Once Quasit is in position Bulvi tries to distract the beast by driving his longsword into the neck. "Now!"
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Bulvi manages to bring down the polar bear, though as the bear drops Tyrael the creatures head is laying on his waist covering his legs.
Quasit manages to stab a dead carcass
~~End of Combat~~
"Here, gimme a hand..."says Quasit as she lays her shoulder into the dead bear and tries to roll it off Tyrael. "Are you ok, Tyrael?"
Bulvi tries to lever the jaws of the bear open to help get Tyrael free.
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Quasit looks at the mauled Apsu-ite and thinks for a moment, then pulls out a magic wand she has stuffed up her sleeve. She takes a step toward Tyrael and offers it to him as casually as she can.
"Um... here... it cures wounds. You're a cleric right? So you should already know how to use it, I'm guessing. Anyway, go ahead and use it if you want. Everyone should be full strength at the witch tower."
It doesn't take a sense motive check to see that her nonchalance is at least partly feigned.
Like someone who's just politely offered to share her cake when she'd rather have eaten it all.
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"That was scary," Sakitu exhales with a sign of relief. "And it looks like we weren't too harmed by it." She glances at Tyrael and the wounds on his body but sees that Quasit has that under control.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I am tired of running into scary monsters out here in the cold. We should continue to the tower." She ignores the fact that the tower may be even more dangerous than the wildlife they have been encountering on the way.
"Monster? It was just a bear. Not exactly monster material you know. We should dress it. Good meat and great fur." Selena says examining the kill.
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"Monster? It was just a bear. Not exactly monster material you know. We should dress it. Good meat and great fur." Selena says examining the kill.
"We don't have time for that right now."says Quasit. "Our only chance of succeeding at that witch tower is if we can get there quickly, before they are ready for us. Besides, I doubt anyone is going to be interested in lugging around a hundred pounds worth of bloody meat and fur.
"First, we can store the meat in a tree. The cold preserves it. Second, the tower is as prepared as it will be. Especially now when a direct response is most likely. At the very least, we want to wait till late at night, but a day or so is better. Let them think we are running away rather than attacking."
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"What? No!"says Quasit in shock. "Look, we just killed, like, half a dozen soldiers back in town less than an hour ago. The other soldiers are not going to let that go. They are probably trailing us right now. The LAST thing we want to do is spend a couple hours dressing a bear carcass! We aren't going to be hard to track. And they are not going to just give up on us and assume we wandered off. We need to keep moving, or else we lose the initiative. Not to mention that Nadya's family will be a target once those soldiers report in."
"Selena, I get it, you want to play this cool and subtle. Normally I'd agree. Normally I wouldn't want to go anywhere near a witch's tower, for that matter. But we have to keep moving now, we don't have any choice."
She looks around at the others. "Guys, back me up here."
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"I really don't see the point in trying to get any meat from this bear. I mean, it will just take some time and it's not like we are running out of food. Our real danger is just the soldiers behind us and the tower in front of us. Having extra meat won't change that." Sakitu blushes as she realizes how outspoken her words sound. She steps close to Quasit for support.
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Fin looks from one woman to the other and shrugs. "It matters not to me. The Elves I grew up around rarely ate meat so I'd pass on the bear meat...but Selena has a point about the tower perhaps expecting us sooner as opposed to later...
"But...if it comes to a stalemate, as opposed to sticking around and arguing, I'd vote to move on...
"..I'll scout ahead a bit while y'all decide..."
Fin draws his bow and scouts the way ahead...
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Tyrael looks at quasit"thank you"
Tyrael moves the wand over himself and it activates with out a problem as his wounds heal. Afterward he hands it back out to quasit"you are very generous I shall return the favor in the future."
"As far as moving along or getting meat from the bear. It would be a waist of the animal but we can always come back for it as the cold will also preserve it as a whole."
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"you are very generous I shall return the favor in the future."
Quasit beams a bit shyly, but plays it off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "No big deal, I didn't even pay for it. Our friend Ibona... um, left it behind." She glances sideways involuntarily. She goes to take it back, but stops herself and gives a little sigh. "Actually... maybe you should hold onto it for now. Sometimes when I use it, it doesn't go off. And if we're in combat, and I'm freaking out, I don't want someone's death to be my fault. You know? I'll nab it back from ya later."
"As far as moving along or getting meat from the bear. It would be a waist of the animal but we can always come back for it as the cold will also preserve it as a whole."
"Well, it's his own fault if he goes to waste. Um, well, you know what I mean. He attacked us. Stupid bear." She gives the stupid bear a little kick. "Besides, it almost killed you. Don't feel sorry for that crummy thing."
"Either way food isn't currently a problem, let's push ahead. If things become protracted we'll be dead or looting food from the soldiers in service to the tower... if we need to we can hunt later. Now's not a good time to stay still."
"It isn't about the food specifically. Attacking the tower now is a bad idea. This," gestures to the bear, "is just an opportunity thing. Whether we do anything with it, the soldiers will expect either we are enemies who will attack now or tonight, or that we were nothing and will try to run. We should therefore do neither. Besides, what we really need is intel. The queen is the root if the problem, not the local witch. Defeat the queen, hand her over to Baba Yaga like she is supposed to do, the rest will sort itself out. If you die here today, you solve nothing, even if you manage to kill her. The queen is our objective, keep that in mind."
"That is an assumption. We don't know that she specifically opened the portal. The portal is a double edged sword and the queen may not want others knowing how to create such a portal. And frankly, a daytime assault is stupid. At the very least come up with a plan that doesn't involve a suicidal frontal assault."
Selena will stay behind a little bit, letting the others lead by a wide margin before leaving the mirror under the bear and memorizing the place to return later.
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Quasit rolls her eyes and shakes her head, then turns to move on with the group. As she walks beside Sakitu and Bulvi she speaks more quietly.
"She's not wrong. About this being stupid."she admits casually. "But it's not really a bunch of lackeys and guards I'm worried about. I've probably killed more stuff in the last 3 days than anybody we're likely to meet at that tower has done in their whole lifetime. I'm worried about magic. Like the crap I saw at that clearing with the creepy doll. We need to watch out for each other. If any of us fall under her spells, the others need to be ready to respond to that."
"Anyway, if she charms me, or turns me into a killer wolf or something... just... you know, do what you have to do. I'm giving you permission now. In case it comes to something... you know, unpleasant."
She smirks sardonically to herself.
"If my brother Colin could see me now, he wouldn't believe it. Me, trying to save the world. On a dare, basically. He told me I'd never amount to anything, that I'd just leech off one man or another my whole life. I assumed he was right. Yet here I am."
She looks up at the dark, cloudy sky and sighs. "If we die out here, no one is even going to know what happened to us. What we tried to do. Not that it'll matter if the world ends, I guess. And not that anyone back home is wondering about what happened to me."
She walks on in silence for a bit, then rubs her arms violently. "Man I hate this cold."
"The more time we give them to prepare I think the harder it will be."
He puts an armoured arm around Quasit's shoulder "I will give you a big bear hug while Sakitu tickles your feet, you'll be back to your old self in no time."
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Fin shakes his head at Quasit. "Erastil's antler's, girl! If that was meant to be a pep talk, I found it wanting..."
The ranger shrugs. "I care not if no one knows what we did here...or tried to do...I do this because it's the right thing to do...and to stand with my friends...we should get moving...
"I agree with Selena that we should not try a frontal assault...we should scout the tower from a distance to ascertain the layout and any guard schedules or patrols to determine the best approach..."
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Sakitu puts an arm around Quasit's waist, beneath Bulvi's arm, so that the two of them have her sandwiched between them. "Yeah, we'll take care of you. Don't be so down on yourself." Sakitu makes a wide gesture with her free hand. "Look at all this wonderful snow and ice. It's like a winter wonderland." She tries to hide the irony in her voice.
At Fin's comments Sakitu nods. "Yes, let's come up with some sort of plan. I'm not sure what it will be but maybe, when we get closer to the tower, we'll think of something."
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Quasit at first seems a little annoyed at being comforted, but that only last a few seconds. She seems to settle into the friendly arms surrounding her and relax noticeably. She lays a hand on both Sakitu's and Bulvi's arms and takes a deep breath.
"Just fair warning guys, if anybody tickles me, it will not end well."she says jauntily. "And I'm really not being down on myself... at least that wasn't my intention. I mean, really, I'm kinda saying the opposite. This is way beyond my comfort zone, this whole thing. It's not like me. I'm not the sort to take wild risks and dangerous missions if I can help it. In a weird way, I'm sorta proud of myself, I think. Although I think honestly I sorta backed into all this because I didn't have the sense to run, like Carianna or Ibona. It's just ... I don't know. Surprising, I guess."
"And for the record, nobody said anything about storming the tower in a frontal assault. I wouldn't do that if we DID have an army. Do I look like the frontal assault sort? But if I do say so myself, I have a knack for getting into places I'm not strictly allowed into. We'll be ok. Like I said -- it's not the mooks I'm worried about."
She reaches up and scratches Sakitu's fuzzy ears, just because she can.
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After Quasit starts to make a revelation and those moving on, its about another 2 hours or so, when Fin hears something like a crackling noise but isn't quite able to figure out what it is causing it.
doesn't seem there are any tracks, and the tree limbs with leaves seem still. but the crackling sounds persists
Bulvi takes out and drinks a potion of cure light wounds before taking a step towards Quasit.
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"Leapin' Lizards!" cries out Quasit involuntarily.
After taking a step to her right and practically stepping on the little creature, then seeing it crackle and hiss at her, instinct told her to get out of the way, and she bent backwards at practically a right angle from vertical as the electricity surged and zapped over her, but making half her hair fly away from her scalp to stand straight out. For a moment, all she could do was process the ozone smell and try to regain her balance, and then arrows went sailing into the nearest lizard.
"What are they? More tickle worms?" she shouts angrily as the sword whipped out of her scabbard. "I hate tickle worms!" And then they were biting at her legs. Befuddled and a trifle panicked, Quasit slashes down at one of the little beasts then drops back defensively.