You're able to identify 13 still-living soldiers and stabalize them.
Once their thirst had been slaked, Maka wasted no time moving the survivors. Working with quiet urgency, she began lifting and guiding the weakened survivors out of the tower and toward the nearest cluster of tents in the camp. Those too frail to walk, she carried in her arms, her fire-kissed strength never faltering.
The camp was a mess, but it was still better than the stinking tower of death they’d left behind. Inside the tents, she laid each soldier down on salvaged bedrolls. When the last of them had been settled, Maka turned her attention to warmth. Thankfully, there was plenty of wood to salvage from the numerous ruined buildings.
Soon, fires were crackling outside each tent, their golden light dancing across the snow and ash-streaked ground. Maka fed the fires steadily, managing them with an expert’s touch.
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Once the survivors are tended to and moved, Fin will hurry off to the spot where the Hut first arrived here in Russia, keeping an alert eye out for any danger…
…and fish in the lake that was just south of there to gather some food for the thirteen victims of the vampires…
After catching a mess of fish, he’ll quickly skin ‘em and gut ‘em, then hurry back to the camp with ‘em so Maka can grill ‘em up…
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It seems that the horrors will never end. Just when she thinks they've seen the worst of it, someone finds a new building or room full of some other atrocity.
Sakitu helps Maka bring the living soldiers out of the room and to the tents. She has limited innate healing abilities but she does have a wand. She rummages through her bag then pulls it out. One by one she goes to each of the soldiers and applies the magical healing.
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Kalchine oversees the recovery, directing the distribution of the wounded and organizing them as best he can based on the severity of their condition and the amount of attention they require.
When Fin returns with fish, he advises Maka not to roast it but finds a cauldron and fills it with water, placing it over one of the fires to boil the meat.
Even that is not fed to the men but rather just the broth as he suspects that their stomachs are in no shape to deal with solid food, yet.
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The morning passes into the afternoon as everyone pitches in to help the poor blood-drained soldiers out of the shadow of death’s door. Quasit spends much of her time cleaning and comforting the men, speaking with them quietly in Russian about anything other than their nightmarish ordeal in the tower, being systematically bled to death like livestock. She finds that a few are comforted by some of the cross-shaped holy symbols, even ones made only of wood, and some are comforted by oddly soulful paintings of a hooded mother and her baby. She didn’t really understand the basis of the Russian cult, especially when their gods had so clearly ignored and failed them. But whatever helped these men.
But as the sun passed its zenith in the winter sky, hard considerations came to the surface of her mind, and she gathers the company.
”These men are going to need weeks of nursing, and we can’t stay. We really do need to get back to the Hut. We need to figure out what to do with these dolls, we need to properly identify all these magical items, and we need to rest ourselves. Hopefully we can spare a day or two of down time.”
”Kal, I don’t know if there’s any magic that can restore blood faster. This place seems pretty isolated too, there don’t seem to be any locals who can step in and take over nursing duties. I think the best we can aim for is to get a few healed up enough to look after the others and go looking for help in the countryside. We don’t have a teleport spell any more, so we’ll have to walk the mile or so back and forth from the Hut, unless we’re using the Druid spell to teleport through the trees.”
”And I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be split up. I’m really worried that Elvanna is going to send more minions after us before we can figure out how to crack open the doll-prison. This is life or death for her, and she’s a powerful witch with a kingdom at her back and extensive scrying powers.”
”So, now that these men have food, water, warmth and beds, I think we should head out for the day back to the Hut, and hopefully travel back here tomorrow to continue their care. What do you all think?”
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Fin ponders for a moment. ”I can stay here with them tonight, if you wish, Q. I don’t require as much sleep…I saw how Kalchine boiled the fish, I can catch some more, and keep the fires stoked. There has to be a village or two somewhere around here, not too far away…I could look for tracks that lead to one and we could take the victims there perhaps…”
Kalchine continues to monitor the health and recovery of soldiers. Unfortunately, there isn't much his magic can do to counter the insidious effects of the undead, a fact that clearly disturbs him given the way his ears continuously droop as he moves around the patients.
He shakes his head as Quasit speaks, not in disagreement but in useless denial of the situation. "You're right. Unless we want to move here for at least days, there's only so much we can do for them. It pains me to say it, but I fear that we may have to do all that we can and then let nature take its course one way or the other," he says.
Despite the efficient stoicism of his words, he watches the recovering men sadly.
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Fin ponders for a moment. ”I can stay here with them tonight, if you wish, Q. I don’t require as much sleep…I saw how Kalchine boiled the fish, I can catch some more, and keep the fires stoked. There has to be a village or two somewhere around here, not too far away…I could look for tracks that lead to one and we could take the victims there perhaps…”
Quasit looks uncomfortable and pauses a little before answering.
"I mean, I just said that I don't think it's a good idea to split up. How would you contact us if anything happened to you? Clearly you're really great at scouting while hidden, but we'd want to make contact with any people we find and make an appeal to them. And it's fair to bet they've never seen an elf before, and you don't speak Russian."
She pauses again, then sighs. "But I guess we have to consider that if we have to leave these men in the next day or two, their chances of survival are not great. They won't be able to do anything for themselves for days. We can't ignore that responsibility."
"And I suppose if Elvanna sends anything to come after us, she'll home in on the Hut and the dolls, not this camp. Maybe. Depends how much she can perceive what's happening here. And to be fair, in all our dealings with Rasputin over the last several days, we haven't seen any evidence that he's in contact with her or getting her help."
"OK, here's what we're going to do. We're all going back to the Hut now, with the dolls, to find out what we need to do next. For all we know, that might end up being all that's needed to release Baba Yaga and end all this."
"But assuming there's something else we need to do, in some other place, we delay here for a couple days. We identify magic items, we regather our health, and we do what we can for these men. We make a list of things we want to sell the the Space Merchant, and things we want to buy from him, including a scroll that lets us resurrect Selena, if it's possible. We'll let Fin scout the countryside, and if he makes contact with any good prospects in the way of villages within a few miles, then I'll go and make an appeal to them and offer them some money to help out. Meanwhile, Kal is going to be overseeing the health needs of the men, focusing on just keeping them fed, hydrated and warm, but offering whatever magic he can. The dolls stay in the Hut, no matter what."
"That sounds like a good plan, Quasit." Maka nodded, her voice steady but low with fatigue. She glanced back toward the tents and the faint silhouettes of the wounded men within.
"We’ve done what we can for now. They’re safe, they’re warm, and they’re alive. That’s more than they had this morning."
She adjusted the strap on her pack and turned to the rest of the group.
"Let’s get back to the Hut, figure out these dolls, and get some food and rest. We’ll come back tomorrow and see what more we can do." She gave Quasit a faint, supportive smile.
Kalchine nods.
"A good plan. I think I can help these men but I need to replenish my connection to the planet's energy before I can strengthen them with it."
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Quasit seems satisfied that everyone is roughly in agreement. "All right, let's head out then."
She leads the way out of the camp, and immediately feels relieved to be out beyond dismal wires, slapdash hunts and churned mud of the compound.
"You know Fin, it might be worthwhile looking around to find a horse you can 'borrow' for your scouting. I know it's not as sneaky, but you'd cover a lot more ground and have a better chance of success." she suggests, as they march across the broad fields outside the camp.
You return to the Hut without troubles. As you enter, you find Anastasia talking with the Coffin Man. It seems like they were playing a card game, but Anastasia has laid her hand of cards down to talk.
"...really related to the Baba Yaga? And here mother always said those were just tales to scare young children..." she's saying as you enter.
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"You know Fin, it might be worthwhile looking around to find a horse you can 'borrow' for your scouting. I know it's not as sneaky, but you'd cover a lot more ground and have a better chance of success." she suggests, as they march across the broad fields outside the camp.
Fin nods. ”Aye, Q, that’s a good idea…I ride well and could cover lots of ground…and with Rasputin and his cronies destroyed, not much need for stealth…if I can find a horse, I will do as you suggest…”
As soon as the Hut came into view, Maka lifted off. Flames erupted at her heels as she arced through the air in a streak of light and smoke.
"CLUCKERS!" she bellowed mid-flight, arms outstretched as she wrapped herself around one of the chicken legs in a fiery hug.
"Who’s my good boy? You are! Yes you are!" Sliding down the thick, bark-like limb, she gave it a final pat-pat-thump before striding confidently toward the door.
"Hi, Anastasia! Hi, Bones! We beat Rasputin and found some weird dolls." she called as she beelined to her makeshift kitchen, already kicking the firepit into motion with a little flick of flame from her fingers.
A moment later, the rich, savory scent of cooking began to drift through the Hut. Maka hummed a nonsense tune as she worked, utterly in her element, the chaos of battle already melting away into the rhythm of stirring, chopping, and seasoning for a meal big enough to feed at least a dozen.
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Plodding along on human feet, Quasit arrives inside somewhat later than Maka. Seeing Anastasia talking and playing cards with the Coffin Man strikes her as the first encouraging thing she's seen from the girl. The girl might yet be able to adapt to her situation.
She greets them warmly but in passing, then makes her way toward the room where Tezuzu has set up his 'study'.
"Well, we did it, we killed Rasputin." she announces with not a little pride in her voice. "And we looted some magical stuff. I'd like your help identifying it."
Tezuzu puts down the book he'd been reading, and lowers his spectacles down his beak. "Yes, of course," he answers, sounding unusually accommodating. "It will make a welcome change actually. This is a very dull book."
"Also, Selena was killed. And not just killed. Like, vaporized killed. There's not even a body left to cast a resurrection spell on. Is there anything we can do to bring her back?"
"Perhaps it's her time to move on to the afterlife?" he ventures. This elicits a cool stare and silence, so he raises his hands in defense. "All right, all right. I'm no expert on such things, but if there's one thing I've learned about magic, it's that pretty much anything is possible, if you have enough coin. If nothing else, there is always Wish magic. I'll do some studying and see what I can some up with."
The tengu pauses, then blurts it out. "You know, this will sound harsh, but I think you value my candor on your good days. I'm surprised you want to bring her back. You two have never got along."
"We couldn't have gotten this far without her." answers Quasit automatically.
"Perhaps." counters Tezuzu carefully. "I understand your sense of duty. It would be unseemly to not even try, I suppose. But if my research found that there was nothing we could do, wouldn't you be a tiny bit relieved?"
Quasit scowls at the tengu. "No, I wouldn't. I can't believe you'd say that to me. What kind of monster do you take me for?"
He raises his hands again, waving in surrender. "All right, all right, forget I said anything. Show me what you've found and I'll get to work. Just be prepared for the possibility of your resurrection spell being expensive and hard to come by. Cheating death is not cheap. All magic comes with a cost, and sometimes it's more than just gold."
"Besides, if we actually do get a proper scroll and ritual, who's going to cast it? You? I'm exceedingly clever, but I'm no arch-priest. It'd be a shame to spend sacks of gold on this, then have the spell fizzle because you weren't properly trained and ordained."
"Mmmmm, what is Maka cooking? Something with peppers I hope--I'm in the mood for something spicy."
The smell of dinner filled the Hut as Maka moved with casual purpose, dishing out steaming bowls of stew to everyone. Each came with a heavy ladle of rice, the kind of meal meant to warm the gut and fuel body and mind.
“Eat.” she said simply as she handed Quasit her bowl.
Once everyone had been served, Maka sat down with her own, alarmingly large and piled high, bowl of food. She dug in immediately, eating with a focused and rapid intensity.
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Quasit accepts the bowl with a weary smile. ”Yes ma’am” she replies good-naturedly, then settles into a corner and begins spooning heaping bits of rice and stew into her mouth. She quickly realizes that she’s hungrier than she’d felt. The passage of food into her gullet brought its own special satisfaction. She draws her knees up close and settles her bowl in her hands an inch or so from her mouth, as if making herself as small as possible, and allows herself to savor her food more, closing her eyes often so she can focus. She eats every grain of rice. She follows with a long drink from her waterskin, nearly emptying it. Then she allows herself to just look around at everyone else in the room, holding her empty bowl, and think about nothing but her warm, sated insides.
Winter looks at Maka and gives a short bark to get her attention, and licks her lips.
Maka looked sadly at the fox before giving it a broad smile. "Yeah, let's get you a nice big bowl, Winter." She ladled out a hearty portion and set it on the floor along with a bowl of water.
Anastasia starts at Maka's declaration. "You... beat Rasputin? Does that mean..."
She trails after Maka and Quasit, looking hungrily at the food as Maka cooks. The young noblewoman certainly seems more... present now than when you first rescued her.
As Maka starts serving the food, she finally breaks her silence. "Rasputin... he... he was planning something terrible, wasn't he? He's dead now? But... is true that... he and mother... am I truly Baba Yaga's granddaughter?"
Meanwhile, Syvet appears by Winter from... well, wherever she's been hiding in the Hut lately. "Losing your master... I do know your pain, you know," she commisserates with her fellow familiar, voice quiet to avoid attracting the attention of the others in the room. "But... you can feel it, can't you? With how recent her death was, there's still a bit of a connection remaining between you. We might be able to do something with that, if her former friends aren't planning to resurrect her..."
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"Rasputin... he... he was planning something terrible, wasn't he? He's dead now? But... is true that... he and mother... am I truly Baba Yaga's granddaughter?"
"Yes. To all of that." says Quasit from the corner. "We hadn't mentioned this, but we spoke to the ghost of your mother a few days ago, before we found you. Rasputin had used his evil magic to trap her soul. She asked us to find you and save you from him. We didn't mention it before because we didn't want to upset you, but now... well, it probably seems less shocking in view of everything that's happened to you."
"Rasputin conspired with another child of Baba Yaga, who is a queen on our world, to kidnap Baba Yaga and trap her in a magical prison. And as bad as Baba Yaga is in all the stories you've heard, this queen and Rasputin were worse. The queen plans to bring eternal winter to our world and conquer it to enslave it. We don't know exactly what Rasputin's plans were, but I think it's safe to say that he intended to rule Russia through you, and maybe more."
Quasit stands up and retrieves the old crone doll from Sakitu. "We think this is the magical prison holding Baba Yaga. It was hooked up to the enormous magical machine inside the church and Rasputin died trying to stop us from reaching it. He fought us with demons and vampires and other undead monsters and even used his dark magic to resurrect himself after we killed him, forcing us to kill him again." She holds out the doll to Anastasia to look at and even hold if she wishes.
"Baba Yaga has many children and grandchildren on many worlds. So you're special, but not unique. But your soul is your own--you make your own choices. We'll help you and protect you, if we can. If you want us to."
Kalchine has to hold Chest Thumper back from pushing his way first in line for the food. The frost ape grumbles but waits. Then, when they get their food, Chest Thumper picks another corner and scoops up the food with his paw, shoveling it away with a speed and intensity that rivaled Maka.
Kalchine also eats rapidly, but with obvious, thoughtful efficiency, as though ensuring that he eats the most he can in the shortest time he can in case he is interrupted.
He listens to the conversation about Rasputin, Baba Yaga and Elvanna's schemes. They affected two different worlds, though neither was his own.
Still, only a fool would believe that people with that much power and ambition would stop at one world and not turn their covetous gazes towards others once the first was in their grasp.
Maka gets the idea that Winter was rolling her eyes at her, or maybe a grateful look, or a mix perhaps, before trying to lap up stew juice a lick at a time, noticeably unable to pull out the chunks of meat from the bottom of the bowl, nor able to just sip the juice.
Anastasia frowns at the doll and takes it. "It's just a matroyshka doll, can't you..."
She tries to twist the top of it, frowns, and tries harder. "It's stuck," she complains after a moment. "But you really think..."
The young woman pauses again, then hands it back to Quasit so quickly she almost throws it. "No, I believe it, I believe it! That..." she trails off and shudders.
Just at that moment, Quasit gets a sense of irritation from the doll... and the sense that she should go through the hatch in the cauldron room that leads to the attic.
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Sakitu accepts the stew from Maka and finds a spot to sit near Fin. As always, Maka's food is good. Sometimes it's a bit spicy but not today. She enjoys the savory flavors and somehow they make her feel more relaxed.
She gladly hands the doll over the Quasit and then watches to see what Anastasia will do with the doll. She isn't surprised to see her hand it back. Even though she doesn't want it, Quasit is almost certainly the best person to hold onto the doll. She always knows what is going on. If anyone can figure it out, it will be her.
Sakitu finishes her bowl. The warm feeling in her stomach makes her drowsy . She looks around the room for Fin but he's not around. He's probably in with that card guy again, she realizes.
With nothing else to do, she finds a soft spot to sit and just waits to see what everyone else is doing.
Fin gives a weary smile upon entering the hut…
”Deal me in, Bones,” the Elf says as he pulls up a seat, tired and weary. ”When we rescue Baba Yaga, I’m gonna ask her to install a hot tub in this joint…”
"You might say there already is one, if you're in the right Hut," The Coffin Man says as he deals, finishing with only a little coughing.
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"Uhh, guys, this doll is getting all up in my feelings again. It wants to go back to the cauldron room, and it wants me to take it to that attic."
"I guess we should see what's up there. I remember it being pretty empty when we peeked in there before. Whatever this doll wants, we're not going to another damned world until we've had a chance to rest and re-equip, but I suppose it can't hurt to take a look. Anyone wanna come with?"
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Fin nods. ”I’ll go with you, Q, if you wish…but I’d think twice before even taking a peek, at least at this time. What if the attic is a portal to some place else and just sticking our head in takes us there? I’d rather ID all this stuff, get in touch with Zilvazaraat so we can update our gear, and then try the attic door. We’ve done everything she’s wanted us to do thus far…and we’ll do this as well…but I’d rather wait till we’re better prepared for whatever comes next first. We’ve suffered several deaths among us, been nearly killed ourselves multiple times…I think we’ve earned a couple days respite…
“That being said, you go, we go…”
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'I dunno. There wasn't a portal in there last time we looked, unless it was invisible. And so far the only way to move to other places is to put keys into the cauldron. And that's usually preceded by the Hut sending clues to us through riddling harbingers of one sort or another. My guess is that we're being invited to witness some new clue as to how we get the Hut moving again."
"What do the rest of you think? I have to admit, Findurel makes a good case."
Kalchine puts aside his mostly empty plate before answering.
"I agree with Fin on both points to different degrees. If any of us go, we should all go. That is an absolute. Especially where dimensional travel is involved, getting separated is incredibly dangerous," he says.
"I also don't think we should investigate just yet, but I'm not as adamant about that. If you are feeling compelled to do it immediately, or if it seems that there is some time limit then we can investigate now. Otherwise, I think we should wait until we are all at full strength and, if possible, until we have gotten new gear."
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Quasit tilts her head back and forth, then makes a surrendering gesture with her hands (one of which still holds the egg-shaped doll).
"OK, we wait then." She holds up the doll. "Sorry Babs, you'll have to wait a little longer, we won't be much good to you if we're dead."
"Say, did we try to open the other dolls? The ones with the soldier faces?"
Meanwhile, Syvet appears by Winter from... well, wherever she's been hiding in the Hut lately. "Losing your master... I do know your pain, you know," she commisserates with her fellow familiar, voice quiet to avoid attracting the attention of the others in the room. "But... you can feel it, can't you? With how recent her death was, there's still a bit of a connection remaining between you. We might be able to do something with that, if her former friends aren't planning to resurrect her..."
”I am curious about these ideas you have, if they won’t interfere with bringing her back, we have plans for this. She’s been dead before, and we don’t plan on this being the last time. It’ll be more difficult this time, but the merchant guy seems able to get the kind of supplies needed. I think the others are in favor of reviving her, but some concern about how to accomplish it is there. Maybe I should see if the merchant can understand us. He travels a lot and might have magic to understand all the different languages he needs to interact with.”
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Quasit tilts her head back and forth, then makes a surrendering gesture with her hands (one of which still holds the egg-shaped doll).
"OK, we wait then." She holds up the doll. "Sorry Babs, you'll have to wait a little longer, we won't be much good to you if we're dead."
The sensation Quasit gets from the doll is so like a grumpy "Harumph!" that she could almost swear she heard something. Funnily enough it seemed directed more at being called "Babs" than the rest of it.
”I am curious about these ideas you have, if they won’t interfere with bringing her back, we have plans for this. She’s been dead before, and we don’t plan on this being the last time. It’ll be more difficult this time, but the merchant guy seems able to get the kind of supplies needed. I think the others are in favor of reviving her, but some concern about how to accomplish it is there. Maybe I should see if the merchant can understand us. He travels a lot and might have magic to understand all the different languages he needs to interact with.”
"I could always translate if need be, you realize," Syvet says, haughtily. "We should be able to draw on that connection you still have with her to bring her soul to you. There are actually some witches that set something like this up ahead of time, where the familiar and the master will end up with both souls in one body if one of the two of them dies. My master..."
Syvet pauses just a moment, then continues, "...my master never thought she'd need something like that, but she did study it , which of course means that I've studied it. It might even make revival easier afterward, if it works like the case I described she'd just need an empty body to possess once she got tired of sharing yours with you."
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As the group discussed their next steps, Maka’s attention drifted to the hearth. One coal pulsed a little brighter than the rest, red-gold and alive. Something called to her from within the flame; old, familiar. Hungry.
Without thinking, Maka grabbed the glowing coal and popped it into her mouth the way another might a piece of fruit. She chewed it with a satisfying crunch and swallowed without flinching. No pain. No burn. Just… a strange warmth blooming in her belly.
There was a long moment of silence.
Then.
“Hic!”
Another.
“Hiccough!”
Maka’s eyes bulged. Her hands gripped her stomach. A low rumble echoed from deep in her core.
“...Oh no,” she whispered, staggering back. “Oh gods...I gotta...outside!”
She shoved open the Hut’s crooked door and stumbled out into the snow, great clouds of smoke rolling from her mouth. The cold didn’t help. If anything, it made things worse.
She dropped to her knees in the snow, wracked with coughs. She braced herself, palms digging into the frost. Her throat and mouth engorged unnaturally as something large forced its way up.
A final retch.
“HHRRAGH!”
With a heavy, wet THUD, a steaming, ember-veined egg the size of a melon flopped into the snow. It glowed from within like a furnace.
Maka collapsed backward, gasping, eyes wide.
“…Did I just...”
The egg quivered. Then cracked.
A spray of sparks burst from its seams as the shell split open. From the wreckage waddled out a dog-sized version of Baba Yaga’s Hut. Formed from blackened wood and fire, it toddled forward on ungainly ember-chicken legs. Its crooked windows glowed like eyes. Smoke puffed from a chimney on its back as it circled Maka once, then flopped down beside her in the snow like a loyal little pet.
She stared.
“Cluckers?”
The hut gave a warm little toot as smoke rose from its chimney in the shape of a heart. It nuzzled gently against her leg.
“CLUCKERS!!” Maka laughed, throwing her arms around it. She hugged it tight, rocking back and forth in the snow, face pressed to its sooty wall.
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Quasit’s attention is predictably drawn anytime a person reaches into a fireplace. Even if it’s Maka. She’s about to go back to bellyaching about her lack of liquor when the monk unpredictably tosses a hot coal down her gullet, crunching it up like a pecan.
At first she just stares, wondering if this is perhaps something Maka has been doing all along, but just not when she’s watching. But when Maka starts evincing distress and races out of the Hut, Quasit follows in full panic mode.
”Omigosh, what in the Nine Hells were you thinking? Are you crazy?” she yell-worries at her friend, dropping to her knees beside Maka, but helpless to do anything actually helpful. ”Maybe you should drink some water or something?”
And then the egg … appears. The rogue’s eyes grow wide in wonder and astonishment, leaving her speechless. She favors Maka with many different confused looks one after the other, but no words.
And then the egg begins to actually hatched. Quasit grabs her hair with both hands. ”What is happening right now?” she says in defense against terror and panic. ”If Baba Yaga is doing this to you, so help me…”
And then the baby Murder Hut emerges from the egg, and Maka goes into ecstasies. Quasit blinks a few times, taking a quick mental inventory of her faculties to make sure she didn’t just go mad.
Famously, Maka was a believer in free love, but… had she been bonking the Hut on the sly? She looks back over her shoulder toward the Hut itself, expecting it to now begin croaking paternally.
”Um…”
”Congratulations?”
“Thanks!” Maka said, still beaming with delight. “That’s the best coal I’ve ever eaten.”
She kipped up from the snow and began brushing herself off. As soon as her attention drifted, the tiny hut vanished in a puff of sparks and smoke.
“Wait, where did he go?” Maka blinked and looked around. She tilted her head, listening to something no one else could hear.
“Ohh, okay!” she said brightly.
She furrowed her brow and focused; eyes narrowing, jaw tight. The miniature fire-hut flickered back into view for a moment, legs skittering in the snow, before vanishing again in another swirl of smoke.
“I guess it only works when I’m concentrating, huh?” Maka said aloud, more to herself than to anyone else. She smiled, eyes alight with discovery.
“Okay, so he’s not really speaking in words, so I’m not sure, but… I think eating that coal let part of Cluckers live inside me.”
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Kalchine isn't aware of the commotion until Quasit chases Maka. He is preparing what healing he has left when Maka...gives...birth?
Then, he gets ready to smite whatever evil thing has been torn out of her, though he's not sure his fire focused spells are going to have much effect.
But then...she doesn't seem upset, even protective and pleased.
"This world gets stranger all the time," he mutters to himself and goes back into the hut, missing the days when life was simple and he only had to worry about battling dragons and falling off of the dragonkin carrying him and plummeting to his death in the snow that had fallen decades earlier.
Maka grinned and crouched again, hands on her knees as she watched the little hut blink in and out of sight. Each time she focused, Cluckers reappeared. Stomping in a happy circle, kicking up sparks, and letting out soft chimney toots that puffed little rings of ember-smoke into the night air. Each one leaving behind the smell of cedar and cinnamon.
“Okay little guy, time to go inside.” Maka chuckled, clapping her hands as he did a wobbly little dance on his chicken legs before disappearing in a puff of sparks and smoke.
Maka stood and headed back toward the Hut’s crooked door. "This a great sign, right?" she asked Quasit, practically glowing with excitement.
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Kalchine's eyes widen and his ears flick in surprise at Fin's words. He looks at Maka, Quasit an Sakitu in curious wonder.
But it is Fin that he approaches, talking quietly to him.
"Is that how it works on your world?" he says, barely above a whisper. "On Triaxus women give birth..."
He pauses, frowning and his ears drooping as he tries to figure out how to explain childbirth to a person whose never seen or experienced it or been around a being who is capable of it.
"Um...differently," he awkwardly finishes.