Nadya nods. "Yes, keep moving. Find Thora." Nadya jogs across the room quietly to the northern door, not waiting for the others to catch up.
Through the door, another hallway curves with the tower again, ending in a recessed alcove, where a large window overlooks the tower's northern exposure. Crytals of ice cover the floor of the alcove, another apparent transporter. There are no other people or creatures in sight.
Yagello tries to keep up with Nadya's pace, "Yes, let's continue. Time is of the essence."
He moves adjacent to the room with the double doors and rubs his bristles thoughtfully, "This chamber might be of some significance..."
With that said, he pushes the doors open and looks within...
Arkady nods and follows.
Cervin follows a pace behind Yagello, his bow at the ready.
Several tables, covered in flowering plants and decorative figurines both large and small, occupy the corners of this brightly lit large room. A large mirror hangs on the northwestern wall, while double doors lead north and south.
In the eastern corner, between one table and a large branch, a filthy creature stands chained to the wall, resembling a pudgy child made from tree bark, with roots for hands and feet. As soon as it sees the group enter, it begins struggling and pulling against the chains, trying to break free, and making strange warbling sounds.
Cervin gasps as he sees the creature.
"Deadeye guide us, what is that poor creature?" Cervin looks at it cautiously, trying to determine if it is hostile or not.
Arkady peers into the room, examining the creature, but also looking for signs of any traps or other dangers.
Arkady peers at the creature, but he had not read about this creature in his books growing up. Seeing the bark-like appearance of the skin, Arkady wonders if he his grandmother's botany lessons ever covered creatures such as this, rather than the long droning lectures about medicinal properties.
The creature is only the height of a child, but it strains against the chains again, and Arkady hears a rumbling sounds from the walls. The chains hold fast, but Arkady notes that there are cracks in the wall from continued pulling. It is only a matter of time before the creature breaks free, especially if the party baits him just out of his restrained reach.
Arkady takes a moment to scan the rest of the room, and does not notice any traps or other hazards of note.
Yagello's eyes go wild at a woodland creature being treated so poorly.
"Will the assault on nature by these witches ever end?!"
When his temper subsides a bit, he enters the room cautiously and looks at the creature carefully, trying to remember anything he may have learned about its race during his travels.
This strange creature is definitely not a common creature, Yagello figures, because he has never heard of anything so strange before.
Cervin stares at the creature very nervously and then calms himself before saying a prayer.
Once he has calmed, Cervin stares intently at the creature as it resists the bonds once again. This thing does not show any evil, though.
Yagello looks at Cervin and sees some of the concern dissipate from the paladin's face. Nodding, he sheathes his blade and slowly approaches the creature with palms outstretched.
"We are f-r-i-e-n-d-s. I will h-e-l-p you."
He moves over to the section of chain closest to the wall and pulls with all of his strength.
Arkady watches, waiting for any sign of danger so he can warn the others.
Cervin watches cautiously, and keeps a bow trained on the creature.
"I hope this is a good idea... I don't sense powerful evil from it though."
The strange creature pulls with Yagello, and the chain breaks free from the wall. The root that looks like a child then screams, and begins pulling on the other chain. The scream is terrible to hear, high pitched and painful to listen to.
Nadya covers her ears in pain, and begins to draw her axe and pick to stop the noise.
Sensing something about to go wrong, Arkady touches Cervin on the shoulder. "Desna guide you.
The sound of the creature's scream rattles Arkady's already weakened body to the bone as he draws his rapier and moves up.
Cervin goes white but manages to resist the sonic attack. Shaking his head miserably, he begins a spree of firing arrows at the plant creature.
"Somebody shut the damn thing up! It will bring the whole place down on us!"
The powerful scream disorients Yagello, and he sways a bit on his feet. He tries to yell loudly, his baritone attempting to match the creature's piercing attack.
"STOP IT! STOP IT NOW! I"M TRYING TO HELP YOU, DAMMIT!"
He attempts to wave off Cervin's missile barrage but looks with dismay as he fails and the arrows fly towards their mark.
Two of Cervin's flurry of arrows hit, and the creature yelps in pain, cutting the scream short.
Nadya moves in as well, her pick arcing down into the creatures large trunk-like body.
Nadya steps a foot short, grimacing with pain, and misses the creature as it sidesteps her clumsy attack.
The creature tries to free itself from the other chain, but it holds fast for now, keeping the creature tethered to the wall.
"Yagello I appreciate your concern but this creature is clearly aggressive and dangerous!"
Cervin fumbles at his quiver for another arrow.
Arkady stabs out with his rapier, trying to find a vulnerable spot on the bizarre creature.
Arkady's attempts to get behind the creature fail, and he nearly trips, his attack missing wildly.
Nadya takes a moment to line up her blades, and slashes with her axe and pick at the creature again.
Nadya's pick does not find a hold, but her axe cuts into the creature cleanly, with a thick black ooze emerging from the wound. "This plant is nothing for us!" she exclaims.
The creature struggles against the final chain again. The anchor in the wall trembles slightly, but remains in place, keeping the creature in place. The creature is making some kind of growl, but the piercing shrink has thankfully faded.
Still unsure the creature is an actual threat to them, Yagello ignores the actions of his comrades and plans his own course of attack. He unsheathes his elven curve blade and swings it precisely, hoping to bring the creature down without causing too much bodily harm.
Nadya sees what Yagello is doing, and shouts to him while still hacking at the creature. "Why not kill it with rest of us?"
Nadya is distracted by the conversation with Yagello, though, and misses the beast with her weapons.
Arkady continues trying to stab the creature, trying to get an advantageous position.
Arkady gets behind the creature, and while Yagello is one one side, the Varisian sees a weaker piece of bark, which he hits with his staff. The piece collapses into the body, and the same black ichor with the consistency of tree sap oozes out.
The creature spins in fury, and tries to pull again on the chain, but it stays, keeping the child-sized creature stuck in place.
Yagello shouts back to Nadya, "How do we know this creature means us any harm? Has it actually raised an arm to attack us? It could just be frightened and wary of humans after its poor treatment by the Irrisani!"
Not knowing if his words will have any effect, he continues to forge his own course of action.
"Yagello, that scream could bring an army upon us, and we are barely holding on. I have no qualms destroying this creature before it can try again."
He keeps moving around, finding weak spots where he can with his rapier.
Nadya get another hit in, creating another wound. It stumbles slightly, clearly hurt. The creature struggles against the chain again, but once again remains affixed to the wall.
Still visibly displeased, Yagello hisses through pursed lips, "Would you silence a baby in the same manner if it were crying?!"
He continues to try to incapacitate the creature without causing it grievous harm.
Cervin sighs miserably.
"Fine. We incapacitate it. I still believe this thing is dangerous though."
Setting aside his bow, Cervin draws his boar spear and steps in, stabbing at the creature with the blunt but missing badly.
Yagello and Cervin both miss, and Nadya sighs in an exaggerated fashion and turns her weapons to also hit with the flat sides.
Nadya also misses with her awkward attack, and shouts in frustration.
Still visibly displeased, Yagello hisses through pursed lips, "Would you silence a baby in the same manner if it were crying?!"
Even in the middle of fighting, Arkady's eyes show sadness as he quietly says, "If the baby's crying would bring a pack of hungry wolves to kill the entire family? Yes. I would. With prayer on my lips and weight I would carry forever."
With those words, he stabs again.
What has my life come to?
Cervin awkwardly tries to pummel the shrieking plant-thin with the butt of his spear once more.
Yagello watches the battle unfold through a solemn gaze.
Perhaps we truly are natural born killers, as befits our race. When the others were fighting to kill, the creature was being hurt on all sides. Now, our very weapons seem to resist this higher calling we are asking of them...
Cervin, Arkady and Yagello each miss the creature, and the creature pulls once more against the bonds. With a crash, the remaining chain rips from the wall, and the sound of cracking ice echos down the hall.
Cervin steps back and watches the creature carefully. He raises his hands, his longbow held loosely in one hand his spear in the other, and regards the creature to see if it cowers or attacks.
"Give it space! You shame me Yagello; if this creature is a peaceful victim we must show it peace in turn. It may be too late, but if it wants to be left alone, then we shall do just that."
Unconvinced, Arkady nonetheless takes his cue from Cervin and Yagello, and waits to see what the creature's next move is.
Yagello also lowers his blade and retreats backwards a step. He holds up his left palm and watches the creature carefully, hoping his intuition was right.
The small creature pauses for a moment, lifting its chained hands and looking at them, and then screams and raises its arms in fury, in vengeance against those around it, before bringing them down on anyone in reach.
I'm going to have to pray about this one.
Having had enough of fighting weird plant creatures, Cervin drops his spear, passing his bow from his left hand, and starts firing arrow after arrow after arrow.
"I will do penance for this Yagello, it may have attacked us because we attacked it. We will find out what it was and make reparations!"
Yagello also cracks out of frustration, "I SAID STOP THAT! WE'RE TRYING TO HELP YOU!"
He brushes aside the creature's flailing arms, and his reflexes take over. Almost before he knows it, he swings his blade hard, venting all of his anger and exasperation into the arc.
One of Cervin's arrows hit, but it is Yagello's blade that finally cuts down the creature, and it collapses to the floor in a heap. The thump of the body hits the ground, with an light cracking sound, like branches snapping. The icy halls fall silent.
Cervin kneels and prays briefly, touching his symbol.
"I will make amends Yagello. We will find out what manner of creature this was. But come, let us make haste."