I am going to nudge Glee to be our spokesperson. I am feeling a bit nervous about being recognized, as the leader of the church it seems I would be the one most likely to be well known.
Hey, I was nearly elected King! 
I smile at the group, stay alert and say “Hello there. We are messengers and are in a hurry. Let us pass, please.”
“What’s your hurry? Stay with us and share a meal! You have a beautiful soul, so have a meal with us. You guys have some food, right?”
Keep moving, saying “It sounds very nice, but we really have to go. Now.”
“Hey, man, don’t be like that! We’re really hungry. You got any food? How about some money? Where are you going? Hey, talk to us, man!”
The old guy finishes his strange song and joins the others on the road. They follow you, but at a distance of about 300 feet.
See if we can outpace them.
If not, drop a couple of small coins off to one side of the road.
They can pretty easily keep up with you, especially as they are enencumbered by armor. After you drop the coins, they move up to where you dropped them, and the younger man stoops to pick them up. They give you a wave and follow you no more.
You continue on. Maybe 30 minutes later, you are moving through a more heavily wooded area. A small rock skids across your path from ahead and to the right, and hits Antinor in the knee. Another rock comes from behind and almost hits NAF.
Gah! Crouch down and look in the direction the rock was coming from. See if I can’t figure out who is throwing stones at us.
You almost think you saw a really small child, but now you see nothing. A few leaves are shaking as if someone was there a second ago.
All is quiet again. The only movement you see is a slightly spooked squirrel coming more or less from the direction of the first rock.
Squirrels are such badasses sometimes, don’t you agree? They should wear leather armor and wield maces. They cause trouble. They’re like little furry terrorists.
The very thought of that strikes Koldanar in a peculiar sort of way. He gets a mild chuckle out of it. The chuckle turns into a little laugh. The little laugh turns into a full-blown guffaw. And it just gets worse. His laughter is so loud you can hear it echoing through the forest.
It’s so loud that it’s flushing rabbits and birds out of the area. Koldanar literally doubles over and is on the ground laughing. Tears are streaming from his eyes. He’s pretty much incapacitated from the funny. And he’s not snapping out of it.
Have you ever walked into a room full of laughing people and started laughing yourself? It’s infectious. I once heard about a town that laughed itself into complete inproductivity for three days.
Antinor is infected. He’s incapacitated as well. Santo is laughing pretty hard. glee chuckles, but thinks that the noise you are all making might attract danger.
NAF fails to find the amusement in any of this. There is nothing funny about your situation.
He looks so serious, it’s a laugh riot! Someone send that guy to a funeral!
NAF, this could well be a spell effect.
Can you Dispel Magic?
He might be able to lessen the effects of religious rituals, but this doesn’t appear to be one.
Let me pray for guidance from the goddess. Maybe I can get a good idea.
Also, give glee a smack across the face and see if the shock stops his giggles. If it does we might be able to shock the other out through less violent means.
I’ll dodge the blow from NASF, since he hasn’t realised I’m still alert. :smack:
I’ll point him in the direction of Koldanar, Santo or Antinor.
Just in case it helps, I’ll call into the bushes “Please stop throwing rocks and making us laugh. Do you want some food?”
The slap is very easily blocked.
glee, your request is, well… funny. Hilarity ensues.
There is laughter from the bushes as well. It is a weird, high-pitched, maniacal laughter. It doesn’t sound quite human. And it comes from different sources, all around you.
Lob some food at the creatures, and ask them again to stop.
Try to get the others moving along.
You reach into your bag for some food, but one of these is in your bag and almost bites your fingers off. It’s so incredibly ugly that it gives you a real start.
Herald of the End of Life, level 3 invocation. It can be used to bless a sword.
Do we have a sword?
You have five of them.