Ignoring the rescued woman's odd behavior for the moment, Vashta retreats partway down the tunnel, looking for where Tuanak had been hiding.
"Be ready," she says urgently. "We likely won't have much time before he returns and I don't think leaving with this unresolved is an option. It will be too easy for him to turn the entire village against us if we don't find some way to prevent that!"
Carinthia looks to the ground and shakes her head. Her eyes then flare red briefly. She looks somewhat panicked, and goes through the motions and incantations of some magic. A shield appears in front of her briefly before fading, then three more copies of her appear and begin oscillating through her quickly.
She looks legitimately scared and shocked, as if she wasn’t expecting to do that.
__________
Clara cocks her head in surprise at the angel-girl's behavior. "Does you touching people normally heal them? I mean heal them more than 'hugs make me feel better' and 'love is the balm'? Like, more like 'fizzy drinks make me able to levitate'?
"Speaking of fizzy drinks, I'm Clara Flingflopsparkfizz, the resident fizzician for this little band of travelers. I'd love to chat but right now we should probably be getting ready in case Tunuak comes back.
"Hey Ameiko, why don't we team up with that wand? We can heal folks twice as fast!
"Aiko, you better get in line for healing first...and then I'm wondering if you want to drink a fizzy drink of Invisibility so you can get the jump on Tunuak if he comes after us.
We should all be listening carefully, and if we hear Tunuak coming, we can touch our nose to say 'HE'S COMING!'"
A single tear rolls down the shaken girls cheek. ”I...I’d rather not talk about it. I’m Carinthia Sunsong,” is her somber reply.
She tightens her grip on the small axe in her hand and prepares to attack the shaman the moment he appears.
Calder keeps watch of the passage while the healing takes place. Taking a potion of Invisibility from his pouch he passes it to Aiko, then he unslings the Heavy pick he's never used and gives it to the new woman.
He is wounded but still standing, so lets the others heal up first.
Aiko accepts the invisibility potion with a nod, and waits for the healing before she quickly downs the potion.
Ameiko and Clara work together to heal the wounds of the group, draining the healing power from Clara's wand in order to do so. As they do so, they can hear the shaman in the other room casting spells of his own. It's easy to recognize the shaman's healing spells.
"Thanks," Vashta whispers. "So what's the plan? He seems well-prepared for us. I can keep trying to use my magic, but his mind seems strong."
Carinthia takes the pick and tests it’s weight, then tucks the axe back into the waist band of her armored skirt. She then readies the pick for an attack against the shaman the moment he appears.
Have to remember to return these once I find my own weapons.
"I don't know. Once I'm invisible I need to get somewhere that won't keep us from surrounding him - so he needs to pass by me before I make my move."
Ameiko stays up near Aiko, hiding on the icy ground. To compensate for the difficulty walking, she casts feather step and crouches in the darkness.
Carinthia looks to the rest of the new people around her, and says ”I appreciate your help. I am the one he is after. So let me be the bait. The rest of you hide and strike once he has put himself in a bad position.”
She then moves around the bend and positions herself squarely in the middle of the tunnel. She turns towards the direction of the shaman, and once the rest are in position as they desire, she calls out ”Come on you old devil! You and I have a score to settle! I can wait here all day for my chance to make you pay for what you planned to do!”
But why? Vashta wonders, frustrated that she won't have time to ask and find out what's really going on here until it's all over.
Instead, she merely nods, knowing that regardless of whether one of them is bait, leaving this cave isn't a safe option until the shaman has been dealt with.
She tries to hide in the shadows, but the two remaining mirror images make it difficult, far more so than hiding in crowds in cities, which is more what her training taught her.
Aiko takes to the shadows, then quaffs the potion of invisibility. She stays pressed against a wall, very, very still.
"Carinthia, I admire your courage but not your brains. As soon as he sees one of us he's liable to stop flying and start blasting.
"If you hug the wall, he's much more liable to get close enough for you to swing that big pick at him. Here, that looks like a good spot."
The tiny fizzician points to an indentation in the Western wall.
Carinthia’s Head snaps around at Zoli, and the halfling could swear her eyes were glowing red for a split second! Carinthia clenches them shut and mutters to herself ”No. No. No,” and does a moment of deep breathing. She then turns and just nods at the halfling before pressing her back to the wall.
Vashta winces and touches the newcomer, causing her to disappear!
The group waits, casting spells of hiding and healing, in an attempted ambush of the old shaman... The only thing that seems to come into the cave is a brisk and chill breeze, leaving the impression that perhaps the shaman escaped somehow.
Then, suddenly, a loud and clear voice declares the verbal components for a spell before a wind so powerful that it is visible roars to life in the cave, cutting it in two and slamming into Calder.
Calder is slammed to the ground by the icy winds, as he scrambles back to his feet he catches a glimpse of Tunuak's location. "There!" He bellows, pointing to the worthless liar. Readying to move towards him when he's back on two legs.
Carinthia looks around frantically, missing where the Ulfen man pointed. ”Where!?!?” she calls out desperately!
Calder manages to resist the rushing wind, stand on his own two feet, and rush towards where he heard the spellcasting from.
HP: 11/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 1/5; 2nd 3/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects: 2 images
Vashta also calls out Tuanak's location, casting another glitterdust around the area.
Both Tunuak and Calder are coated in the shimmering golden flakes conjured by Vashta, and with him revealed, Vashta is able to target him with her hypnotic stare. Both warriors manage to resist the effects of the blinding burst of light.
The moment the shaman is revealed, Carinthia clenches her teeth and rushes the man, raising the pick in two hands and attempts to bring it down into the man’s heart!
"Ooooh, shiny!" the fizzician coos as the invisible shaman starts to glitter and glow.
Clara attempts to push through the wall of wind--holding tight to her bandoleer of alchemical supplies. If she makes it to the other side, she attempts to trap the shiny shaman in a net (despite not being trained in its use).
____________
Aiko suddenly appears from nowhere as she rushes the shaman with her blade, and strikes from invisibility.
Clara tries to push up with her more martially-inclined compatriots in order to attack Tunuak, but the shaman's river of wind gets the best of her, slamming her against the tunnel wall and knocking her off of her feet.
Aiko, Calder, and Carinthia close on the revealed Tunuak, with both Aiko and Carinthia scoring hits upon the elderly spellcaster.
In order to bolster her compatriots, Ameiko begins her bardic performance, filling the tunnel with magically-enhanced oratory that fills the heroes' hearts with courage.
Choosing to ignore his opponents for the moment, Tunuak casts a spell... he must concentrate in order for it not to fail, given that he is surrounded by opponents...
Successfully concentrating on his spell, Tunuak conjures an Erutaki warrior next to Vashta. The warrior appears blue, ghostly, transparent and wields a longsword, which it brings to bear on Vashta.
Fortunately for her, the ghost's spiritual weapon passes through one of her illusory duplicates instead of her actual torso.
Carinthia maneuvers to put the shaman between herself and the Ulfen man that had given her weapons. She attempts to bury the pick into him once again, but her feet slip on the ground a bit and she fails to connect.
__________
Calder is just happy to be within weapons reach of this old pest.
He gives a happy sound as his axe sinks into withered old meat!
His second blow is off as he spins with the force of his first.
As the combat intensifies, a red sheen can most definitely be seen growing in Carinthia’s eyes.
HP: 51/55 (not 11!)
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Panache 0/1; Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 1/5; 2nd 3/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects: 1 image
"Careful, Clara!" Vashta warns the gnome as the warrior appears next to her.
She turns her hypnotic stare on him and punches wildly with her cestus as she adjusts to the new enemy.
It can make attacks of opportunity and flank like a regular creature can, however.
"Uhngph!" Clara complains as the wind knocks her flat.
Redoubling her resolve, she manages to press her way through and shout in warning, "His ally is only a spell, he can't be hurt. Keep your fire focused on Tunuak.
"Metaphorical fire, that is. He seems to be warded against actual fire, sadly"
She hustles up beside the shaman, readying her net.
________
"Thanks, dear!" Vashta replies. "It would have fooled me!"
HP: 51/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Panache 0/1; Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 1/5; 2nd 4/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects: 1 image
As Tunuak moves away, Aiko thanks her lucky stars that this doesn't leave her stuck in his river of wind. She closes the distance and lashes out again, this time as a false flanker. Her strikes are fired by inner power that causes her to lash out with blurring speed.
Calder and Aiko work together to take apart the wicked shaman. Forced into a space where he can't fly, he is an easy target for their powerful blows, and soon crumples into a bloody mess on the floor.
On his body is a bag which contains the rest of Carinthia's missing equipment, as well as a magic ring, a magic staff, a magic cloak, a magic potion and a bloodied cold-weather outfit.
Aiko whips the blood from her wakizashi, then says, "I'll be back in a moment."
The ninja vanishes into the adjacent room, then comes back a few minutes later with her poisoned throwing dagger.
She resumes her spot next to Ameiko and says, "That could have been dicey. Now at least he can't stop us... though we'll have some explaining to do with the villagers."
"Maybe he was foolish enough to have something that would implicate him?" Vashta says hopefully, as she starts looking through his equipment, hoping there might be something of use.
Once she's finished, she looks around.
"He still must have been someplace when we walked in past him. Let's find that, and hopefully it'll have some answers."
Calder cleans his axe, nodding to the others. "Nice work." He says in praise of the teamwork. He eyes the dead mans equipment with curiosity but leaves it for the casters to examine.
Giving Carinthia a look he asks ."How did this one get hold of you? Are there others who might be his captives?"
The ring is a ring of mind shielding, a magic item meant to shield someone from magical detection.
The staff is a staff of journeys, an item useful for nomads and pilgrims. It is currently fully-charged.
The cloak is a cloak of resistance +2.
The potion is of barkskin.
Ameiko nods at Aiko. "I agree, going back to the village may be dicey, but if we bring someone that they trust in here... That may be proof enough." She shrugs. "But hey, if they don't like us, we can just move on."
Aiko looks down at the corpse and says, "I wonder what the dragon might think of this body."
When the shaman falls, Carinthia just stands and glares down at him, her whole body shaking. The fire glowing in her eyes slowly fades, until their natural emerald luster returns. After a moment, she drops the pick and slumps back against the cold stone wall of the tunnel and slides down it, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them as she holds them in place with her arms.
She sits silently for a short time, until Calder addresses her. Her head snaps to him like that of a startled child. "I...I don't know. I was...alone. He found me in the snow, I...I thought he was going to help me. He led me here, then chained me to that altar and prepared for his ritual."
Something about the way she says "his" seems odd. She looks you all over and says, "Thank you all for your help and saving me. Whatever he had planned...the world is better that you stopped it. But...I don't know if saving me was worth the trouble. It...it would probably be best...if...if..." she mutters as tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She hides her face in her knees, her red hair falling down either side of her head and legs.
"It's OK now, dear. Still, when you say his ritual, do you mean Tuanak's or someone else? And what were you doing out there all alone in the snow?"
Ameiko stands next to Carinthia and gingerly touches her back. "Oh, honey," she says. "How about you come back to our caravan? Eglin will whip you up a nice hearty stew."
Calder will give Carinthia a comforting embrace, while she is in his arms he gives the others a questioning look?
Carinthia dries her eyes on the back of her arm. ”The shamans. And I...I don’t know how I got here. One minute I was on my way to the Worldwound to help the Crusade, and the next...” her eyes glaze over a moment, then she shudders in Calder’s arms. She reaches a delicate hand up to hold onto his forearm as if for reassurance, then adds ”a flash of magic and I’m surrounded by snow and ice.”
She looks to Ameiko and nods appreciatively before standing and returning the hand axe and pick to Calder. ”Thanks. Now that I have my own weapon I don’t need those anymore,” she says as she takes her glaive from Tunuak’s stash.
"I guess we should look around and see if we have anything to help us establish what's really going on," Jessamy says. "We've got some time, I think, so let's look carefully, then head back."