229: I Don't Call It Foraging, I Just Call It My Day

## Summary

Outside the umlaut encampment, the group begin foraging and quickly locate a meadow entirely carpeted by four-leaf clovers, which mysteriously turn into three-leaf covers once picked. A small, flame-haired figure appears in the distance and draws them further into the forest, where Gwen narrowly avoids falling into a deep pit. They find what they think is a trampoline at the bottom of the shaft, but when Batthwack tries it out, he thuds into the ground and the creature's laugh echoes through the trees.

## Synopsis

The party are wandering through the dark forest, the sound of trickling water all around them. Gwen takes the pragmatic approach and tries to divvy up the ingredients amongst the group. They need to find something that tastes of luck, something hairy and badger meat. She says she's kind of stumped about the luck one. Raphina suggests almonds for luck, because the one her worm friend gave her was lucky. Will asks what a badger looks like and Mo tells him they're like a fat skunk, but that doesn't help because Will doesn't know them either. Raphina asks if they could try and find a predeceased one, so they don't have to slaughter anything. Gwen is a carnivore and says she wouldn't have a problem killing it, so suggests that the others look for one of the other items. Mo points out that badgers are hairy too. Sounding not a little exasperated, Will asks if this is what life is like for people living in the forest. Gwen says her clan used to forage to eat. Will decides that it can't be that hard, tries to kicks over a rock, and stubs his toe.

Batthwack is concerned that they're in the middle of nowhere and about to wander even further into the unknown. Will tells Mo to hunt for badgers and asks where they live. Mo says they burrow, so Will tells everyone to start looking for holes. Raphina suddenly has a bright idea! Halflings are lucky and twig tea is such a quintessential part of her character, perhaps they could just put twig tea in the stew. Everyone shakes their heads. Looking around, Raphina and Will can both see that in the distance ahead of them, the woods open up and there's a sunlit clearing. Will thinks he even spies a rainbow and points it out to the others. Gwen's eyes widen at the mention of a rainbow and she makes a beeline for it. Will grips the edges of his *Cloak of the Bat* with both hands and flies off in that direction.

They arrive in the sunlit area, which turns out to be a small meadow. The sun is beaming down, but no rainbow is visible now. The entire area is carpeted with bright green four-leaf clovers. Gwen says *"Four leaf clovers are lucky, right?"* Will is immediately suspicious; that just seemed too easy. He's beginning to wonder if this is some kind of scam. Batthwack picks a few clovers, but weirdly, as soon as he does, they immediately turn into three-leaf clovers. Will suggests digging up a clump of soil with the clovers still in it, but they still transform into common or garden three-leaf clovers all the same.

Raphina suddenly spots a small figure (about the same height as her) on the other side of the meadow. They have bright red hair and they're wearing a green suit. They're leaning against a tree, arms crossed, looking at them. She whispers to the others to let them know. The figure uncrosses their arms and waves jauntily at them. They call over in a thick Irish accent *"Lookin' for something lucky are ya? Can't get much luckier than me!"* Raphina shouts back, asking how they knew they were looking for something lucky. They say they know lots of things. Gwen asks if they can help them. The creature shouts *"How about you come along? This way!"* and runs off into the woods.

Batthwack whispers *"Do you have a sack Gwen?"* Will is highly suspicious that this is a trap and they carefully head round the edge of the clover meadow. Gwen is more trusting though and goes straight across the middle. When they reach the other side, they notice that there is a trail of foot-shaped clover patches leading into the forest. They follow it, Gwen in the lead and Will flying along behind using his cloak again. They can't see the creature, but they continue on, following the footprints through the woods.

All of a sudden, Gwen finds herself plummeting downwards, the ground having disappeared beneath her. She manages to dig her claws in and slams into the side. Looking down, she can see she's dangling over a 15-foot pit. It's about 5 feet wide and the clover footprints continue straight over the top. The creature's high-pitched laugh echoes out as Will shouts *"Oh, you little jerk! You messed with entirely the wrong group! You have no idea. We have one unethical person, two terrifying dragonborns and one lady that I can never predict. Watch out!"* Will and Batthwack help Gwen out of the pit. Now that the illusion is broken, they can see all the way down. The sides of the pit are made of dirt, but intriguingly the bottom is segmented in rainbow-colours, like a pinwheel.

The group discuss who should go down inside to take a closer look at the bottom. Gwen picks up a rock and throws it down. The rock sails down, hits the bottom and bounces straight back, glancing off the side of her head as she dodges out of the way. She says *"It looks like if we fell in it, we'd probably just bounce right out. This seems more like a silly trap to me."* Batthwack looks down into the hole for a moment and then jumps in. The group wince as he thuds into the bottom of the pit. Will sarcastically calls out *"We just gotta leave him there, he's too big to pull out. You're too heavy, Batthwack! I'm not even gonna try!"* Batthwack struggles out of the hole.

Raphina tries throwing another rock down, which bounces out, landing on the ground beside the hole. Will looks around, wondering if the forest is full of these traps and the creature's laugh echoes out again. Gwen suddenly has a bright idea and casts *Detect Magic*, causing the footprints to glow. She feels confident now that she should be able to spot any more holes covered with illusions, and begins to follow the trail again.

Will opts to fly and begins to wonder if they should be trying to set their own trap for this creature. He *Message*s Raphina to tell her his idea, but has to admit that he doesn't have an actual plan. Raphina wonders whether the creature is just mischievous, rather than murderous, but does agree that he is being a jerk. Will flies ahead of Gwen to get a better look and try and spot any traps.

## Quotes

* *"I'll get you, She-Nis!"* - Eric
* *"You killed Nick, you bastard!"* - Alex, after hearing the leprechaun character's thick Irish accent

## Trivia

* The episode title quotes Abby. Gwen was suggesting Will could learn how to forage and pointed out that she's done it before and Mo knows how to hunt. She says *"Raphina. I'm assuming you foraged twigs and such in your day as well."* Raphina responds *"I don't call it foraging. I just call it ... my day."*

## References

1. ↑ 178: It's a Good Thing Raphina Is a Notary