[Pine]
That night the group would have gone to their rest, but Pine was awake, at least for a while, his mind too filled with thoughts and decisions he didn't know how to properly process. So much was beyond his comprehension or knowledge, but he knew who would know. They had to know, far beyond his own skill as they were.
The three had said this was a test, and it was his decision that would decide who owned him, and who answered those questions perhaps. He didn't know about wanting to be owned, but there were thousands of dead in Axeholm, restless dead, and that was a problem far beyond his power to put to rest in the ways he might have in the past.
So it would be that he would reach out to them, knowing they were watching. He had seen them still standing atop the entrance to Axeholm, monitoring. They would not interfere with his decision, at least more than they already had, but they might, he conjectured, help if he had already made the decision. And so he reached out, either with his mind if he felt that would garner a response, or if mental speech was not something he felt they might do, he would slip away from the group to go and speak to them in person.
"You said this was a test, this place, about what I would want to do. I …" he would pause, and look to where they were, either in person, or towards the location they had been, or indeed to a figure if time once more froze for the conversation. This was not easy for him. "None of this is what I am used to. But I want to see the dead in Axeholm put to rest. The restless dead because they are beyond help, and the Banshee because she wishes rest. I just… I don't know how to do that."
He would run a hand through his fur. He was a bit dirty, blood still caking it in places, dirt and dust making him less than plush. In this, like everything else since coming down from the last mountains, everything was different. He would never have let himself get in such a state before.
"I don't know about curses, other than removing the normal ones. I don't really know about banshees or what her release might do to the restless dead beneath. I don't think she would care if she was destroyed or allowed to move on, so long as her suffering ended at last, hers and her daughter's if the daughter is not gone either.
"In the past I might have destroyed the physical form of the restless dead before then putting its spirit to rest, but there are simply too many of them beneath here. I considered having the king control them long enough over time for me to put them to rest, but he cannot, and cannot be trusted to hold them back. I care not what he does after the restless dead are gone, so long as it doesn't make my tasks more difficult. But there are so many restless dead. They don't belong here, they should have moved on but haven't been given that opportunity. I want to do that for them, but I don't know how.
"You, all three of you, are so far beyond my skill, knowledge, and power, and will understand what needs to be done. You have guided me before, I think, and so I was wondering if my choice of what I wanted to do was enough for you, or if I have not yet fulfilled what you require for my task, enough for that guidance once more."
[DM]
The hulking form would appear clearly in front of you... or possibly inside your mind, it was hard to tell. You feel like you can make out more details, seeing now the outline of long dark hair and a bushy beard. His eyes glowed red and were painful to look upon. Most interestingly, a large wound, oozing black ichor was visible on his chest.
“A TEST WAS GIVEN! And you come grovelling to us for solutions?!” The figure, looming over you, bent closer until its face was at the same level as yours. A single word left its maw. “Good.”
You are now aware of the other two figures hovering just outside the corner of your eye.
The commanding voice that belonged to the first presence you saw now rung out from your left. “A test was given. Coming to us, seeking answers, it is considered a success, if a partial one.”
A voice matching the robed figure hissed out from your right “A cleric, even one with no god, needs to remember that to reach upward, to petition and ask higher powers is the greatest boon they can possess.”
The three figures, now visible to you, lined up in front of you, their shadowy forms hovering inches off the floor. The hooded figure spoke first.
“This place is an abomination, truly. It defies death in many layers and we would not have you leave here without it being resolved, one way or another. The undead here owe their twisted state to the banshee. Once she is removed from the picture the creatures are vulnerable.”
Interjecting, the hulking figure barks out “And we shall destroy them!” Continuing the hooded figure raises an almost skeletal hand towards you. “The test is not to your reasoning – it is instead to see what you are.”
Taking a step forward the commanding figure put it’s hands together, forming a triangle.
“You have seen the remains of that place and what occurred those centuries ago. You have four choices as I see it.” The figure would raise a finger as it spoke each choice. “You could destroy the banshee – taking it’s distilled essence; the heart; out of the fortress and driving a rock through it should do. A simpler approach…"
“The simpler approach is oft the superior one brother! Why plot when you can remove in half the time?"
Acknowledging the other shadow with a nod, the figure continued.
"You could instead fulfil the banshee’s existence and make her willingly fade away. Think, why did she turn? Her daughter was imprisoned, starved and tortured. Acquire the daughter and free her from this place and I believe that would serve."
“This would consign the banshee back to her rightful place – among the dead instead of the damned. It would all fit…neatly together.”
"And finally you could take the heart and place it within a container made out of her daughter's remains. The banshee would remain, enslaved to your will. She would not rest but does she really deserve to do so?"
Silence ensued for a few seconds, interrupted by the hulking figure.
“You said four options!”
“Why yes, we should always allow space for an alternative solution that you wish enacted. We are not slavers and you our property Pine. We are guides.”
“Like it or not.”
[Pine]
As that huge figure loomed over him, malevolent, condemning, he would shrink back, his body language expressive even when he tended not to be. His ears were back in fear, his fur raised along his spine even while he shrunk back. It had always been a risk, of sorts, asking for aid, but with the stakes so high, it had felt worth that risk.
Moments later, that fear was turned to something far more confused than confident, as he was told that his asking for help had been a partial success, rather than a weakness. Wisdom stated that beings of power, whether gods, men, or spirits, gained power from those beneath them in one way or another, so their pleasure made sense, yet he was still left a little reeling with the struggle to navigate this situation.
In many ways, the Pine that had started out towards Phandalin had lost much of his confidence over the journey. In the past, he had been sure of his path, sure of his place in the world, and confident in his ability to perform that. None of that was certain any more, and in joining this group he had been forced to see beyond the limited scope of the world and his place in it that he'd had before. In the sheer struggle to survive and grow in experience, they had undoubtedly made him far more willing to reach out for that help than in the past.
Despite the fact that it would be clear that Pine was intimidated by the three of them, quite substantially, he did seem to take considerable relief from the fact that they too wanted to deal with the undead in Axeholm, and they were going to help him do that. The group alone could not have destroyed the legions of undead in the place, but Pine was of the opinion, the belief, that the three in front of him would be able to destroy them, to put them to rest fairly easily, no matter how many were down there.
"I would prefer to put them to rest," he would say after they had finished speaking, not about to interrupt, "The banshee wishes to rest, and it is not really my place to judge whether someone should suffer more or not, and I don't need her servitude to complete this task here. If I am to continue with this group, they would not stand for such a thing in any case."
He would run a hand over his head, trying to flatten his fur a bit from its elevated position of fear from before, now that the conversation was more convivial.
[DM]
"Then it is decided." the commanding figure would say, it's expression unreadable.
"You must retrieve her daughter and free her," the cowled figure suggested.
"But the king! He will try and stop you. Show him what death truly means." the hulking figure would add.
The three shadowy figures would start fading into the background of the starry sky, leaving Pine, now fully conscious and alert, alone in the night.
[Give me a perception check] [19 perception]
Your senses alert from the experience you had allow you to peer over at your companions.
Zenari, sleeping but a frown crossing her face as if she was troubled.
Koraliki, even in sleep, trembling from thoughts of cramped spaces.
Siax keeping watch, his hand caressing his bow without noticing.
Idris, sitting in the moonlight higher up the mountainside peering earnestly at his dagger.
Would he have noted any expression on the three before they disappeared, one more pleased than the other perhaps?
[DM]
With a 19? Not an expression of joy but the commanding figure held itself perhaps more stiffly than before and the hulking figure seemed less interested in what was going on. The cowled figure remained as is.