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"I agree with Quasit. Let's not try to get around the incoming troops.”
Fin nods his head. ”Aye, forget what I said, Q’s plan is sound; head north, look for some cover, preferably on high ground, and observe before we act…”
He does his scouting thing as usual, moving north through the woods ahead of his friends, checking to see if things are clear before waving his friends forward…and keeping an alert eye out for the human and three bears…
Fin doesn't see any signs of the bears or human as the group goes north. You can hear the metal wagons drawing closer.
"Okay Bull, the only ones I want a bear chewing on are you and me. You stay up front and I'll stay in the back." Maka gave Bulvi a quick kiss on the cheek before taking her position in the rear. More concerned with keeping an eye out for threats then keeping herself hidden.
It doesn't seem like the bears have come to the north.
The metal wagons stop around 600' from the Hut, while the soldiers come up to 400'. The yellow mist and whatever's in it go a little to the north and stop around 200' away. For now, they're holding position.
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As the enemy sortie takes their places before the Hut, Quasit punches a fist into her palm.
"Ha! Perfect! They're settling in to lay siege to the Hut. Good! Let 'em rot out here! Our business is still back at the camp."
"I say we move farther off north, like a mile or so, then make a camp and finish resting. Then while they watch an empty house, the mice will sneak back into their parlor!"
"Agreed. If nothing else, we can return after our mission in the camp is complete and strike them from behind when we are better rested and prepared for combat," Kalchine says, preparing to head north and get far enough away from the soldiers and camp that his group won't be easy to find.
"Selena, I don't know how familiars work really, but could your fox keep an eye on them and let us know somehow if they start moving toward us?"
Selena paused, as if she didn't want to admit Quasit was right about something. "...Yes, but only up to a mile. Any further will break the connection."
"Perhaps finding this golden lucks person is a good idea. We are assuming that they are working for our enemies, but perhaps they are not associated with them at all or are a foe of our foes," Kalchine comments.
"Though, until we are all recovered it is safer to avoid everyone, just in case."
You distantly hear the headless horseman shouting. A few moments later, you hear distant thuds, followed shortly by explosions in the area of the Hut.
The Hut stands up... and vanishes.
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Fin is wary about moving on while this ‘Goldilocks’ and ‘her’ bears are still lurking somewhere unknown; he also doesn’t like leaving while the headless Cossack leader is still undead…
”Q, wha…Erastil’s antlers! What in Nine Hells was that?” he exclaims as the war party opens up on the Hut. Turning back to look at the Hut, his mouth drops open as it disappears…
”What the bloody hell do we do now, Q?”
Hearing a crash, he points to the southeast. ”Something crashed…in the distance…that way. Perhaps the Hut ‘landed’ there?”
Turning to Quasit, he says, ”Lemme try to take out that headless leader, Q, he’s calling the shots; there’s an old Elven proverb, cut off the head, kill the snake…”
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”Something crashed…in the distance…that way. Perhaps the Hut ‘landed’ there?”
"Yeah I heard it." says Quasit quietly. She frowns, feeling that she's obviously once again misjudged things.
”Lemme try to take out that headless leader, Q, he’s calling the shots; there’s an old Elven proverb, cut off the head, kill the snake…”
"Rasputin is the head of the snake, our goal is to stop him." counters Quasit. "You heard Selena earlier--the Hut is basically indestructible. I don't think the Hut is going to dodge attacks and run off, I think that crashing was most likely the Hut landing on and smashing one of those battle-wagons that fired at it."
"But I suppose it can't hurt to watch, just to be sure. At this point all their attention will be focused on the Hut."
"OK, how about this: we'll get close enough to watch but stay hidden for now. If they start to actually damage the Hut, we'll jump in to help. And if the headless horseman tries to escape, maybe Saki can put one of those flying spells on you and you can go chase him down from the air before he can get away. And if 5 minutes from now there's nothing left but twisted metal and jellied soldiers, we can declare victory and go back inside the Hut for a decent rest."
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"Rasputin is the head of the snake, our goal is to stop him."
Fin’s face looks downcast. "Aye, Q, you’re right…I misspoke. What I meant is the Cossack is calling the shots here; he’s giving the orders to attack the hut. I thought killing him might leave their attack force both leaderless and confused on how to proceed…"
Maka was visibly upset at the sounds of combat. The idea of Cluckers enduring combat on his own tore at her stomach. "What if I just go!? She begged Quasit.
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"What if I just go!? She begged Quasit.
Quasit knits her brow and hesitates in answering. Then she lays a hand on Maka's arm. "Please, not yet. Let's let Cluckers even the odds a little first. There's a pretty good chance we're gonna have to do some fighting tonight still, but I want to pick our moment. We can't afford to lose you." she says, almost pleadingly.
Steam rose from her eyes as Maka verged on tears. Clenching her fist and summoning her monastic discipline, Maka gave Quasit a firm nod. "Okay, you can count on me! But let's try save the bear bodies as a treat for Cluckers."
Kalchine cringed a little as the sounds of combat began. But his resolve to follow their current course of action was unchanged.
"This hut is clearly more than just a base or home to you all. It seems you view it as an ally. I know it can be hard to leave an ally behind, but I will remind you all that we are in no shape to face such a large force. We should do all that we can to ensure that 'Cluckers' is safe but we must also remember that there is no benefit to anyone if we charge in and get killed alongside it.
"Besides...can't it just go to another dimension if it needs to?"
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"This hut is clearly more than just a base or home to you all. It seems you view it as an ally. I know it can be hard to leave an ally behind, but I will remind you all that we are in no shape to face such a large force. We should do all that we can to ensure that 'Cluckers' is safe but we must also remember that there is no benefit to anyone if we charge in and get killed alongside it.
Quasit nods along with this, looking around at the faces of her companions, and unconsciously sidesteps to stand a little closer to Kalchine and facing the same direction he does.
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Once the groups finds a good hiding spot, Sakitu settles down and waits to see what happens. She's content to let the others to the planning.
She gasps when the hut disappears.
She knows the hut is magical but she couldn't figure out what it just now did. The distant crashing makes her think that it didn't get too far.
She stands up and joins Quasit, Fin, Maka, and Kalchine just in time to hear Quasit suggest that it smashed one of the metal wagons.
"I hope so! And if it just smashes all the rest of them, I'd be happy with that too! So we're just going to wait a little bit more, right?"
You peek out of the forest... and see that the soldiers have stopped firing only shortly after they started. In the darkness it's hard to make much of anything out, but you could maybe interpret the shifting around of shapes in the dark to indicate some measure of confusion. You do not see the Hut.
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"…but I will remind you all that we are in no shape to face such a large force. We should do all that we can to ensure that 'Cluckers' is safe but we must also remember that there is no benefit to anyone if we charge in and get killed alongside it.
Fin shrugs. ”I was just thinking we should protect the Hut as best we can. I know Selena said the Hut was indestructible…but the Hut did disappear instead of facing all that fire from the soldiers and the battle wagons. Perhaps the Hut, or even worse Rasputin, knows something Selena doesn’t? And without the Hut, we’re stuck here…”
"Besides...can't it just go to another dimension if it needs to?"
Fin frowns. ”No…at least I don’t think so. We always had to find the keys and put ‘em in the kettle before it could go anywhere. And if it somehow could, we might be stranded if it didn’t have the keys to return here…and of all the places this Hut has taken us, this is the place I’d least like to be stranded on…”
Quasit nods along with this, looking around at the faces of her companions, and unconsciously sidesteps to stand a little closer to Kalchine and facing the same direction he does.
Seeing Quasit’s reaction, Fin ponders a moment before speaking. ”You’re our leader, Q; while I might disagree with you on occasion, I’ll always have your back. You’ve been right far more times than wrong, not to mention far more times than I have. I’ll follow wherever you lead…”
"What happened? Where did it go?" she mutters.
Fin answers Quasit’s query, pointing to the south. ”Sounds like it’s moving further south…should we follow it, Q? We can’t teleport to it if we don’t know its location, can we?”
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Quasit shakes her head. ”Nope. Let the Hut lead them on a merry chase for a while. If they’re following it south then we move north and make a camp. We need to rest so we can be fresh to disable the machine and take out Rasputin. That’s our job. Rasputin is Baba Yaga’s jailor, that much seems clear now. And freeing her is our mission. Tracking down the Hut later won’t be hard— even I could track gargantuan chicken feet crashing through a forest.”
“We camp, keep a watch out for Goldilocks, then head back to an emptied camp to finish our job while the baddies are off chasing Cluckers.”
“I know it goes against our instincts to leave enemies undealt-with in our rear, especially when the Hut is our way home, but I think this is the smart play. It weakens the camp considerably and buys us the time we need to get back to full strength. I think it’s a risk well worth taking.”
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Quasit shakes her head. ”Nope…I know it goes against our instincts to leave enemies undealt-with in our rear…”
Fin looks forlornly from afar at the headless Cossack leader…it’s against every fiber in his body to leave that abomination undead…he thinks back to when he last saw his father, his throat ripped out by that bloody mummy…his vow later to slay any and all undead…his eyes go fiery…
He turns back to Quasit, saying urgently, ”Q, I really need to…” and bites his tongue, recalling what he’d just said moments earlier about following her, before continuing, ”…scout ahead and find a place to make camp…” He nods curtly at her before glancing southward towards where the Hut went, then draws his bow and scouts ahead thru the woods to the north, in his normal fashion, alert for the hunter and the bears, until he can find a suitable campsite…
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Quasit witnesses Findurel's hesitation and disquiet with some alarm, but says nothing. This was a side of her friend she was not used to seeing -- she could sense his stridency and anger toward the headless horseman. This was more than just his judgment of the wisdom of their course of action, this was... something deeper. Almost like a thirst for vengeance. It was a little frightening.
Wordlessly she watches the archer go stalking off to the north, grateful that for now the conversation had ended, but uneasy about his state of mind. She glances toward Sakitu, as if wondering how her kitsune friend was viewing this side of her hlao-roo.
"He seems pretty upset." she confides quietly to Sakitu.
"Cluckers, you big dumb coward." Maka shook her head at the news of Clucker's retreat, but relief and affection were clear on her face and in her tone. "I love him so much!" The fire monk looked to be on the verge of tears again.
“I know it goes against our instincts to leave enemies undealt-with in our rear, especially when the Hut is our way home, but I think this is the smart play. It weakens the camp considerably and buys us the time we need to get back to full strength. I think it’s a risk well worth taking.”
"Okay, but you still have to eat something!" Maka warmed up some packs of trail rations between her hands before distributing them to the group. She also poured each of them a cup of piping hot tea from her magic jug. It might not compare to the dinner now going to waste inside of Cluckers, but at least it wasn't cold.
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Quasit is about to suggest waiting until they reached camp to start eating, but her stomach overrode her. She accepts the warmed rations and the tea and munches away as she trudges along behind Findurel (though giving him plenty of space, given his mood).
"You do understand that once we free Baba Yaga, she's going to take her Hut back, right?" says Quasit between deep swallows of tea.
"You do understand that once we free Baba Yaga, she's going to take her Hut back, right?" says Quasit between deep swallows of tea.
"Yeah..." Maka sighed and starred listlessly at the stars for a few moments. It was something she had been trying not to think about for some time.
"She'll probably still let me see him sometimes though...right?" Maka's big golden eyes looked to Quasit for hope.
"Neither are dogs." Maka said as if stating the obvious. "But it's more than him being a pet. He's also a home, our home. I think us having a home helps us be a family." Maka flashed Quasit a toothy grin.
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Quasit pastes a smile on her face in return and tries not to betray her own feeling that the interior of the Hut was a paranoid playground of monsters, horrors and fiendish death-traps sprung from the bizarre and wicked imagination of Baba Yaga, though even she had to concede that the gargantuan stomping chicken feet were kinda cute.
She reflects that Maka was an orphan, brought up in the rough spartan environs of a monastery. It seemed to make her grasp more tightly to whatever relationships she had a chance to form. There was no gainsaying her volatile, rather desperately affectionate nature.
And of course the mention of family conjured up again briefly the sad shade of her poor father in the back of her mind, drowned in a ditch. Her cruel brother and her hanged brother lingered nearby as well. And her mother--wild, selfish, distant--the avatar she struggled not to emulate. The concept of family felt more complicated... friends were nicer.
Quasit finishes her cup of tear and holds out the mug for a refill. "Baba Yaga is basically a goddess. She could probably conjure up another Murder Hut for you if you wanted and if she was so inclined. I doubt she's really the 'lending' type."
"Frankly I'd be happier sharing a cozy little beach house with some hammocks, a lot of fruit and a nice half orc cabana boy to give me foot rubs... and other sorts of rubs occasionally. But to each their own."
Kalchine's ears flick and angle toward Quasit as she stands near and subtly aligns herself with him.
He watches Fin closely, wondering if they're going to have to chase after and rescue him from a suicide mission.
"Sometimes, patience is the most important and effective weapon," he comments.
He nods and bows his head slightly in thanks for the warm food, eating it on the march and glancing back at Chest Thumper periodically before looking back ahead and grinning. Though it is possible for the Frost Ape to walk on only two legs, it is always amusing to see his bow legged, vaguely clumsy and uncertain gait as he tries to hold the food and cup and walk along.
Kalchine's ears droop a bit as Quasit speaks of her dream home.
"Do you not have enough money and valuables to buy a nice home? Together? You could certainly buy a tower or keep on my world, though there is an eternal war there so it wouldn't be much of a retirement."