michael felt a pang of regret. Treants, if Michael remembered correctly from books and stories, were protectors of the forest, shepherds of a great many kinds of tree. It must have felt it's flock was threatened and moved to defend it. That pang of regret vanished under a sudden sense of worry when the creature uttered its last words.

"I am only the beginning." 'It expected us?' Michael's eyes widened at the prospect. If it had expected a group to arrive and planned to ambush them, how did it know? They were simply here for herbs and this did not look like a heavily traveled path. 'How could this old Treebeard know people were coming? Unless.' Michael approached Thoroark, posing a question as delicately as possible. He didn't want to overstate his hypothesis, no need to cause unnecessary worry.

"Thoroark, I think this creature was expecting us. You made it sound like this kind of trip was a rare occurrence, is that because the herbs we're going after can be grown in the village? Did they all die suddenly?"

As soon as she said it was good for bruises he swiped it from her hand and put it in his bag. "You have yourself a deal." His shoulder wasn't to bad right now, but he knew it would stiffen up later and slow up his sword arm, which could be the difference between life and death up here. He readjusted his pack strap a little awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. He was happy that Lauren was being a little more friendly with him, even if Zander would give him hell for it later.

"I've uhh... Never seen you around before. How'd you end up in Willowspeak?" He was extremely bad at small talk, and this attempt was no better. He was so focused on not completely embarrassing himself that he didn't notice Michael posing his question to Ark. He was blushing a little, though it was hard to see in the snow. His last experience with women had been disastrous, also Zander's fault, and since then women made him unnaturally nervous.