Bupkis maneuvers around the flank of the crazy dwarf, and tries another punch to subdue her.
Daseem watched with amusement as the others tried to hit the loco Dwarf lady with the flats of their blades which looked terribly awkward. Despite being unhinged she wasn't totally crazy and fought back ferociously with lethal intent.
"Ha! Great sport!" He grinned like a loon and whispered the word that activated his armor and another of praise to Gorum as he strode forwards intending to grapple this 'sister' of Ivan's into submission!
Laughing like a lunatic, Daseem lunges at her with a wide armed stance heedless of the danger!
Daseem manages to grapple the dwarf, but not without taking a painful hit.
"Go get her!" Amira cheers the team on.
With Daseem having started grappling the dwarven woman, Menrozzar decides to help him pin her so they could try and reason with her.
Daseem had a good hold of her now, no matter that she cut him. Laughing like a maniac he lifted her up before rolling backwards and throwing her down hard onto her back. Before she could react Daseem moved to sit on her, preventing her from doing much. Clearly enjoying himself he cried, "Gorum be praised!"
The dwarf tries to hack off Daseems grappling hand, but doesn't succeed. After that she goes down, with Daseem kneeling on her back and her arm in a hold. She curses in Dwarven in a way that would make a sailor blush.
Ivan will tie up the crazed dwarf using some of the rope they have, keeping her arms behind her back.
There, that should hold for a bit at least. Now... Ivan swaps to dwarven.
Who was yer brother, an' how long ye been here? we ain't here ta' hurt ye or ye brother.
Scrabbler takes an axe blow during the churning melee and ends up flung off the dwarf, landing a few feet away in the dirt. He rolled back to his feet ready to dive back into the fray, but the angry dwarf was pinned down.
There is nothing coherent coming out of the dwarven woman, but the curses. Everything else sounds like conspiracies or the nightmares of a sick mind.
When nothing but filth comes out of the woman's mouth, Daseem laughs uncertain of what to do, "W-what now?!"
With nothing else to do, Scrabbler stood on his head near the Dwarf on the ground so he could more easily look into her eyes. He was very confused with what he saw there.
"She been reading writings. Stole all her good head thoughts. Only bad stuffs left now."
Ivan will sigh before aiming a careful blow to the back of her head, knocking the crazed dwarf woman out so he can speak to the others in some peace and quiet.
This'll prove burdensome, but I can't jus' leave 'er out here in this state. What do ye folk think? Anyone got any idea's? He says looking back to the others.
Menrozzar shrugs. "I don't know much about the troubles of the mind. I agree that I'm not particularly in favor of leaving her alone out here in this state, but can we really afford to bring her along?"
Bupkis says, "Something makes her crazy? Maybe we find some clue." He searches her possessions and looks inside the tent.
Menrozzar a point, she would be a burden but just leaving somebody who wasn't right in the head to end for themselves seemed a bit off. He thought he saw a possible way out, but he really hadn't been paying attention to the things the boat captain said, so if they'd gone he was about to look silly. Tentatively Daseem asked, "C-can we take her back to tha boat or did it g-go?"
Bupkis offers his opinion, "Boat stuck, Raag said. Unless he finds some way to get free, boat still there."
When Amira tells everyone what the potions are, he suggests, "Maybe crazy woman is cursed? Remove curse potion is hers; we could feed to her."
As Bupkis asks about the nice vials with colorful liquids, Amira takes a closer look at them. "This is a potion of - I don't know - and this, is also unknown."
Frustrated she sits down and takes her time to study them with more powerful magic.
"This one heals, this one removes curses, and this axe has a simple magic enhancement too." she tells.
Well, lass, do ye think she is cursed? would that potion help her come to her senses? And if not, lets have a vote, do we take her with us until we finish our business, or do we backtrack and leave her in Raag's care?
Amira shrugs. "Never met someone who is cursed. But maybe she was expecting it. Because I also never met someone who showed around their potion of remove curse. And people show their cool stuff all the time when you ask them about their stories."
Menrozzar looks at the woman, sighs, and says, "We can see if we can leave her in Raag's care. I don't want to carry her with us - she could be an impediment."
Daseem nodded to Menrozzar, but a thought occurred. He suddenly blurted out "T-tomorrow I could p-pray for guidance ta see if she has a disease o' tha head... Mebbe help Raag know wot to do with her."
"Camp here?", Bupkis suggests.
He takes a rope out of his pack and ties up the captive. He looks at his companions and asks, "Bupkis heals?"
It is not early morning anymore, and just a few hundred feet into the marsh let to two fights. With the dwarven woman as an additional burden that would lead nowhere, so the group decides to go back to the boat for the night. But not before checking on the dwarf's tent. But there is nothing else found, but her basic belongings, like a pot, a plate, bedroll, and such.
With Bupkis' raft it is easy enough to bring all back to the boat. But Raag is not amused that an additional passenger is brought. "What's that? Why do you bring that dwarf!"
After making sure the woman is tied securely, Bupkis heals her.
When they get back to the boat, he tells Raag, "Found crazy dwarf in marsh. Daseem casts spell in morning — see if cursed. Found potion that maybe helps."
"As if we hadn't enough crazy on the ship already! If you need to keep her, put her in the cage. And if she is still crazy tomorrow you get her off the ship again!" Raag orders.
He follows to the armory to lock the cage after the dwarf is put in.
The crazy dwarf is annoying as she makes noise with the cage all the time. Somewhen in the night it suddenly stops, and in the morning she has some additional bruises.
The magical diagnose comes out as expected. The dwarf is cursed. From there it's a short way to force feeding her the potion against it. Immediately her attitude changes and her eyes become clear.
Questioned about who she is and what she's doing in the masrsh she tells "I'm Ingrahild Nargrymkin. A few weeks ago, I came with my brother Umlo Nargrymkin, to the Ghostlight Marsh in search of the tomb of
our ancestor, the giantslayer Nargrym Steelhand."
"Accompanied by a pair of hired mercenaries, we stumbled upon a circle of standing stones, and were ambushed by a coven of green hags and a marsh giant."
"I remember the two mercenaries were killed and I somehow lost sight of my brother, we did manage to kill two those cursed hags. Have you seen my brother?"
"We have not seen your brother, unfortunately. We did encounter an orc ambush at the entrance to the Marsh, however, as well as a hydra. We haven't seen any hags. Do you remember where the circle of standing stones was?"
Menrozzar will also ask if Amira can examine the anchor that's holding the boat in place, and figure out if its magically stuck or not.
Amira managed to sneak on the boat undetected by Raag. But that cover is blown as Menrozzar addresses her directly. "Sure will do."
After a short check looking down the ship's side where Menrozzar pointed she comes back and explains "That's probably a anchor feather token. Either you find out the command word, or you simply wait a day. Then the effect will end."
Raag looks irritated, but doesn't comment on that tiny person.
Hmph, well then. Can't 'ave things goin' round an cursin' me kinfolk. Do ye think ye could take us back to the spot ye ran into them? He asks hefting his hammer up.
Hmm. I wonder ifn' those stones have anythin' to do with our goal here as well.
Daseem was immensely pleased when his prayer had been answered, if a little disappointed it looked like he wasn't going to fight the Dwarven woman again. Still she'd mentioned a coven of hags, now that sounded promising so it wasn't a total loss...
When Ivan suggested finding the hags, Daseem grunted his agreement and enthusiastically busied himself sharpening his blade - for surely it would be needed before long!
Bupkis tells Ingrahild, "We search Vault of Thorns; weapons to defeat giants there! Then go to Redlake Fort and stop Twisted Hearts tribe."
"Fer sure I can show ya the ring o' stones. Dunno if that hag will come back." Ingrahild tells.
After a hearty breakfast she leads the party the way to the ring of stones. The way there is weary but she finds it without any detour.
A circle of monolithic standing stones surrounds a central menhir covered in a layer of thick, thorny vegetation. In all, eight formations surround the central stone: five intact trilithons and another three that have crumbled and partially sunk into the swamp’s soggy floor. A large pool gently bubbles to the northwest of the standing stones.
Bupkis sneaks forward towards the stone circle and looks around for signs of hags, or giants.
There is a strange mound in the swamp not far away (50ft).
Menrozzar unlimbers his hammer, then motions everyone to spread out a little bit so they aren't caught bunched up. He scans the circle, looking for any signs of the remaining hag or hags.
Menrozzar sees the strange mound in the marsh too. With half the party staring there already it becomes pretty obvious.
Ivan gives no attempts to stealth. Rather, he TRIES to attract attention, hoping to make it easier on his more stealthy members to sneak around unnoticed.
He trundles up towards the stones, eyes darting around taking in the swampy area for signs of danger. His brow heavy with sweat and water from the muggy swamp he hefts hammer and shield to the ready and with the heavy steps of a dwarf in full armor approaches closer to the mound. As he nears, he keeps his shield firmly held in front of him, facing towards the mound.
Scrabbler moved with Bupkis, scouting quietly.
The mound rises from the swamp and charges. It is a strange large humanoid creature.
Menrozzar has no idea what it is, but he moves nearer Ivan, hammer at the ready to strike if the creature comes into his attack range.