Most of the arrows and the flame easily hurt the creature. It responds with a angry green breath that nearly fills the room in front of it and pushes into the passage.
After unleashing a gout of fire upon the large, bull like creature, Maka was swiftly frozen in a defensive position.
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Sakitu barely has time to begin resetting for another spell when she is engulfed in a green cloud of some noxious gas. She squeezes her eyes shuts and instinctively holds her breath. Groping with her hands, she tries to move towards the exit but her arms begin to grow heavy. She twists her body to turn and it feels like moving through mud! Seconds later she is frozen. Panic arises as she realizes that she can't move!
Tezuzu moves up attempting to slam his fist into the giant bovine monstrosity. He sizes up the strange beast trying to determine how dangerous it might be or if it has any weaknesses as his fist comes crashing down.
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Just as he lands a blow attempting to channel his ki into the magical nervous system of the giant bull he is blasted with green energy. As his joints begin to lock up the one of the sapphires on the preserved clover medallion glows brightly freeing him from his petrified state.
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A few moments after the stone had completely encased Maka, it began to radiate heat. Soon glowing cracks began to form, so bright from the heat they were difficult to look at. In a flash the stone exploded, debris and smock briefly obscuring the area. After a few moments Maka was revealed, a toothy grin spread across her face.
"Tez! The thing your cards said would happen happened!" Looking back at her petrified friends, Maka's grin was replaced by an angry scowl. "You're going to pay for that you stupid cow! And you better taste like cow!"
"Saki, everything in here is part of a test, except the giants."
Selena holds her breath and tightens her clothes to minimize her exposure to the gas as washes around her, but Winter was not so lucky.
Selena picks up Winter and strides forth in a circle around the creature so it can't hit her and everyone else at once.
She then casts a spell, tossing a ball of shadowy tentacles at the bull-thing that try wrap themselves around it.
Sakitu, Findurel , and Bulvi are petrified while Quasit, Selena , and Tezuzu look on in horror. Some force of fortune seems to reverse the initial petrification of Quasit as quickly as it began to happen. A similar twist of fortune takes ahold of the bull like creature as it looks on dazed.
Though Tezuzu resists the green breath he isn't sure what this thing is.
Round One: Selena is up.
Round Two: Find, Maka, Tezuzu, Selena and Quasit are up.
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Dropping low to the ground, Maka began spinning her legs while unleashing gouts of flame. The momentum from the her spin built the flames into a swirling mass. Larger and larger it built until it seemed near ready to burst. Suddenly stopping and putting all her momentum in her leg, Maka kicked the swirling mass of flames at the bull creature with explosive force.
Tezuzu steps back before an eerie odd echoing lullaby whistles from his beak..
Tezuzu will attempt to stay the rest of the parties attacks by speaking out "Stop do not disturb it. I have placed it into a magical slumber" Nodding to Quasit he adds "Do be careful not to wake it, but would you do the honors of silting that damnable creatures throat so we might be done with this nonsense?"
With the creature dispatched in fiery fashion those left petrified return to normal in time.
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Fin comes out of his petrified state just in time to witness Maka barbecue the bull thing...
"Nice shooting, Mistress of Fire! You go girl!"
He'll then check out the metal corpse and then have a thorough look over the chamber...
"Looks like at least one of the party we're tracking beat us to this room; this metal bull ate part of a frost giant...and some of its gear. Oh, and Q you'll love this...there's sackful of gemstones in this creature's gut as well..."
Finding the mirage in back of the cavern, he discovers the uneaten portion of the metal bull's meal...
"And here's the rest of the frost giant..."
With the bull dispatched, Maka began to cry and worry over the petrified forms of her friends. Thankfully, the petrification wore off quickly and the group awoke to an ample amount of hugs and kisses from Maka.
"Nice shooting, Mistress of Fire! You go girl!"
"Well I certainly wasn't going to let him get away with turning my friends into statues. Besides the others helped. I'm just glad y'all are okay!"
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"Nice shooting, Mistress of Fire! You go girl!"
Quasit pouts slightly. "I charged it", she protests with a look off to the side.
"Looks like at least one of the party we're tracking beat us to this room; this metal bull ate part of a frost giant...and some of its gear. Oh, and Q you'll love this...there's sackful of gemstones in this creature's gut as well..."
Quasit perks up and puts away her sword. "Those are my favorite kind of sackfuls." she says brightly. She comes over and takes a look, then gives a low whistle. "Well, well, well. That's what I call a GIANT-SIZED haul!" She plucks out a big blue rock and holds it up close to her eye. She keeps talking as she examines.
"So, I get why the giant had a climbing kit and a bunch of rope, seeing as how we're half a mile up a cliff face. But why did Mr Random Giant have a fortune in gem stones? Payment maybe, from the centaurs -- this guy might just be a big mercenary. That's an encouraging thought -- if we get in a tight spot with a bunch of these guys, we might be able to buy our way out of trouble. It also means that other giants we kill might have just as much loot on them." She plops the blue stone back in the bag.
"Sapphire. A nice one too. Probably worth a few hundred gold, properly cut. I guess we're lucky that Caigrel doesn't like jewels. Apparently the Maiden hasn't heard that diamonds are a girl's best friend. Sucks to be her."
"And by the way. Not cool sicking Ferdinand here on us, amiright? I guess her point was that she'll help us, but we aren't exactly pals yet? Or maybe this passes for 'mischief' among the evil witch set?"
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"Nice shooting, Mistress of Fire! You go girl!"Quasit pouts slightly. "I charged it", she protests with a look off to the side.
Fin gives Quasit a warm smile. ”Aye, Q, you did...and a brave charge it was. Bought me time to get a volley off before I got stoned. Bull couldn’t have made a bolder charge than that...”
"And by the way. Not cool sicking Ferdinand here on us, amiright? I guess her point was that she'll help us, but we aren't exactly pals yet? Or maybe this passes for 'mischief' among the evil witch set?"
Fin nods. ”Aye, that be strange. Maybe she watches over this place for Baba Yaga? She’ll help us out with invaders but not with the residents, perhaps?
“Any way, doesn’t look like anything else to see here, Q...shall we head back to the fork and take the other passage? ”
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Quasit nods.
"Ok... but I'm not sure there's anything else in this Maiden place for us to find. If we now have the key from this area, and the next key is somehow beyond Caigrel's grasp, that might mean its inside one of the other Lady Dungeons. There might be nothing left here but traps and poop slimes. And it seems like we found a way out of here, back where the trap with the little wooden dolls was."
"But it's probably worth poking around all the corners anyhow. It'd be a shame to miss something and then have to come back here. We might find another jar of earwigs or something."
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Fin stretches a bit to loosen up his recently petrified muscles. ” I agree, Q. Also, we promised...what was that guard’s name? Ah, yes, Ratibor...he said there was a book Baba Yaga hid here that would supposedly free him from his eternal guard duty...so we need to be on the lookout for that in addition to the keys...otherwise we’ll have to kill him to re-enter the hut...”
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Fin arches an eyebrow, smirking. "Ol' Neckbeard, huh? I sorta thought you had a 'thing' for ol' Neckbeard; he sure liked talkin' to you. He made it pretty clear he'd have rather gutted me than speak...
"So, we ready to press on?"
When everyone's ready to go, Fin'll draw his bow and do his scouting thing, heading back to where the passage split and taking the southern fork this time...
"Well that's why people have to help each other. Like, I'm really good at fighting but bad at cooking. So I fight stuff for people and people cook stuff for me. And I can basically only melt sand on my own but when old man Bharat tells me what to do I can make all kinds of glass.
And we won't kill Ratibor, we'll just knock him out or something until we can figure out another way to deal with the curse. OH! Maybe we can turn him into a statue and put him in the bag?"
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Fin arches an eyebrow, smirking. "Ol' Neckbeard, huh? I sorta thought you had a 'thing' for ol' Neckbeard; he sure liked talkin' to you. He made it pretty clear he'd have rather gutted me than speak...
"Everyone likes me. I'm nice." says Quasit nicely with a nice smile. "And to be fair, if I was the first girl I'd seen in heaven knows how many years, I might have a thing for me too. Though I'd have more of a thing for Saki."
Quasit follows Findurel out of the bull pen.
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"Everyone likes me. I'm nice." says Quasit nicely with a nice smile. "And to be fair, if I was the first girl I'd seen in heaven knows how many years, I might have a thing for me too. Though I'd have more of a thing for Saki."
Fin's eyebrow arches even higher...then he grins while shaking his head. "Indeed...remind me not to bandy words with you, Q, as I usually come out on the short end of the exchange..."
"And we won't kill Ratibor, we'll just knock him out or something until we can figure out another way to deal with the curse. OH! Maybe we can turn him into a statue and put him in the bag?"
Fin laughs. "Aye, Maka, I agree...but even if we did have to kill him, I think it's safe to say he'd still end up in the bag as both Tez and Q are becoming quite the collectors..."
Fin then presses on down the southern fork...
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Though I'd have more of a thing for Saki.
"That guy at the hut? Ewww? Gross? He's so old." Sakitu scrunches up her nose, shudders, then giggles. "I think he's even too old for you Quasit. But maybe not for Maka." She grins at Maka and then shuffles to hide behind Fin, just in case Maka tries to punch her.
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"Oh, definitely too old for me." agrees Quasit. "But I'll tell you something, Saki -- there's nothing any older man wants more in this world than for a young girl to be interested in him. And THAT, my dear, is a little fact that you can bandy to all sorts of advantage if you care to." She grins and shrugs blithely. "It's just a question of whether you can keep your lunch down at the same time."
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"Oh, definitely too old for me." agrees Quasit. "But I'll tell you something, Saki -- there's nothing any older man wants more in this world than for a young girl to be interested in him. And THAT, my dear, is a little fact that you can bandy to all sorts of advantage if you care to." She grins and shrugs blithely. "It's just a question of whether you can keep your lunch down at the same time."
Fin puts on a mock-hurt face. "Losing your lunch over an old guy, eh? Well then, I guess us 115-year olds have no chance with girls like y'all then..."
The passage leads to another cavern. While the walls of this small cavern are rough and jagged; the stone floor is smooth and has been swept clean. A small pool of water surrounded by pale white stones lies to the west. Along the opposite wall to the east, an oaken table holding a wooden bowl and a silver chalice sits in a small alcove. To the northeast, a short passage leads to a stone door engraved with the image of a naked, pregnant woman sitting in a meditative pose. The woman's hands lie folded in her lap, and a full moon is painted upon her belly. A trio of waist-high pillars of stout gray stone stands in the corridor just before the door.
"Mmm age isn't so much of an issue, the mindset is more important. Like, Fin is a thousand years old but he is still more our 'age' you know? But Tez might only be 12 and he's a total dad."
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Fin puts on a mock-hurt face. "Losing your lunch over an old guy, eh? Well then, I guess us 115-year olds have no chance with girls like y'all then..."
Quasit chuckles and rolls her eyes. "Ugh. You're so *sensitive*. I wasn't talking about elves, obviously. Elves only get more beautiful and impressive as they age -- like trees. I'm talking about human men -- the ones who work themselves half to death getting rich and powerful so that when they're 53 they can molest a pretty young girl and she'll smile at him for it. And you know, some older men are actually decent fellows who are distinguished and kind and just a little lonely, and it's easy to be nice to them. But for every butterfly you find, you also have to put up with 15 bedbugs who just want to suck your blood."
"...But Tez might only be 12 and he's a total dad."
This makes Quasit giggle with delight. She can only nod emphatically.
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The passage leads to another cavern. While the walls of this small cavern are rough and jagged; the stone floor is smooth and has been swept clean. A small pool of water surrounded by pale white stones lies to the west. Along the opposite wall to the east, an oaken table holding a wooden bowl and a silver chalice sits in a small alcove. To the northeast, a short passage leads to a stone door engraved with the image of a naked, pregnant woman sitting in a meditative pose. The woman's hands lie folded in her lap, and a full moon is painted upon her belly. A trio of waist-high pillars of stout gray stone stands in the corridor just before the door.
Quasit comes into the room and takes a quick look around. She points to the door. "Remember what the Raven said? 'Look for the Mother when the moon is full.' I'm guessing the door with the pregnant lady and the full moon is the passage from Maidenhood to Motherhood. And it's probably trapped just as nasty as the other door was."
"But I'll bet there's another didactic little puzzle here for us to work out. Gee, I sure am glad I have witches to explain GIRLHOOD to me."
She wanders over to the table on the east wall to look closer at the bowl and chalice.
It is clear that shallow pool is filled with fresh, clean water. The wooden bowl on the table contains corn seed. The silver chalice is empty.
"But I'll bet there's another didactic little puzzle here for us to work out. Gee, I sure am glad I have witches to explain GIRLHOOD to me."
"And I'm glad I have you to solve puzzles." Maka replied cheerfully as she moved to examine the pool of water.
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"Like, Fin is a thousand years old but he is still more our 'age' you know?"
Fin chuckles at Maka's observation. "Thank you, Maka...but I'm not quite that old...yet...though sometimes I feel that way..."
Quasit chuckles and rolls her eyes. "Ugh. You're so *sensitive*. I wasn't talking about elves, obviously..."
Fin gives a humorous smile. "Aye, I figured that...I was just yanking your chain this time, Q..."
"Elves only get more beautiful and impressive as they age -- like trees..."
Fin unconsciously does his customary arched eyebrow thing. "Uh, thank you...I think...beautiful is not the way most males would like to be described, but I'll take what I can get," he says while adding a playful wink...
Upon entering the room and seeing the small pool, Fin's eyes light up as he follows Maka to the pool. "If that's not a mirage, I'm taking a bath before we leave this chamber..."
Seeing Quasit move towards yet another puzzle, he says, "Be careful, Q...that looks like it could be a nasty trap...or something...
"Maybe either the key we found or the one Caigreal gave us might come into play here..."
The Elf takes a wary look around the chamber...
Findurel can't make anything out of the ordinary even with his skilled looking. Perhaps some magic is at work.
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It is clear that shallow pool is filled with fresh, clean water. The wooden bowl on the table contains corn seed. The silver chalice is empty.
"Corn. Corn? Aw man, this is some kind of fertility goddess homily, isn't it? I bet the chalice is for the pure rain water meant to fertilize the seeds. Ugh."
For the moment Quasit leaves the bowl and chalice on the table and goes to take a closer look at the 3 pillars. She also takes some time to look for another magical trap in the area around the pillars and door.
"The way these are positioned in front of the door makes me suspect that they are related to today's lesson."
Quasit also doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary even though the items present clear sit there for some purpose.
Selena starts walking around detecting magic when Quasit starts chatting about fertilizing seeds. "Water doesn't fertilize seeds, it fuels their growth. If you want fertilizer, well ask Maka."
Selena detects magic, everyone else detects something else.
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Selena starts walking around detecting magic when Quasit starts chatting about fertilizing seeds. "Water doesn't fertilize seeds, it fuels their growth. If you want fertilizer, well ask Maka."
Fin ponders. "Mayhap so, but to grow crops, you need three things: seeds, water, and sunlight. We have the seeds and we have a pool of water along with a chalice to retrieve said water...but there was no light source left here...and we have three columns that mean Erastil knows what...
"This being a fertility puzzle, I'm guessing if we figure it out, the door will open and allow us access to the Mother dungeon...anyone have any ideas on how to complete this thing?"
After thinking a moment longer, Fin says, "Even if we figure out how to open this door, do we want to 'enter the Mother' right now? There's still that passage to the west where we first entered that needs to be explored even though we'll likely have to deal with those slime poops...but until we find the other key and that book, I think we have to scour every inch of each dungeon..."
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"I agree with Fin. I think we should finish exploring before we move on. Maybe we'll find something else that is the key. Uh. I don't mean a real key, I mean like an important piece of information. Or. Well, I don't know. It just looks intimidating to go that way."
She looks over the corn seeds. "Tez, do you know anything about these?"
Bulvi moves to inspect the oaken table and see if it is varnished. "It's a stretch but if we are to use all the materials presented. The floor is very clear but that's not the only source of matter for it to grow from. Ever see life growing from a fallen tree, I've seen it with fungus but also plants. I'm not sure it that's the solution to the puzzle but it's the best I've thought of so far... but as said there could be other materials nearby."
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Fin nods at Bulvi. "Aye, my friend, that's as good a guess as I've got... I'm afraid what little I know of horticulture comes from my Mother; she had a small garden that I helped tend. Not sure how much that'll help here as this puzzle is probably more symbolic than practical. Q and Tez are good at puzzles though, so I'm sure they'll figure it out...
"I do wonder about the columns though...they are lined up just before the door...they may be relevant somehow..."
He goes over to give the columns a closer look...
After perusing the columns, he says, "While we figure out what we're going to do here, I'm going to wash the stink off of me...I'll preserve some of the water first though..."
Fin retrieves the chalice and fills it with some water from the pool and then puts the chalice back on the table. "Apologies if this offends but, if so, I give fair warning to avert your eyes from the pool's direction...
"Maka, think you can heat up the pool a little? Not so hot, just warm enough for a quick bath, if you please..."
He'll then disrobe as discreetly as possible and enter the pool...
Findurel doesn't make out more in terms of guiding the party through what is presumed to be a trap, but he does see enough to note that at least the one column is connected to some mechanism that was until this closer look very well hidden. Presumably the trap.
"Maka, think you can heat up the pool a little? Not so hot, just warm enough for a quick bath, if you please..."
"Sure!" Maka replied as she thrust her hands in the water without averting her eyes from Fin's undressing. Soon steam rose from the pool.
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Sakitu makes her own way cautiously around the room. As Fin peers at the pillars she scoots up next to him and stares intently at each pillar that he looks at. She obviously doesn't see what he is seeing but she squints in concentration, trying hard. "What is it that you see?" she asks quietly. Almost a whisper.
When Fin is done inspecting the stone posts, she also steps back. Spotting the stones around the pool, she gets an idea. "Hey. Maybe these stones can be placed on the pillar." Without a pause she moves to the pool. The stones all look to be about the same size. She picks up the closest one and then goes over to the center pillar. Keeping several feet away, she drops the stone to the floor then casts a quick spell. The stone rises from the floor as she points at it. It floats through the air then settles gently on top of the middle pillar.