As the whispered words of Lethia pass through the swamp they carry with them an incredible weight.  For a moment, all of the dryad pause, claws ready to strike at the intruder.  Then the leader's head tilts slightly, making eye contact with Lethia and beginning to sway.  His movements mirror hers for the shortest of moments, likely recognizable to the party but not to his own followers.  A soft gurgled sound escapes his throat and he holds up a hand, pointing it at the boat.  "A snake, a dog, a cat, a bird, and squirrel.  What form do we wish to take?  Let them go."  He snarls in frustration as he slams a dagger back into it's hilt, beginning to turn away from them.<br/><br/>There is a moment of hesitation from the dryads, simply waiting as their leader makes another firm gesture towards the boat.  "Go!  Go before I change my mind!" he snarls out, a line of spittle dripping down from the bottom of the mask.<br/><br/>For a moment, the glaring continues, dead eyes faces simply watching the interlopers before one by one they step down.  To the last moment, the bird-skull wearing dryad watches Kitira as though taking a measure of her, noting her.  There's a definite threatening edge there, but she too begins to step backwards leaving a clear path to the boat.<br/><br/>As these negotiations seem to be progressing, dear Tsana helped.  A crackle from the flames bursts up and the dryads fall back more hastily, hissing out and moving down into the swamp again.  This accompanied by the clatter of weapons and armaments signals an end to the conflict.  The light from the flames show the area more clearly, lighting from underneath the trees hanging above the camp.<br/><br/>Tsana spots them first, crawling humanoid forms in the branches, thin and drawn shapes with skin as green as the leaves around them.  Each of them sports a hilt of a dagger through their chests and a ring of tree branch around their neck.  Clearly the results of previous uses of the dark sacrifices.  But perhaps most importantly, Tsana notices the bird-skull wearing dryad as she slowly slides into the water.  Her eyes are also upon the tree canopy, gesturing furtively with her claws.  When the boat sets out, the sacrifices will follow regardless of any orders from the Masked One.<br/><br/>Then there's a glimmer in the mud, a dirt and blood caked dagger that seems to have fallen from one of the previous sacrifices.  It matches the one that the Masked One wielded and clearly has a dangerous magic to it.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Survivors, what do you do?</strong>