The options we have aren't that great, but one option does enter my mind for spying upon the farm without being detected... In the chelexian navy captains would use a long, tube like device called a spyglass to make out approaching ships and so forth on the horizon. I am not sure that the ulfen would possess a "spyglass" but due to their seaborne nature they might possess an equivalent of some sort...
Shalelu looks at Morthar and says, "Now, I think I remember you old man ... always talked big, but liked to shy away from the forest... I'll need to speak to Ameiko on this one... "
Wondered how long it would take you to recognize the man who saved your neck from the orc shaman Mazog... Remember that it was by my power that Mazog's own sons tore their father limb from limb. As for my caution let us remember the fact that House Thrune became the masters of Cheliax and by extension much of the inner sea not by brazen idiocy but by careful planning... No nation ever lost a war by being over prepared for it, the same applies here. Instead of striking at Asvig's armor to no effect we should find the chinks in that armor and open them up with poisoned daggers...
"As I recall it was I and my bow who have saved your tale more times than I can remember, I just saw you for the first time in years about two hours ago when Vermundr grabbed me from the caravan. House Thrune...peh, as I remember House Thrune is completely inept, were they as skilled as you claim they would never have lost Varisia, or Sargava for that matter. By allying themselves with such an idiotic deity as Asmodeus, they have pledged themselves against all that one should consider progress..." says Shalelu.
Vermundr growls in frustration and the way Morthar was speaking to the elf. "I wouldn't put much thought into what he thinks. He's a spineless coward. Do you know a way past these enchantments Asvig is hiding behind?"
Morthar actively laughs at the ulfen's suggestion...
My boy bravery is what fools use to justify their own actions, let us remember something about your own people... There has never been and never will be an Ulfen empire, this is because the Ulfen despite every virtue they possess can never pull together into a coherent force. As one Ulfen contingent will always run off to chase glory, they will die and leave the rest weakened. Yet Cheliax has had multiple empires and as one will note a Chelexian is disciplined, they will not break, they will not run, they will not jeopardize the whole for the sake of glory.
Yes you did save my neck Shalelu, although in the grand scheme of things you should be thanking me for what I did a that battle. If Mazog had killed us all envision what would have happened to every little village and town in the immediate area... The ends justified the means, would you have honestly wanted all your friends to have been killed by Mazog and Sandpoint to have been torched?
- Appealing to Shalelu's emotional attachments (diplomacy),
"The ulfen may not claim ownership over fat southern lands but what's ours is ours. Your Chelish fools win their battles through treachery and deals with devils and when it matters Cheliax is weaker for it. What the ulfen claim is ours by right of iron and blood."
"Better to live and die with honor then rule from shadows as a coward."
Your lands will not remain that way for eternity, the ulfen society can produce great individuals White Estrid being the greatest of them by far. Yet Ulfen society will never be great in of itself, it puts the short term above the long term. This Cheliax has not done, a chelexian thinks with the foresight of the truly great. We may lose Sargava, we may lose Varisia yet we are still the most powerful nation in the entire Inner sea region. As for weak southerners have you ever met the hellknights young fool? They are a product of diabolism and look at what they are capable of.
"And while we're arguing about this, Demons will devour all the lands of Men." Kalistrine interjects. "Shut up and let's get on with this." she says. "In your educated opinion, Ahiko, if I wear one of these armbands and walk across this line, will I be okay?" she asks.
"I wish I could say 'yes', Kali, but I honestly don't think so... there is nothing in the armbands that could magically counter the rune... There might be some kind of counter-rune, but I don't know what that might be... perhaps if the rune is traced backwards in place? I just don't have a clue... this kind of magic is beyond my training."
Another option exists that while risky could potentially work, from a long range off one could burn the farm down via fire arrows. Even if this doesn't kill Asvig it will ruin his base of operations, forcing him to retreat to an area which is less defendable... Like the frozen tundra we are standing upon, out in the open we can skewer them like pin cushions. Furthermore we don't actually need Asvig alive, spells to speak with the dead are easy to acquire. We don't have to even buy a scroll for it, the priests of pharasama for a small donation will allow you to speak with the dead. This is typically used for grieving families and the like but a few lawman, bounty hunters and others of their ilk have also used their services.
"We are here to recover an item and can't afford for it to be damaged, as well as a person, so I suggest something less destructive. Let's go in as quietly as we can. Perhaps in the chaos of their celebration, we can get in and out without being spotted."
Ahiko shrugs. "Without anything further to go on, I suggest we each wear one of the armbands taken from the raiders, just in case Kali's idea of wearing one to bypass the runes works."
She slips an armband on herself, then puts one on Miso's tail, just in case.
I wouldn't try to go in there via stealth, my red cloak stands out and more to the point the majority of my career as a mercenary has been spent with one order. Kill all targets, retrieving objects from isolated farms turned into makeshift fortress's is a new one.
"Burning the building down is a foolish idea. We need to rescue the Guide, without whom we cannot hope to cross the Crown. If he dies, then we will surely perish in our trek. Which I understand you do not care about because that lays outside your purview." says Shalelu.
Then she says, "Why are you working for us then instead of House Thrune. Or more importantly, why doesn't House Morthar make a run at the throne." she says in a sardonic tone and then laughs at this.
My dear elf you still think of me in human terms when the fact of the matter is I will be living far longer then most... I can afford to be patient, I can afford to gather power slowly but inevitably. When I make my final play in the game of diabolist's chess I will have my checkmate, I will know eternal victory.
Shalelu looks at Morthar quickly to see he is wearing shoes, which he is and then says, "You haven't grown cloven feet just yet, so I think you have thirty years of active life left."
She then turns to the group, "Shall we visit this Ulfan Ringgiver?"
"Normally I enjoy a good argument, but unless we're going to start actually fighting, I'd rather get my claws into some of Asvig's men than start on you two." Kalistrine says to Morthar and Shalelu. She hefts her Ranseur and walks across the line, holding it ready to attack should anything appear.
Vermundr nods in agreement and levels his bow.
You want to fight, so be it... All of you withdraw to thirty five paces, I can summon a creature near the posts that will trigger them without us being near them if they happen to be nastier customers...
Vermundr rolls his eyes and does as he's told.
"Did Cheliax geld him too?" he mutters.
Snarling, Morthar replies to the Ulfen with his own insult...
And "real" ulfen men don't use longbows, indeed I wonder if you are indeed Ulfen... Did some Taldorian blood somehow make it into your bloodline?
as he speaks Morthar begins the rite of summoning, he reaches into hell for it's most miserable denizen...
Shalelu follows Ahiko and Kalistrine across the threshhold and nothing happens.
She then calls back to Vermundr and Morthar and says, "Either come or don't!!!!"
Realizing he looked like a fool for listening to the coward, Vermundr catches up with Shalelu.
Morthar follows warily...
"Now, we can be quiet and sneaky-like." Kalistrine says. "What do you think, Vermundr, Shalelu? Do you want to have a look around?"
As Vermundr and Morthar step across the imaginary line between the two posts, a surge of magic and flash of light herald the appearance of the guardians. Standing a few paces in front of them, is a pair of golden-hued lions, though their forms are like the icon on the posts, stylized and blocky, as if created by someone who had read about a lion but never actually saw one. They stand poised for attack, but remain in place, eyes locked on Morthar and the other on Vermundr.
Vemundr keeps his bow at the ready, waiting for the stylized lion to make the first move.
Kalistrine frowns. "What went wrong?" she asks, leveling her Ranseur at the Lions.
Ahiko sighs softly. "I guess the bracers didn't work, but I'm the posts' magic must have been geared to men somehow... Now what? They don't seem to be attacking, which is odd for a summoned creature."
No it was not keyed for men, I have seen intelligent traps like this in Korvosa's hall of abjuration... Yet those traps were the works of master abjurers, not ulfen who would kill themselves if they tried to cast a simple spell...
Morthar reflexively summons his whip of hellfire and searches his mind for what these guardians could be...
knowledge (planes)
Morthar
These creatures are filled to the brim with the energy of entropy and decay, if I were to hazard a guess I would say they were daemons of some kind. Daemons are creatures of suffering, their four lords be the horsemen of the end of days.
"Summoned creature are usually programmed to attack immediately. Perhaps they haven't because you are with us and we didn't trigger them, or because you have the armbands... try just walking around them. If they attack, we will of course jump in and help."
After a minute the lions disappear.
"Huh. Maybe they just wanted to say hello. Vermundr, and Shalelu, want to scout?" Kalistrine says.
First scan the area for more of these traps... Running straight into an abjurers ward got more then a few treasure seekers killed at Korvosa's Breaching festival...
Vermundr looks around before sharing a nod with Shalelu. "Let's do it."
Using the cover of the outbuildings, you approach the farmhouse unseen, but don't notice any guards either. The building itself is a large, long structure built with mossy stone walls and a thick, thatched roof. There are no windows, and from your approach, you see a single entrance on the southeast corner.
Vermundr
You hear clearly the sounds of many men in boisterous, drunken revelry. The din includes men shouting and boasting, woman laughing, dogs barking, and something squeaking. You can't tell what anyone is saying because it is entirely garbled in a drunken stupor.
Vermundr and Shalelu return a few minutes later.
"They're celebrating something and deep in their cups. If we're going to approach now would be the time to do it. There's an entrance through the woolery that I like. I think we should start there."
"Alright... If we're going to do this, let's do it then."
Ahiko takes a moment to cast her mage armor spell and uses her wand to cure her hp to full before going in.
Morthar spoke in the tongue of Hell briefly and a series of hellish runes seemed to flair up around him briefly and then fade...
One question of note enters my mind, if we find the guide, get him out and see a chance to ambush Asvig do we risk taking the man alive or do we kill him and see what a priest can get out of his corpse?
"Let's hit him until he surrenders. That works for me." Kalistrine grins viciously. "Note that him falling unconscious counts as surrendering." she adds wryly.
What worries me is hauling him off, it may be simpler and more efficient to simply kill him without the notice of his compatriots. Once that is done behead the corpse and bring it to a local temple of Pharasama and offer a nice sum of gold to pad their coffers. While if we have to haul the bastard off for private interrogation in a less dangerous setting we will likely have to haul at least two hundred pounds of Ulfen... I don't know about you but I don't want to drag a large Ulfen around in the snow, the tracks would be obvious.
Ahiko sighs softly. "We are not here for him, we are here to rescue a guide and find Suishen, nothing more... let's not worry about this Ulfen unless we have to deal with him. It sounds like they have a wild party going on, and if we manage to avoid the revelers and find what we seek without alerting them, all the better."
This Ulfen sounds like trouble, I think we should take him out simply as protection from retaliation. If we grab the sword and the guide it is likely Asvig will try to take them back, if he is not alive to do this however in the resulting infighting for dominance his organization will be little to no threat to us. Cut the snake's head off and we could save ourselves much trouble down the road, furthermore even if he surrenders I suspect he will try to pull something. The dead don't do that and a good priest or necromancer can force the information we need from the dead easy enough.