As before, Heafoc lands a talon and a claw. He'd like to do more, but such is the way of war.
Aoife hears a gut wrench clatter through the open and adjacent doorway, followed by the sickening fall of deadly weapons striking flesh. There are curses, shouts, and battle cries that reach her ears and she feels a flutter in her chest not knowing who exactly is in danger. Fearing for the safety of her companions, the child lunges forward, sprinting through the foyer and into the adjacent room. Realizing she still has to go further to reach the struggle, and still unable to see who is in trouble, she continues into the next room.
"Jorvik!" she exclaims, seeing her elder brother on the ground, immediately the anger and frustration toward him melting away. "You'll be ok!" The child cursed herself for the unkind words or thought she might have said to him, now able to process the exact interactions they had, and seeing him hurt, laying on the ground brought out only love in her heart.
Amgarra takes a swipe at Aoife as she travels through.
Amgarra's axe nearly takes Aoife's head clean off. The poor girl misjudged her ability to withstand an attack from the cunning troll. With her neck spewing blood, Aoife passes out and bleeds into the stone floor of Amgarra's bedroom. She is not the first child to do so.
"Ha! You is next!" Amgarra points to the fire-hurling Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight. Nimbly, she attempts to leap past Ishbaad and over the fallen body of Jorvik.
The acrobatic ice troll is stunned that she is unable to make it past her foes, and is rebuffed by a beak to the face .
She instead has to satisfy herself with a swipe against the oread.
Her ill-luck continues, and the heroic mountain man's armor turns Amgarra's blade.
To make matters worse, her flesh continues to burn. Amgarra's eyes shoot daggers in the direction of the goblin who caused the conflagration on her body.
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"No!!! Eefie!!! You no die now!" Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight is scared for his friend, even more so than he was for Jorvik. "Boss Kuragin! You please save her!"
Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight looks for a position that he can throw a bomb at the ice troll without hurting his friends. The shot looks impossible without using the extract he planned on using for the dragon fight. Then he realized the troll is already on fire, so he didn't need to make the bomb explosive. Fire was just fine. He then lobs the bomb, excluding all of his allies.
"Amgarra! You die now! You come try and kill Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight, and you will die. You try and kill Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight's friends, and you die. DIE B&$!$!"
Though she is beautiful to behold, Heafoc is still an animal, a beast, a creature of nature. In front of her is a foe, and one that she intends to kill.
Again lashing out, she pecks at eyes, and rakes with talons so sharp they can rend through steel and flesh.
Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight's bomb goes well short of its intended target, landing just beneath Heafoc. The bird gets a brief lift from the rising heat to stab mercilessly at Amgarra's eyes, ears and mouth.
While the troll woman escapes the worst of the blast, Heafoc's assault is too much for her. Blood pours from wounds that simply refuse to close and she falls first to one knee, and then face down upon the floor - right beside the fallen giant bloodspeaker and her second, younger and much smaller victim.
Suddenly and very briefly, all is still in the lower levels of Logrivich's tower. The only sound that can be heard is the constant distant clacking, ticking and whirring of clockwork gears above - and the crackling of Amgarra's skin as the residual flames from Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight's bomb end her life.
<actions, Kuragin and Ishbaad only>
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Ishbaad's heart leaps up into his throat as he sees Aoife rushing to help Jorvik, only to get cut down on her way through. Confusion floods his mind as he struggles with what to do. Should he protect Aoife and his friends by continuing to hack at the troll woman, and make sure she stays dead?
But Aoife's lifeblood is pouring from her neck at his feet. Every second is precious. Dragon be damned, none of this matters if she doesn't make it.
Before he can make his decision, Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight and that majestic bird take care of one of his problems straightaway. The rest of what happens is merely reflex.
Dropping to the ground unceremoniously, he pulls a vial of healing drought from his bandolier, popping the cork off. He tips Aoife's lifeless head back and pours the moderate healing potion down her torn throat.
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Ishbaad reaches for the wand of healing that Jorvik was using moments earlier. While Aoife sputters in her confusion, he taps his northern friend to bring him back to the realm of conciousness.
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Returning his attention to Aoife, he casts the spell from the wand again and again, trying to close the bleeding wounds.
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Seeing that his friend is being taken care of, Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight administers another healing draught to Jorvik, hoping to get him awake.
"Boss Jorvik, you alive now? Me was so scared. Maybe you should start drinking your healing potions."
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He grabs a potion of cure moderate wounds out of his haversack, and holds it out for Jorvik. "Here, drink this. You seem a little confused. Uncle Ishbaad just take your cure stick, so this should work just as well. Maybe next time you want to dodge away from the attack, and not towards it. Maybe you just not used to being so big."
Once Jorvik has taken the potion, he runs over to the corpse of the troll, to search it for interesting things.
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Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight is looting the corpse. He's not being very respectful, cutting things, tearing, standing on the corpse while he searches.
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He continues searching, if needed. He tries to determine what is of value in what he found.
When he sees Aoife is awake again, he abandons his search to go run over to her, hugging her. "Aoife, me was so scared you had died! You got almost cut in half by that big blade. Me glad you so strong, and live!"
Gods! That troll almost killed two of us! Were we concentrating too much on the dragon with our preparations, ignoring all the other dangers? We better be more careful.
Even if he was a bit confused the last time with his healings, at least now the enemy is dead. So to verify the child doesn't die before he can offer better healing, Kuragin casts stabilize to close her wounds.
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Pretty sure no friend is going to die now, Kuragin exhales in relief. But he should act fast, in case more enemies are inbound. The witch moves next to Aoife, and pops the Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds from his wrist sheath. And then he proceeds to use the healing magic on Aoife.
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What mental traumas the child may have from such near-death experience..? But they have to wait as Kuragin already moves to Jorvik. He studies the half-Jadwiga's wounds, and comes to a conclusion that some more healing is is order.
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While the healers of the party ensure all the companions' wounds are sealed over, Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight searches for items that may aid in their quest (after administering his own healing potion to Aoife). The only items of value on Amgarra's disgusting body are an iron nose ring sized for a troll and her axe. The axe bears an inscription in giant and its smoothly polished surface contains an actual mirror. The edge is so sharp that the thing must be magical. She also has a potion hanging from her belt. The label on the potion simply has a spider on it. Uncorking it, Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight quickly recognizes the heady mixed aromas of knackered horse and willow bark: it is a potion of spider climb.
A chest at the foot of Amgarra's bed seems to actually be locked with a decent quality lock. Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight has a quick go at opening it.
As soon as Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight inserts the lock pick, the chest flies open to reveal at least 1,000 gold pieces , a dozen brightly polished humanoid skulls and a ledger of some kind written in Giant.
Rising from the ground once again, this time Jorvik's normally pallid complexion is a shade whiter. "Friends, many thanks. She was a tough b&%@+." Noticing Aoife picking herself up, a wave a sadness washes over Jorvik.
"I am ... sorry. I am supposed to be a warrior of the north, and so far I have been bested in combat time and time again. Maybe it is best for me to try a different tactic."
Jorvik unslings his newly polished bow. The wood reflects the light showing off its beautiful sheen.
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'"Thank you Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight, your ability to brew these mad concoctions are truly impressive." Flipping open the stopper, Jorvik drinks deeply, feeling the curative magics course through his body.
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Jorvik moves around the room watching Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight pick the lock and examine the chest. "Let's take this book for later. We have children to rescue."
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Bow in hand, Jorvik and Heafoc make their way to the staircase leading up to the second level.
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Noticing the nose ring, not sure what its worth is, but realizing that there must be some, Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight does the most expedient thing... he grabs his dagger and tries to cut it free. "Guys, look what I found!"
Then, opening the chest, he finds a whole lot of gold, some humanoid skulls which are quickly discarded. He quickly scans through the ledger in giantish, while exclaining, "And she was rich! Now we is rich! Me wonders what is in this ledger, though. Looks interesting."
Jorvik quickly recovers with the aid of curative magics and leads the way out of the armory and towards the stairs leading to the next level. As he does so, a lingering doubt creeps in to his awareness. Children to rescue... marbles in the cell... wouldn't - shouldn't - the children have been held here in the cages?
Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight holds the massive ring aloft, barely able to under its weight. As the bloody nose ring drips chunks of troll-snot and bits of actual nose onto the floor, he tries to understand the ledger. It appears Amgarra was in charge of distributing pay to the soldiers of Clocktower, and the chest likely contains the money she used to pay them with.
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The child stirs on the ground, after the curative and healing magic falls upon her. She groans for a moment, but every few seconds feels more and more life being restored to her. "Thank you," she coughs the words, raising one arm to gently touch the impact site of the deadly weapon.
"I guess you all were right," she says, feeling further twinges of disappointment and embarrassment for herself. She has nearly died just now, and the same could easily have happen when she first climbed the tower, as well, but somehow she has been so cavalier about the dangers, protected by the paper thin, imaginary shield of Youth's expected importantly. She could not help by feel like a fool. "It was far too dangerous for me to come into here alone, when I climbed the tower. If these trolls had found me, I would surely have cook and eaten."
"I understand now what I mistake it was..."
As the last of the healing magic closes the wound, the child continues. "Thank you, again," she says, shaking her head and trying to focus on the tast at hand. She leaves the greatsword strapped to her back, and continues back to the foyer and door to the stairwell with her hands free. "I'll follow you leads from here on out."
"And I'm sorry for all the bickering, Jorvik," she adds, walking toward the foyer.
Finally arriving at the door to the stairwell, Aoife once again takes her place before the portal, ready to seize anything coming through or rush up the stairs, herself, if directed by her companions.
The cold wind blows in from the still-open front doors to the tower as Jorvik cautiously opens the door to the stairs. Instantly, the sound of clockwork gears becomes louder. Light floods the otherwise darkened stairway from behind, casting shadows of the companions upon the wall. No sound nor sign of any activity can be noticed coming from above. It appears as though the pitched battle fought downstairs has gone unnoticed - or unheeded.
As their eyes adjust to the gloom, the companions note that the door to the second floor above is open but no light is coming through it.
"After you, please..." Kuragin whispers, addressing Jorvik and Aoife. Ironically, those two should have a break from getting ambushed, but Ishbaad is not going to get upstairs very silently with that animal of his. The goblin could move unnoticed, of course, but he doesn't quite have the resilience of the other two in case something pounces on him.
"I can cast Invisibility on one of you, if you'd like a stealthy approach"
The mountain man looks at the stairs, then back down to his majestic mount.
"Your part in this fight is not over my friend, but you will not be able to come with me. Stay here. Guard our backs against any who would come behind us."
Onyx snorts, and lowers his head, stamping his feet in defiance, but acquiesces to the command.
Drawing out his greatsword, Ishbaad then turns and begins to head up the stairs.
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"Me already very stealthy. Me drink juice to make me hard to hear and hard to see. Me think we should move very quickly, though, because I bet Granny Nan is waiting for us already. We should hit her hard. Uncle Ishbaad, you need drink to make you move fast, 'cause you kinda slow?"
Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight will follow behind Aoife and Jorvik, ready to attack.
Just as Ishbaad considers closing the door to the tower a gust of chill wind blows through the center of the tower and forces the double doors shut.
"You have something that can speed up these slow legs?" Ishbaad cracks a grin to his goblin friend. "Yes, I'll take it."
Ishbaad accepts the offered potion gratefully, and begins to pray to his goddess. "Sed et si ambulavero in valle umbrae mortis, non timebo mala." Ishbaad repeats the words over each of his companions, then finally over himself.
Without thinking about what a goblin concoction might taste like, Ishbaad downs the "Make Uncle Ishy not slow" potion, and chases it immediately with the potion that grows him twice his size.
"Yes! This is what I was born to be! I giant of mountain and stone. Our enemies will tremble before us!" Ishbaad smiles to the similarly enlarged Jorvik.
Jorvik looks at his right hand, and then his left. So much bigger and stronger. He feels like he wants to rip this tower down stone by stone to make a cairn for Queen Elvanna and her brood.
The time is nigh, focus on what is in front of you, lest your opponents get the better of you.
Jorvik, bow in hand, reaches for an arrow. Heafoc circles slowly over head, before hopping onto his shoulder.
Unaccustomed to the lightness of the beautiful bird, Jorvik's enlarged shoulder does not characteristically slump. Rather this perch suits his feathered companion. She pecks his ear.
"What, still hungry after troll eyes? I thought they would just regenerate in your gullet, providing you constant sustenance. Time to hunt girl."
Jorvik moves to the stairs, ready to ascend.
"I'm listening to you all now," the youth says, rocking back and forth slightly in anticipation. "I don't mind sneaking up there, and grabbing ahold of Granny Nan, if I were made invisible. But I don't want to run ahead if you'd rather we rush up together, as one."
"We probably don't have much time to decide, because old granny is probably waiting and prepared by now," Aoife says, looking in the direction of the stairwell. She suppresses a shudder, knowing her life almost ended moments before, just like her father's had in the terrible country, and now she was about to square off against a cruel, calculating, and what was worse, very much prepared crone. "Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it."
"If we have an extra means of making someone invisible, then Aoife is right. Kuragin, make her invisible and when we kick down the door, she can sneak in and strangle the life from the old hag." Ishbaad nods to Aoife, confirming her plan and giving her the validation to make it happen.
Kuragin twinkles his fingers and Aoife disappears. She makes her footfalls heard for a moment so that the others know she is headed upwards. Following, the four remaining heroes see through their companion to the landing above. It takes a while for their eyes to adjust to the dim light and Aoife notes that there is no longer the telltale flicker of firelight coming from beneath the kitchen door. The stove must be off.
When they reach the landing, the five would-be dragon slayers hear a soft, mournful song from the direction of the barrels stacked just ahead of them.
"Now she's gone,
What what will you be?
No more chance
To be like me.
"So alone,
Without her near.
My new friends,
Come over here."
A strange, semi-translucent patchwork monstrosity, no bigger than a toddler's doll steps out from behind a crate. It is vaguely humanoid, but closer inspection reveals it to be little more than a conglomeration of tiny clockwork gears, bird bones, dried twigs, and scraps of dog fur, topped with a cracked and chipped porcelain doll’s head.
"Hello friends," it says, tilting its head to the side - a tear-sized button drips from the creature's doll-eye to click noisily on the ground - "I'm afraid you are too late. They are dead now, and so is she. Now they will never be just like me. And you are too old."
"Ah, a game. And who might you be little one? And what are we too late for?"
What monstrous construct is it that I am conversing with? May Desna help the ones this horrible creature has killed into Pharasma's bosom. I swear I should rip this place apart.
"Game?" the thing says, becoming serious. Unlike humans, it cannot show severity through facial expressions - the porcelain remains fixed in place, even when it talks - it simply becomes very still, as though the unseen puppeteer holding it up simply no longer moves the strings. "This is no game. My name is Evija and you are too late. You are too late to save the children. They are dead and I am alone. Abandoned."
Another tiny tear-button is squeezed from her eye to fall upon the ground.
"I am sorry, Evija. How did you come to be here. You and all the children? Who abandoned you?"
There is no reasoning with a witch's doll, however there is a chance we might be able to get some information from it first, much like Thora...
"I have always been here. Ever since I died," she tilts her head, though what that gesture means, the companions can only guess, "I died many centuries ago. At least, I think I died. I do not live, so I must have died. I guess the children are now like me, but not just like me the way I always wanted. They are dead, but they are not just like me. They are dead dead, digesting in trolls insides. Granny Nan and I had such hopes for them. But she is not here anymore. Granny Nan abandoned me.
"Perhaps she will be back, but she did not say goodbye. She went up not down and now she is gone." It is barely detectable with all the gears grinding, but the creature's voice is punctuated with the sound of small gears turning.
"So you are Granny Nan's creation? And you hoped the children would become like you, but instead they were eaten by trolls? The dragon is upstairs. Does Granny Nan go visit it often?"
A witch standing beside Logrivich would make cleansing this tower much more... challenging. It may be time to release this poor soul here soon. Must know if there is any other nuggets of information to glean...
Ishbaad subtly grips his greatsword a little tighter, ready to try to cut the construct in half. The clock is ticking, and their magical protections will only last for so long...
"I died before Granny Nan came here," the thing says, "Long, long before. Do you always ask questions about the obvious? Granny Nan visits Logrivich when she has news. Sometimes daily. Sometimes every other week. Always she returns. Not last time, though. I think she is gone."
The thing stands there limply, looking forlorn. It makes no moves to attack, harm or otherwise hinder the companions.
"Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight speaks true. We must not let this doll delay us. Check these rooms quickly, and then proceed to find Granny Nan."
The doll sure looks different than the normal porcelain dolls, but it is not wise to trust any speaking doll in Irrisen. Kuragin eyes the clockwork-doll suspiciously, preparing to use his magic if the doll moves to attack.
"Thank you little one. I know how sad this is for you. To not have friends to play with. To be alone. Maybe you can help us get back at the evil monsters that killed your friends? Does that sound good to you, to help us?"
"They were not my friends... and now they never will be. You clearly do not want to be my friends," the doll's stare lingers on Aoife - though whether it can see her or is looking past her is uncertain - and then it turns around, "So I will leave." It walks mournfully through a barrel. Behind it, either heretofore unseen or left purposely by the strange clockwork doll, a pair of keys lie on the floor.
Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight picks them up in case they prove useful.
While the companions decide what to do, the haunting voice can be heard once more, getting fainter and fainter, punctuated by sobs.
"Oh come back Nan and let them play with me, play with me.
I want some friends who can be just like me, just like me."
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Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight gives Jorvik a blank, uncomprehending look before he scampers over and grabs the keys. Keys mean doors, so he then rushes up and opens the doors they think might be the kitchen.... mostly because the other door is blocked for now. If the door doesn't open, he uses the keys.
Ishbaad follows the scampering goblin with his eyes, then with his body and ready sword. He revels in the extra speed that the potion has given him, along with his giant size.
I need to talk Icy into making these potions for me more often. This is... Amazing.
In the back of his mind, he is still wary of the depressed doll, but it doesn't seem to be a threat.
"Look out for the gobbler...." is the last thing the companions hear from the creepy doll-headed creature who called herself Evija.
Three tables occupy the northern half of this room. A five-foot-square extrusion with a small access door on its western face runs from floor to ceiling just south of the eastern doors. A gigantic cast-iron cauldron stands in the southeast corner with 5 wood stacked beneath it. A large iron stove with twin flue pipes running into the walls dominates the southwest corner.
Suddenly, the massive stove starts wobbling and roiling. The dead coals inside it spring to life and the thing spits out flames. The feet of the stove have been forged to appear as the feet of a beast, and these feet now animate grotesquely. Claws pop out and it paws at the already torn floorboards in an effort to break its chains. Whether from years of effort that have finally paid off, or by design, the chains break and fall to the floor with a loud clang.
Within the flames, dozens of writing faces can be seen - the faces of the children this thing has devoured over the years. The stove door opens impossibly wide and the sound as of a dying children's choir mingled with screeching pig iron erupts from the stove. This must be 'the Gobbler' that Evija warned against.
The Gobbler hobbles forwards on its forged animal claws and opens its grating wide. The doors lash out at Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight, the first thing the Gobbler saw when the doors were opened.
Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight is held aloft inside the Gobbler's stove doors and struggles against being swallowed into the fiery belly of this unholy creature .
That's not what I was expecting
Ishbaad recoils momentarily, and then discards all thoughts of the strangeness of what is happening when he sees Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight about to get swallowed by the stove. Action first, questions later.
With a mighty swing through the open door, Ishbaad hopes his magical blade is enough to cut into the monstrosity, and dreams of one day owning a blade made from star metal.
for
"Ice! Nooo!" Seeing his goblin friend get swallowed into the animated, Jorvik momentarily panics.
No, you are a warrior, born and breed. Fight, fight with all you have.
Stepping back, Jorvik has his bow leveled at the creature but he knows he is at the wrong angle to do any good with his bow.
"Friends, the even the tower itself is against us. Come! We shall break down the door, rip out the windows, burn the floor boards, and destroy all that is unholy here.
"Forward, to save Ice!" the northman yells.
Inspired Rage (Su) At 1st level, affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
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Ice Melts Quietly in Sunlight calmly starts working to free jhimself. He had never given making alchemical grease a priority, but that ought has changed at this moment! Instead, he calmly draws out a potion of enlarge person, and drinks it, knowing that the creature would make him at least a little harder to hold on to.
he yells out,
"Icy!" the disembodied voice of the child calls from the hallways as the goblin is snatched up and held in what can only imagine to be unnatural jaws mixed of metal and wood. Without thinking twice, she springs forward, immediately abandoning her plan to remain silent and, hopefully, unseen. She knew she needed to act now in order to save her younger brother, she knew he would do the same for her. "We're coming for you!" she shouts.
Moving through the open door, the child turns and runs along the wall, moving all the way around and behind the raging stove. As the child moves, her blade is drawn and in hand. Once behind the thing, she pulls back and swings with all her might.
"If you have weapons made of adamantine, this would be a great opportunity to use them!" But Kuragin doesn't remember coming across such valuable artifacts, so no quick way to solve this combat. "Or just hit it very hard..."
But what about himself? The massive stone has no mind to send into slumber, so his usual tactic is of no use. Some of his spells might be able to damage the oddity, but would they defeat the it before it manages to burn the goblin. Yes, his first priority is to save Ice Melts Quielty in Sunlight. And just as the goblin said, all the stove's ill luck may be helping him. And all things, whether living creatures or soulless objects will bend to the whims of fate. So Kuragin calls his patron to alter the fates of their enemy, and hexes it with misfortune.