There is a door to the west, and another fireplace to the east. There's also a licorice ladder that leads up to a loft.
While no other dangers are immediately apparent, Maka does notice that one copper kettle in the corner seems suspiciously brightly-polished.
As the group lingers in the room, an unsettling feeling suddenly washes over them. You feel certain something is watching you, waiting...
The hairs on Maka's neck suddenly stood up. Something or someone was watching them, had maybe cast some magic. "Somethings wrong! Maybe that kettle?" she growled to the others as she took a defensive position and flames engulfed her fists. Concentrating, her golden eyes began to glow with more intensity than usual as they quickly swept around the room.
Despite not being as shaken as his brother, Kalchine sees Chest Thumper's mental distress and he nods to Quasit, hurrying to follow her out and pulling the frost ape by the hand to lead him away, as well.
Quasit opens the door and goes through the darkness beyond... and finds herself in the cauldron room.
|
Quasit looks around, quickly realizing that they've gone in a circle and ended up at the start. Her long and deeply exhaled sigh turns into a low growl.
"Well. Seems like we have a couple obvious choices. We can go back to Mr. Potato's room and check out that chest passage through the floor, or we can go back to Candyland and check the fireplace exit. And personally, I'm not interested in going back to Candyland. That room was messed up. I'm sure someone was watching us, maybe from up in that loft."
"I say we go for the chest passage. Let's wait for everyone else to come through then we can all go together."
She pulls out her flask and treats herself to a long drink, nearly emptying it, then gives another visible shiver of disgust at the memory of the rotting candy room.
Maka waited until everyone else had gone through before making her way through the door. Whatever was going on with the room, she wasn't going to leave an opening against her friends.
"Oh are we back here?" She said with a groan. "Stupid witchity witch tricks! Is everyone all right? Any curses or broken brains or anything?"
"No, no, no, no, no!" Kalchine moans in despair as they end up back where they started. His ears droop and he looks around desperately at the walls.
He takes some deep breaths and looks at Chest Thumper. It may be hard for the others to realize but he recognizes that something is wrong.
"I think Chest Thumper might need some help," he says.
At Maka's claim that Selena wouldn't do children's bones, "But you think I'd make a room of rotten sweets and trick people into eating it?"
As the foreboding feeling descends, "Feeling creepy? That I might do. Here, let me take a mental note, make entrance hall feel like a creepy doom descends on all who enter."
d20+11
At Maka's claim that Selena wouldn't do children's bones, "But you think I'd make a room of rotten sweets and trick people into eating it?"
"Well you'd do something other than sweets and if you did do sweets you'd just poison them. Probably you would do like a big fancy dinner table and one of the forks is the key to the door and all the other forks, and knives, and stuff are cursed. Oh wait no! The room would write a book about how you should have been going through Cluckers and you have to read it all and agree with it to leave. And if you don't the book bites you and turns you into a frog!" Maka's imagination quickly ran away with things. "Yeah you'd definitely make a room like that."
"I think Chest Thumper might need some help," he says.
"Make him throw up the candy!"
|
"I say we go for the chest passage. Let's wait for everyone else to come through then we can all go together."
Fin nods in agreement…when everyone comes back in and they get Chest Thumper squared away, he’ll go back thru the chimney into the ‘Potato’ room…
…and after checking to see if anything’s changed since their last visit…
…Fin’ll lead his friends thru the chest first and see what awaits ‘em there…
Otik's room seems just as you left it, with the corpse of the overgrown mandragora laying on the ground and the chopped-up assassin vines scattered about.
Once she releases him Bulvi gives Maka an apologetic look. Even though he hadn't actually eaten of the (at the time seemingly) magically delicious food Bulvi decides to wash the imagined horrific taste out of his mouth with a slug from his water skin. "Ugh, what's wrong with an old fashioned fireball trap. Is trying to kill someone not cruel enough for these people. I suppose it sends a message."
Fin is pretty sure Chest Thumper is suffering from a poison that was in the 'candy'. It's not doing further harm now, but it has affected his mind.
|
|
"Ugh, what's wrong with an old fashioned fireball trap. Is trying to kill someone not cruel enough for these people. I suppose it sends a message."
"Baba Yaga uses and terrorizes children. No doubt she somehow employed that candy room to entice them in, addling their wits so they wouldn't have the sense to stop eating that rotting garbage and just flee this place. So she could cook them or steal their souls or whatever. Ugh, vile. And we're trying to rescue her."
"Ugh, what's wrong with an old fashioned fireball trap. Is trying to kill someone not cruel enough for these people. I suppose it sends a message."
"Witches are just the worst!" Growled with enough intensity to release sparks and smoke. "It's like their magic is powered by meanness." Flames began to flicker from Maka's shoulders as her rage continued to build.
"Baba Yaga uses and terrorizes children. No doubt she somehow employed that candy room to entice them in, addling their wits so they wouldn't have the sense to stop eating that rotting garbage and just flee this place. So she could cook them or steal their souls or whatever. Ugh, vile. And we're trying to rescue her."
"And once we've done that and this stupid eternal winter is taken care of, we can take care of her!" Maka slammed her fist into her palm, sending the gathered flames out in a burst of heat and light.
|
|
"And once we've done that and this stupid eternal winter is taken care of, we can take care of her!" Maka slammed her fist into her palm, sending the gathered flames out in a burst of heat and light.
Fin looks at Maka doubtfully. ”We have made a deal with the Devil, so to speak; we rescue Baba Yaga, she rescues our world from everlasting winter. As long as she keeps to her end and causes us no harm, should we do less? I think…not…”
"Witches are just the worst!"
"Hey! I'm standing right here! No more healing for you if you want to call me the worst!"
|
|
"And once we've done that and this stupid eternal winter is taken care of, we can take care of her!" Maka slammed her fist into her palm, sending the gathered flames out in a burst of heat and light.Fin looks at Maka doubtfully. ”We have made a deal with the Devil, so to speak; we rescue Baba Yaga, she rescues our world from everlasting winter. As long as she keeps to her end and causes us no harm, should we do less? I think…not…”
Quasit silently regards Maka and Findurel, her face bearing a slight frown, as if contemplating some dark topic.
Fin looks at Maka doubtfully. ”We have made a deal with the Devil, so to speak; we rescue Baba Yaga, she rescues our world from everlasting winter. As long as she keeps to her end and causes us no harm, should we do less? I think…not…”
"Well I'm gonna ask her to be nicer first, but if she's gonna keep eating kids and putting their souls into dolls then I'm gonna go on a quest to stop her!" Maka spoke of defeating a powerful arcane demi-god as an item on her chore list and not a feat of epic proportions.
"Hey! I'm standing right here! No more healing for you if you want to call me the worst!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean you! You're frog curse mean, not child eating mean." Maka waved her hands in the air apologetically before taking a step behind Quasit.
"But it's not like she's the best." She whispered in her friend's ear.
"Fin's right," Kalchine says after closely examining his brother.
"I don't know if it's natural poison or magical in nature but something that Chest Thumper ate has left him a little dazed. I don't think it's going to affect him too much."
He listens to the discussion about Baba Yaga. "Sometimes the best choice isn't a good choice," he comments.
|
|
"I don't know if it's natural poison or magical in nature but something that Chest Thumper ate has left him a little dazed. I don't think it's going to affect him too much."
"Well, you're the healer. Can you do anything for poisons? Or something for slightly addled brains?"
"Sometimes the best choice isn't a good choice," he comments.
Quasit smirks sardonically. "Story of my life." she comments, but in a way that shows she's still ruminating on some private thoughts regarding the Alpha witch.
|
|
”I take it you disagree, Q?”
Quasit blinks and snaps out of whatever it was she was in, and looks at Findurel.
"No...sorry. I was just... well, honestly..."
She stops herself and looks at Fundurel for several seconds while words battle behind her eyes to escape. Then she shrugs.
"It doesn't matter. We could never beat her. It would be stupid to try. Right?"
She forces a quick smile onto her face. "Don't mind me. I'm just still in a weird mood."
"I will have to commune with the world here to summon the proper energy tomorrow," Kalchine answers Quasit's question.
"Though it may have healed by itself by then."
|
|
Quasit blinks and snaps out of whatever it was she was in, and looks at Findurel.
"No...sorry. I was just... well, honestly..."
She stops herself and looks at Findurel for several seconds while words battle behind her eyes to escape. Then she shrugs.
"It doesn't matter. We could never beat her. It would be stupid to try. Right?"
Fin gives an empathetic smile. ”I dunno, Q, haven’t thought that far ahead; I don’t multi-task well…
“Currently I’m focused on rescuing Baba Yaga; not doing it for her though, doing it for you…for Sakitu…for Maka…for all of us. We rescue her, she saves you…us…and all of Golarion…
“Could we defeat her? Maybe…probably not…I dunno…but if she puts things back to right, not sure we should try to, at least not then…I’m thinking just one war at a time…”
"On the subject of who is the worst. With or without magic people can be really cruel. I think it's fair to say when they have magic they can get really inventive with the horrid things they inflict, it just gives a lot more options. That room... was particularly nasty though. The person who set it up, might just be the worst." Bulvi shuddered a little imagining how close he had come to indulging in the horrific meal.
|
|
”Could we defeat her? Maybe…probably not…I dunno…but if she puts things back to right, not sure we should try to, at least not then…I’m thinking just one war at a time…”
”Of course. That would be the honorable thing to do. And we’re honorable people.”
‘But honor isn’t everything.”
Quasit walks over and looks down into the empty cauldron.
“No, we can’t beat Baba Yaga. She’s immortal. I don’t even know if she can be killed. I think Elvanna would have killed her if she could have. But apparently the best she could do was trap her somehow. And why are we even here, in this monstrous Hut? Because we need Baba Yaga to stop Elvanna, because we can’t stop Elvanna ourselves. So how in the world could we then hope to take on Baba Yaga? There aren’t enough arrows and there isn’t enough fire in existence to do that. We just have to hope that after we rescue her, she destroys Elvanna like we’re hoping she will and decides not to annihilate us too. I hope she’s as honorable as you, Fin.”
She is silent for a moment, then heaves a deep sigh.
”But that’s the hand we’re dealt, right? And if nothing else, we’re snuffing out a lot of evil along the way.”
|
|
…I hope she’s as honorable as you, Fin.”
Upon hearing this, Fin involuntarily snorts. Not wanting his words to carry, he whispers to Quasit as they make their way to the chest in the potato room…
He lets out a sigh as well and speaks normally. ”As for Baba Yaga, we’ll see; seeing how loyal the Black Rider was to her even with a mortal wound, I expect she might be more amenable to those who have been of use to her…
“You’re right though, we have snuffed out a lot of evil along the way, so that’s gotta count for something, eh…”
|
"I'm not really trying to say that witches are good or anything but it seems to me that Baba Yaga has been around for a long time and the world has survived. I mean, like, she probably has done a lot of bad things but we've all kinda gotten used to it, right? Like, we can't get rid of all the bad people in the world. I mean, not all at once. But Elvanna is threatening the world now. So that's why we're trying to stop her, right?"
Sakitu follows the others through the fireplace.
“No, we can’t beat Baba Yaga. She’s immortal. I don’t even know if she can be killed. I think Elvanna would have killed her if she could have. But apparently the best she could do was trap her somehow. And why are we even here, in this monstrous Hut? Because we need Baba Yaga to stop Elvanna, because we can’t stop Elvanna ourselves. So how in the world could we then hope to take on Baba Yaga? There aren’t enough arrows and there isn’t enough fire in existence to do that. We just have to hope that after we rescue her, she destroys Elvanna like we’re hoping she will and decides not to annihilate us too. I hope she’s as honorable as you, Fin.”
She is silent for a moment, then heaves a deep sigh.
”But that’s the hand we’re dealt, right? And if nothing else, we’re snuffing out a lot of evil along the way.”
Maka was quiet for a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say and then finding the right way to say in the common tongue. Walking over to Quasit, Maka took her friend's hands into her own. "Hey, babe?" Maka wasn't sure why Quasit called people babies, but it always made Maka feel good and she hoped Quasit felt the same.
"You're sounding kinda stupid. We don't need Baba Yaga's help to fight. I'm going to knock Elvanna's block off when we finally find her." Maka did not state this as a boost. She said it plainly, as a matter of fact, as if it was no greater a task than a daily chore.
"We need Baba Yaga's help to stop a bunch of big stupid magic. And she needs our help too so she isn't non-vincible. Hace almost never lost at cards, it isn't about the hand your dealt, it's about how you play your hand. About how you play against your opponents."
The memory of her first encounter with Hace ran through Maka's mind. After winning yet another round, one of his opponent's had pulled a blade. Maka had managed to rescue Hace but not without burning the tavern down in the subsequent brawl. "About how well you do in the fight after people get angry. And yeah you're always going to lose some rounds." Maka looked into Quasit's eyes. "And maybe there isn't enough fire in the world to stop Baba Yaga, but there's enough fire in me!" Maka raised her voice and flicked her thumb to her chest. "And if not, then I'll just get stronger until there is!"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
”Me? Honorable? Think you know enough about me to know better than that. Let me count the ways: I slept with a friend’s woman; I hunted down that Razmiran bastard in cold blood for vengeance, and he was not the only Razmiran I killed; ask Selena, I tend to shoot first and ask questions later; I kill in stealth and from a distance. Other than the first, there’s a common thread; it appears the thing I’m best at is killing. Not very honorable, Q…”
Quasit seems a little taken aback by the vehemence of this self-assessment from her friend. "OK, first off, even if all that is accurate, I *still* hope Baba Yaga is as honorable as you when we have to deal with her. And secondly, I know you have things in your past you feel guilty about. I mean, join the club on that one. If I really thought you were a violent sociopath, I wouldn't be here with you and I certainly wouldn't stand by and let my friend be romantically interested in you. We are trying to fix the world. And we are asking nothing in return from anyone. If that's not honorable, I don't know what is."
"And by the way, I've seen you with Saki. You are a chivalrous pussycat at heart. You'll never convince me otherwise."
She gives Findurel a little soft punch and a teasing smirk, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm not really trying to say that witches are good or anything but it seems to me that Baba Yaga has been around for a long time and the world has survived. I mean, like, she probably has done a lot of bad things but we've all kinda gotten used to it, right? Like, we can't get rid of all the bad people in the world. I mean, not all at once. But Elvanna is threatening the world now. So that's why we're trying to stop her, right?"
"Yeah, that's the working theory. I just think Maka is postulating that we could do better. That the world would be better without either of them, which is obviously true. A creature of immense magic and power who steals and murders children and sponsors tyrannical kingdoms for her own children to rule is not great. I'm just saying that might be a bridge too far for our abilities."
|
|
"Hey, babe?...You're sounding kinda stupid. We don't need Baba Yaga's help to fight. I'm going to knock Elvanna's block off when we finally find her." Maka did not state this as a boost. She said it plainly, as a matter of fact, as if it was no greater a task than a daily chore.
"We need Baba Yaga's help to stop a bunch of big stupid magic. And she needs our help too so she isn't non-vincible. Hace almost never lost at cards, it isn't about the hand you're dealt, it's about how you play your hand. About how you play against your opponents.... And maybe there isn't enough fire in the world to stop Baba Yaga, but there's enough fire in me!" Maka raised her voice and flicked her thumb to her chest. "And if not, then I'll just get stronger until there is!"
Quasit crooks up a corner of her mouth in a half smile.
"I wish I could believe that."
"This is obviously a topic we need to discuss more. For now, let's focus on getting out of this Hut and finding out where we are."
|
|
"Yeah, you're right. If we could get rid of her too, that would probably be good. Wouldn't it be, like, really weird if all the bad guys in the world were somehow defeated? A part of me thinks that it would be really great but then another part thinks that new bad guys would just show up."
By now Sakitu is in the room with the dead vines and potato monster. She looks around.
"I don't know. I'm not really good at all that philosophical thinking. I just want to be happy and make my friends happy."
Kalchine frowns at all the philosophic talk. "There are times when what people call evil is just necessity or just a difference that they don't like from good. A blizzard or drought is not evil, it is simply not optimized for those who experience it.
"But, it seems that both these people you talk about enjoy hurting people, or at least imposing their will on others for their own preferences in ways that hurt others. That is evil.
"But they are powerful evils which leads us to another question: do you only fight the fights you think you can win or do you fight the fights that matter?"
"Hey, babe?...You're sounding kinda stupid. We don't need Baba Yaga's help to fight. I'm going to knock Elvanna's block off when we finally find her." Maka did not state this as a boost. She said it plainly, as a matter of fact, as if it was no greater a task than a daily chore.
"We need Baba Yaga's help to stop a bunch of big stupid magic. And she needs our help too so she isn't non-vincible. Hace almost never lost at cards, it isn't about the hand you're dealt, it's about how you play your hand. About how you play against your opponents.... And maybe there isn't enough fire in the world to stop Baba Yaga, but there's enough fire in me!" Maka raised her voice and flicked her thumb to her chest. "And if not, then I'll just get stronger until there is!"
Quasit crooks up a corner of her mouth in a half smile.
"I wish I could believe that."
"This is obviously a topic we need to discuss more. For now, let's focus on getting out of this Hut and finding out where we are."
"That's okay, you don't have to believe it. Just believe in the me that believes in you and I'll believe in the you that believes in me. That's how you do the impossible!" Maka gave Quasit her signature toothy grin. "You can't always believe in yourself. You know all the worst parts of yourself and can ignore all the best parts. But you can always believe in those close to you!"
"Oh and everyone else do the same!" Maka said while pointing at herself and the others in numerous combinations.
A part of me thinks that it would be really great but then another part thinks that new bad guys would just show up."
"Then we'll just whoop them too!"
"I don't know. I'm not really good at all that philosophical thinking. I just want to be happy and make my friends happy."
"Philosophy is actually pretty easy, it's just asking questions and figuring out answers. Like, what makes you happy?"
"But they are powerful evils which leads us to another question: do you only fight the fights you think you can win or do you fight the fights that matter?"
"See, Kal gets it!" Maka said while throwing an arm around the Triaxan and giving him a squeeze. "You can learn a lot from losing, and sometimes winning isn't the point. A value isn't a value unless it costs you something."
|
|
"…and by the way, I've seen you with Saki. You are a chivalrous pussycat at heart. You'll never convince me otherwise."
Fin gives a somber nod. ”Thanks…you’ve always been a good friend to me, Q…”
She gives Findurel a little soft punch and a teasing smirk, trying to lighten the mood.
He arches an eyebrow as he smiles wryly, adding, ”…and it means so much more coming from someone I shot…”
When everyone’s in the potato room, Fin’ll draw his bow and lead the way into the chest…
|
|
"That's okay, you don't have to believe it. Just believe in the me that believes in you and I'll believe in the you that believes in me. That's how you do the impossible!"
Quasit’s eyes flick to the side and her face freezes into a sort of confused schnauzer look. She doesn’t register anything else Maka is saying while her brain tries to sort this out.
When her focus returns, the others are still discussing the matter and she’s been chewing at a hangnail.
”Shoulda kept my yap shut.” she mutters to herself.