Ploughing Ophelia's Rock-hard Fields

It was a fine morning in Cliffshadow and Quelenna was telling the others at her table about Green Mais-Quand, Jamie's Mikumwes friend, and their discoveries in Stormhaven.  Cathance sat on a chair at the other end of the table and kicked her feet; she did not miss the glances the others cast at her as Quelenna described their Mikumwes antagonist.

A voice piped up from behind Quelenna.  "Stormhaven?  I'm from Stormhaven!"  Cathance had to crane her neck to see over the table, but standing there at Quelenna's elbow was a fairly well-dressed female Maker gnome.  Feeling the eyes of everyone on her, she gave a slight bow.

"I am Lorilla Anahera Amaia Turen Itu," she announced, not at all phased by the eyes of the various adventurers upon her.  "But you may call me 'Ana,'" she added.  "I just spoke to Arnari, and have joined Freelancers!"  Her tone was a mix of happy and defiant.

There were cries of "Welcome" and "We should do a mission together!" and "Sit with us!" but these were interrupted as a Silver dragonborn, bigger than Meurig or Torinn, came into the room.  He looked kind of sad, and his clothes were well-worn and could use a refresh.

"Hello, I am Tai," he said in a deep, sad voice in accented Trade.  "I've just arrived from Au– er, Coldstream."

Two new Freelancers absolutely had to go on a mission!  In short order, Terrance, Quelenna, Osric, Cathance, and Fine Branch had bundled them up and gone to Arnari's office to talk about it.

Arnari's mahogany desk had four rather neat stacks of papers, and her eyes widened as a group of seven cheerfully entered her office and arranged themselves haphazardly on the chairs.  Then they narrowed as she considered the large Silver dragonborn and the Maker gnome.

The rest looked at her expectantly.  "I am not sending new Freelancers after Ethan," she started.

The tension diminished, and both Quelenna and Fine Branch said, "Awwww!"

Arnari continued, "Might be useful for the group of you to check out the… farming issues near Cliffgate.

"There's a small farming hamlet between Cliffgate and Three Rivers, and I'm not sure about the issues.  Talk to Sinéad Willowsteal in Cliffgate."

Terrance asked, "What is the water source they are using?"  Arnari responded, "Good question!" and got up to look at her wall map of Duquesne thoughtfully, as Terrance continued, "Could be from that pollution."

"It's getting its water from Mossey Lake, probably," she said, and sat back down, the look on her face akin to a shrug.  "Probably," she said again, "Who knows.  You'll want to discuss with Sinéad."

"Off you go," she shooed them out of her office.  "The hamlet is named Ophelia."

While Fine Branch and Cathance could ride hippogryphs, the rest of the Freelancers had to walk, so walk they did to Cliffgate, with the two circling overhead.  Even with Ana unused to walking such distances, they took two days to get there, and they found a well-maintained site for camping at the halfway point.  It was still the first prime of the year, and while there were others on the road, generally wagoneers with mules, it was nothing remarkable.

They arrived in Cliffgate late in the day and took rooms at The Sleepy Dog inn for 8sp/person.  The hippogryphs were stabled for 5sp each, separated from the many mules of other groups.  Then they went down to the taproom for relaxation and a meal.  Other travellers were there as well.

After the meal and they had a drink, to everyone's surprise Tai pulled out a brass flugelhorn and played a few songs with passable talent.  The melodies were unfamiliar to the others, however.

The next morning, true to their mission, the Freelancers headed over to talk to Mayor Sinéad Willowsteal, who was a human.  She looked like she spent a lot of time outdoors, but was not excessively tan.

Fine Branch: We got word you were having problems watering your plants
Tai: Or, Ophelia is
Fine Branch: The message is garbled, so we're unsure if there are earth elementals or Daystar worshippers or what
Terrance: Is Ophelia getting ploughed?
Mayor Sinéad: Daystar?!  Who worships the Daystar?!  Okay, never mind
Mayor Sinéad: It seems earth elementals, but I haven't got a straight answer, but the ground is really hard to plough
Quelenna:  Are there virgin fields they're trying to plough?
Mayor Sinéad: No, it's a well-established hamlet; these are not virgin fields
Cathance: Anything walking around? Like trees or awakened stuff, that happened in Haven last year.
Fine Branch: Wood getting up and leaving is a good reason it's not getting ploughed.
Mayor Sinéad: The person whose fields it is…  Talk to Routh & Embu Girikima.  It's their farm

Armed with this information, and finding out the hamlet was two days' travel west, the Freelancers departed for the farming hamlet.  Cathance made sure to have enough rations to cover herself and Jigsaw for 5 days.

Two days later the Freelancers had arrived.  From their vantage above, Fine Branch and Cathance saw that the hamlet was arranged such that the buildings were near the middle, and the farms fanning out like pie wedges.  Cathance was oddly comforted by the orderliness of the layout.  The two Freelancers aloft landed, and with the others they looked around the lone street with its buildings, none of which resembled an inn.  It was a clear day, with the Daystar beaming on all.

Fine Branch spotted someone coming out of the small general store, and dismounted from Nighthawk.  They walked up to this person and asked for directions to the Girikima farm.  The human looked at the nekomata, slightly startled.  Possibly that was because he'd never seen a humanoid cat in his life, but it was more likely because Fine Branch had flipped the tip of one of their tails under their nose as if the tail was a fake moustache.

The human glanced back at the Freelancers:  a halfling, a gnome, a dwarf, an elf, a firbolg, and the poorly-dressed Silver dragon born towering over them all.  He nodded slightly to himself, then pointed at a house ⅔ of the way down the street.  "Most people are in the fields, yah" he said, then nodded more firmly by way of taking his leave, towards another farm.

Cathance dismounted and the Freelancers walked to the indicated building.  Fine Branch knocked on the door, and it was answered by a female human of average height, with dark hair and olive complexion.  She had a dish towel in her hand.  Her first words confirmed she was Routh:  "Oh!  Are you here to fix ploughing our fields?"

Routh:  Embu is in field over there <points>
Fine Branch:  What have you tried?
Routh:  Ploughing it.
Cathance:  What happened?  [when you did that]
Routh:  The dirt closed back up, the plough wouldn't bite.
Quelenna:  Not s'posed to use teeth.
Routh:  ...it seems to be a weird elemental.
Quelenna:  Have you done anything different?
Routh:  It's a relatively new field, but was good the last couple years.
Cathance:  Did you have to clear the field of trees or other shrubs?
Routh:  No.
Terrance:  Will you be able to put us up?
Routh:  Can put you in the hay loft… we've not enough guest space.
Fine Branch:  Can we get dinner, too?
Routh:  Aren't you getting paid…?
Fine Branch:  Well, yes, but we're doing you a favour.  If we're helping you get ploughed, a roll in the hay is the least you can do.
Routh:  <returning to Cathance's question> The field borders on grazing & pasture land.

...Cathance and Fine Branch had sort of noticed that when flying above, the outer circle of the fields surrounding Ophelia was pasture.  But even the most perceptive person sees what they expect, when they look at a farm and aren't an actual farmer; and Cathance was used to orchards, while Fine Branch was used to the terraces of Zephyr.

Routh:  We've not noticed problems on our grazing lands, or the neighbour's farm.  The un-ploughable really is matching the boundary.
Fine Branch:  Wait, this is odd.  What demarcates the fields?
Routh:  Hedge, ditch, path.  But:  it was not regularly unploughable.
Fine Branch:  Trimming bush can make the field unploughable.
Cathance: Is anyone recently upset at you?
Routh:  Not that I can think of.
Tai: Is the pasture getting avoided?
Routh: Not really.

At this, the Freelancers had to see for themselves, so they headed out from the farmhouse towards the fields. They passed some smaller fields which were just sprouting, and many hedgerows in between.  As they got further out, the hedgerows split the stripes in half.

After about half a mile, they got to a field where a farmer was pruning the far hedgerow; a child was watching him.  Must be Embu.  Beyond was a dirt field, and past that was pasture, bounded by a split-pole fence.  A younger child was watching the cattle within.  A couple large-ish trees were providing shade in the pasture, and most of the cattle were making use of it.

The Freelancers came to the dirt field.  A hedgerow separated them from it with an opening in the center of the boundary.  They all peered at it without entering.  Ana and Tai just saw dirt ready to be ploughed.  Cathance, Quelenna, and Terrance, having been raised in the more rural parts of Duquesne, were surprised at how torn up the ground was.  Osric and Fine Branch each thought the ground looked like an active mudwrestling pit, although it was not muddy.

Fine Branch suggested they cast spirit guardians and ride Nighthawk through the field.  "They will attack," they said.

Cathance countered with, "Shouldn't we first see what happens?" and someone replied, "Maybe he doesn't want to get hurt."  Cathance pointed out, "No reports of that."

Tai interjected, "Maybe he will not want to perform in front of others," and Osric noted, "I can plough the fields, if he doesn't wanna."

Embu had stopped trimming the hedgerow to watch these 7 strangers arguing over his property.  Then it clicked, and he hurried over.

Embu:  Oh!  Freelancers!  Right!
Cathance:  What happens when you try to plough it?
Embu:  Looks like dirt, feels like dirt.  But plough, acts like stone.
Osric:  You want us to do anything, or try again?
Embu:  … 
Tai: What if you use a shovel?
Embu: Never tried that.

Fine Branch went into the field through the gap in the hedgerow.  While the others watched, they picked up the dirt:  it was dirt.  They drew their daggar, and poked it:  it was dirt.  At that Osric entered the field, and tried his pitchfork:  it was dirt.

Quelenna turned to Embu.  "Can we get a shovel?" she asked politely.  Embu turned to the child.  "Bring a shovel," and, obviously torn by curiosity at the strangers, he ran towards the barn.  A few minutes later, he returned with the shovel, and handed it to the Wild elf.

Quelenna applied the shovel.  The first three tries seemed normal.  The fourth try was considerably harder, and the fifth try, the shovel bounced off the ground like it was a rock.

That brought Cathance up to Quelenna.  She poked at the ground, it felt like dirt.  She scowled.  "Do that again," she told Quelenna imperiously.  Quelenna shoveled some dirt.  Cathance cast prestidigitation on the shovel, and it was cleaned of the dirt, nothing unusual.  Quelenna tried again; it was hard again.

Seeing that, Tai came into the field, and tried, but with his clawed hands.  Everything acted normal.  Terrance came into the field, but walked along the hedge, asking the bushes what was up, in plant-language.  She checked all the roots.

Osric came up to Quelenna, and examined the shovel.  It had a metal blade, with the wood shaft seated firmly in the socket extending upwards from it.  Satisfied that Quelenna would not be harmed, he cast heat metal on the blade.  Curious, Ana moved to the opening in the hedgerow to watch.

Quelenna wielded the shovel again, and they heard unhappy rumbly noises.  Fine Branch, who had been studying Primordial, heard, "Ow!  Mother–! Ow!"  Quelenna used the hot shovel again, and they heard, "What!"

Fine Branch was thrilled that their study of Primordial was already put to good use, and 

commanded, slowly and clearly, "Come out!"  Six lumps of dirt popped out of the ground, two right next to Quelenna.

Four of them were about the size of Cathance; they looked kind of cute.

Two others were more like Tai's size, and looked a bit less friendly.

Fine Branch spoke in Primordial again: "Why are you here?"  What Fine Branch didn't know, nor did the other 6 Freelancers, who did not speak Primordial at all, was what they'd actually asked was "Why are you so horribly hairy?"

The aggrieved voice replied, and because Fine Branch crit failed at Primordial, they were entirely sure the answer was, "We're here to fuck you up!"

Fine Branch pulled out their weapon and shield.

Cathance saw Fine Branch's reaction, and did not like these odds, so acted to change them.  She cast hypnotic pattern to ensorcell as many as she could.  Three of the small ones and one of the larger ones were ensorcelled by it.  Cathance used her boots of striding and springing to jump towards Ana, calling for Jigsaw.  The elemental closest to her punched her, but she kept her focus on the hypnotic pattern.

• Quelenna pulled out her fans and shook them open; they had a purple sheen to them.  She attacked the larger earth elemental which had not been ensorcelled by hypnotic pattern.  She followed up with flurry of blows, knocking it over.
  • Osric said dryly, "I see; you are ploughing the field with a flurry of blows, and open hand techniques."
  • Quelenna gave the Holder dwarf a side-eye and moved away from the entrance to the field, on the other side of the smaller elemental.
• Ana hesitated, then walked into the field, moving next to the elemental Quelenna had knocked prone, ready to dodge any blows.
• The ground across the field rippled, but only Fine Branch and Osric noticed.
• Terrance, next to the hedgerow, moved to get a clear shot, then tried to shoot the same elemental; but it was a difficult target, prone on the tumbled earth, and she missed.
• The elemental stood up, angry, and went after Quelenna.  Tai struck it with his daggar as it went by, but ordinary daggers can only do so much to a living rock.  The elemental punched at Quelenna, who easily avoided the attacks.
• Tai moved next to Osric, breathing out the cold of his heritage at the two elementals not ensorcelled by the hypnotic pattern.  Ice formed on their edges, but it didn't seem to do much harm.
• Fine Branch cast spiritual weapon, which manifested as a giant clam, and ordered Nighthawk to attack the larger elemental.  The clam hit the same elemental with force.  Nighthawk beaked and clawed at it as well, but while hitting the elemental, did not do his normal damage.  Even so, the elemental looked pretty torn up.  They then cast toll the dead, but the sound was a muffled clank as the elemental shrugged it off.
• Osric was still keeping the blade of the shovel hot with heat metal.  He cast produce flame, and threw it at the earth elemental, which melted off the ice, and crumbled some of the earth with it.  Then, he summoned a unicorn spirit totem.  The spectral unicorn was rearing, and almost invisible sparkles seemed to float up from around it in a 30' radius.
• The little elemental tried to hit Quelenna, but missed.  She said patronizingly, because it was cute, "You have to paw at me a little faster than that!"

Cathance mounted Jigsaw, and flew up.  She cast an actual ray of frost at the wavering earth elemental.  Ice formed on its visible joints.

• Quelenna attacked it with her fans, and it crumbled into the earth.  Using flurry of blows, she punched the little earth elemental who'd missed her, and another little one which remained ensorcelled by hypnotic pattern; they both crumbled into the earth.  She moved next to one of the remaining little earth elementals.
• Ana, emboldened by Quelenna's actions, drew her rapier and daggar, and attacked the other ensorcelled larger elemental.  Her rapier pierced it, and it snapped out of its hypnosis.  Face-to-face with the consequences of her choices, she started uncontrollably terror screaming as her daggar strike went wide of her no longer static opponent.
• With a sound like a small avalanche, a huge earth elemental in the prime of its power burst out of the ground next to Nighthawk and Quelenna, attacking them both.  Its giant fist brutally smashed into the unprepared Quelenna.
  • Cathance, circling above on Jigsaw, cried out, "Guys!  There's a big one!  It came across the field!"
  • Ana stopped screaming.
• Terrance ran across the field to get in between the elemental Ana had attacked and this new large one.  She drew her scimitar and slashed at it, but her swing went wide.  Then she disappeared.
  • Cathance cried out in horror, "Terrance, are you okay?!  Where did you go?!"
• The not-big elemental Terrance had missed hit both Fine Branch and Ana with its fists, causing the latter to resume terror screaming.
• Tai moved in and used his daggar on that elemental.
• Fine Branch called out to Nighthawk to flee, which he did.  Then they moved the clam spiritual weapon to attack the same elemental with force.  As a finishing move, they brought down an upleveled guiding bolt on the elemental, burning it with holy radiance.
• Osric picked up the shovel, taking care to keep the shaft between his hands and the blade, for it was still glowing hot.  He hit the big earth elemental with it, hurting it with both the blade and the heat.
  • The earth elemental roared again, sounding like an avalanche.
  • Osric cast healing word on Quelenna, and the sparkles from the unicorn spirit flashed and also healed all the Freelancers within them, a little bit.

Cathance sent a chromatic orb at the not-big elemental.  It settled on fire before it hit.

• Quelenna used her winged boots to leap? fly? over the big elemental, to attack the elemental Cathance had burned.  She missed with her fans, but one of her flurry of blows landed.
• Ana struck it with her rapier again, but using the daggar meant getting too close, and her daggar strike missed.
• The big elemental rumbled, and Fine Branch realized it was saying something about "Our field."  It slammed its bouldery fists down at Osric and Terrance.  It missed Terrance, but clipped Osric's shoulder, wrenching it.
• Terrance reappeared and slashed the big elemental with her scimitar, carving a groove in its main rock.  Then she disengaged and moved so one of the little elementals was between her and the big one.
• Tai kept attacking the not-big elemental with his daggar.
• Fine Branch's clam spiritual weapon tried to hit it again and missed.  Then they called down the bane of The Cat on these elementals, which landed on the big elemental, and one of the ensorcelled small ones.
• Osric moved a bit to his right, then tried to bonk the big elemental with the hot shovel, but it bounced off harmlessly.  He again cast healing word on Quelenna, and the sparkles from the unicorn spirit flashed and again healed all the Freelancers within them, a little bit.

Cathance summoned the tides of chaos to cast an upleveled chromatic orb at the big elemental.  The orb settled on fire before it hit, and the intensity of the fire melted part of the ele's rock.  However, the chaos caused a splitting headache in the front of her head, which terminated in her forehead splitting open to sprout a third eye.  Amazed, she realized she could move it independently of her preexisting pair.

• Quelenna tried to kill off the not-big elemental, but she was distracted by the big one and missed.
• Ana had calmed down, and attacked the not-big elemental again, piercing it with the rapier and missing with the daggar.
• The big elemental, still rumbling, brought its bouldery fists down on Quelenna and Osric.  Quelenna easily avoided it, but Osric was caught squarely by the blow, which hurt enough that he lost his focus on keeping heat metal on the shovel's blade.
• Terrance snapped, "I was hoping some things would be dead by now!"  She pulled out her rapier, which flashed slightly purple in the daylight, and crit on the big elemental as it sank into the melted part of the rock.  The big elemental roared in pain, sounding like an avalanche in reverse.  Terrance disengaged and moved back.
• The not-big elemental hit Fine Branch.
• Tai stabbed the not-big elemental with his daggar again.
• Fine Branch's clambake with the not-big elemental was not going well, as their spiritual weapon missed again.  They cast toll the dead, and the bong rang out across the field as parts of the rock turned greyish, full of rot, and the elemental crumbled into infertile clods of dirt.
• Osric checked for others' injuries, then let go of the shaft of his no-longer-useful shovel as he cast healing word on himself.  The spirit unicorn's sparkles again flashed and healed all the Freelancers a little bit.  Then he drew his scimitar, which also had a purple sheen, and ineffectually slashed at the big elemental.

Cathance saw, with her new third eye, that Embu and the child who'd brought the shovel were staring over the hedge in shock.  The other child, in the pasture, was also staring through the split-rail fence.  With her normal two eyes, she'd seen Fine Branch cast toll the dead, and thought it was a good idea.  She cast chill touch at the big elemental, but the spell's skeletal hand pawed ineffectually at what she figured was its face.

• Quelenna attacked the big elemental, but was unable to score a hit.
• Ana, seeing how the big elemental had hit Osric, moved towards the pasture, preparing to dodge.
• The big elemental burrowed into the ground, then swam to Terrance.
  • Osric swung at it with his scimitar but missed.
  • Cathance called out, "Guys, it burrowed in the dirt!  It swims in the dirt!"
  • The big elemental drew itself up to full height and brought its bouldery fists down on Terrance, who avoided the attack.
• Terrance slashed the rock-hard body with her scimitar, carving another furrow as the magical weapon scored.  She again disengaged and moved ten feet away.
• Tai pulled out a sling and shot a rock at the big elemental, but it just bounced off.
• Fine Branch's clam spiritual weapon moved to one of the remaining ensorcelled little elementals, as Fine Branch called up their spiritual guardians, surrounding themself with cheshire-cats.  The clam disintegrated the little elemental.
• Osric again cast healing word on himself.  The spirit unicorn's sparkles flashed and all the Freelancers were back at full health.

Cathance did not want to miss, so she summoned tides of chaos again before sending another chromatic orb at the big elemental.  The small fiery ball crit, melting the centre of the big elemental and causing the rest of it to crumble into clods of earth. Fine Branch donned goggles, and looked at the crumbled earth.  "Now, that's scorched earth," they began.

Meanwhile, Cathance had started glowing, brighter and brighter and brighter.  She flew Jigsaw to the other side of everyone, far into the field.  "Guys, I'm glowing!" she said.

Quelenna killed the remaining little elemental, right before the glow emanating from Cathance blinded her.

Everyone but Quelenna moved away from glowy Cathance.  Osric picked up the shovel and tried it, to find the ground acted in a normal fashion again.

Embu hurried around the hedgerow and into the field.  "Holy Shit! – big elemental!" he exclaimed.  "Are they gonna come back?!" He didn't wait for an answer before exclaiming, "If they come back, we're calling you!"

He retrieved his shovel from Osric, and tried it himself.  "Okay," he declared, "We'll try ploughing in the morning."  Fine Branch and Terrance gave each other a side-eye.

Once she stopped glowing, Cathance's third eye dissipated as well, which wasn't a very comfortable sensation.  She dismounted from Jigsaw and walked over to the remainder of the big elemental.  She poked at them.  "Is it really just dirt clods?" she asked, incredulous.

Others came over and poked at it as well.  Osric and Fine Branch started picking out small gems from the dirt clods; in the end they found 10, worth about 10gp each, they figured.  They also found, in the melted part of the elemental's centre, a really nice yellow gem about the size of Cathance's fist.

Upon this discovery, everyone poked through the dirt clods from the other elementals, but while some of the rocks were colorful, they found nothing of value.

Embu decided to call it a day early.  "Come have dinner with us," he said, "You're welcome to stay in the barn tonight," he continued as they headed towards the farmhouse, "We've not enough guest space…"

The next morning was more overcast, but Embu was able to plough the field to completion, and plant his seeds.  He was tired afterwards, but super happy.  He gave them a sealed message for Sinéad Willowsteal, and saw the Freelancers on their way.

Two days later, they reached Cliffgate and again took rooms at The Sleepy Dog inn for 8sp/person, with hippogryph stabling for 5sp each.  They stopped to talk to the Mayor the next morning before heading to Cliffshadow.  After perusing the message from Embu Girikima, Mayor Sinéad swallowed her grimace and gave each Freelancer 100gp.  "You certainly earned this," she told them.  "Do not forget to give 10% of it to Arnari!"

Back at Freelancers, Arnari was visibly relieved to see the new recruits back, and ooh'd and ahh'd appropriately at their tale.  She was thoughtful about the earth elementals, though.  These elemental groups were becoming a pattern.

• Ana → lvl2 wizard!
• Tai → lvl 2 barbarian!