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Quasit crawls out around one of the larger tombstones so the fairy can see her, then sits cross legged leaning back against the memorial, trying to look as casual and non threatening as she can. Her weapons are not out.
”Tell her I think she has a nice graveyard here, although I think it would be nicer without all these soldiers and fences.”
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Fin nods, turning to speak Sylvan to the fairy. ”This is Quasit, she is our leader; while she can understand your words, she cannot speak them. Hence, I will translate her words to you…”
He then proceeds to translate Quasit’s speech…
In between translations, Fin will warily keep an eye and ear out for any spotlights coming from the camp or any patrolling battle-wagons…
The little fey seems utterly unsurprised when you approach her. In fact, she hardly looks up from her digging.
"Oh, you're here to help Little Grandmother, are you?" she croaks, voice surprisingly deep and rough for her size. "Well, Polina can't help with that. Can't get close to nasty men and demons, no. Polina watches, but she can't help. Can't leave her bones."
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Encouraged by what she reveals, Fin spurts out questions in Sylvan, in rapid fashion, but still keeping a low tone. ”Little Grandmother? You know Baba Yaga? What about Rasputin? What do you know of him? And do you know anything of a ‘machine’? And where it might be located? Oh, and no worries, we’ll handle the nasty men and demons ourselves…”
Suddenly realizing he overstepped his bounds, Fin winces, murmuring to Quasit, ”Sorry, Q…got a little excited…I’ll stick to translation, if you wish…”
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”Demons? Oh that doesn’t sound nice at all, Polina.” says Quasit casually. ”Hopefully once we free little grandmother, all these men and demons will leave here. They work for Rasputin, and little grandmother is going to be very mad at him. One thing we need to know— where is the machine that he used to trap her? We want to turn it off.”
Bulvi sets about putting back on his armour while reflecting on the escape from the camp. He looks off in the direction Quasit and Fin had gone off, hoping his friends were alright.
Bulvi sets about putting back on his armour while reflecting on the escape from the camp. He looks off in the direction Quasit and Fin had gone off, hoping his friends were alright.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine." Maka said as she ran a hand through her lover's hair. As usual, her touch was delightfully warm. Picking up a piece of armor, she began to help Buvli with the process.
"Fin and Quasit are so sneaky, and if Selena dies she'll just come back."
Polina cackles. Oddly enough, you don't see anyone paying attention to her laughter--maybe she does this frequently. "You think you can just turn it off? The one who wants Little Grandmother's throne has hidden it away with him, in the church-but-not-the-church, far far away, between here and the land from which I come. You will not get there easily, no."
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"You think you can just turn it off?”
Fin frowns, looking at Quasit first, then back to Polina. ”Then how do we disable this machine?”
”The one who wants Little Grandmother's throne has hidden it away with him, in the church-but-not-the-church, far far away, between here and the land from which I come. You will not get there easily, no."His brows furrow even more. ”Rasputin has hidden it? In the camp’s temple? Far, far away…would it be in the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom he mentioned earlier? How can we get there?"
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”Between here and the world from which you come…” muses Quasit. ”Fairies come from the First World… which is on another plane…Ah! Of course! The machine was described to us as a fey machine. It’s trapped her outside this world somehow, in another plane or dimension where she has no power! That’s what all the purple lightning is for, isn’t it? It powers the plane shift! And that’s probably where Rasputin is hiding— Fin, that might be why he sent that image of himself to attack us— he’s not actually here!”
She gazes at the weird lightning leaping from the corners of the compound. ”So Polina, if we turn off the lightning, will that bring back the church-not-the-church?”
Polina waves a hand in the air. "Maybe? Or maybe it throws it to land I came from. Or maybe it throws all of this into Abyss. Or maybe, maybe it smeeeeaars everything between planes, like bug smashed on foot."
She cackles again. "Why you ask Polina this? She just watch and listen. They not say how to turn off. Maybe you should ask the one who built the anchors of the world, yes?"
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”Between here and the world from which you come…” muses Quasit. ”Fairies come from the First World… which is on another plane…Ah! Of course! The machine was described to us as a fey machine. It’s trapped her outside this world somehow, in another plane or dimension where she has no power! That’s what all the purple lightning is for, isn’t it? It powers the plane shift! And that’s probably where Rasputin is hiding— Fin, that might be why he sent that image of himself to attack us— he’s not actually here!”
Fin nods excitedly. ”Aye, Q, I think you’re right. Rasputin also mentioned Baba Yaga’s ‘Thrice-Tenth Kingdom’, whatever that is, would soon be his…could that be on this other plane or dimension as well?”
She cackles again. "Why you ask Polina this? She just watch and listen. They not say how to turn off. Maybe you should ask the one who built the anchors of the world, yes?"
Fin arches an eyebrow. ”We would…if we knew whom the builder was. Polina, can you tell us who built this machine, or ‘anchors of the world’ as you put it? And where can we find him so we may ask?”
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"Maybe? Or maybe it throws it to land I came from. Or maybe it throws all of this into Abyss. Or maybe, maybe it smeeeeaars everything between planes, like bug smashed on foot."She cackles again. "Why you ask Polina this? She just watch and listen. They not say how to turn off. Maybe you should ask the one who built the anchors of the world, yes?"
Quasit finds herself realizing that this was in fact the appropriate response. But her ears perk up at the end. "The anchors of the world? You mean where the machine is, like a pocket dimension maybe?"
Fin arches an eyebrow. ”We would…if we knew whom the builder was. Polina, can you tell us who built this machine, or ‘anchors of the world’ as you put it? And where can we find him so we may ask?”
Quasit listens with interest for the name of the builder. "If he's a builder, he might have plans for the machine." she observes half to herself.
"Oh yes, the one who walked so heavy with thoughts his head bowed down, the one with the false leg, yes, Polina saw him. He is there," she points at one of the long, burned buildings in the middle of the camp (the near one on the west of the church) "And he is there," she points towards the cavalry camp in the corner of the inner fence.
"You will see, you will see," Polina cackles. "If you need help getting him to talk, bring him here to little Polina. Polina knows some tricks."
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"So... we're looking for a guy with a false leg... who's in two places at once. And yeah, sounds like undead is a good possibility if the tombstone fairy has ways of goading him." says Quasit in Common to Findurel.
She looks around warily. "I think we found out what we needed here. We should get back before they spot us. She's been helpful, but I don't think we can get through the fence here any easier."
"Tell her thank you for talking to us."
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"You will see, you will see," Polina cackles. "If you need help getting him to talk, bring him here to little Polina. Polina knows some tricks."
Fin’s face pales a little when he hears Polina’s reply, realizing another possibility…
"So...we're looking for a guy with a false leg... who's in two places at once. And yeah, sounds like undead is a good possibility if the tombstone fairy has ways of goading him." says Quasit in Common to Findurel.
The Elf nods slowly as he turns to Quasit, murmuring lightly in common, ”Aye, Q, perhaps…but something in the way Polina answered gave me another thought, one most dreadful. Instead of this builder being undead what if he was just…dead? And part of his body is in one place and the other part in another. She’s a tombstone fairy; what do you think the odds are that she can speak with the dead?”
She looks around warily. "I think we found out what we needed here. We should get back before they spot us. She's been helpful, but I don't think we can get through the fence here any easier."
"Tell her thank you for talking to us."
Fin nods to Quasit, then turns, smiles weakly to the fairy, bows, saying, in Sylvan, ”Yes, Polina, of course, we will bring him to you. Thank you for talking to us…and for the information. You’ve been most helpful, we’ll see you soon…”
Then he turns to sneak back to the woods with Quasit…
If they make it back to the woods unseen, as planned, Selena will teleport them back to the hut’s porch…
Quasit, Selena, and Fin appear on the porch of the Dancing Hut... much to the surprise of the quartet of large, white-furred humanoids crouched around it.
Fin reacts just fractionally faster than they do, though he can tell they're raising their claws to attack.
One of Fin's arrows doesn't penetrate his target's hide, but the rest sink deep into the creature's flesh.
The white-furred creatures roar in rage and rush the porch. Two go for Fin, one each for Selena and Quasit.
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"Why isn't the Hut attacking these things?!" hollers Quasit as she ducks under the swooping claw of a yeti. "Wake up, Cluckers!"
She turns around, grabs the door open and ducks inside the Hut, then spots Bulvi and Maka hanging out with the Coffin Man.
"Hey guys! There's a bunch of angry Bigfoots out here trying to beat us up! Have ya got a minute?"
As Quasit burst through the door, Maka did not hesitate to spring into action. Flames engulfed her as she dashed through the door and punched a bigfoot with explosive force.
Bulvi wasted no time, moving out to cover Selena to the north. He drove his blade deep into the Yeti pin cushioned by Fin's arrow.
Selena spins backwards into a step backwards. "You dare strike a jadwiga!" she yells sounding offended. Selena casts gloomblind bolts at the one that struck her, hitting it with both bolts.
As the alert comes, Kalchine is glad that he had not yet removed his own or Chest Thumper's armor.
He sends the frost ape back into the fight, after casting a spell on him, not knowing how similar to their opponents he is going to look.
Fin's first two shots finish off one of the creatures, then his third misses, leaving only one to hit another. Maka grievously injures another, who Selena finishes off, while Bulvi strikes a deep blow against the remaining one on the north.
The remaining creatures attack Bulvi and Maka.
Bulvi did his best to keep the Yeti's focus driving his blade into it's belly and into it's arm pits. The cold doesn't bother him at all but he knew Maka ran hotter than him and would rather finish the fight quickly.
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Sakitu sleeps restlessly. Her back is cold where Fin used to be and she squirms to try to get the blankets wrapped around herself. Then, in the distance, she here's someone shouting. It sounds like Quasit. Why would Quasit be shouting. With a jolt Sakitu wakes. It takes only a moment for her to realize what is going on. She grabs her bow and arrows then races through the fireplace to emerge in the coffin room.
As Maka took to the air to dodge one of the Yeti's blows, its teeth sunk into her leg, halting her movement. The fire monk barely had time to be surprised by its speed before its clawed fist smashed into her face. While the blow might have knocked the head off many, it merely drew a bloody smile from Maka. Flames engulfed her fists as she rained a flurry of blows upon her foe.
The remaining two creatures perish under the party's assault.
The Hut shifts just slightly, as if stirring and then finding no reason to do so.
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By the time Quasit follows Maka and Bulvi out the door, the yeti threat had been dealt with. She'd hesitated long enough to look for Kalchine and Sakitu in the shadows of the coffin room, then had ducked aside to let Findurel do his thing, and that was all the time her friends had needed. Exhaling deeply in relief, she sheaths her sword and slumps agains the doorway to the Hut.
"This just isn't our day." she grumbles. She scans the group, ensuring that no one was too badly injured in the fight.
"So, I don't know if packs of yetis just wander this world and we just got unlucky, or if this was a little surprise Rasputin sent after us. I guess this is just a reminder that the clock is ticking here, and we need to make another attempt on the camp tomorrow night."
Once everyone has arrived on the porch, she continues.
"Fin and I found out a few interesting things from his scouting mission. We found a fey creature who seemed to know a little about what was happening inside the compound. It looks like the machine holding Baba Yaga is actually some sort of pocket dimension or alternate plane. It's got something to do with the purple lightning and it's definitely in that camp. Unfortunately the key to turning the machine off is going to involve finding the man who built the machine for Rasputin. And apparently he's got a false leg, and somehow he's in two different places inside the camp -- in one of the buildings north of the ruined temple and in that camp-like area at the south end of the inner compound. If he's in pieces, he might actually be dead. Or undead. It wasn't totally clear. But the tombstone fairy made it sound like if we retrieve the pieces and bring them to her, she could help us get our answers about the machine."
"So at least we have a couple discrete objectives. Now we just need to figure out how we're gonna get back in there without kicking the hornet's nest again."
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Fin nods. ”We’ll use Selena’s teleport spell; it sounds very nifty. From what she told me, she was able to teleport from the temple tower to the porch of the hut so I’m guessing she can do the same in reverse. Just not sure how many folk she can teleport at once…
“Oh yeah, and she mentioned there was something still up in the tower…think I might’ve took out one from there but looks like he had friends. From there we’d be in between the two places Polina mentioned the ‘builder’ resided and we’d be relatively unseen in there…aside from the aforementioned creatures, which we’ll obviously need to take out quickly…”
"I still think we should take a few days to put together a few spell boxes." Selena says as steps around the bodies and into the hut.
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Fin nods as he retrieves his durable arrows from the furry corpses. ”I agree with Q; not sure what spell boxes are, Selena, but they sound very useful. But they take long to put together; this mission is just to find this builder and get him to Polina. After we find out how to turn off the machine, we’ll likely have to come back here to plan it; the spell boxes sound like they’d be most useful when we have to face Rasputin, so let’s revisit it then…”
Bending over to retrieve his arrows, Fin grimaces. ”Ugh…Kal, or Selena, I could use a bit of healing if there’s any to spare. Caught a couple of claws just under my ribs…bloody bastards got me pretty good, it leave another scar methinks…looks like Selena, Bull, and Maka got hit a bit as well…we all need to be fully charged before heading back…”
Looking back at Quasit, Fin continues. ”So, Q, we leave at dark tonight? Anything, besides finish up sleeping, anything we need to do till then?”
"Bull but you are something with that sword." Maka said as she pulled Bulvi into a passionate embrace.
Maka helped throw the yeti bodies from the porch. "Dinner time Cluckers! Next time you have to actually help though you big lazy chicken."
"This just isn't our day." she grumbles. She scans the group, ensuring that no one was too badly injured in the fight.
"But we won!? Maka said in confusion, adrenaline still coursing through her blood. "And you and Fin found some answers. This day wasn't so bad if you ask me. Could have been a lot worse.
"I still think we should take a few days to put together a few spell boxes." Selena says as steps around the bodies and into the hut.
"If you spent as much time talking about boxes as making them, we'd have boxes."
"I dunno. Not really. Make spell boxes if you want. Think up jokes about a man with a wooden leg." says Quasit.
"Why did the monk with a wooden leg join a new dojo? He believed in 'branching' out!" Maka was barely about to get her joke out before she burst into laughter.
By the time Kalchine arrives, the fight is over. He feels a certain sense of dread when he sees all the massive, ivory furred bodies lying in the white snow, staining it crimson with their blood.
But it takes only a moment for him to recognize his brother is still standing, sulking at arriving too late to participate in the slaughter.
"Of course," he says when there is a call for healing. He gathers up energy from an alternate plane and adds it to his limited medical knowledge.
He is less than pleased by his results.
He then starts calling on the healing power of this world.
After Fin appears healed up he moves on to Maka.
Maka shivered with pleasure as the healing warmth of Kalchine's magic spread through her. Wrapping her arms around the druid, she pulled him into a back breaking hug. "Thanks Kal! You're magic feels way better than getting hurt hurts."