Crasius:
Hadda:
Ingrit:
Hadda and Ingrit recognize these creatures.
The room is full of equipment typically used by alchemists, as well as other tools usually used in non-magical medicine, such as knives and bone saws. So the occupants are likely alchemists although the grizzly specimens suggest a perverse interest in animals or just a love of torture.
Most forlarrens are female, and few are capable of conceiving children of their own. A forlarren grows to adulthood with astonishing speed, reaching full growth in only a year—even those who come into the world as orphans are capable of defending themselves and seeking out food. Yet despite the rapidity with which they reach maturity, few forlarrens survive to adulthood. Cast out from both sylvan and fiendish society, the typical forlarren is a lonely creature, cursed by its own existence. It detests itself and everything it sees, and soon becomes consumed by hatred of life itself. The forlarren vents its rage on good and evil alike, lashing out at anything that approaches it.
A forlarren stands 6 feet tall and weighs about 160 pounds. In theory, these creatures can live for hundreds of years, but most perish through violence before they turn 10.
Crasius' arrow hits, although the arrows seem to be less effective than normal.
Hadda spots the creatures and knows much about them. She identifies them as Forlarren, the progeny of a nymph and a fiend. The room appears to be an alchemy lab but the grizzly specimens on the drying racks suggest some specialty not common among alchemists.
Rurik moves with haste to take a spot next to Hadda. Spotting the additional enemies, he keeps moving so that he can get close enough to back up Dom.
Seke flies forward.
.
Dom's ability to savor his killing blow against the hag is short-lived as a dart flies and strikes him in the neck. He rips out the offending thing and tosses it down angrily "Enough, bugs! Your mistress is dead and you are next!"
He moves with purpose to strike one of the foes.
;
Looking up angrily at the sting of the dart, Wapiti charges at the creature in the middle of the three, seeing Ingrit's arrow sticking out of it's body, driving his antlers deep into it, with incredible force.
Seke also raises her voice while flying.
“Stop it!! We don’t need to fight here!! We are all on Baba Yaga’s side!!“ she shouts.
Dom slashes the forlarren at the south end of the scaffold.
Wapiti charges and impales the one in the middle.
Seke's impassioned plea is drowned out by the sounds of Dom and Wapiti clashing with two of the three.
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The three claim that they do research for Baba Yaga, although she has not given them any new assignments for a while so they have been doing their own experiments on local fauna. They sense the mantle of Baba Yaga and agree to not interfere with the the group if the group leaves them be.
A search of the hag's body turns up the following: quarterstaff, phylactery of negative channeling, iron key, spell component pouch, wooden unholy symbol of Mestama.
It's...unfortunate that Caigreal had died so unceremoniously. Hadda had just seen her grisly end as she skidded into this room and been immediately drawn in by the threat of another battle--once again with creatures that her arrows would struggle to pierce. She hadn't expected to need so much cold iron.
Seke's parley is a surprising success, just as Hadda is about to provide details about how to destroy the forlarren. Sad creatures, they were--often tragic figures in sylvan folklore. But however pitiable, they were up to...rather grotesque research in here. It tickles a vague recollection somewhere deep in the recesses of her memory. Something she had read long ago in the library of the Sincomakti School of Sciences. But as her mind turns towards that idea, there is only darkness. Oppressive. Weighty. Fragmented. She seems to blank out for a moment before coming to.
She might have caught a poisoned dart to the neck with that drop in defensiveness. She's even still chanting slightly, though she does not recognize the words, when she comes to. It was strange sensation; given her linguistic mastery, she was fluent in over a dozen distinct languages. There were of course languages that she didn't know. But here she was speaking something subconsciously. Unconsciously? And almost as soon as she recognizes this oddity, her tongues stalls in her mouth. She shakes her head. Hmmm...she would need to interrogate that later.
She coughs, clears her throat, and steps forward to address the forlarren. "Fellow servants of the Queen of Witches, thank you for being willing to hear us out. Caigreal was unfortunately unwilling to treat fairly with us, but we dealt with her on orders from the Warden of Artrosa, Jadrenka. For proof of this, I can present Jadrenka's familiar: Adelia. From here, we are willing to leave you be, yet we would ask your aid should you be keen to provide it. We seek things: three."
The librarian holds up three fingers and lowers them as she elucidates each point. "First, we seek keys that Baba Yaga left in Artrosa, as we are bound to seek her. Second, we quest for a way to assist another of her servants, the Warlord Ratibor, in ending the oaths that bind him. Third, we aim to punish the invaders who serve Baba Yaga's immortal enemy: they who dare to tread these halls unbidden and unwelcome. If you know anything of the locations or movements of these three, we will be grateful and may even be able to provide a reward."
Dom is seconds away from charging at one of the forlarren, when Seke is able to talk them down. He rips a dart from his neck, tosses it down angrily, and crushes it under his boot. He lets his anger subside, and feels momentarily fatigued from the exertion. He recenters himself as he cleans his blade. "One witch was bad enough. Can't imagine having to fight two more of these wretches."
Ingrit lowers her bow, moving to remove the dart from Wapiti's shoulder, calming him as the forlarren stand down. As she lays out the offer of truce and cooperation, she moves over to the hag's corpse, searching it for anything of consequence.
Seke is really glad that no fight broke out.
“Yes! We all are doing our best for baba yaga!!“
The forlarren cease hostilities and consider Hadda's words. They clamber up to the top rear of their scaffold and hold a whispered conversation.
Once the group is able to shift concentration from an impending fight to a view of the surroundings, the room seems to be quite different from the rooms seen so far. Gone are the intricate carvings in the walls showing lovely maidens frolicking in verdant fields. The walls in this room are undecorated except for the creepy wreath on the door. The air is barely above freezing.
Hadda slings her bow across her back and motions the others to come closer to her so that they can have their own whispered conversation. With the magic of the boots on her feet, she feels comfortable in the room in spite of the cold. Or at least she feels physically comfortable. The room itself leaves much to be desired, and she'd like to leave sooner rather than later. Once Dom gets close, she takes out a wooden wand carved with spiraling healing runes and begins gently tapping his shoulder with it until his wounds seem sufficiently closed.
"While they consider the terms of our offer, we should consider our next steps." Tap. "Jadrenka's enemies can no longer join together as a coven, but we're far from out of danger." Tap. "I can continue to entreat with the forlarren while a few of you go back to retrieve items of interest in the hag's domicile." Tap. "Then the day is yet young. There was much to explore where we came from." Tap. "If the rest of you feel sufficiently-equipped to continue, then we should make our way." Tap. "Shall we explore more of where we came from or charge ahead through the door to the south in this room?" Tap.
"The loss of one Hag may be noticed. The others will likely know something bad happened if we take to long and make preparations." Crasius says.
Dom is grateful to be healed to near perfect health. [smaller]"Thank you, Hadda. Back where we came from first. There might be valuable information, or items that'll help."
He begins backtracking to search for items of interest.
Dom is grateful to be healed to near perfect health. "Thank you, Hadda. Back where we came from first. There might be valuable information, or items that'll help."
He begins backtracking to search for items of interest.
The partitioned areas mostly contain ordinary items of clothing, dishes, etc. There are, however, two trunks made of hardened leather. One to the northwest quadrant is dusty, apparently undisturbed for some time. It contains a potion of protection from arrows, a black star sapphire worth 3,000 gp, and a jar of earwigs. Caigreal's trunk contains a scroll of flame strike, a bejeweled skull worth 1,200 gp, a leather sack containing 800 gp in assorted coins and small gems, and a wooden case containing what appears to be a collection of children’s scalps. The trunks also contain some clothes of no particular value.
The trio of Forlarren return and give the following information. They say they overheard one of the hags say she thought the centaur had found a key. They also said that Jadrenka might have one. They just want to be left alone. They don't know where the centaur or his frost giant bodyguards may be.
Etching a runic mark in the iron key she retrieved from the fallen hag, Ingrit adds it to the growing collection on the chain around her neck. As the head back to Caigreal's rooms and go through the trunks, she catalogs the items and coin, raising an eyebrow at the jeweled skull, until finding the wooden case.
Upon opening it, and realizing the contents the ranger goes completely still, so much so that it draws attention to her sudden silence, only to reveal her staring down at the horor before her, shaking with palpable rage.
Jadrenka had one of the keys? Hmm--it was likely that she didn't trust them yet or wanted them to prove themselves in some way. If they dealt with the rest of the coven and this centaur, they might be able to get both keys in one fell swoop. One? It sounded like a lot of work. But it was what had to be done. It certainly narrowed down the exploration they would have to do.
"Thank you for the information. We will leave you alone."
Hadda turns to leave and rejoin the others back where chilling discoveries had been made, before she turns back and switches to the Sylvan tongue. "If we need to come back this way, we will knock in a specific pattern. This one." She raps in a simple but distinctive patter and checks that at least one of the forlarren can repeat it. "That way you will know it is us. We will only pass through and give you no further trouble."
This done, she turns to rejoin her companions.
Crasius checks on the hag.
"Thank you for the information." Crasius says to the creatures before they leave.
"What do you see, Ingrit?" Dom heads to her side as she seems to freeze. It takes a moment before he recognizes not only the scalps but their size. "We've done a good deed already by slaying Caigreal," he says, as he's left to ponder the hag's utter depravity.
"And if the others are anything like her, they will meet t5he same fate." Ingrit growls, showing the box of grizzly trophies to the rest of the group.
Hadda makes her way to the others and sees what Dom and Ingrit have found. She grimaces as a cold shiver overtakes her.
Much was made by philosophers and scholars of all stripes over the nature of good and evil. While a planar scholar, such as Hadda, could tell you that there were actual metaphysical correlates of these tendencies, the academic discourse was most commonly about arguments regarding the best way to live life. Might makes right. Do what you're told (whether by your elders, the king, or the gods). Live life for yourself. Live life for others. Do no harm. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Most of it, to Hadda, was nonsense: the drivel of (mostly) men who assumed that their way of seeing the multiverse was objectively correct and tried to shove it down everyone else's throats. Certainly, Pharasma would judge beings: but on what did she judge? Hadda's theory was that she judged people on their values and how well they adhered to those values.
For Hadda, knowledge was the most valuable thing. She knew that not everyone shared this value, and she didn't expect them to. But it certainly colored how she viewed those she interacted with and was a barometer by which she judged their actions. Many terrible things had been done in the pursuit of knowledge across the eons. Whatever the forlarren were doing in their cove was, in its own twisted way, probably a search for some sort of knowledge.
But this...what Caigreal had done...
There was nothing to remotely justify this.
"They accepted her behavior," Hadda said. "That's enough for me to kill them, servants of Baba Yaga or no."
"Agreed." Ingrit replies nodding grimly as she works to get her emotions under control.
Letting out a deep sigh, the huntress' shoulders slump, suddenly feeling the weight of everything they've encountered since arriving in Artrosia. "We should rest, either here or somewhere else we've already cleared. I get the feeling we'll need all the magic and healing we have to take down the other two hags."
"Rest?" Hadda says, blinking. "Already? If we give them too much time to prepare, as Crasius said, it could preface a poorer outcome for us. Surely they have spies."
"We should slay at least one of the two remaining hags," insists Dom. "Our greatest threat is if our foes join forces together. Slay one more and at least we can prevent such a fate."
"You're both right. I'm just...tired. Sometimes it seems like the world never runs out of monsters...whether they take a horrifying form or a seemingly normal one." Ingrit mutters.
Taking a deep breath, the ranger rolls her shoulders, visibly shaking off the moment of vulnerability. "It's fine, I'm over it. Let's find the next of these bi+<hes and give her what I'm sure she's had coming for a long time. Putting arrows in things that deserve it always makes me feel better."
DC 25 Knowledge (Local)
Crasius:
Hadda:
Hadda: Knowledge (Local) Take 10 + 15 = 25
Ingrit:
Bonuses: Human +2, Giant +
Seke:
DC 30 Knowledge (History)
Crasius:
Domitian:
Hadda: Take 10 + 13 = 23
As the party resolves to keep exploring, Adelia, Jadrenka's rat familiar, squeaks and calls attention to itself. It moves back the way the group came, toward the hags' sleeping area. If no one follows, it squeaks some more and runs back toward the group and again races back the way the group came.
Adelia leads the group back the way they came, all the way to the room where they fought the frost giant and the demons.
Moving past the room that had harbored the demons and a frost giant, the passage goes another 40 feet and ends in a locked door. Before getting to the door, however, the passage changes from dimly lit by luminescent pebbles to unlit. The temperature warms a bit. The carvings in the walls of the passageway, which up to this point depicted images of spring time, fields of wildflowers and maidens frolicking therein, cease. The door is carved with a symmetrical maze-like pattern surrounding an inlaid iron wheel. Hadda recognizes the wheel as an Iobarian witch symbol representing motherhood.
While the door is locked, Hadda is able to disable the lock and allow entry. Beyond the door, ten mausoleum facades protrude from the walls around the perimeter of this cavern. Above each door is a keystone engraved with a name. Throughout the room stand ten life-sized statues of proud, matronly women. The women are all barefoot and similarly dressed, but they each have their own unique appearance. Some are wear feathered cloaks or bone necklaces, others clutch gnarled staves or carry brooms, and a few have a raven or an owl perched upon their shoulders. There does not appear to be any inhabitants.
The base of each statue is engraved with a name that coincides with one of the names engraved on the keystones above each of the mausoleum doors. Hadda and Seke recognize these names as those of past wardens of Artrosa.
There is one exit to the room on the north side of the room. Like all the doors to the mausoleum crypts, this door has no lock. It also has the same emblem as the entry door, the symbol of motherhood. The room is unlit.
With the knowledge that Jadrenka might hold one of Baba Yaga's keys, Hadda is a bit more reticent to readily follow Adelia, but continues along after the familiar when she proves insistent. As long as the rat didn't intentionally lead them anywhere deadly, then the alliance could remain fruitful.
As the ambient lighting decreases, Hadda reaches to the amulet around her neck and casts a simple light spell on it to provide illumination in front of her, especially as she would need to see to disable any traps. Looking around at the carvings, Hadda muses. "It would appear that we have found what was worthwhile in the Maiden and are crossing into the Mother." The librarian takes out her tools and unlocks the door into a curious mausoleum. Working together, she and Seke reason out the identities of all interred and provide a brief history lesson of their respective accomplishments in life.
"To think of all they knew. All they learned," she whispers reverently. "And now they rest." Looking around, an idea strikes Hadda that if they wanted to ask a question of one of the previous wardens, they could. She had such a spell in her spellbook, but insufficient magical resources to utilize it this day. In any case, it was doubtful that any of the previous wardens knew about this generation's whereabouts. It was probably folly to disturb them.
"We might as well continue along," she says. "I doubt these dead have anything for us."
"As long as the dead don't rise up while we're coming through," says Dom warily. He found the history lesson rather ill-timed. It was enough to know that they were past wardens. And that they weren't immortal. That could prove to be important.
"Next door, then," he says, matter-of-factly. He takes a look as they prepare to go through.
Ingrit finds the history quite fascinating despite the grim circumstances leading to it. Staying near any light sources, the ranger walks alongside her companion, keeping a sharp eye out for any unanticipated threat.
Rurik likewise places light upon his reliquary shield.
"If the dead rise? That's what I have this for," he says, hefting his morningstar.
Adele heads right for the door in the east wall. The door has a lock but it is designed to prevent entry from the outside and can be opened.
The passage descends down steps for 40 feet and turns south as it levels off. Ten feet further is a narrow door. The door is locked but not trapped . The keyhole to the lock looks as if the key found on Caigreal would fit it.
Hadda hands the key up to Dom so that he can unlock the door, quiet as she can.
WoW 1:
WoW 2:
Dom inserts the iron key in the lock, turns the key, hears a metallic clank, and the door swings open into the room. Before he has a chance to register any facts about the room, he is attacked by two glowing balls about one foot across. He recognizes them from the encounter while climbing to the top of Artrosa: will-o'-wisps.
The two rush at Dom and easily contact him and release electricity that shocks him.
The door into the room is at the north end of room that extends east-west about 30 feet and south beyond the reach of any light spells and also beyond the reach of darkvision. Decorations on the walls suggest the room might serve as a temple, but until people can enter the room and examine the details, not much can be determined about the deity of the temple.
On the west wall, starting about 20 feet from the north wall is a large stone hearth. A small table sits in the NE corner with a few small items on it.
Other than the will-o'-wisps, the room appears to be unoccupied.
Round 1
Dom
Hadda
Ingrit
Rurik
Crasius
Seke
Will-o'-wisps
"Will-o-wisps!" shouts Domitian as he sees the familiar foe. He angrily strikes at one of them.
;
;
Seke activates her flight hex and flies above the great elk.