Stuck in the ... belly? ... of the cauldron, Sutandir uses his teeth to pull the cap off of the small skin in his hand. He squeezes, spreading the paste around his skin as best he can. He then wriggles and tries to escape.
"Sutandir!" Vaashti cries as the great cauldron swallows the alchemist. Gritting her teeth, she smashes at the cauldron as hard as she can.
Rakarech shouts at the cauldron as it swallows Sutandir and everyone hammers at it. Loud clangs ring out between his words.
"LET!" *CLANG* "HIM!" *CLANG* "GO!" *CLANG*
Ruhk and Kervos once again make contact with the cauldron, and now large cracks have begun to form in its formerly smooth outer surface.
Sutandir wriggles his way from the belly of the cauldron, and his head can be seen gasping for air as he continues to struggle with the animate enemy. The cauldron tries to bring him in again, but the alchemical grease makes it too hard to hold him, and Sutandir drops back out onto the floor.
Vaashti grabbed Sutandir by the arm and dragged him away from the cauldron so that the alchemist could get his breath, safely away from the thing.
Rakarech grins down at Sutandir. "You're not stew! That's good."
Stepping back, Rakarech bends his knees before bringing his axe overhead and chopping down at a crack in the cauldron.
"Get ready to jump back! Cauldron will spill if it breaks!"
Gasping for breath, Sutandir nods thanks to Vaashti and stands up. "That's it ... *huff* everyone step back, I'm going to see how *huff* it likes the taste of Kyonin Fire."
With that, he reaches into another of his many pockets and pulls out a pair of small bottles. As soon as he sees an opening, he pours the contents of one bottle into the other, and then throws them both into the cauldron.
As Sutandir gets clear of the cauldron, Kervos winds up and swings one more wild blow at the cauldron in time with Rakarech before backing up out of the way at Sutandir's behest.
"Glad to see you're . . . still breathing." Shartol acknowledges Surtandir's escape, pausing for his (hopefully) meaningful swing at the pot. Then he steps back, hoping that the small flask will do what the group has not, yet, and end the animation.
---
Br. Shartol gives the cauldron a final, solid blow before Sutandir's bomb finds its way into the mouth. The two attacks combine, and the cauldron cracks down the center, falling apart lifelessly.
Covered in grease and recovering from his experience, Sutandir is a bit of a mess. "What *huff* the hell?"
After a few seconds, he shakes it off, and resumes his search. "Keep an eye out for any other oddities, I'm going to see if I can find what we came for."
Rakarech thumps the top of his greataxe on the floor, letting out a groan.
"Why can't anything be simple? Where is witch? Why did her stupid stew try to kill us?"
He walks back to the front door of the house to check on Grobu before ordering him down from his guard duty.
"Whoa! Hold on Sutandir!
That thing didn't attack until we touched the stuff in here. It might have been a...."security" thing.
Maybe we should check carefully if there is anything else first?"
While continuing his search of the house, Sutandir stops a moment as he notices some rather serious bruises. He mixes a few oddly colored and foul-smelling things from his pockets together, and drinks them.
Within seconds after he drinks the brew, his bruises fade away completely.
As Ruhk warns him to wait, Sutandir notices his bruises and drinks his Extract. Once Ruhk gives him the clear, he resumes searching.
Rakarech grumbles something under his breath and joins in the search.
"Sutandir, before you were attacked, I was going to ask if you could find any healing herbs or potions here. You might also look for the rat-tail thing that we came here to ask about. If she isn't here to tell us where to look, we'll just ransack her house instead."
Rakarech nods over to Vaashti. "We come in peace and ask for trade. She leaves house abandoned and with nasty trap. This szuka will have her house ransacked."
Securing his axe, Kervos quickly joins in the search for anything that the group can use.
"My sister and the others cannot wait. We can always make amends at a later date if necessary."
"Okay, so, does anyone see what we came here to find? I couldn't tell you the difference between most of what's up on these shelves."
---
As Ruhk scans the room with his identifying spell active, he detects some very faint whisps of magic around the room, but they seem to simply be traces of long-forgotten magic. After a few moments, however, he detes a faint illusion aura coming from the corner of the room. When he investigates further, he discovers a grotesque, amulet-like shrunken head with a braided beard.
Rakarech and Sutandir are also easily able to find the rat tail and collect enough to bring back to Falcon's Hollow.
"Hey. These are kind of pretty. Not what we came for, though. We don't really have a reason to steal these. Heck, we really ought to at least leave a not apologizing for breaking the pot and offering some trade for the Rat Tail if she wants to come to town. Shouldn't we?"
"I found a magical amulet...so, do we think the witch will ever come back? If yes, I guess we leave it, if not, I guess we might as well take it, and anything else we might use now?"
"There are also salts over here for summoning a familiar." Kervos turned around from his searching, surveying the hut once more. "Look at the way the place was left. If the cauldron hadn't been here, we would be firmly convinced this place had been abandoned long ago. The front door itself was rotted. Personally, I don't think she will be returning, although I am curious as to what could have happened to her. In the meantime, I have no qualms about leaving a note in case of her return, but would advise if there's anything anyone can use we do so."
Rakarech wanders over to Kervos, stuffing the rat tail into a sack.
"She left trap to kill us. Her goods are forfeit and if they can help us save the town, all the better. And she may also be long dead. Not sure. Doesn't matter."
"You have a weird way of seeing things. We broke into her home and started handling the things in her house before magic activated to defend her property. I agree, there's reason to think she's not coming back, but that doesn't mean we should pretend that we didn't invade her home."
He shrugs. "You are right; we invaded her home. But she defended it and lost. Goods are forfeit. It is the way I know. Human customs are different maybe. If you want to make right, maybe we camp near trail to hut. If she comes back, we make right. If she does not, we take what we can use and carry on."
"I agree with Shartol on this one. Take what we need and leave the rest. We are here to help save lives, not ransack some old lady's belongings. Besides, you heard what Laurel had to say about her grandmother. If the old witch does return, she sounds spiteful enough not to care about a note. She like as not hunt us down to do strange things to us. I for one already look hideous enough in the eyes of most. I don't need to add being a frog to that list."
Sutandir listens to everyone, and nods at Vaashti. "Yes, let's not make an enemy if we don't have to. Let's take the rat-tail, and offer to pay for it or help replace it if necessary."
Ruhk scratches his chin, it would be very easy to just pocket the talisman when nobody was looking...for a moment he is tempted.
In the end he leaves it, but he is not sure of it is because he agrees with the idea of leaving it, or if it is just because it is a rather disgusting thing.
"You know, we know where it is now, and we are in a hurry. What say we come back here in a week or two, if she isn't here then, maybe we can help ourselves to what she had."
As the group settles in for the evening, Sutandir takes inventory of his supplies, and jots down some notes about the day's events in his journal. As for keeping watch, he offers to stand early or late, but given that his eyes aren't as keen in the dark as Vaashti's or Rakarech's, he suggests they might be best for the middle of the night.
Rakarech nods over to Sutandir. "Last watch worked well. Rukh and Shartol first, then me and Vaashti, then Kervos and you. No need to change unless somebody wants a different watch."
In response to Rakarech's analysis, Shartol just shrugs. "Still works for me."
As night falls, the party begins to head to sleep. The first two watches pass uneventfully, as does the third watch for most of the night. As dawn begins to break, Sutandir and Kervos both see a massive shadow pass over them. As the look skyward, the see a blue, dragon-like creature passing overhead, just over the treetops. They are unsure if it notices them as it passes over, but after it flies for a few hundred more yards, it turns around and heads back in their direction.
Before retiring for the evening, Vaashti channeled more of Milani's healing power to those that still needed it. Then, Vaashti settled down for the night to rest, hoping that she would get some much needed rest. All this traveling and fighting...well, she wasn't used to it at all.
"Sutandir, that wyvern's coming back," Kervos whispers.
Without hesitation, Kervos draws his bow and then begins hurriedly trying to wake his companions, moving both in the interest of speed and in wishing to keep them quiet as they wake so as not to hasten the wyvern's approach.
"Mmmmhmm...izzit...morning already?
Ruhk mumbles as he is woken, when he notices that it is still dark, and that Kervos has a very tense expression on his face, he quickly becomes silent and reaches for Bethany instead.
Rakarech wakes up quickly, used to being disturbed by dangers in the forest. He looks up into the dawn sky, scowling as he stares at the creature. His voice is like gravel as he whispers.
"Hmph. Looks dangerous. If it lands to attack and is far enough away I will tie it with plants - then we can use arrows and spears."
Sutandir nods as Kervos identifies the wyvern, and joins him in awakening the others. Whispering, he asks, "Do wyverns have any resistance to fire? If not, I can plan to bombard it if it comes close."
". . . but I don't wanna go get more water, Mah!" can be understood if you try as you wake the young monk. When awakened in an unfamiliar way, he rolls away from the contact and up into a combat stance, gathering information as he rises. He follows the looks and pointer fingers, and turns towards the sky . . .. "Wow. That would be fun to ride, wouldn't it?"
Staying low in a crouch, Kervos looks over at Sutandir, still keeping his voice low.
"Not that I'm aware of. I think they're just as susceptible to fire as anything else. But I'm loathe to engage it directly if it can be helped, so between your fire and Rakarech tying it with plants, I think we might be in good shape."
Just as it looks like the wyvern is going to swoop down to attack, it flaps its massive wings once and flies off, apparently uninterested in (or unaware of) the party after all.
Vaashti awoke groggily as Kervos shook her. She was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes as the others were pointing at the wyvern flying away. She shook slightly in the cool night air, wondering if the creature was likely to return. Her back ached from where a missed stone had lain hidden in the grass beneath her bedroll, reaching up to poke her through the blankets. Sighing, she lay back down, hoping the thing wouldn't come back and that she could get some rest. Wincing, she sat up again and fumbled under the bedroll until she found the offending rock. She tossed it aside and lay back down, eyes drooping before her head had fully rested on the rolled up blanket she used as a pillow.
"Well, that's a disappointment, I would have enjoyed adding another dragons head to my pile..."
Ruhk frowns a little at that.
"No...Just as well, I am not sure we would have won that one."
Sutandir raises an eyebrow at Ruhk. "Really? You have slain a dragon? I can't wait to hear that story ... but I think it can wait until we are on the road again. Looks like you can all get back to sleep for now."
Rakarech grumbles and slumps down on some moss, using his bear as a pillow.
Shartol lies back down and tries to return to sleep, but finds the jolt of adrenaline interferes, and he doesn't get much rest, moving fitfully about while he tries to sleep instead.
The following morning, the group rises and sets out for the final stop, the dwarven monastery. After another day's worth of travel, just around dusk, they find a path leading to their goal. Sitting squat at the foot of an imposing mountain, a ruined monastery comes into view between ancient gnarled trees. Made of simple stone blocks, worn smooth with the passage of time, the stout building is falling apart. Sections of the slanted shale roof have collapsed and portions of the outer wall have crumbled. Weeds and wild thorn plants run rampant across the field leading up to the place, leaving only the slightest indication of a path that ends at the ruined front doors. Beyond, an overgrown yard sits in shadow.
The burly half-orc and his awkward little bear approach cautiously and he unslings his axe from his pack.
"Old things and good shelter - usually means something mean lives here."
His old boots creaking, Rakarech holds up a hand to the rest of the group and then moves near the entrance of the yard. There, he crouches and inspects the ground, pausing occasionally to listen intently for activity within the monastery.