Now within the green dome that surrounds the hill, the party splits into two groups. "Dave" and Bellows taking the high ground on slope of the hill while the other three travel along its base. After a bit of trekking, Bellows spots what looks like a humanoid shape curled up in the fetal position near the bottom of the hill. Signaling to the others, the troops on the ground carefully move towards it. Bellows attempts to meet with the rest of the party by gracefully leaping from tree to tree. The reality is far from graceful as he meets the ground prematurely on multiple occasions.
The figure turns out to be a wounded Dryad. No one understands her but she soon realizes that the party means no ill will towards her and she reciprocates to Korgath who has taken lead by changing her form to resemble a leafy Dwarven woman. "Dave" uses his powers to try and communicate with her and gets images of herself and four other Dryads entering the dome, followed by flashes of them fighting Dragonborn, her sisters dying, something about "fighting in his mind" which absolutely terrifies her and the area of the hill where a cave entrance lies.
Her breathing heavies and she refuses any attempt from Korgath to heal her. Feeling helpless, Korgath and the group do the only thing that she allows by providing an affirming presence as her life fades away.
After the Dryad's passing, the Firebugs make their way to the cave. Bellows and Ulfr advance in the shelter of the tree tops. The sounds of laughter emanate from the cave entrance to reveal Dragonborn laughing at the amusing dance of a small Kobold. Among them, three Spitting Drakes. After almost giving their position away a few times as they advanced and putting the drakes on alert, Vincent decides to wander up to the group of Dragonborn as casually as possible in a way more suitable for a person walking into a diner to ask for directions. His attempts at diplomacy and humor do not charm the Dragonborn and his efforts are met with axes. The Kobold runs off into the cave and our heroes go into battle once again. Bellows and Ulfr bring pain down from the trees and aside from Vincent soaking up quite a lot of damage, the Firebugs actually have a much easier time with these three Dragonborn and their Drakes than they did with the Kobolds at the camp site earlier. Victory is theirs.
Now what? Well, they can always walk into the cave... Guess what? They will.
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