The Birds and the Bees plus poison oak around the knees

"Aren't you a druid?"

General Summary

Having been underground in the long dark of the rail tunnel for the last day and a half or so, Coin, Gnoll, and Nan decided to take in the sunshine and wander around outside in the underbrush of Scrimpt . They started out trying to talk to the wooden horse (a golem) near the scaffolding stairs below the tunnel entrance, but it was none responsive, of course, so they thought they'd wander off and see if they could find any animals to pet.
Leaving most of their heavier gear tucked away under the stairs, they set out on a wander across the low hills. They heard some of the local birds chattering at them or looking for food, and found that the trees and plant, though familiar, weren't quite what they were used to from their own respective worlds, or at least the climates. Scrub oaks apparently aren't as magnificent when you're used to the full-sized article, but when you're a Gnome , aren't all trees massive?
It wasn't quite a day for our druid in any case, as she not only completely failed to chat up a deer, but also blithely fully walked right through a huge patch of poison oak without taking notice of it. (If she'd seen it, she'd have had no difficulty at all in identifying it, but she was obviously a bit distracted.) Fortunately Gnoll and Coin managed to not get enough exposure to be affected by it; unfortunately, Nan was not so lucky.¹ Poor Nan!
Near the top of the slope, they investigated the ruins of a home. There didn't seem to be much to find there, but they did manage to discover the enormous bees that were using the remains of the roof as a shelter for their colony. Unfortunately the party's rummaging around the scraps of the upper floor seriously pissed off the bees when their actions brought the house down, or at least a good portion of the floor. They made a sound tactical decision to flee in a most expeditious manner and got out of the house in time to see several of the bees fly out looking for the disturbance.
Dusty, hot, and slightly injured, the group headed back to the entrance to see how things were progressing, but found Rithan and Nezi still working. The tiefling broke off long enough to give an update on the projected schedule, stressing that the researchers needed to finish a obtaining their samples before they could even break for lunch, let alone leave. Gnoll asked about animals in the area, prompting Rithan to ask her "Aren't you a druid?" Further awkwardness occurred when she Rithan then asked "Why is your spider scratching like that? Is that normal for web tyrants?" Whereupon Gnoll noticed Nan had a light rash that should probably receive attention.
Coin and Gnoll worked together to create a salve to cure Nan's irritation. At Rithan's request, they set off to the apex of the slopes to get a bearing on the valley to the west, and Gnoll commanded Nan to stay in the shade and recover while they were away.
At the session's end, Coin and Gnoll, having circled wide around the ruins of the house so as to avoid the bees, gazed westward along the remnants of a trail, now overgrown and disused.

Other Highlights:

• Rolling in the dandelions!
• Berry gathering and berry sampling
• Gnoll walked right through the sparkly ash, while Coin was more cautious

Character(s) interacted with

Rithan Nezi (indirectly) Two deer, a doe and her fawn Enormous bees

Notes

1 - Look, I don't know if spiders can actually be affected by exposure to poison oak or other such irritants in the real world, but they also don't grow to the size of young children! In any case, Nan was the one that failed her Fortitude save and it added to the story later.

World Date
10 Mat 282 SR

Report Date

06 Feb 2021

"The only place I can see to hide from [the bees] is in the well ... and that seems like a bad idea." - Coin the Elf.