musical interlude

as pippa wanders through the forest she can hear the soft music of a flute

as it's rare to hear music, Pippa stop into a bush and listen to the music to enjoy it

it sounds like a pan flute. the sound is soft and warm, like a loving embrace

pippa tries to stay hidden in the bush and enjoy the experience

the more pippa listens the more she gets lulled into it

pippa can resist the sudden impulse to seek out the source of the music. around her the bushes rustle and some other hidden creatures, mostly bigger woodland critters like foxes, deer and such are drawn in and advance to whatever is making the enthralling sounds

Pippa is still curious of what is happening, she follow sneakily the creatures

She peeks through a few leaves on a bush. nearby on a boulder sits an elven girl, indeed the elven girl that Pippa had seen earlier twice. she is definitely the same but she is not in the catatonic state as before. on her lips is the flute and she changes her melody ever so slightly, sending some of the creatures back, apparently not what she is looking for

she doesn't seem to notice Pippa, instead she is focusing on the creatures at hand, seemingly sorting through them

seeing that elfen girl, Pippa frezes. That girl means big trouble. Pippa massages the womb tatoo as she remembers. Discarding the music, Pippa doesn't want to stay anylonger, she now tries to get away staying hidden.

as pippa sneaks away the music stops for a brief moment, the girl clearly looks in pippa's direction but then returns to playing, apparently pippa wasn't her target

Pippa resume her exit path through the bushes

Next, Pippa tries to look for some food and water. It's good to have some in a bag, but can't stay without replenish from time to time

backtracking some of the animal tracks towards the elven girl Pippa find a pond, around it some willow trees, the ground of it muddy but the water itself is clear and fresh

with stock resupplied, Pippa can now tries to make or find some shelter for the next night

pippa might have picked up a few tricks about building a leave hut like the gnoll. other than that its luck and work, lots of works.

later that night pippa gets woken up by a sound around her hut. it could be some kind of animal

Pippa tries to assemble her stuff to be ready to flee

whatever it is doesn't seem to want to attack pippa. she gets all her gear in her bag nevertheless

with some fear, Pipp waits at the hut if she should stay or run

the creature apparently is close to the hut (which is built next to the pond) but she can't sense any aggressive intention

Pippa tries to stay quiet an hidden, waiting for the creature to get away

the rest of the night pippa stays awake until at dawn the creature finally trots away, back into the forest

"pfew, that was a long sleepless night"

as soon as she starts packing, the flute music begins to sound through the forest again, unclear how far away it actually is

pippa decides to go opposite way of the flute

for quite some time the melody is audible through the forest, carried by its magic, but at some point it fades...

it is noon and pippa feels incredibly tired but if need be, she could go on

going at slow pace, Pippa travels again