"Wait!" Arvanya holds up her hand in a cautionary manner before the others chase after the girl. "Something is not right. Little girl should not be in middle of icy woods. And who she is speaking to of name-calling? We have already met one dark mage in these woods. Does she lead us into hands of another?"
"You have?" Cithembi asks. "Then perhaps she is under a spell!"
Louder--probably too loud--he shouts, "Do not worry! We will not hurt you! Come, let us help you!"
Then he glances aside at the group. "You will have to tell me if she responds," he states with a bit of a grin.
Evelina continues to look confused. "She's just a child...why would she be leading us into a trap?" However, Cithembi's comment makes her think a little bit. "Hmm...I guess you are right, she could be under a spell...but what kind of a monster would do that do a child...?"
Noticing the little girl hiding behind a rock, Evelina moves forward slightly to peek through two icicles. "Hey. Its okay. We aren't going to hurt you. Did someone force you to come out here."
The kind of monster that would throw a land into this false winter, Astrid replies softly under her breath to Evelina's musings, gripping her long spear tighter. The kind that would freeze crops, kidnap noblewomen, leave thousands to starve. Which means the child might lead us to some answers. Saying no more, she watches the situation carefully, scanning what she can see of the ice maze for any signs of surprises.
As the little girl moves away, she turns to Evelina. "Why have you brought me here, Miss Petska? Please, don't keep me here. It's so cold. I miss my mother." The little girl is crying now, her tears instantly turning into ice.
She moves away once more, hiding behind another icicle.
Arvanya clicks her tongue toward Auryel, inviting him to follow her as she stalks along the edge of the ice-maze, trying to keep the young girl in her view. She's making no sense, and Arvanya has creeping sense of dread, though she cannot quite target the source of her unease.
"Little girl? Why you are hiding in ice? Come out and talk to me and my pet wolf, yes? He very friendly, aren't you Auryel?"
Auryel's heckles raise in response as he prowls behind, nearly hidden against the whiteness of the snow.
Freyja tries hopping atop one of the chunks of ice to stand on it and see if she can see more.
Careful - she leads us on a chase. She is meant to draw us in. There was no way a child would end up here on her own - no more than a hunk of greasy cheese would end up in a mousetrap of its own accord. This whole situation practically bellows "trap" - so Astrid ventures forth into the field of ice spires with her spear at the ready, putting herself between the others and the mysteries of the maze beyond. She shouts to the child, a faint hint of tension in her voice. We have no time for games, child - come to us, and we will protect you. Now, why are you here?
Cithembi looks back and forth between the group members, trying to follow their words. "It seems like a spell of some sort on her, yes?" he says.
Without thought of danger he moves up near Astrid. "Perhaps we could take you back to your mother, yes?" He asks, trying for a soothing tone. "Maybe you could tell us where your mother is?"
Turning to the others, she remarks quietly. "I think she is trying to answer our questions...in a way..."
Moving forward a little, she asks the little girl another question, "Who is Miss Petska? Is that who brought you out here?"
Freyja jumps atop one of the icicles and tries to see around, but the falling snow reveals nothing more.
The girl starts to move back once more. "I... I don't want your wolf... or your stupid doll! I want to go home, to my mommy, to Waldsby! Take me back!"
She moves away before answering Evelina's question... perhaps she did not heard her.
Evelina scratches her head and looks at the others. "I...uh...I don't know what to do. I think she's real scared. Trying to catch her might go an' scare her worse. But, I'm startin' to think she ain't quite right in her head..."
Focusing on the little girl, Cithembi completely misses Evelina's words as he follows. "What doll do you mean?" he asks, looking around for anything that looks like a doll.
Arvanya sighs in exasperation as it's clear the girl isn't cooperating. Wary of an ambush, she and Auryel creep deeper into the ice after her.
Freyja tries to move from ice block to ice block if that is possible. Or along the ice if its more or less a wall. She tries to keep the girl in sight.
Freyja tries to jump from one icicle to another but the slippery surface makes her fall into the ground, landing on her ass.
This time, instead of running away, the girl looks at Arvanya differently as her eyes clear and she apparently recognizes you are not her tormentors. "A porcelain doll...I have to get away! And you should, too, before they see you. RUN!" she screams before disappearing in thin air.
No reaction comes from nearby... neither from the mysterious hut, nor from the woods nearby.
"What..." Arvanya hisses as the girl disappears. "Is sorcery?" She quickly runs to Freyja, helping her up from the ground. "Is no time for sitting! Hurry now!" She rejoins the others, explaining what she has seen. "We must move quickly now. Enemy is sure to know we are here."
Arvanya and Auryel move westward over the ice, toward the base of the hill leading up to the cabin.
Cithembi nods in agreement, his focus now on his new companions. "Yes, let us go onward!" he declares, following Arvanya.
Not one to be outdone, Astrid rushes forward alongside Arvanya, spear at the ready. You're right - they will know we are here. So where's the harm in finding out what's happening? Suddenly, a mischievous grin crosses her face, a brief attempt at breaking the tension. I call smashing the doll, if it's in there.
Evelina looks lost and confused for a moment. "Was that a ghost? " she wonders out loud. Seeing the others leave, she shouts and runs after them, "Oh hey! Wait up! "
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Freyja picks herself up from the snow and dusts off her back side. I've had better ideas I guess. Where did the girl go? Could she have been an illusion?
As Arvanya and Auryel cross the icicles, Evelina notice a chill wind stirring and a flicker of movement in the ice blocks... as she thinks about the strange effect, the huntress and her wolf freeze in place, their face white as snow. After a couple seconds of hesitation, the two bolt away from the hut and enter the snow covered forest.
The two companions keep running away from the clearing as if their lives depend on this... once they are about 50 feet deep in the woods, they regain their senses.
"Oh hey! Watch out for..." Evelina shouts a little too late. Seeing Arvanya turn tail and run, she also turns around, "Hey Vanya! Where are you going?!? Are you okay?"
Cithembi looks back and forth between the fleeing pair and the ice blocks. Then he looks over at those near him. "What happened?" he asks, puzzled. "Did they hear something?"
For a time there is nothing else in the world but Arvanya's panting breath, her heartbeat thundering in her ears, the crunch of snow under her boots, and the relentless cold. Her foot snags on an exposed tree root and she tumbles into the snow. She lies motionless for a moment, waiting for the world to stop spinning. Auryel's nose prods her shoe and he whines anxiously. He has found his way to her. Above her, the barren treelimbs form a sinister spider's web against the gray sky. Soon it stops spinning and she hauls herself to her feet.
She knows she must return to the clearing, but the images still claw at her eyes.
After a few minutes, the duo emerge back out of the treeline, finding the others beginning a search for her. Her face is raw and red, burned by the frozen tears that were streaming down her face.
"Oh Evelina! Is terrible! Memories of lost little girl, and of strange doll. I...I think she is trapped inside this doll! And, worse, I am looking and seeing faces of my family and friends in snow but, but they are dead!"
She wipes her nose on her sleeve. "We must rescue little girl. Who would do such thing to someone? By the stars, they will pay for this, yes!"
Evelina give Cithembi a shrug and a look of confusion, before jogging after Arvanya. Reaching her she looks horrified at the explanation she receives.
"What!?! You think she's in the doll?" Scratching her head, she says, "Hopefully it was just to scare you...Like that mean necromancer guy who kidnapped Lady Argentea did to me at the lodge...but if you are right...oh dear, yeah we best get moving..."
She hesitates for a moment, thinking about Arvanya's lost friends and family. Not really sure what to say, she gives her a concerned look and squeeze on the arm. "C'mon. Lets get going..." she says softly, before moving towards the hut once more.
For the first time since you've met him, Cithembi looks serious. "If this is true, we must free her!" he declares.
With Arvanya back, you move towards the mysterious hut. The small hut stands on four legs, each one a single tree trunk whose gnarled roots resemble the toes of a giant chicken. The hut is constructed of heavy logs with a patchwork roof of shaved bark shingles. Inside the hut's open doorway, a small figure sits on a carved wooden chair, staring across the clearing at the trail on the other side.
The small figure inside the hut is a doll. The doll wears the same dress that the small girl was wearing. However, instead of the face of a small girl, this doll has the face of an old crone, though it retains the girl's flaxen hair, and still bears a strong resemblance to the girl's countenance. Far more unnerving, however, are the doll's mismatched eyes... one a blue gemstone, the other a small round mirror the size of a coin, reflecting the world around her.
At Arvanya's report of her strange experience, a loud, animal growl rumbles from Astrid's chest. We tear that doll to pieces. Her eyes are hard as flint. If it is just a trick, whoever's responsible, we'll have put out one of their eyes. And if somehow this girl's spirit is trapped inside...well, anything that would happen to her is better than that.
And Astrid proves true to her word - when she sees the strange doll in its seat, she growls again and bounds forth, spear held forward like a jouster in a tilt, its point aimed straight for the doll's mirrored eye.
"Oh no!" Evelina exclaims, as Astrid runs forward. What if she hurts the little girl? However, she can do little more than watch fearfully and see what happens as Astrid charges towards it.
Freyja, unnerved by what she hears, moves closer ready to support her friends.
Wary of what might happen next, Cithembi readies and loads his crossbow.
Arvanya purses her lips as Astrid charges, keeping an arrow aimed at the doll's mirrored eye.
Astrid moves with her spear ready to attack the immobile doll but she stops before doing so. Nothing happens to stop her... she just did. Perhaps she heard Evelina's words or have thought more about the possible consequences of such act.
Evelina lets out a small sigh of relief, "So...um...do we wanna talk about how to handle this. I really don't understand how this magic stuff works..."
"I no understand.." Arvanya's brow wrinkles in confusion as Astrid fails to follow through in her attack. "Astrid, step aside, I will shoot if from distance, yes?"
Cithembi keeps his crossbow at the ready.
No...no, don't, Arvanya! Astrid moves between Arvanya and the entrance of the hut, looking over her shoulder at the doll on its stool with a sad, almost pleading look on her face. I was...I was wrong. If that girl's spirit is tied in with this doll somehow...I mean, who knows what damage it could do to her? What if even just moving it harms her? We can't be too careful...not if her well-being is at stake...
"What you are saying, Astrid? Listen to me. Doll is evil. Is made of witchcraft and dark dreams. Is made of child's tears. If you did see what I saw..."
Arvanya thinks again of the images of the lost child, and of her dead family.
"...You would see this thing for its truth. Its magic is clouding your mind, eh?"
I was against even coming here Astrid. But now that we are here I think that doll has to go. And that little girl, well, if its even a real girl I'd be surprised. Didn't you see it vanish? Must have been some sort of mind magic or illusion. Freyja makes to move so she can see into the hut.
Evelina still looks nervous. "Are..are you sure? You are sure she'll be okay...or um..isn't real?"
Cithembi's head whips back and forth as he tries to follow the conversation. "Did you not say you had heard of these dolls?" he asks none of them in particular.
Yes. Freyja confirms as she peers into the doll house. I have heard of them. The tale I remember tells about their usage as a way to keep the White Witches informed about what is happening in its surroundings. Somehow the witches see through the dolls. I am not sure if "see" is the right word. But they are connected.
No, it...it's not magic, or at least, I don't think it is... For a moment, a conflicted look comes into Astrid's eyes. I...I felt something. Some kind of unease, fear even. It was like...like that girl was pleading with me to leave the doll alone. Or like the gods themselves were trying to keep me from destroying it. We have to let it be...
"Are you certain it was not witchcraft?" Cithembi asks, his voice serious. "I know not of these witches of ice, but in the jungle there are rumors of those who could twist minds."
Evelina wrings her hands nervously. Looking to Freyja, she asks "Um...can you do that thing you sometimes do...where you check if something is magic...can that tell you if its an illusion or whatever?"
Freyja pokes her head inside the hut and sees nothing wrong with it, or with the strange doll.
Looking at the doll Freyja casts Detect Magic and studies it a moment. Hmm. This is strange. The doll is somehow linked to that little girl. Other than that I think its harmless. But I get the sense that hurting the doll would hurt the girl, so best just leave it as we found it. the bard steps back from the house.