"I'd say that there is plenty of room for negotiations here, but if you want to make it simple, why not just tell us what you desire? As I said, your neutrality in this affair would be enough for us if something else is impossible to achieve"
Sonechka sits primly in one of the offered chairs, apparently not at all discomfited by the display of elemental control. She listens closely to what the woman has to say, and just as importantly, what she does not say.
Beldame sips her tea, and frowns. She lifts the lid and sniffs.
"Oh how dreadful... my black rattlecap has turned afoul."
"Would you be so kind to fetch me some more. This is no simple thing I ask of you. Civility would demand recompense with no care of the plans for my gold. If I cannot pay you in coin, perhaps a trade of another sort could be brokered."
Know. Arcana
Know. Dungeoneering
Know. Geography
Know. History
Know. Nature
Know. Planes
"I think she wants us to get some special tea for her."
"That...sounds reasonable.
We may even be able to find some while we look further into "small dogman"..."
"I'm sure it won't be as easy as it sounds, but that sounds reasonable."
Beldame arches an eyebrow. "Then you know in what form the complexity of this request will come. I take on the debts of those who've defaulted on bargains with the Witchmarket. They are my property until they've served their debt in time."
"Tiny Dogman has unfathomable debts, shrugged off my means of control, and not inconsequentially sits atop my supply of Black Rattlecap. End him and you will sway my heart toward neutrality in the inevitable conflict."
"Only then will my tea not turn sour on my tongue."
They sell all kinds of weird and wonderful items—from love potions and magic beans, to replicas of long lost items created by reading the buyer's mind. Their prices are equally strange—a year of life, a kiss, childhood memories.
Furiel comments ironically:
"Hopefully the trail to your tea has not grown cold."
The Green Man can't help but give a crocked grin at how things are coming together.
It does seem like we are making some headway now, good thing, I am no strange to violence, I use it when needed, but I dislike needless use of it all the same.
Madame Abacus dumps the rest of the poisoned creatures, and tosses the empty bread crust bowl near a molding pile of matter.
"... three cups of water lukewarm, six cups of flour. one spoonful of salt, one of yeast, a pinch of saint's wort, and a whisper just a whisper of death.... "
She shuffles off the way you entered the wood.
Planes
Nature
History
Dolgyrm explains what he knows about the strange Wotch arket.
Sonechka smiles her chill smile at the Beldame. "I believe that signals our agreement to your bargain, Beldame." It wasn't as much of a commitment on the Beldame's part as she would have liked, but the Iobarian witch did not care to push the ancient crone very far.
"Good good. On one hand of the dogman you will find a ring. Bring to me the one that bears it. We, of course, never had this discussion... we have never met... you never crossed to this side of the veil. It is my word which whispers from the dark into Vesket's ear, and I will not speak of this."
"If our business is complete, please return on the path toward the lantern's light. I will claim no guilt for what becomes of those who stray or linger."
"Do we return here when we have the Dogman who wears the ring? Will you know when it's done?"
"Return with Black Rattlecaps, and the hand which bears the ring."
"He will not fall easily, and he will not surrender."
Sonechka stands and offers the Beldame a deep, respectful curtsy, then turns toward the lantern's light to leave the fey realm.
Before leaving Norton has a question for Beldame.
"There is something I was wondering. A few people around here seem to be devotees of some Dark Lady, but finding out who she might be seems tricky."
Her shoulders sink with Norton's question.
Beldame retrieves her satchel, and makes a simple gesture toward her tree. As she steps away, flowering and barbed vines wrap around it.. and widen into a thicket.
She sighs and shakes her head nearing Norton. "I am certain there will come a time when her identity is known to you. There is nowhere I would feel safe speaking her name, but here.. I dare not even think it. Take what little comfort you may.. in that you are far from her direct influence."
Hnnnh, now that's not foreboding at all...
It is late morning by the time you are all fully rested. It is a cool and still damp from yesterday's rains, but the skies are clear.
"Typical weather for the season, the good news is that if the ground is a little wet, it makes tracking all the more easy for us."
"So about that Beldame...was her display of magic amazingly impressive, or was that just me?" Dolgrym just had to ask about the sheer power he had witnessed, even if the others had been avoiding the topic.
The Green Man grins, even if the grin is a little less genuine than normal.
"I'd say you described what most, if not all of us feel."
Sonechka grins at Dolgrym. Something about it is even more unsettling than her usual chilly smile. "She is a powerful witch." The Iobarian witch said it reverently, the way someone else might talk about witnessing a miracle.
She looks at Green. "We must not fail her."
"I have no intention of failing, her or anyone I promise to do something for."
Furiel concurs the lady witch is powerful and evil. The first, he admires, the second, he opposes.
After traveling a little more than five hours, and another half-hour of searching, Glaza spots the Tiny Dogman's lair.
You approach from the northeast... as close as you dare for getting a lay of the land..
It is a muddy clearing amidst a large area dominated by white birches. There is a ruined house with most walls destroyed, and a tree growing into the side of it.
Several thylacine lie around a bonfire. Well over a dozen more wander about the clearing - a few are currently mounting others. You see a humanoid figure standing atop a large boulder looking on. He appears to be doing a primitive and rather suggestive dance which includes a great deal of thrusting and pumping his fists in the air.
He stops for a moment to guzzle from a large wineskin, then "Woos" with enthusiasm... watching the animals mate with each other.
"That's a lot of dogs. We need some ground control to keep them packed together or we will be surrounded in no time."
The smell of animal musk is overwhelming, and as shown by the bonfire smoke - the wind blows to the east - both reasons you have not yet been sniffed out.
Two of the dogs are rather large. The others are of the more common smaller breed. You also spot the large cat curled up and self-grooming on the boulder next to (who you'd assume is) the Tiny Dogman.
"Moving is dangerous--I will summon some friends."
Furiel begins to cast hoping to stay unnoticed.
Before the group engages, Dolgrym casts Bull's Strength on himself.
"I have the magic to create a hole in the earth to catch a few of the animals. If I catch them by surprise, we can limit the foes we will have to face at one time. Mind the edge of the pit, though. It's easy to slip and get sucked into it as well."
As your casting begins, you notice that the furthest pair of thylacine are strolling around the perimeter. Should they continue at the rate they are moving, you will undoubtedly be spotted soon.
The terrain to your back (east) is uphill and lightly wooded.
To your right and north, the terrain is level and wide-open for 100 feet before becoming thickly wooded. You see little undergrowth, and the trees of the northern wooded area have no low-hanging branches.
Falling back would make you even more likely to be spotted as the patrolling pair of thylacine come around.
Sonechka mutters to herself under her breath as they survey the scene. "Would the dogs attack if their master were asleep, I wonder?"
Dolgrym casts Create Pit on the largest collection of creatures he can target before the group is spotted.
DC 16 Reflex to save
Furiel completes his summoning and sends an earth elemental tunneling toward the dog man.
He begins casting another. He holds up a hand when he sees that Dolgrym is casting towards the enemy.
Once done casting her first spell, Sonechka tugs her black feathered cape closed around herself and shrinks down into the shape of a black and white magpie.
After a little more than ten seconds of preparation, the two patrolling thylacine come far enough east along the perimeter to see past your concealment.
The two thylacine patrolling dart toward you - yapping as they cross the muddy clearing.
Other nearby dogs are a little slow to react or reluctant to abandon their current activities.
The thylacine around the campfire are first to turn your way and snarl.
Tiny Dogman stops dancing, and peers in the direction his patrol is charging. He pays no mind to the black and white bird souring the luck in what conflict is about to come. Dolgrym gestures toward the center of the clearing, and drops at least one of the dogs in a conjured pit.
Norton maneuvers Murak toward a viable line of attack for charging, and Furiel completes the summons of a third minion.
Between the structure and Tiny Dogman's boulder, is a crumbling stone well. The ground around it is soaked in standing water. You can see how deep the mud is from how high it is caked on the thylacine... those in the center pull continually shake off their paws as they move around.
Tiny Dogman suddenly crumples into a sprawled out, but comfortable position.
The large lynx next to him seems to have taken notice, so Sonechka may have only brought a slight advantage if you do not act quickly enough.
Furiel summons his earth elemental near him in a patch of earth and sends him moving straight underground to get the dogman.