Braham startles as suddenly a blueish creature materialises and touches his weapon. His greataxe starts to shrink to the size of a toothpick and he lets out a roar of frustration, since he's effectively disarmed now...
"Another mischievous sprite?!? I grow tired of these things." With that thought, Thanion draws his estoc, concentrates his mind, and strikes at the creature.
Drogan lets out a roar and trudges forward. As he nudges his way around Sturla, his foot catches on a rock, hidden by the deep snow. He stumbles and his great axe misses the mark, the large blade slicing into the snow beside the recently fallen elk.
Thanion whips out his oddly-headed spear, and empowering it with his own magic in conjunction with Sturla's rousing battle chant, strikes the annoying little fey creature. He is right in thinking that the meddlesome creatures do seem to be prevalent. The stab hurts the creature, but it's not enough to put the thing down for good.
Drogan moves in now, seeing the thing that was only outlined in the fur before. Swinging his big axe so close over Braham's head only increases the concern when the dwarf missteps in the deep snow and whiffs awfully close to the big man.
Aavelixia drops her bow and grabs her sword. She's not used to holding a long sword and worries that she will hit Braham with the sword.
Command Suzy to attk
Suzy hear Aavekixia's call for attk, she moves closer to attack
Both Drogan and Aavelixia recognize the tiny fey as an Atomie. One of the smaller fey, but this one has a little man complex. They often go after the biggest enemy, and do what they can to bring them down to size. Aavelixia knows they have the same resistances that many fey do, to anything but cold iron, but the coloration seems as off as the sprites. It looks like it might also be winter touched. They are known to be able to speak with animals, and shrink people in size.
Aavelixia, remembering the reason it was given to the group, draws Yuln's long sword. Unfortunately, for her, what little time she spent learning it as part of her youth did not hold all that well as she too misses on the side of caution, with it so near Braham. With a call and instructions to Suzy, the little plant shuffles around the dying elk and whips out her long ropy tendrils. They come close to slapping the little thing out of the air, but it just manages to avoid the grasp, spinning just out of reach.
Sia grips her spear and thrusts it at the tiny little fey. As her spear misses her mark, she lets out a frustrated groan.
Braham, frustrated at the (hopefully temporary) loss of his weapon, roars and attacks the tiny creature with his bare hands.
"Har kom maður á bergið oman
Við sterkum boga í hendi
C'MERE, YA LITTLE BASTARD!
Jallurin av Ringaríki
Hann meg higar sendi!"
Sturla kept up his bellowing performance, albeit with some added expletives as he jumped for the creature; the fey was proving frustratingly tricky to hit. The bard swung his simple sword for all he was worth, bolstered by his own song-induced rapture.
Sia tries to direct the tip of her spear at the little fey flitting about Braham's head. Much like against the stag, her aim is far from precise, as the point slips right past the thing into the space above Braham.
Braham himself lashes out with the only weapon he has available, the gauntlets of his armor, but in swing a meaty metal fist at the Atomie, it easily prepares its rapier to jab at the big man. The needle-like blade doesn't get past the armor on his hiand, but all the same Braham fails to connect with the annoying thing.
Sturla, the last of the group to encircle where the Atomie flits about, swings at the flitting pest. His aim is true, and he smacks it hard with his sword. The blade, though not made of cold iron, still cuts a healthy gash across the small thing's body as it flops into the snow. The thing has stopped moving as it just lays there bleeding.
Drogan notes that the Atomie is effectively out of combat. Turning to the dying elk, he brings his great axe down quickly across the beast's neck, ending its misery.
Pointing his blade at the dying little creature, Thanion asks the group, "So what should we do with this one? Finish it or heal it and ask what is going on?"
"Well, I'd like to find out how I can turn this toothpick back into my greataxe. Perhaps we can tie it up and ask it to undo its spell?
"'The knifeless man is a lifeless man.'"
Sturla recited the phrase (for it was a phrase - a proverb from up north) in reply to Braham's grievance over his shrunken weapon. The greataxe was indeed not living up to its name at the moment. Pulling out the lace in one glove, the bard picked up the tiny fey, tossed aside its tiny sword, and then tied up the creature with the string. With this done, he repeated the word 'life' from the proverb. His hand came aglow, and with it, held tightly in his fist, the fey stirred.
"Ey, wakey wakey, pee-wee. You hearin' me? Heh. Right pickle to wake up to, eh? Tied up and more dead than alive, surrounded by the freakish giants that already beat you once. Ha hah, I'd be pissin' myself. Please don't piss yourself. Not in the mood for cleaning fey urine of meh person."
"So listen, got one of them propositions for you: firstly, we'd like you to undo whatever fey trick ye did to my mate's axe. I think he likes that axe. Secondly, we'd like you to explain what you think ye're doing kidnapping princesses and all that, being that you're not 20 feet tall, scaly and breathin' fire. This doesn't seem like yer type of business. In return for these services..."
The bard looked about in mock-contemplation.
"Well, I suppose I won't bite your head off. That fair?"
Drogan handily finishes severing the head off the elk, its blood continuing to seep out into the snow where steam rises from the ever growing patch of red.
The fey's eyes flutter with the healing energy, even still it looks barely strong enough to support itself. It looks up at Sturla, heavy-lidded, and responds with a sneer.
Braham steps up next to Sturla.
"I want my axe back, right now! Remember you're small and bound, and we could have fairly killed you during combat if we wanted to!"
"The fey would prefer you place the axe someplace uncomfortable instead." Thanion translates for the group. He then turns back to the fey.
Drogan wipes his axe blade off before slipping it back into the loop at his side. Slowly, he paces around the fallen elk, subconsciously planning how to butcher and prep the meat to provide something beyond the standard trail rations.
"Understanding that I am new to this, and have not gone through the troubles you all have," Drogan says as he pauses, grumbling as he remembers that he lost his knife somewhere along the way and considering how troublesome it will be to carve up the elk otherwise, "but not once, as I recall, did the atomie mention knowledge of the princess was. He is a troublesome thing, but not sure, other than slowing our progress, what ill he intended to our mission."
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"The fey would prefer you place the axe someplace uncomfortable instead." Thanion translates for the group.
"Oh. Oh, he said that, did he?"
The bard gave Thanion a smile and an acknowledging nod. He appreciated the translation and made a mental note to ask the elf to teach him Sylvan. Sturla liked language. He liked everything related to song and storytelling. He would also like the tiny creature's compliance, but its contempt did not discourage him. Quote the opposite, really; the bard was wearing a wide grin. 'Manic', it could almost be described as. The vulgar defiance amused him. It was almost enough to inspire some admiration for the poor thing. He'd do much the same were the roles reversed. But they weren't. And he was going to make the creature comply. The fey had told him to shove it. Sturla had never been one to back down from a challenge.
"Ladies, you may want to avert your eyes."
There was a low threatening rumble to the bard's voice, made doubly worrying by the utter absence of the cordial buoyancy that usually defined it. The man's own eyes were locked on the atomie held within his fist. The gaze bearing down on the fey was... troubling. Sturla always came off as a bit of a wild man, but what his eyes radiated now was nearer full-blown insanity. He was still smiling. But it was a malicious smile. The Northerner looked nothing so much like a sadistic torturer ready to work his craft upon a fresh subject.
Which was, of course, exactly his intent: to look like a madman. Sturla was a bard to the core, and bards lived and died on presentation. His erratic behavior was an adopted trait; it was how he'd survived this far. Well, before joining up with Drogan, at least. He'd found, long ago, that the unhinged mannerisms caught foolish enemies off-guard. Wise enemies, it unnerved. The feigned foolishness was both weapon and shield. Where Sturla the person began and Sturla the persona ended was difficult to say now. Somewhere along the way, the bard had himself lost track.
Regardless, he had no qualms over utilizing his practiced affectations to play mad butcher. Whatever got results. With a sudden jolt, he reached for his belt. An onlooker, or indeed the fey, might have expected the bedlamite to at this point pull out a knife or any other piece of torture. This was not what Sturla did. No.
Sturla pulled down his trousers, underwear included.
"Alright, wee man, you asked for it!"
For the second time since they had known him, the bard was standing half-naked in front of the group. The situation did not improve as he set his feet wide and kneeled down into a half-squat. He was now shouting at the atomie.
"'Shove it up your ass', you say, eh?! 'Dumb hairy ox', you say, eh?! Well now you're going up my dumb hairy ass!"
Whether or not Sturla was being serious was anyone's guess, as he now brought his fist, fey included, down and behind himself. Way down.
"I said I'd bite off your head! I didn't say what I'd use to do so! AHA HA HA HA HA HAH!"
Aavelixia looks at Sturla, she stares at him in disbelief. Her facial expression is clear to see, she is surprised, shocked, and horrified at the thought of the poor tied up creature up Sturla's ass.
"Put that creature down, that's horrible way to die!" She reaches towards Sturla in an attempt to grab the tiny defenseless creature from being suffocated to death." Give me that, I'll hold it. And put your clothes back on! That's twice I've seen you half naked, and I've just met you a few minutes ago."
She looks at Braham and tries be understanding, "Even if he tells us how to fix you weapon Braham, how do we know it's the truth? I don't know the spell, but I do know that some spell have time restriction. Maybe the weapon returns to its original size after some time."
Suzy hear a lot of excitement from Sturla, he is happy. Susy is drawn by her curiosity and moves closer to Sturla.
It looks like Suzy is trying to stare at all of Sturla, she doesn't know which part of Sturla to stare. He just seems to be excited about something, so she has to go check it out.
Aavelixia sees Suzy getting closer to Sturla. Not knowing what Suzy might do or stare at, Aavelixia tries to shield Suzy from a horrible sight. She moves towards Suzy as fast as she can to try to cover Suzy's eyes.
Upon seeing the antics of Sturla, Braham cannot control himself and lets out a deep, bellowing laugh, that reverberates through the trees.
Sia looks at Sturla in disbelief and begins blushing. Did that man really just drop his trousers?! She quickly takes her eyes off of his...everything. Don't look at him, he's a man. A naked man. Well, half naked. Divert your attention. Look for threats. Look at anything besides him.
She turns her attention to the forest around her. She begins to scan anything and everything to keep her eyes from Sturla.
The atomie looks nonplussed at first, as Sturla hints of some terrible deed to come as promise of torture. It is only when the little creature realizes what the man has planned, do its eyes go wide as saucers. As it gets close to the target, the thing lets out a loud scream of terror. The cry rings out longer than expected given the size of the tiny creature's lungs. He only stops when Aavelixia pulls him away to safety.
As she holds the creature in her hand, warding Suzy away from the ungodly sight of Sturla's hairy ass, it's eyes are still wide open in shock. Eyes unblinking, as if staring off into the depths of the Abyss or a close approximation of it given its previous path, it can just be heard mumbling under its breath. "Just throw it on the ground. Just throw it on the ground. Just throw it on the ground. Just throw it on the ground. Just throw..." The atomie is stuck repeating the same line, over in over, stuck in some state of shell shock.
"Would it really be that simple? Otherwise, back to Sturla's behind you go! Anyway, let's try..."
He throws the miniature axe to the ground, and watches expectantly as it drifts down in the breeze...
Thanion stands frozen in shock as Sturla moves the miniature creature towards his anus. When Aavelixia frees the creature, Thanion snaps out of it. "Would he actually have done it? Who is this weird man?"
Drogan pauses in his examination of the elk, watching Sturla's "madman" antics. Shaking his head slightly, having seen this, and much more, in their travels the past few months, and looks back at the steaming elk. In his mind, he goes back over their travels over the past months, trying to remember where he would've left his hunting knife.
Braham throws his axe down in disbelief of it working, and is correct in his assumption. Then again, the small thing only puffed into the heavy snow. In frustration, irritation, or both, he throws it repeatedly. Only when his toss goes astray, and hits something solid, does it spring back into its full-sized form.
Braham gleefully picks up his axe and gives the blade a loud smacky kiss. "Glad to have you back, mylady!"
Turning his attention to the captured creature, he says "Thank you kindly! It looks like you won't need to get up close and personal with my friend here. Now, can you tell me what you were doing here? I've never seen anything like you before in these woods..."
As Braham addresses the creature, it just slowly turns to face him, still held in Aavelixia's hand. Its eyes no smaller, still unblinking, the thing responds to the big man, "Just throw it on the ground. Just throw it on the ground. Just throw it.." No different words issuing forth.
Drogan suddenly remembers and digs through his pack, finding his hunting knife buried near the bottom. Shaking his head, he slips his knife into his belt and starts to head toward the elk.
Hearing the frightened Atomie repeating the same phrase over and over,
he grumbles slightly and comes closer.
"Relax, we aren't going to harm you more," he starts, glancing around at the others. "We just have some simple questions, and we will send you on your way."
Sia glances over as the axe returns to normal, "I'm surprised that actually worked." At least he told the truth. I would have as well if I was about to get shoved into a... she shakes her head and looks at the poor atomie.
Sturla looked at the tiny creature now held in Aavelixia's hands with half amused, half apologetic eyes. The way it chanted to itself was undeniably disconcerting, but he couldn't muster much sympathy for assailants.
"Heh. May have broken the little thing... Eh heh heh."
He was, however, very pleased with the results as Braham could welcome back his axe with a kiss, a gesture the bard greatly enjoyed for its sheer theatricality. Completely ignoring the group's reaction to the whole threaten-to-squeeze-another's-head-off-with-his-sphincter antics, the Northener clapped his hands together loudly.
"Right! Shall we be on our way then? Doesn't seem like we're gonna get anything else out of Little Blue here... I say we just leave 'im. It's gonna be days before he's in fighting shape again anyway. Not a threat to anyone. Time's a wastin'. We have a princess to save!"
Despite what some might think, Sturla was not a particularly bloodthirsty man. While it was true that he had few qualms about killing opponents, and even harbored a certain detached appreciation for death as a dramatic story device, the bard saw little need for killing subdued threats.
One need soon became apparent, however. A particularly cold wind reminded Sturla that his trousers were still sitting around his ankles.
"Ah. Now, I'd remind everyone present that objects in cold environments may appear smaller than under eh... heated circumstances," he said whilst pulling up his britches and throwing teasing glances towards Aavelixia and Sia in particular.
The Atomie doesn't respond to Drogan the same as it didn't for Braham. The thing looks truly traumatized and is probably both as harmless and useless as Sturla suggests.
Aavelixia gives a look to Sturla “We have a young impressionable flower here” She glances at Suzy as she talks to Sturla.
“It is my responsibility to raise her right” She breathes deeply and looks back at Sturla with a stern look “We have a baby out here, I would really appreciate it if you keep your tiny frozen bits covered”
With that, she tries to distract Suzy. She shows Suzy the atomie as she bends down slightily so that Suzy can see. She tries to side step away from Sturla's directions and towards the trees. “Look Suzy, it's still alive”
Aavelixia has no intention of killing the atomie, she is just using the creature to lure Suzy away. “We have to take care of now, it's hurt”
Suzy, being young and curios, much like a young child, is easily distracted by Aavelixia. She moves her attention from Sturla to what Aavelixia is holding. Suzy looks at the little creature, and looks at Aavelixia and looks back at the little fairy thing. It seems as though Suzy is unsure of what to do with it. She hears Aavelixia speak and seems to accept the creature as a companion or playmate.
"Oy, we can't leave it here in this state. Find a way to bring it with us. We need to push on."
He grumbles, his dagger clutched in his meaty hand, as he turns back to the elk, pacing around it.
With the time spent discussing the Atomie's fate and the frigid air, the elk cooled and the task of butchering it is more difficult than he anticipated. Still, he manages to cut enough strips to make up a meal and some extra for the party. Hopefully a welcome change from the trail rations.
"I agree with our dwarf friend here. We aren't likely to get any information out of it in this state. Perhaps if it sees we aren't a threat to it when it comes out of its stupor it may tell us more. Regardless, We still need to find the Lady."
Sia blushed deeply when Sturla pointed out his size in the cold. Her cheeks turned more red when she accidently glanced down. She quickly turned to look at Aavelixia when she started to speak. Thank goodness there's another woman on this trip.
"What makes you so sure that he would have more information? Maybe it was just terrible timing that we ran into him. We should just leave him here, he will be fine." She looked around, "We need to move quickly if we want to catch up to them."
"I agree, let's leave him here and move on as quickly as possible. We have a Lady to rescue!"
Braham puffs up his chest and strikes his best 'knight-in-shining-armour' pose.
Drogan stands, bundling up the strips of elk he managed to collect, and passing them around to the rest of the group.
"I say we bring the little fellow along," Drogan says as he looks around at the others. "Who knows? Even if he doesn't know anything, he may be helpful," he pauses, glancing at Braham's newly restored axe, "if we can get him calmed down enough."
Hoping there is no more danger, Aavelixia looks to the woods
Perception
Sensing no immediate danger, she then turns to Drogar and sees that he might need assistance. "If you don't mind Drogar, I may be able to help you. We need to hurry before the wind freezes the elk "
Attempt to butcher elk
"I'll hold the Atomie through the journey, it might feel safer with me" Aavelixia grabs the staff as a walking stick and is now ready to continue the trail. She looks at Suzy and says "We have a long walk Suzy, this way"
Aavelixia decides to casually tuck the thing into her pocket, going as far as to consider making it a cozy wrap from elk fur. Seeing Drogan butcher the meat of the elk, not in the professional sense as much as the brutal senseless hacking meaning, she decides to go over and assist him. She redirects his cuts to the prime portions of usable meat, and he's able to get a six decent chunks of salvageable meat off the thing.
The good part about the temperature, is he doesn't have to cure it, as the cold will surely keep it fresh for him. The point of that becomes readily apparent as the cold really starts to set in after a little bit, mainly felt by Sia and Thanion as the only two not bundled up for the cold. They feel it, but neither of them lets it get to them, both having a built up natural defense against it.
----------------------------
Finally on the move again, the group travels for about a half an hour along the slowly diminishing trail left by the bandits and horses, until they spot something odd just ahead. At first, it looks like a lumpy stalagmite of snow standing in the middle of the path, but on nearing to about thirty feet away it takes shape through the falling snow. A human-sized snowman stands in the middle of the trail before a frozen stream. A crude wooden sign leans against it, and bears the words, "Trespassers Turn Back!"
"Someone clearly had way too much time on their hands, they even made a sign, how thoughtful!
Aavelixia looks at Sia, and takes a few steps back and calls Suzy. "I can shoot it a few times to see if it moves, We should stand back a few feet away just in case it tries to attack us"
She gets her bow out and prepares to shoot "this lady is more troublesome than we thought"