Kseniya tries to move out of the tentacles and only gets partially out of the way, moving next to her sister witch. She turns her eyes on Einar.
Velikas gives a howl of triumph and summons an icy staff then starts clobbering Einar with it, trying to drain his life to replenish her own. Some of her wounds heal...
"Blasted hag!" suffering greatly from the witches attack Einar strikes repeatedly at her with the greatsword, he then takes a step back.
Velikas looks badly injured after Einar slashes her twice with his greatsword, despite it not being fully effective.
Dimitri:
Geist:
Crummock:
"Trebam li razbiti zid i ući? Ne mogu ih uzeti bez podrške!" Greta asks the party.
Should I break down the wall and go in? I cant take them down without support!
Each 10-foot square of wall has 3 hit points per inch of thickness. Creatures can hit the wall automatically. A section of wall whose hit points drop to 0 is breached.
Yellow resists the spell but is hurt by Crummock's pimp slap!
The two witches are scary! Well not very scary.
Mr Whiskers moves up and re-establishes contact with the mage sword,
which he uses to attack Velikas.
It doesn't hit a vital spot.
Then he causes a wall of force to appear between Einar and Velikas.
Yelizaveta steps backwards then fires a blue white ray of freezing ice and air at Crummock.
Betyrina seals up the breach with yet another wall of ice.
Greta curses, then starts whacking a new hole in the ice wall.
Some of the wounds inflicted by Crummock heal.
Geist frantically hacks at the wall...
damage, + Fire damage.
damage, + Fire damage, + Acid damage.
damage, + Fire damage+ Acid damage.
damage, + Fire damage.
damage, + Fire damage.
...pummeling a hole.
Dimitri adjusts his position, and opens-up on Yellow...
Crummock then steps up, and pimp-slaps Green...
Dimitri blasts up yellow, then turns to green, shooting it in the heart.
Even though it resists Crummock's first pimp slap, the remaining one is sufficient to destroy it.
Velikas fires a beam of blue white freezing air at Crummock and moves out of the black tentacles.
Then Kseniya blasts Crummock's body another time as she also moves out of the black tentacles.
Leaving a frozen icicle in his place.
Greta breaks the ice wall to ensure Dimitri and Geist have a line to the remaining witches.
Mr Whiskers moves up, commands his mage sword to continue attacking Velikas.
Then he breaths out a line of flame at her.
And promptly incinerates her.
"I wish I could see Syvet again...is she waiting for me on the other side?"
The party can see two spherical shaped objects trying to wiggle out of Crummock's bag of holding.
You find yourself standing in the middle of a busy docks of a metropolis unarmed and unarmored, the only difference is that this metropolis is floating on the clouds, and you can see puffy white clouds and airships at many different docking points. A pink haired gnome wearing a singlet and pants, with an apron, looking rather harried. He peers at you, "New arrival here? Ahhh...work never ends. You're in Bespin, Cloud City. This is a nexus for transport all over the Maelstrom - it's an island of stability. The ticketing is over there," He gestures at a booth to the side, "It's got the tickets for difference places - where people band their collective wills together to form what they want out of the unformed Chaos out there."
"You can ask each ticketing booth about each destination."
There are multiple ticketing booths, as listed below:
Paradise Valley
The Arcanium
Tomorrowland
Hot Hot Hot
Let it Snow
Sahara
For Science!
What lies Beneath
Hawaii
The Unformed Lands
An icy mist enshrounds Crummock after he falls to the ground, but he still remains a frozen icicle.
'A wall? Was that us or them?' Seeing a wall go up, Einar Dropping the sword he flies around the wall, avoiding the tentacles and drawing his bow. Seeing Crummocks frozen body he looks from Crummock to the witch. "A shame that we will only kill you once."
It sails past the witch and hits the walls instead.
"I wish I could see Syvet again...is she waiting for me on the other side?"
The party can see two spherical shaped objects trying to wiggle out of Crummock's bag of holding.
"The grey cat? It remembers you fondly and will most likely want some salmon." Then again, cats have very little in the way of morals. I wonder how Pharasma sorts familiars?
Mr Whiskers does know. It's probably his beheaded he created out of Nazhena and the hag.
As the second ray streaks towards him, a look of understanding comes over Crummock.
"I foresaw this!"
Geist, yowling in anger, then pounces through the tentacles on the remaining beast...
...which gives Dimitri the space that he needs to grit his teeth, and step forward to a new firing position.
"Aye, I figured this would happen sooner, rather than later. I am just pleased that I didnae have to do it meself, once we had achieved our goal. I could not 'live' with knowin' that we had brought Baba Yaga back, even though I know it would have saved more than it destroyed... a child killin', and eatin' monstrosity like that..."
He then moves over to the closest solid-looking object, and bashes his skull open.
Dimitri blows up the witch single handedly with 4 shots of Maggie!
Among Crummock's possessions is a note:
As for my corporeal remains, I would appreciate it if you used the Planar Fork in my belt pouch to take my body to my Eden. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find there....
As you are about to do it, you have a brief vision of seeing the another adventuring party receiving a Boon from Baba Yaga and telling her to leave Golarion forever and never return.
Each of the enthroned crone queens wears the garb of an Irriseni queen, a royal outfit worth 200 gp each, as well as an assortment of jewelry worth 3,000 gp each. In the southern corner of the room is a small table and two chairs. A brass samovar—a traditional Russian tea urn—sits upon the table, beside a silver platter containing a complete silver tea service for eight, worth a total of 900 gp.
Baba Yaga instructs the party to remove the heart of each of the queens present and place the 12 hearts of the crone queens in the teapot atop the samovar.
Two beheaded pop out of Crummock's bag of holding but Greta makes short work of them.
Greta runs over to Crummock's body, her face pale. "I can't believe he's gone, just like that..."
"Could we bring him back like he did me?" Then she spots the letter among his possessions, reading it she mutters, over and over again to herself, "Oh no...no...no"
Tears begin to stream down her cheeks, "He doesn't want to come back..." She hands over the note to Mr Whiskers.
"Maybe if we called, would he answer?" Dimitri asks hopefully. "Crummock-i-phail! Crummock-i-phail! Crummock-i-phail!" He calls, but nothing happens. No one answers.
"After all he's done for me... I never got a chance to repay him.. I never got a chance to help him build a house in his Eden... "
"I never had a chance to show him around Axis...nor had a chance to show him my business that I was going to start up...now it's too late."
Mr. Whiskers takes the letter from Greta and reads it.
Shaking his head slowly, he says "No, we can not force him to return." His voice is grim. Well, I wasn't really expecting this. I thought with all that has happened since we started he would help us finish.
With a smile, he says "Crummock thought this through. He would have known that without the note, I would have wasted my magic trying to bring him back again." At least, I think he would have known that.
Looking to the others, he says "Shouldn't we see what the rest of his plan was before making any judgements?" I would have preferred it wasn't a surprise, but best they not know that."
It is strange, him trying to avoid Pharasma like that. I hope he hasn't made a mistake that he will regret.
"Maybe..or maybe he never died. I heard of stories where wizards store an additional body just in case. Maybe he's there waiting for us now?" Greta says hopefully.
"I am NOT commenting on any of what magic can or cannot do. Less then 3 months back I didn't even know that magic existed."Dimitri answers. "But if he's in a new body, as you say, why didn't he hear me when I called?"
He tries to bash his head against the nearest bannister, to the consternation of the pink haired gnome, who tries to make a grab for him, but it's too late. Then there is a flash of light, and he finds himself in his own demiplane.
Smiling a vicious smile as Dimitri shoots the last witch queen. Einar lands, and quickly checks Crummocks frozen corpse. Looking at Dimitri then Greta shrugging his shoulders. ”Looks like we’ll need to start a count for Crummock now.” Looking at Mister Whiskers. ”Hopefully we can bring him back as simply as he does us. Don’t really want to make a deal with anymore of Baba Yaga’s people.” He then proceeds to start to gather the witches hearts and anything else he sees of value.
Having heard what Bab Yaga said to do with the heart he dumps the witches gear near Crummock’s bag, winking at Greta as she asks “Can we bring him back to life” he laughs ”Of course we can. Here Put this gear in his bag. I will put the hearts in the teapot and we will gather him up and get him resurrected.” As Einar turns toward the teapot Greta begins to place the items in the bag and finding the note she calls out.
’What the blazes?’ Hearing Greta’s lament, Einar turns from his task, ”What the blazes are you talking about girl?” Einar goes over as Dimitri tries to call their friend. Taking the note from Mister Whiskers, ”No ones forcing …” He stops speaking as he reads the note. ”What the hells? Made “arrangements”? No one wants to visit the Bone Yard. I wonder if it has to do with those witches souls.”
’So now what do we do?’ Einar looks at Mister Whiskers and then Dimitri as he helps finish jamming the witches valuables into the bag. ”So do we use the fork and go to Crummocks plane first, see if he’s waiting there like Greta said? Or do we put the hearts in the teapot like Baba Yaga said and then do it?”
For the first time in his 'life', he truly did not know what to do. He wandered aimlessly across the commons in front of his retreat, his body passing straight through the tall grass without a whisper of movement, before settling down on the edge of the fish pond. Attempting to rest his feet in the water, he let out a bitter laugh as they disappeared straight into it, without displacing any of it.
"Aye? So this is what it has come to? I was so sure that I was doin' the right thing... but now...? Trapped in me own little world, but unable to interact with it, to feel the joy o' it? I can't help but be wonderin' if Pharasma had the last laugh..."
He lets out a deep sigh.
"O' course, Baba Yaga is necessary... without her, her daughter will destroy Golarion, and millions will perish (includin' many children)... but she is still a child-killin'-and-eatin' monster; what we found in the cottage showed that... and I cannae turn a blind eye to that, no matter how convenient that might personally be for me... I cannae live with the knowledge that I will be fated to help such a monster be free..."
Lost in thought, he doesn't immediately notice when there is a rustling in the grass behind him, and a small, green creature that appears to be clad in a wing-like leaf cloak and pine-cone armor, wielding a twig as a makeshift spear, pops out.
It sneaks up behind him, and tries to prod him gently with its twig... looking extremely startled when it meets no resistance!
Crummock looks down, and smiles tenderly at the little plant creature.
"Ah, First! Glad I am to see that the ritual worked..."
The creature, however, is quite alarmed by what is happening, and with a squeak, hurtles back through the grass.
Crummock sighs, and shakes his head ruefully.
"Aye, perhaps I deserved that..."
He then stiffens as he receives Dimitri's call, knowing precisely where the man is, and feeling his pain and shock, but utterly helpless to do anything about it.
Tears wash down Crummock's cheeks, as he realises precisely what his sense of purpose may be costing others. Rising from his cogitation at the fish-pond, Crummock properly takes in his surroundings, gazing across the great square clearing in the trackless forest, to the drystone wall that separates the Commons from what could only be described as a homestead - a great log cabin, smoke rising from its chimney, and surrounded by orchards, kitchen gardens, a small vineyard, a rose garden, and several busy bee hives.
"Hmmm... I may nae be able to do anythin', but perhaps... Beta might be able to help. Now, if only they follow my request... it will be a bit of a surprise for both of us..." he says, with a bittersweet smile.
With a quivering hand, he reaches out, and caresses it, remembering the care and craftsmanship that had been required to position it (although the small earth elemental workmen had certainly helped with the heavy lifting).
After hesitating for a moment, he closes his eyes, then steps through the barrier into the grounds beyond.
Initially reluctant to approach the house, wanting to be alone with his thoughts, he wanders through the bounty that was brought forth by the spell, and shaped by his will. To the left of the cottage, he strides along corridors formed by ranks of apple, orange, and blueberry trees, alongside rows of almond and cashew trees, some heavy with ripe fruit and nuts, whilst others exude the heady smell of sweet blossoms.
He then walks between the raised banks of the vegetable and herb gardens, nodding in approval at the neat ranks of lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes, as well fragrant rosemary, thyme, sage, and fennel.
From there, he moves on to the modest private vineyard, gnarled vines heavy with fruit, ready to be harvested and processed, before heading into the rose garden to the southeast, where he tenderly tries to touch one of the brilliant blue 'ice blooms', sighing with deep regret when his fingers once again pass straight through, without meeting any resistance.
Feeling profoundly weary, he settles on one of the simple benches in front of the central fountain, surrounded by the pleasant fragrances of the garden, listening to the play of the water, and the buzz of the beehives in the background.
Of course, he is not alone.
Throughout his meandering journey, several of the small, green creatures, dressed in leaf cloaks and pine cone armor, have been cautiously shadowing his movements; by the time he settles in the rose garden, there are a total of seven in his general vicinity, although all seem reluctant to approach him.
However, as he sits there quietly, lost in his thoughts, they gradually draw closer, forming a tightening ring of plant life, until he is completely surrounded...
...then, as if by some unspoken word of agreement, like well-drilled toy soldiers, they simultaneously reach out with their twig-spears, and experimentally try to poke him...
It is, however, enough to shake him from his reverie, and he looks up with a start, which causes the little creatures to jump back, apprehensively.
Crummock smiles disarmingly.
"Hello again, First. Greetings, Second. Good to see ye, Third. A pleasure, Fourth. Well met, Fifth. Salutations, Sixth. My how ye have grown, Seventh. I be afraid that I nae be what I used to be, back when I planted ye, but the essence o' me be the same. I am just glad that Beta did such a good o' tendin' to ye, whilst ye were growin' up."
He then points at the twig-spears, which are waving uncertainly in his general direction.
"There be nae need for that; I mean ye nae harm, and couldnae do any to ye, e'en if I wished it. Ye have all taken good care of the Garden; I am proud of ye."
Crummock looks wistful for a moment, before continuing.
"There was so much that I had planned to finish here, before I moved on. Some o' that is now probably beyond what can be achieved, but where there is a will, there be a way... and that is all that I seem to have these days. Come on," he says, floating to his feet. "Let's go see Beta, and work out what we can do. We may have visitors, soon."
Crummock then heads for the front entrance of the house, surrounded by a gaggle of confused and bemused, but hopeful, little plant creatures.
As he approaches, the front doors swing open, revealing a cavernous central chamber, lit by the flickering light of Continual Flame torches, an enormous trestle table extending most of the length of the room, the other end of which is dominated by a massive hearth, in front of which are several comfortable couches, as well as piles of furs.
As he steps across the threshold, a shadow rises from one of the chairs, back-lit by the roaring fire in the terminal hearth, and bows, before greeting him in an all-too familiar voice:
"Greetings once again, Alpha. Ye have changed, somewhat, since we last spoke. I guess things havenae been goin' o'er well. I dare say me and ye have much to discuss..."
Crummock nods.
"Aye, that be far too true, unfortunately, Beta. I'll give ye the update, but it be worth notin' that we might be havin' guests..."
"Teapot first. We can do that here." Mr. Whiskers replies.
Crummock wasn't a wizard. I really doubt he had an extra body around. I'm not sure what to do about Crummock, but at least the teapot is obvious.
Einar shrugs his shoulders, and tucks the fork into his belt. After securing everything of value in Crummocks bag, moving slowly, Einar politely folds Crummock's hands onto his lap, and places the body into the bag also. Lifting the bag onto his shoulders he walks over to the teapot and stuffs the hearts inside.
The eight remaining witches are unable to stop him, weakly raising their arms or moving their heads to glare at him with icy hatred as their frozen hearts are cut out of their chests.
As he is about to put the hearts samovar, he notices a shiny ring inside. He takes it to Mr Whiskers, who identifies it as a ring of spell knowledge II - the spell stored inside is barkskin.
Then Einar places the hearts into the samovar, and the world shimmers, and the party is transported to the sacred pool in the grotto.
This time however, it is pouring cats and dogs, and the cold winds sweep through the grotto. Einar can see the Russian sentries standing guard at their posts, looking throughly miserable at the weather.
Baba Yaga instructs the party to fill the samovar with water from the sacred pool, heat it to boiling and steep the hearts in the water, then pour the brew over the matryoshka doll. Einar does so and the doll cracks, revealing yet another layer inside.
Then she weaves another layer of magic on the party. Mr Whiskers also senses that the dimensional lock on this demiplane has been removed.
Vigil appears out of the tree and speaks to the party one final time. "The fate, the power, the death, and the life of Baba Yaga, all have you claimed. Only one thing remains for you to break her free from her prison and save your world: her blood, which flows through the veins of the ruling queen of Irrisen, her daughter Elvanna. Elvanna’s blood is her birthright, handed down from her mother, and represents both Baba Yaga’s and Elvanna’s burning desire to rule their fates and those of others. It is only with Elvanna’s blood, returned to her mother, that you can save your world from the eternal winter that threatens it.“
"Even now, Elvanna has sequestered herself in Baba Yaga’s inner sanctum, here in the Dancing Hut, where Baba Yaga formulated her most potent spells and executed her most glorious triumphs, and where Elvanna now works her greatest ritual to cement her power, conquer your world, and supplant her own mother as Queen of Witches.“
"Now you must go to this sanctum and face Queen Elvanna before she can finish her ritual. But beware, for time is running short, and Elvanna is truly her mother’s daughter. Her will to power is as strong as the blood in her veins, and she will not give up her desires easily. Heed the guidance of Baba Yaga, however, and you may yet win the day, freeing her and saving your world. "
Vigliv grants them a final boon before leaving, giving each member of the party a golden thread. Vigliv explains that she has harvested these excess threads from their own threads of fate, which have grown long and densely plied as they have pursued their quest to free Baba Yaga and save their world.
Each person may cut his harvested thread once as an immediate action to change his fate as desired from the possibilities below. This is a supernatural ability and does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Anyone else cutting the thread has no effect. Once a thread has been cut, it loses its golden luster and becomes nonmagical. Cutting these excess threads does not harm the person in any way.
When a person cuts his thread of fate, he can choose one the following benefits, which takes place immediately.
-The person can reroll one saving throw, attack roll, skill check, or ability check and take the higher of the two rolls.
-The person gains an extra standard action on his turn for 1 round, even to cast a second spell if so chosen.
-The person can change his place in the initiative order one time to the position of his choice.
-The person gains a +10 luck bonus on one roll of his choice or to his AC for 1 round.
- All of the persons current wounds are completely healed.
-All conditions currently affecting the person are removed.
-The person can recall up to 12 levels of spells that have already been cast or spell slots that have been used, restoring them to the character’s mind, just as if they had not been cast. For example, a character could recall one 9th-level spell and one 3rd-level spell, or three 4th-level spells, or any combination of spells, provided the total number of spell levels does not exceed 12.
The party heads towards the fort.
After counting heads,"Hey, where's Crummock?" Anton asks. " He's dead? He doesn't want to be brought back? " Anton looks shocked."Im so sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at him back then."
"Never liked him anyway." Anastasia comments. Greta turns on her, furious and slaps her on the face. "He's done more for us that you can imagine, you ignorant brat. He brought me back once and Dimitri several. We wouldn't be standing here now if not for him."
"And what have you been doing, Princess? Little-miss-I don't want to go out because I'm scared to die? " Her voice is thick with scorn. She shakes her head, "Why am I wasting my time on fools like you."She then stomps off angrily,(giving the campfire a wide berth) and goes into her room and slams the door. There is the sound of something being pushed against the door.
"I.. I..."Anatasia is taken aback at Greta's violent outburst and clutches the cheek Greta slapped and flees in tears.
"Uh...I don't know what to do.. Crummock's gone. He would have wanted us to finish the job, right?" Dimitri asks the party helplessly.
Anastasia approaches Mr Whiskers gingerly, as if expecting him to bite her head off. "I guess I was being an insensitive lump. And now Crummock is gone.. you'll need someone to patch you guys up, right? And maybe Greta is right, I've sat here safe...while you guys were risking your lives out there. Zorka told me I'm not in the same league as the rest of you, but I think I can do something about that. I will need some time to perform the ritual, then with luck, I'll be granted power temporarily...for about 2 days. "
She gives Mr Whiskers a bitter smile, " There will be a price that I will pay after, but maybe I should stop being a lawn ornament and finally do something important. "
Looking to Dmitri, Mr. Whiskers says "I need to finish this, and would greatly appreciate your help. My world, Golarian, is threatened by Elvana." Gesturing to Maggie, he adds "Your accuracy with that weapon is extraordinary."
"Crummock was with Einar and I when we started down this path. Along the way we several times joined with others. Queen Esmyra and Rajet on their island. The soldiers we rescued from the prison compound. Commander Pharamol, Shantha and the other dragonkin. Even a fishing village being disrupted by bullies."
"Without Crummock, I suppose you will have to decide for yourself what is right. If Crummock inspired you to be a better person, perhaps you can do the same for others."
Going over to Anton, he consoles the man. "I'm sure you yelling at him had nothing to do with his decision. It appears he had made it long before then. Just remember him by his smile and the way he treated people."
Looking to her, he frowns. "I think the first thing you need to do is remember who helped Greta recently, when her life force was diminished. The second is to learn not to speak ill of the dead, especially in the company of those who are grieving."
Gesturing around, he says "We are surrounded by immense power -- that of Baba Yaga. Do you think that power brought her joy? Friendship?"
He shakes his head. "I do not know what you have planned, but please don't do anything rash. Trying to gain power isn't the point, and trying to gain it quickly tends to backfire."