Somewhere deep in the Sunshade Glade, there is a buzz in the air as a number of adventurers from the various guilds have gathered en masse. What's been discovered is a knight who apparently has been lost to time, and now has recently been uncovered. For one reason or another, this person has not been moved from the glen, and instead is being studied and protected by the guilds as they try to figure out just what is going on. 

This whole knight business is beyond odd, but what isn’t these days? It’s almost like whenever you turn around something else weird has popped up in Charon. The destruction of the Soul Stone was followed a year later by the destruction of Mount Drakolt. As the trend suggests, things are only going to get stranger going forward.

Still, life moves on. Or in this case, comes back from a millennia of who knows what. The Golden Consortium and Mage’s Guild are hard at work figuring out what exactly is going on with this guy, and in the meantime, the WEF and the Fighter’s Guild have been asked to do what they do best.

Fight things.

Arriving on the scene is a large silver storm drake with three individuals riding on its back. Leandros would recognize the teenage dark elf, catfolk archer, and mute half-elf swordsman who helped out with the whole Nightcaller Troll situation. Still no sight of their employer though.

Zarius’ year-long absence is no longer something that can just be passed off as him being busy, especially given how abruptly he went from being everywhere to seemingly disappearing from the public eye entirely. Something is up, and even if his people are filling in as best as they can, even the guilds he’s a part of are starting to ask questions they haven’t gotten any answers to.

As she lands in the clearing where the guilds have set up some camps not that far from where their folks were with the knight, Indra sizes up Leandros' new drake with a curious head tilt. Her nostrils flare and her posture gets a bit taller. It’s not necessarily a hostile display, more just establishing which drake is boss.

Indra's rider ignores her posturing and emphatically waves at Leandros. 

“Hey, knight guy! You look as shiny as usual." 

For all her attitude and sass, she actually respects Leandros a lot. It’s hard not to like the guy even if he’s the virtuous kind. 

Eirynor and Snow also give short waves to the knight as they get off the back of the drake. The pair look a bit haggard as if they have been running around trying to keep up with all of Zarius' dealings in his stead. And that's not too far off from the truth. The pair have taken on a lot of missions well outside their skillsets and expertise, and those missions have started to wear on them. 

Shael's been watching them run themselves ragged, only jumping in when she thinks she can convince them to let her and Indra handle something themselves. It sucks. They're freaking adults and she shouldn't have to make sure they're remembering to take breaks and get enough sleep. It pisses her off just how much they have to deal with, but it also just goes to show how much that jerk fellblood was shouldering this whole time. If she didn't still have a chip on her shoulder, she might be more sympathetic. 

“So," Snow speaks as they approach and offer a friendly handshake to the knight. "You here to help too?”

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Guild: Winged Expeditionary Force
Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown - Anyone, +1 Mystical Archive ticket - Guild Member, +1 Towards Guild Quest requirements - Guild Member
Description: Whatever is responsible for bringing the Knight back to consciousness seems to leave an essence around it, a Fae-like energy that has attracted other Fae beings. Hordes of small Nibblenynh have flooded into the Grove and are spending a lot of time around the Knight. The energy is causing them to act up and become even more annoying than normal. They are pestering the other guild members while they attempt to do their work, distracting them and making it hard to learn anything. The W.E.F is asking members to help control the Fae pest problem without violently hurting them, quelling any pesky shenanigans the Nibblenynh have gotten up to.

Additional Information:
The creatures are non-violent in nature and are really just being annoying. The sudden spur in their whimsical side must be fueled by something, but what could be causing it?

To no one's surprise, Leandros had been at the spot for some time. Ever the workaholic, he found himself wanting to get to a job quickly and give his best attention to it. Of course, having a pregnant wife at home also facilitated an urge to have things wrapped up as quickly as possible. The faster the job, the more time he had with his wife.

Seeing the drake overhead, Haurach similarly postures up. While she is not worried about jockeying for position, the dragon does hold the same firm and noble posture that Leandros does. It was the same way Byrr presented himself as well, the Aurthurian training for mounts brought the best out of them no matter it horse or dragon it seemed.

"I've had more time to sit around and polish the armor with things being so quiet." Leandros smiles and gives a wave. "Though it seems like that is coming to an end. I wonder if the realms are crashing in all around us now."

He didn't pretend to have much knowledge of the realm of Wonder or wonderlings, but his dealings with the flowers had his curiosity piqued. It seemed like the type of prank they would pull, just to a much larger extent than normally possible. Now a strange knight and hordes of small creatures harassing people, that had fae written all over it.

Leandros gives Snow a firm handshake, "Gilder and Theo are scouting right now looking for signs of these nibblenynhs whatever they may be. Our appearance and well, now a second drake, may have scattered them so we wanted to make sure we haven't totally scared them away."

"Quiet?" Shael raises one eyebrow. "Geez, where have you been living? We've been running around like woolfuls with their hair shaved off for months."

Snow nods along at Leandros' assessment of the current situation, and the complications of having two large drakes around presents. 

"We'll go catch up with them then," the catfolk offers. "Eirynor and I can move pretty quickly and quietly through the glade." 

"Yeah, yeah, you guys go." She takes a side step over to stand beside Leandros. "I'll hang out with tall, blond, and shiny." 

Eirynor gives the teenager an unimpressed look before turning and leaving with Snow into the surrounding forest. 

Shael watches them leave, rising up on her tippy toes until she's sure they're gone. Then she lets out an exasperated sigh and puts her hands on her hips.

"Those two are such sticks in the mud. They need a fucking vacation from all this bullshit." 

While she complains, Indra tentatively reaches her head forward towards Haurach. A throaty rattle of a greeting comes from the storm drake as she inquisitively sniffs the other drake. Indra has no territory to defend, so her behavior is a lot more akin to feeding into her natural curiosity rather than defensive hostility. 

Shael snorts a laugh at the social display before looking back at Leandros. Her smile fades to a more serious expression uncharacteristic of the teenager as he's known her so far. 

"I know we're here to do a job and drive off some little pests, but can I talk to you about something first?"

"Well quiet for Charon relatively speaking, I have had my hands full training Haurach here and readying Bluescale Manor for a child." The reality of being a father has settled for Leandros, so he forgets there are plenty of people he had not had a chance to tell. Outside of his immediate family and those in the manor, Cyran and by extension Del, were probably the only friends who knew.

Haurach watches Indra come in with a curious gaze. It's like two dogs meeting at the park trying to size each other up without actually fighting. Seeing the knight was comfortable around these people lets Haurach settle a bit and return the greeting. She shimmies a bit closer to Indra as they start to sniff and aquaint themselves with the other.

"Given who you work for, can you blame them?" Leandros gives a little smile, entirely unaware of what has happened. He was never incredibly close with the fellblood, so a lack of communication in recent times was not an immediate red flag. He hadn't had time to stop in Darkveil either.

When Shael settles back and levels the question, he raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms over his chest, "This can't be good if you're sounding so serious."

Out in the woods, Theo was pretty easy to find. The halfling did not have an inclination towards stealth, much like the knight he squired for. He used his sword as a dousing rod of sorts and moved brush and grass aside. It is not going well as he is nervous about every movement and shift.

"There has to be a better way to do this Gilder."

The scout, who was perched in a tree and hidden away, did not respond. He watched hoping this impromptu bait would attract the trouble makers. Theo did end up attracting attention, but it was Snow and Eirynor. Gilder was pretty confident they weren't nibblenynh. He drops from the trees and holds up a hand in greeting.

"I assume we are to work together again...been trying to see if they'd come and bother the boy to get a lead...haven't seen a one or the supposed knight they are surrounding yet."

"Oh, you're having a kid? Congrats."

Shael doesn't seem all that surprised about the news. Starting a family is what normal folk do, right? Guess it isn't super common for adventurers to settle down, given how dangerous their work is. 

"That's wonderful!" Snow exclaims, genuinely happy to hear that the knight's life is going so well. They need some good news. 

Eirynor is more focused on the task at hand than chit-chatting, and signs to the catfolk that they should go find Gilder and Theo.

Shael gives Leandros a little bit of a side-eye at his attempt to excuse the other two's behavior. "Yes," Shael retorts curtly before she makes a feeble attempt to pull Leandros further away from the guilds' temporary camp. She looks around him until she's sure they're far enough away from everyone else to not be overheard. 

"Okay, I'm just going to say it. He's dead. That jerkface fellblood is dead. He's been dead for months now and we've been lying about it that whole time and I'm sick of it!" She throws her hands up and starts pacing back and forth in front of the knight as she rants. "The family is all insistent that people can't know, if they know they're gonna get targets painted on their backs, but it's been a freaking year now and anyone with half a brain can put two and two together. His uptight sister has been trying to prove herself of whatever by trying to fill in for him and Caedes or Mei or whatever other names they have is a depressed mess. On top of all that the Legion of the who-gives-a-fuck and the Stablemen are breathing down everyone's necks while the rest of the shady motherfuckers in Darkveil keep sending assassins after everyone!"

She takes a breath and huffs. Her shoulders slump a bit and her face twists into a conflicted look. On one hand, she doesn't have to care about any of this, she could just leave and find someone else to work under or she could take her chances returning to the Dvoryanin. On the other hand, she's kinda grown attached to everyone else, and she's not so pigheaded to not realize how much they're hurting. She still hates Zarius for what he did, heck all the grief he's caused everyone makes her resent him even more. But she isn't sure what she can do to help when she doesn't agree with the decisions that have been made and enforced by the family. 

She needs some unbiased advice from someone with more life experience than her, so she turns to Leandros for guidance. "You're the most adulty adult I know so what's your take on all this?"

Meanwhile, Snow and Eirynor meet up with Theo and Gilder. 

"Yes, it's good to see you two again," Snow says with a tired smile on their face. 

Snow doesn't have many friends, but they've always felt at least a little kinship with people like Theo and Gilder and the Black Quills. They all serve very important and powerful adventurers, so they at least can sympathize with one another when it comes to the crazy situations they end up in. 

Eirynor signs a greeting before looking around to see if he can find any signs of the little fae troublemakers. 

Leandros gives them both a thanks for the well wishes on fatherhood before the group parts. He watches them leave before following after Shael. The knight gives Haurach a little pat on the shoulder as they pass, a small signal to put Haurach on look out duty. Given how Shael was acting this was likely sensitive, so the dragon could be set on watch duty.

"The most adulty adult." He forces a smile and a laugh that is really no more than a sharp exhale of breath. It was an idle comment to buy himself time to really think. He was never in close contact with the fellblood, so it does come as a bit of a shock.

Though there are other things that nag at his mind though, "I am sorry to hear of that...though you'll forgive me if I have other questions....Why bother sending you and the others out here for something so simple...Just to keep up appearances? If the family is so worried it would make more sense to keep you close.....I would assume his death was not accidental or from some monster, there would be no reason for secrecy if that were the case. So, why not have you either protect the family or find the killer?....Unless you already know who did it."

Book smarts may be far and away Leandros least developed skill, but he did enjoy tactical puzzles like this. Apogee would be better suited for it, she understood the politics of it all better, but Leandros could at least try and figure out what to do with more information.


"Oh thank Solaria, please tell Gilder I am not good bait." Theo heaves as he joins the group, not wanting to absent mindedly wander off.

Gilder shrugs, "It was worth a shot. I don't track fae that often, so I thought if I gave them an easy target to play with they'd take the bait...Maybe we just find this knight?"

The scout looks between the two, willing to hear any ideas. It wasn't going to be an easy search, but the hope was if he could find at least one that could lead to others. Reports said the things were flocking around the knight though, so that might be easier.

While Haurach may have been trying to be on guard duty, Indra was not on the same page. Trained as the drake is, she rarely runs into her own kind, having only been introduced to a much older male drake when the group visited the Witch of Moonglade. Kalaf hadn't been a particularly playful companion due to his age, but Haurach seemed closer in age to Indra than the obsidian-scaled grump and far less hostile from the get go. Seeing Haurach's posture change to be more alert, Indra mirrors her, stretching out her neck and lifting off her front legs slightly as she sits back on her haunches. To anyone watching, it looks like the silver-scaled storm drake is challenging the pearlescent-scaled drake to a competition of height.

Shael isn't surprised Leandros has questions, she still hasn't gotten answers for most of hers. She sighs. "To keep up the charade and maintain good relations with all the groups and people that jerk conned into trusting him."

She wouldn't mince words, not for Zarius' reputation's sake. Even asking Leandros for advice wasn't for the dead fellblood's sake, but more for her own and everyone having to live with the burdens he left them. 

"I mean, I wasn't there," she admits. "I don't know exactly what happened, but right before Mount Drakolt turned into a giant flaming dragon thing, he went off to the volcano with Mei and some elf guy who runs an orphanage. They were hunting down the asshats who were kidnapping people, but something went wrong, and some evil spirit or ghost or hells-if-I-know-what-it-is thingy possessed him. The elf guy put an end to it, but then he buggered off with his girlfriend because he was spooked about how the family would retaliate. Which, by the way, FAIR. These people are shady as fuck and I've had run-ins with the Red Riders so that's saying something. Any sane person would've run."

Her face twists into a bit of an uncomfortable grimace. "Elf guy eventually came back and made up with the family, but that hasn't stopped them from making Mei parade around wearing Zarius' face now and then or insisting we keep telling people he's just busy or not available. A freaking bird and minotaur broke into the manor just cause they wanted answers. Keeping up this lie is just pointless and exhausting."

She takes a deep breath. "I just...I don't know what to do. I don't even know if there is anything I CAN do." 

Shael's frustration is pretty evident, as is how much all this has been eating away at her over the past several months. This situation isn't very typical, though parts of her recounting of events may sound eerily familiar to the valiant knight. 

Back with the others, Eirynor signs to Gilder that using Theo as bait does seem like the logical course of action. Snow catches the comment from the half-elf and slaps their hands down hoping Theo doesn't know sign language. The catfolk gives an awkward laugh as the half-elf gives them a side-eye.

"I don't think people are on the nibblenynh menu," they try to reassure Theo before turning to Gilder. "If they are drawn to the knight, I think finding him is probably a good idea. The other guilds are researching him so we shouldn't have a hard time finding where they are if we follow any trails through the glade."

Sure enough, the guilds have already cut a fairly easy to find swath through the foliage leading to the knight. A few members of the Mage's Guild and Consortium are already there asking questions of the mysterious knight and figuring out how he's stayed alive and stuck in one place this whole time. At least, they are attempting to. A few rambunctious nibblenynh are making their job a lot harder by stealing their notes or putting bugs down the back of the mages' robes. Upon the group's arrival, one of the mages who has some sort of honey-like substance smeared through their hair walks up with an exhausted look on their face.

"Are you the Expedition members sent for? Please do something about these creatures, but do not harm them. Something about this knight is drawing them here, we just need more time to run some tests to figure out what that could be."

Haurach is definitely much younger, possibly even younger than Indra actually. The Aurthurian School of Mount Training just instils a lot of discipline...but even then kids will be kids. She spots the posturing out of the side of her eyes and starts to do the same, the frill along the back of her head rising slightly to give her extra height.

Leandros meanwhile is dialed in to Shael's explanation. The gentle giant's usual soft and demure expression hardens as much as it can as he processes all of this. It's easy to see just how quickly an emotional toll this would take on someone like Shael. She wasn't exactly here by her own volition, so being forced into such a difficult place for the sake of those people was going to only double the frustration.

He is shocked to hear Cyran had a hand in this. Impossible not to put two and two together based on what he knew of the elf and what Shael described, which meant Del was involved to. Is this why he seemed so dour when the met on the Isles? That would have to be a conversation with them at a different time.

"I will certainly say your frustrations are well founded...Zarius and his family built a foundation on sand and with one of those support pillars down it threatens the whole family. They seem like a family that enjoys their plans, but whatever happened in that volcano was something they could have never planned for and now they are panicking...From our perspective, the decisions made seem selfish and pointless."

He pauses and lets out a sigh, "But to be fair, from their perspective they likely just wanted to keep things together until they could really figure out how to move on. I cannot say for sure if that is their thinking, but it seems more like they wanted to hold their place rather than think of the future without Zarius...How that impacted others likely didn't occur or matter to them in the moment."

Another pause as he shifts to put his hands on his hips and adjust his posture, "This is why I prefer honesty...that and my wife says I lack the capacity. I know what it is like to cover for someone in a situation like this, though somewhat different. I was the one to strike the final blow, so I took on the burden of blame despite us both fighting to bring someone down....In your situation, the only thing you can do is what is right for you. The truth is starting to leak from the sounds of it which means the dam is about to burst....You have to ask yourself if you wish to be there when it does. I won't pretend to know all of the factors of your employment with Zarius, but is it worth it to stay? I can't give you that answer, but if you need time away from the family to find that answer, Bluescale Manor has plenty of space.....but I would recommend finding time away from them. The frustrations are only going to grow if you aren't given time to process everything that is happening."


In the glade, Theo certainly doesn't understand sign language and is left confused as to why Gilder and Eirynor share a smirk. The halfling has long given up on understanding the older man. He's strange, but good at his job trying to figure him out beyond that was just an unnecessary headache. Theo is glad to see they finally make it to the knight, no more being used as bait.

"How do we get them away? I read they like gifts, but wouldn't that just make more of them come here and stay? What if we like made a lot of noise and tried to startle them?"

Gilder is silent a moment..."That might actually be his first decent idea. Funny thing about annoying people is they usually get annoyed really easily."

Indra snorts and drops back down onto all fours before she playfully paws at the younger drake’s front legs. She makes a rattling noise deep down in her throat while her tail whips back and forth through the air.

Shael huffs and crosses her arms. 

“I don’t not get it. They have soooo many enemies, and when everyone is out to get you it’s hard to trust folks, you know…” her gaze drops as she looks away. “I certainly do…but how long do we have to keep this up? How long do we all have to act like nothing is wrong when it’s obviously dragging everyone down?”

When Leandros brings up not knowing what her situation exactly is, it snaps her out of her dour funk for a moment. Just long enough for her to seize the chance to tell someone about that too since it's hard to find anyone who would might believe it or care. Plus she's still really salty about it and wants to rant more. 

“Oh, you wanna know how I ended up being “employed”? Cause I did not sign up for any of this. That dead jerk and Mei ended up sneaking into a race I was in. I was supposed to make sure this one Red Rider’s horse won the race, but Mei stole the fucking horse. So I went after them and then those two kidnapped me and tied me to a chair in crappy house in the middle of nowhere! I couldn’t go back to Thunderhoof cause the Red Riders would be pissed with me, and I couldn’t go back to the Dvoryanin, so I got stuck doing this instead.”

It hasn't all been bad. Yeah, the situation was shitty, but it wasn't like she was the intended target. She just happened to be in her own unfortunate situation that was made worse by things out of her control or understanding. Wouldn't be the first time.

As much as she wants to blame Zarius and Mei for everything - and she never lets them forget that she does - they didn't get her on the Red Rider's shit list in the first place. Realizing how their actions were going to impact her, they did offer her a way out. At the time, it didn't feel like she could just refuse their offer, sometimes it still feels that way.

Things are messy and complicated and she's never been very good at dealing with these kinds of things. No one ever cared enough to teach her how. It makes her real jealous of others who do have people to look up to, and maybe makes her a bit more willing to justify staying just so someone like Mei can fill that void for her. Even if she never admits it to the changeling. 

“I just…I shouldn’t care. I know that. But I do and it sucks!”

She feels her face start to burn as tears threaten to gather in her eyes just from all the frustration, confusion, and anger she's let fester for so long. Rubbing her eyes quickly on the sleeve of her shift, she turns away from Leandros so he doesn't see. 

“I don’t want to have to start over again.”

Meanwhile, the others are still faced with the whole reason both parties are even in the glade to begin with. 

Snow nods along to Gilder and Theo's words. If the Nibblenynh are skittish at all, making a lot of noise or a noise loud enough would make them scatter.

Eirynor, on the other hand, makes a bit of a stinkface about the suggestion that they should make a lot of noise. The half-elf is not exactly the loudest, and all his skills are about not being seen or heard. He signs to Snow that making a lot of noise could also be disruptive to the other guilds and their work or might spook the knight.

The catfolk relays Eirynor’s concerns to Gilder and Theo.

“I still think it’s worth a shot. Let’s try one big noise and see how they react. Otherwise we could go get Shael and Leandros' drakes. They'll probably spook the Nibblenynh off for a wh-ILE!”

Snow shrieks as a Nibblenynh jumps on their back and shoves a centipede down their cloak.

Eirynor tries to shoo off the mischievous fae, but he trips over their own feet from a vine looped around his ankles while they were talking. The tall half-elf is quick to try and push himself up as Snow flails in a feeble attempt to get the creepy crawly out of their armor. Before he can get back on his feet, he feels a tug at his belt and watches in annoyance as the Nibblenynh make off with his longsword. 

"People are only able to hold the power you give them over your head. While you may not be able to go back, it doesn't mean you have to stay where you are.....I know what I am about to say might not make much sense at first given the disparity between the incidents but..." He sighs a bit and shifts to put his hands on his hips.



"When I first came of age as a man, my mother was quick to assign to me someone to marry, someone who could help the family's station...because I am a good son, I listened, I let her have that power over me...but through the courtship it didn't feel right...Do not get me wrong she is a fine woman, she and her husband still send letters from time to time, but anyways there was a point I realized that this was not what I wanted. I still wanted to travel and adventure...things that were dangerous and I did not like the idea of leaving a wife and family behind because of that...eventually I met my wife and while I still worry about dying while adventuring, I cannot imagine my life without her."



Leandros smiles as he thinks of her, but pulls himself back from a soliloquy about Apogee, "This is all to say that I wasn't going to be happy if I didn't make that decision for myself and take back the power over my life. If you venture out on your own, it won't be starting again, you'll still have the friends here...Snow...Eirynor...myself, Gilder, Theo, Indra, you have friends...Given everything you have gone through, they have no right not to allow you time to find your next steps....and if they won't allow that I will charge the door of their manor myself and make them change their minds."



He know he wasn't close to Shael and might never be, but the thought of someone being denied their freedom would rankle anyone in the Aurthurian family. Personal autonomy was why they never made it too far as a noble family, the crown doesn't like knowing there are watchdogs in the court.





Theo starts to think and wrinkle his brow when suddenly he finds himself drifting up to meet Snow's gaze. A trio of nibblenynh's grabbed him by the color to lift him up then drop him back down onto his butt. The halfling grumbles and waggles his sword in the air, but the fae are far too quick.



Gilder is busy shifting back and forth to swat away nibblenynhs. The ones around him are attempting to pull the drawstring loose from his arrow. One remains behind him pulling arrows out of his quiver and just tossing them around. Cackles of laughter gather around the group as none of them can get a bead on one of the little critters.

Shael gives Leandros a bit of an unimpressed look. The comparison definitely was an obtuse one, but she avoids giving the knight any snark because of the doofy love-struck smile that spreads across his face at the thought of his wife.

Gods, he's like a dog with its favorite stick.

Something he says does make hre face scrunch even more. 

"Wait, you think we're friends?" 

After asking that, she realizes how that question could be taken the wrong way. 

"I mean...kinda weird. I don't know you that well. Also, I'm pretty sure Eirynor hates me."

Yeah, no. He definitely hates her. She's never gotten along with the half-elf swordsman. Hard to bond with someone who you can't communicate with, and she's never been a fast learner so picking up sign language hasn't gone smoothly. Snow has been...more friendly to her at least, but she doesn't really know anything about Gilder or Theo either. There aren't many people she can say she does know a lot about, or would consider them friends herself. 

Still, Leandros is one of the only people to at least try to help her. And he listened without getting mad at her. That mattered. 

She takes a deep breath and composes herself. 

"Thanks for letting me get all that off my chest...I'll think about what you said." 

Snow's shriek echoes through the forest, catching the attention of the drakes and interrupting their playing. 

"Sounds like they found trouble, guess we should go save their asses." 

By this point, the nibblenynh have overrun the four minions. A few have stolen their gear and are now holding it hostage in the treetops. Eirynor has one of the buggers latched onto his back while Snow is being terrorized by a bunch that keep trying to stuff more creepy crawlies down their cloak.

At the very least, the minions have managed to attach a good amount of attention to themselves and away from the mages who quickly try to get as much work down as they can. 

"The only thing I will impose on you is that friendship, nothing more." He gives a gentle smile to Shael. "Hate is a strong word and I've found many people don't truly feel what it means to hate something or someone."

He nods at Shael's thanks and goes to say more before getting cut off by the sounds of the other party. Leandros follows after, motioning for Haurach to stay behind. This really wasn't something they needed full firepower for. Nibblenynhs aren't exactly hostile from what Leandros understood, just annoying.

Annoying was the key word as Gilder is using his bow to swat at them, having every arrow stolen from him. Theo has abandoned sword and shiled as he has to hold his trousers up after having his belt stolen. It is a mess of a scene that the knight walks in to, but he can't really begrudge the group.

The fae are inherently tricksters and seem to have picked up on the lack of a will to murder. Knowing these adventurers don't want to kill them has only emboldened their actions. Some start tossing nuts and seeds at the knights armor, laughing at the sounds of it plonking off the metal.

"Well...this is certainly not what I expected. Think you can slip past and politely encourage the other guild members to hurry their work? I'll see what I can do about these fae."

"Gods, you're so corny," Shael scoffs, but despite her snark there's a bit of a smile that lingers on her face. 

Approaching the area, it's clear the boys are being overwhelmed by the swarm of little buggers. The sight of all four combatants being outmatched and having their gear stolen right off their persons just makes Shael roll her eyes and shake her head. She glances at Leandros as he speaks up. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll go tell the eggheads to pick up the pace."

With that, the teen does her best to sneak around the outskirts of the clearing. Thankfully the boys were providing more than enough entertainment for the mischievous fae, so she doesn't have too hard of a time getting around to the mages. She squats down next to one of the robed mages as they flip through a notebook full of nigh illegible handwriting. 

"Hey," she prods them in the shoulder. "Those buggers won't stay distracted forever. Do whatever you gotta do faster." 

The mage huffs. "We're working as fast as we can. This isn't exactly something we're used to seeing." 

"Uh huh, uh huh, I hear you, but I don't care, and neither do those fae." 

The mage frowns and keeps working away on their task while Shael keeps an eye on the boys and the horde of nibblenynh. 

Snow manages to unclasp their cloak and use it as a net to scoop and bundle a few of the nibblenynh up. The catfolk pants and looks to Leandros as the knight comes to assist them. 

"They're very slippery and they're not scared of us. I don't know how we're going to get them to leave." 

In the background, Eirynor can be seen attempting to climb a tree to get his longsword back. 

Normally, Leandros wouldn't go the intimidation route for something that is harmless at the end of the day but the situation seems to warrant it. Harmless pranks and jests are fine, but the fae are negatively impacting serious work. The WEF crew has important things they need to be doing in relation to the desolate knight. He steps forward and the nibblenynhs go quiet a moment feeling his presence[1].

"I am sorry to end the fun, but these folk have important work to do. If we leave you with some food and gifts, will you agree to leave?" The vocal tone is firm but gentle, a dad voice he didn't realize he had been practicing.

The nibblenynhs look between each other. The large and shiny man doesn't seem like the type to play around. Suddenly they all zoom towards each other in a big huddle to discuss the offer before them. With a buzz of excitement, they all nod with curious looks as to what these gifts will be.

Leandros produces a small pouch of seeds, a secret snack he enjoyed, and some pressed flowers that had been meant for his wife. Gilder offers strips of cinammon bark he had collected while Theo desperately searches for something to give them. After a moment of panic he groans and pulls a tiger's eye jewel from his pocket, a gift meant for someone he was sweet on. His shoulders fall as several nibblenynh descend to claim it.

"Offer up something small they might like and it seems we should be free of them." The nibblenynhs nod to affirm what the knight said, though they make no effort to return any of the items they had taken.

Eirynor frowns, looking from Leandros and up towards the Nibblenynh still holding his sword hostage. He sighs and makes peace with the fact that he will just have to replace it. Riffling through his pockets, he finds some rations and surrenders them to the fey as well. 

Snow lets the critters they trapped in their cloak free, and also lets them scurry off with the cloak itself as a peace offering. They look at Theo, noticing the young man's drooped shoulders. The catfolk offers him a sympathetic pat on the back.

Satiated, the troublemakers disappear into the treetops and bushes with their ill-gotten treasures. Any hope of retrieval diminishes as the rustling in the bushes eventually grows still. 

"Well, that's great. Let's hope we don't need any weapons on the way home," Shael says with a huff and a headshake. 

With the nibblenynh no longer in the way, the Mage's Guild and Consortium members are able to continue their work around the strange knight. 

"Sorry for the trouble," Snow says to Leandros as they rub the back of their neck out of embarrassment.

It wasn't a great feeling that they had to rely so much on the knight over such a small task. It's not the first time they've felt a little useless when trying to assist more capable and powerful individuals either. Zarius was never one to ask too much of them or put them in situations they weren't equipped to handle. Now that they're one they're on their own, without his judgment and ability to leverage their skills, it's only made it painfully obvious how much they are lacking in certain areas. 

The catfolk shakes their head, clearing those thoughts of self-pity and guilt away. What matters is getting the job done, one way or another, and regardless of how much pride they have to swallow. They can only blame themselves for their incompetence. That's all. 

Shael watches Snow and Eirynor out of the corner of her eye, annoyed with how they give off the same vibes as wounded dogs. She looks to Leandros and mulls over what he said before in her head before walking over and throwing her one arm over Gilder's shoulder and the other over Theo's in a buddy sort of way. 

"Hey, when we're done here we should go get drinks or something. We've barely gotten to get to know each other outside of work." 

"We really should head back-" Snow tries to interject but then Shael interrupts them. 

"We can head back to gloom-and-dooms-ville after some drinks and a rest. C'mon, we've all earned a little break, right?" She looks to Leandros again for his approval.