Light at the Crossroads

August 7, 2018.

It took the better part of a week, but eventually Watcher's pigeons tracked each of you down separately and let you know that it had finally happened: Manchineel and Raphael had finally moved away from one another. The zone of "dead" bird-bots that is Manchineel herself has moved west and north, closer to Agnelli's Bluff; Raphael was spotted by Watcher moving in the opposite direction, towards the Rudolph Logging Camp. Raphael could move quickly when needed, but usually had a rather slow pace, so she was still a long ways away from the logging camp. If you wanted to catch Raphael and remove her as an option, now would be the best time to strike.

And so, the four of you find yourselves standing (or floating on wings/magic/threads/blatant refusal to obey gravity's laws) in the woods to the south of Forester's Bay, next to a gently-flowing stream bordered by a few small, thick trees. It's mid-afternoon, and the hot summer sunlight breaks intermittently through the foliage overhead in beams of bright yellow, bursting into the green heat and dancing off of the slow-moving water. Standing across the small stream from you is an older woman with dark, weathered skin, wearing comfortable clothes suitable for hiking through the summer weather. He hair is thick and black, shot through with grey, and she has it pulled away from her face in a series of large braids.

"This town has something new every day, doesn't it?" the woman comments, her weathered face creasing at the corners in a gentle smile. She leans forward a bit on an aged, polished walking staff, her deep brown eyes looking over the four of you with steady calm. "It's pretty dangerous to be out in the forest, you know, though it looks like you picked the right place for it for the moment, and I suppose you can handle yourselves. Come to do some sightseeing while the self-proclaimed lady of the woods is away?"

Spoiler: Expertise (Local) DC 20
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You haven't met her in person, but going by the descriptions you've heard and the place you ran into her, you'd be willing to bet that this is Ntombi Peters, the only human who has spoken directly to Manchineel--twice--and walked away unscathed.


Spoiler: Floral--Smell
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The woman smells like a biological human being.

The calm you see in her eyes isn't feigned--she doesn't seem to have any reason to fear you, and she is perfectly at ease in the woods. There is something under the calm, though, something that isn't quite defined enough to be an emotion yet. It's something like impatience, but not that strong or urgent.