Should I tidy myself up, I wondered? (Patreon)
Content
I didn't feel especially dirty, and I thought that my slightly weathered state might convey a certain scruffy charm. Besides, didn't lowfolk think of us elves as wild nature spirits? The rabbit priest (priestess?) I had encountered outside the antglade was absolutely filthy, and that was a respected religious leader! Clearly, they did not place cleanliness next to godliness! Then again, mine was a cult that valued sartorial excellence .. Oak had looked neat & spiffy when I saw her. She smelled nice too .. which reminded me, hadn't one of them - Rowan, or that, that .. OTHER femme I didn't want to think about .. somebody, as I dimly recollected, had at one point called me a "smelly hobo."
That clinched it. Some grooming was in order.
I pulled my brushes out of Elfintory and got to work, using some water from my decorative basin. I also applied a cantrip to make my green satin suit shine like a lizard's scales. After a bit of work, I thought I looked quite dashing, and my Ixies agreed (those who weren't busy restraining Angela somewhere in the bushes nearby.)
"OOH," I said, suddenly getting an idea. "What if you built a large statue of me? That would give a pretty impressive effect."
"With what would we make it, Sire?" Typantronn replied. "And at what scale? We've little more than a day in which to work."
"Twould come across a bit self-aggrandizing," another Ixie pointed out.
"And what's wrong with that?" I retorted.
"Why distract from thine own greatness, Sire?"
"Good point," I conceded. Indeed, why rely on cheap props when it was I myself who was truly great? They should be focused on me, not on a bunch of slapped-together effigies! I needed to think of an impressive entrance to really wow the cultists when they arrived. Their journey through the thick forest would set a tone of anticipation .. then they would emerge to see .. what? Aside from my own majestic presence, what assets did I have to work with?
I had the circle, with its sparse decoration .. a gang of helpful Ixies .. and a bottle of elvish shampoo.
After a brief brainstorming session, we decided it would be most impressive for me to rise from the weeds atop the central dolmen, amid a swarm of butterflies, and shout "WELCOME!" in a booming voice. I would save the shampoo to bestow upon the cultists later, after the ice was broken.
The Ixies wrangled butterflies and we did a few practice runs. We all had it down pretty good by the middle of the next afternoon.
"Quick everybody!" I hissed as I heard rustling in the woods, not far away. Suddenly I was extremely nervous. "Get to your places! They're coming!"