Thankfully, as this tower is of dwarven proportions, the heights of the upper chamber and lower section are such that the bottom end of the fifty-foot length of rope should dangle only four feet or so from the ground below.
Boggel carefully ties the rope onto the hinge. It takes a few tries to get the rest of the rope tossed down through the trap door below, but he finally gets it. The rope is left dangling through the open hatch down into the main room. He figures the group should be able to see it so gives it a couple of tugs to set it dancing to get their attention. Then he sets in wait. The last thing the group needs is to have this creature fly out of the top or cut the rope from above.
As the rest of the party waits in the tower below, a length of rope suddenly drops from the open hatch above. The end dangles only a couple feet off the ground, easily within reach, and it soon dances like a serpent as someone above tugs it about.
Wulf follows trying to be stealthy but instead just walks.
"I can go first." He says gripping the rope and begins to climb
”Meh, I’d rather be on two feet for a fight. Maybe we should just call her down to us?”
The dwarf whispers.
”That’s a mighty far drop if you don’t make it.”
Wulf scales the rope with practiced ease, owing to his days spent in the drillyard. He makes some grunts as he ascends, though, as it has been awhile since he's had to make such a climb.
Down below, the debris and smell begin to wear down Naomi's resolve, and she struggles to hold back something between a cough and snort.
Unfortunately, you see the sleeping woman stir and begin to waken.
Well, so much for the element of surprise.
Boggel pulls a vial of alchemist's fire off of his bandolier and shouts down, "Hello, miss. Please pardon my intrusion. I was simply curious who might be living in this old tower."
Wulf surmounts the open hatch in time to see Boggel attempt to calm the waking woman, disturbed from her sleep.
A combination of jarring factors - the frog-man hanging down from the upper hatch, the lean man emerging from the lower hatch, the mysterious flask in Boggel's hand - sabotage any attempt to placate her.
She jumps up from her straw pallet with an animalistic screech. Wulf and Boggel then discover, to their horror, that what at first seemed to be a blanket made of ratty feathers were in fact her limbs! Rather than arms, a pair of wing-like appendages extend from her shoulders, terminating in claw-like hands.
Boggel hurls his flask of alchemist's fire, and the bottle shatters explosively upon the bird-woman's wing, which she drew up reflexively like a shield. Greenish flames dance upon her inky black feathers.
Although just far enough away from the flask's reach, Wulf can feel the sudden burst of heat wash over his face and shoulders.
”That sounds like asskicking with one can of whoopass deployed so far and we are stuck down here dammit!”
The dwarf growls in frustration.
'Great' He utters under his breath as he waits for the right moment to pull himself into the tower and see if he can aid Boggle
"Okay Miss you need to calm down'he says whirling his staff infront of him defensively.
'We came to see if you were lost and in need of assistance, so if you would mind calming down and talking with us i think we may be able to work this out'
Wulf's words perhaps do more harm than good, and the deadly intent on her hawkish face is impossible to misinterpret.
As Liam reaches the end of the rope and crests the open hatch, he arrives in time to witness the slivers of flame from Boggel's alchemist's fire catch upon the straw pallet - erupting into a small flash fire and scorching the bird-woman's scaly, taloned legs.
Her vicious demeanor suddenly mutates into one of shocking serenity, and as she opens her mouth, rather than a shrill shriek it is a melody of unearthly beauty that issues forth. Like a worm into soil, you feel the song burrowing through your ears and into your minds.
Naomi and Wulf are able to shake off the enticing music, but Boggel, Liam, and Helgrim are utterly entranced.
Naomi aims her bow upward, but between the narrow vantage point and her allies crowded around the aperture, she is bereft of any sort of shot.
”I can’t. I can’t . . . Oh . . . It’s-it’s-soooooo beautiful.”
The dwarf stands mumbling.
"What a pretty bird lady."
"Seems you have decided your fate. I am sorry" He says as he went in close to strike. His staff leading he goes straight for the midsection hoping to stop the music.
Boggel hears Naomi's voice, and shakes his head, the fog clearing a bit.
Wulf strikes the bird-woman with the butt of his staff, although he grazes her side rather than delivering a full blow to the stomach.
Despite the staff blow and the burns to her legs, the bird-woman continues her song as she skirts between the wall of her lair and the staff-wielding veteran. She assumes his allies are still entranced, not realizing that Boggel has broken free from her spell.
Liam stumbles towards her, as though in a daze. Helgrim hops up and grasps the rope, trying to bring himself closer to the source of the incomparable music, but he simply slides back down - receiving a painful but non-injurious rope burn upon his palms.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Boggel brings his longbow to bear and looses an arrow at the harpy.
Wulf shifts stepping into her and works his staff in a deadly display of strikes.
"You could have surrendered, but no, now we have to fight!" He says a little annoyed she didn't want to talk. Talking is always a better solution.
Liam shakes off the effects of the harpy's song, blinking twice and looking around. "Wha...?" His expression twisting to one of anger when he realizes what's going on, he steps in front of the harpy, as his pupils take on a slit shape and his fingernails lengthen into claws. He wastes no time, reaching for the harpy with both hands.
The harpy turns aside Wulf's swings with her strong, feathered arms, and the newly freed Boggel's arrow only grazes her neck.
Her song is cut short as Liam breaks free and tears into her, rending her tough skin with his own claws.
Badly wounded, the harpy pushes past the men surrounding her and, with a flap of her wings, propels herself up to the trapdoor above. She hauls herself up and through the opening, climbing onto the parapet.
From down below the dwarf bellows out.
”What in the Nine Hells was that damn singing!”
"A Harpy! Shoot it!" Liam calls out from above, while drawing his sling.
Glad to be free of the harpy's influence, Boggel moves back out on top of the tower and fires off a cleaner shot at the harpy.
Boggel swings himself back atop the parapet and, from point blank range, lands an arrow in the small of the harpy's back.
Wulf drops his staff and leads his sling. Concentrate fire
The harpy leaps from the parapet atop the tower and takes flight. Naomi's readied arrow shatters against the eroded battlement the bird-woman leaves behind, and she flies across the rift and towards the mountains' foothills beyond.
Loading his sling, Liam lets fly with a stone.
Wulf let's his sling bullet fly,
The old bird was tough. Boggel cursed himself for not using the net to prevent her escape. Too late to worry about that now. He draws back his bow again and lets an arrow fly.
Liam's sling stone sails low and falls into the rift, while Wulf's just misses clipping the harpy's wing.
Boggel and Naomi's arrows, though, find their target, causing the further wounded harpy to falter in midair and struggle to keep aloft.
Helgrim runs out and stops next to Naomi.
”Quick give me a bow!”
The dwarf holds out his hands hoping to make a snapshot!
The dwarf pulls back and looses and arrow!
Once in his hands, Helgrim draws back the bowstring, raises his aim higher, and releases the arrow in an arcing shot to catch the harpy as she flees.
In a tense moment, the arrow seems to strike her - only to pass through the feathers on her wing and fall into the rift. The harpy continues to fly further away, clearing the wide, deep rift in the earth.
Boggel watches the harpy fly away. "Hmph. Hopefully she will not return." He throws his bow over his shoulder and makes his way back to her aerie. "We should take a quick look around," he says to the others. "The rope is secure if anyone else wants to come up. I will warn you. The smell is... unpleasant."
”Well dagnabbit! I almost had it. Crud!”
The dwarf hands the bow back.
”Now before we all go celebrating we should go sort out the troll living in the basement. Uh, which is a joke that I hope is not true.”
Boggel, Wulf, and Liam quickly observe the bird-woman's eclectic collection that sits on old niche-like shelves carved into the walls or simply on the dirt-strewn floor. This includes many old curios of silver or brass, such as a hand mirror, a censor, bowls, a lantern, a flagon, and even a small baby rattle.
Many worn, torn boots dangle from strings running along the ceiling like bizarre festival ornaments. These boots are filled with dirt and insects. In fact, most of the receptacles in the room, including the myriad cracked bottles she kept lined up, have been turned into bizarre terrariums for crawling and burrowing insects.
The only container not packed with dirt is a clay pitcher filled with surprisingly clean water.
Somewhat as a reprieve, the many containers in the room also have hundreds - if not thousands - of coins heaped in with the dirt.
...
The first floor of the tower, by contrast, contains only the detritus one would expect of the lair belonging to two giant, though now dead, insects.
Stooping down beside the open hatch leading to the tower's cellar, with stone handholds carved into the sides of its shaft, Naomi can hear the faint whistling sound of the wind.
When they're done gathering and cleaning some of the bird's useful detritus (create water should be pretty useful), Boggel hops up to Naomi. "I want to thank you for helping out with that creature's song. That battle may have gone quite differently without your quick thinking." He gives her a salute and deep bow.
"Weird bird really liked her bugs. Let's get the coins and get out of here unless one of y'all have any detection abilities to see if anything is magical. If not then let us collect what we can and see what else this area holds." Wulf says moving things gingerly with the butt of his staff.