(somewhere in the mountains, along a narrow rocky path...) 

"Someday I am going to figure out how to enchant a flying carpet," grumbles Laila, who has lately been feeling bad about how Serra can fly, could probably carry one passenger, and is instead stomping patiently along the road with Laila and Ashoc. 

"Far be it from me to discourage your research but I actually don't fly much faster than I walk." 

"Flying is, like, intrinsically better, though." 

There is an ominous rumble in the near distance. 

Serra steps casually in front of her companions and unslings her shield, but keeps walking. "All forms of movement have their own value." 

"Some of them are slower, though. I'll just have to make the flying carpet big enough for both of us!" 

"Patience is a virtue." 

A moderately sized boulder comes at them at something of a speed. 

Serra plants her feet and deflects it off her shield. "Eyes on the thrower, anybody?" 

Ashoc ducks under her elbow briefly to look along the angle of incidence and says, "yep, up there," pointing as he scoots back behind her for Laila's benefit. "Weird place for a hill giant." 

Huh, Ashoc knows giant facts. Weird thing for him to know, really, he couldn't tell the difference between a gnoll and a lizardman. 

"So it is. Well, I can hit him with a limited but nonzero set of things at this range and will if he keeps attacking us but is there a way to convince him we aren't hostile and are just passing through?" 

Ashoc musters his lung capacity, cups his hands over his mouth, and shouts at the giant, "HEY, WHAT DO YOU WANT?" 

"YOU NO TAKE SHEEP!!" booms the giant. 

"WHAT SHEEP?" Ashoc wants to know, seeing none. 

Obviously the giant is not going to help people steal his sheep. "YOU NO TAKE SHEEP," he repeats, and throws another rock. 

Serra is not going to enjoy tanking a whole bunch of these but she's got it under control. 

"OH," says Ashoc, bouncing gleefully on his hooves with an unmistakable expression of I have a really funny plan, "YOUR SHEEP. WE DON'T NEED TO STEAL YOUR SHEEP." 

"WHY NO? VERY GOOD SHEEP! YOU CANNOT HAVE!" 

"I ALREADY STOLE ALL YOUR SHEEP," announces Ashoc. "BY MAGIC." 

???????????? 

"NO!!! MY SHEEP!! CANNOT HAVE!!!!" 

It is so weird having party members with all this Charisma coming out their ears. Who the hell tries to solve a hill giant by telling it blatant, easily verified lies. 

.... Laila casts some Dancing Lights to make them look more obviously magic. 

"YOU HAVE TO LEAVE US ALONE," says Ashoc, "OR ELSE I WON'T GIVE THEM BACK." 

There's a considerable pause. The giant attempts valiantly to have a Wisdom score and fails spectacularly. 

"OKAY OKAY I LEAVE YOU ALONE! GIVE BACK SHEEP!" 

"DON'T WORRY, THEY'RE RIGHT BACK WHERE YOU LEFT THEM NOW." 

There are no additional rocks. 

Some ten minutes later, there is the somewhat more distant sound of a hill giant laughing happily and yelling "SHEEP!" while, possibly, hugging the sheep. 

Cu...ute? Cute. Yes. 

(another time, exploring an abandoned castle which might supposedly contain a divinatory spring they can use to try to find Laila's missing teacher...) 

It does contain a spring!

Perhaps... too much of one, even. In that the whole place is flooded.

An excellent time to have a cloak of the manta ray on hand. Especially if you are, in all other respects, the sort of heavy armored tank that sinks rather than swim.

Ashoc on the other hand doesn't wear armor and has more Strength than the average mid-level veteran soldier. He swims like a fish.

The wizard is soggy and unthrilled but it's her quest they're here for so she'll just have to get over it.

There is: a door. 

It's magic. 

Oh wow. 

"Hellooooo look at YOU, you are so nifty, Laila look at that lovely curlicue!!" 

That's a door. It has no curlicues. 

Laila does not have permanent arcane sight yet and has to cast the spell first like a plebeian (she's 90% over Ashoc being Like That, he has like, two spells, but occasionally she is blazingly envious), but then she agrees. "Wow, yeah, I actually have never seen a spell like that. It's almost like--" 

"Hello!!!!" says the door. 

It TALKS? 

Serra is now standing between it and her wizards, sword drawn. 

It talks! 

"Nice to meet you!" he says, around her shoulder. 

"Is it? I have never met anybody who thought so!" 

"Why's that?" 

"ApPARENTLY they feel the point of DOORS is to let people THROUGH them. I think if you wanted that you would simply not put a door and the point of doors is to NOT do that actually." 

 "Well sure, compared to an open space, but if you really wanted nobody to ever go through you would just put a wall, no?" 

She could probably go through a wall. Breaking a non-talking wall would not possibly be murder. 

"Do you know who put you here on purpose? Why do people want to be on the other side of you?" 

"Supposedly there is a magic bucket of water or something. I am at a loss to understand how this is possibly more interesting than I am." 

"Ah, that'll be the scrying pool." Which had better actually be better than a regular crystal ball, after all this effort. They have fought a truly unreasonable number of cave bats.