Ragnar shook his head to fight of the curse and bellowed wordless rage at the hated witch.
And the now feral Havelock lends his own strength (now considerably more impressive) to the combat as well.
The red haze clouding his brain makes the attack an inaccurate one however.
Radosek falls with an arrow through his neck and a savage spear thrust through his heart. He gurgles "Elvanna... will..." and then dies.
icicle wand (42 charges; see page 61), potions of
cure moderate wounds (2), scroll of animate objects; Other Gear amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, spell component pouch
"Right then," Droviz says - and with a quick stroke, he decapitates the corpse.
"Didn't we have to rescue some folks or something?" A quick stab, and Droviz spears the head.
"Suggest we scour this place for whatever's useful and then head to the basement. Basements are good for dungeons."
With a flick of the blade, Droviz pitches the head into the fire underneath the cauldron.
"Sorry, sorry, know that's a bit gruesome. But, see, it's to make it harder for the enemy to bring him back. If they're even willing to do that."
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Ragnar huffed like a beast, his thick-furred cloak giving the impression of a great ape or bear. He glared balefully at the corpse and leaned on his spear to catch his breath.
When Krystae passed him the warlock's ring he looked at it dubiously for a moment, then accepted it gravely.
Tulo landed on the ground and hopped after the severed head.
Oh goody! I'm just going to help myself here...
Then he plucked out and ate the corpse's eyes.
Havelock watches the spectacle that is Tulo's gruesome meal in silence, then he strokes his beak thoughtfully.
"I believe that in the southern part of Cheliax, jellied eyeballs of newt, with a mild sauce for dipping, is a quite a delicacy."
Why would anyone want to dip newt eyes in anything? That would just spoil the flavor.
"They do a lot of things to food in Cheliax and Taldor, a lot of it appears to be a way to show of their wealth and "class".
Sure, a lot of countries with rivers eat eel, but only in Taldor do they eat live baby eels served in mint jelly.
Eating the eels live is supposed to make it taste better."
"Meanwhile in Cheliax, not to be outdone, they have a meal that consist of live snakes, drugged for easy handling while you eat them.
The more poisonous the better..."
"I shan't bother you all with what they alive Down Below. Suffice it to say you either need a strong stomach or lots of sauce. No need to drug anything, though. They use ropes and chains, instead."
Elen looks green under her pale skin. "I'll stick to fruit and vegetables, thanks!"
"Me 'n all, gorgeous," Droviz assures Elen. "Much better eating with much less fuss. Though mind you, I do like roast chicken..."
"Oh I don't know, I hear tell such cuisine is slowly...ah..."slithering" it's way up north."
Havelock mimics a snake slowly slithering upwards.
Ze zimes, zhey are changing." He says with an obviously faked Taldane accent.
"Beer, bread, and stew sounds good too. But what sounds better is figuring out what to do here."
Elen looks around for the goat, and if she finds it, will try to get it to follow them so she can try to get the spells from it later. She reaches into her bag and holds out some dried fruit to try to entice it.
"It has been a very long time since I ate anything. I think I miss it." Ragnar rumbled to no one in particular, as though he had just realized that not eating was kind of an odd thing.
This fragile-looking wand appears to be nothing more than a sharpened icicle nearly a foot in length, though it is as sturdy as any wand and the ice never melts. A combination of arcane tool and weapon, icicle wands nd frequent use among the winter witches of Irrisen, and traders have carried them as far south
as the mountains of Cheliax, Andoran, and Taldor. An icicle wand functions primarily as a wand of ice spears (see page 72), granting its user the ability to create and turn icy terrain against her enemies. In addition, an icicle wand can also be wielded as a masterwork dagger that deals 1 point of cold damage with a successful attack in addition to normal dagger damage. An icicle wand with a caster level of 7th or higher functions as a +1 frost dagger instead.
Elen is able to make friends with the goat and it follows her expectantly.
As you wander the rest of the castle, you find rare paintings in Radosek's bedroom worth 500 gp.
In Nazhena's bedroom you find an ice statue of a striking, robed woman with an owl on her shoulder.
You break an icy door to reveal a vault.
Several crates, urns, decanters, and storage boxes fill this small room. A mirrored vanity and chair sit next to the east window. An ice statue of a tall, imperious woman stands in the center of the room. When you take a step inside, the statue says: "The uninvited shall wither and die like the frost-covered bloom. You should never have ventured here, and you’d do well to leave before my return." The statue is otherwise motionless.
"Translation: there's good loot hidden in here," Droviz says. "Can any of you tell if that statue can move or do anything else that's dangerous before I go knock its head off?"
"Ah yes, more things to slow us down in our search for the young lady we came here to find.
And this time, a statue, how riveting...
"True enough, but if it's a golem or similar, it's better we smash it before it comes stomping after us when we don't expect it."
Ragnar stared at the statue with reverence and worry, taking it far more seriously than his companions.
"This witchcraft. Bad omen."
"Hey now, not all witchcraft is bad," Elen reminds Ragnar. "Although, you're almost certainly right about this being bad witchcraft, considering where we are."
"I do not believe he meant witchcraft is bad, note the slight pause between witchcraft and omen.
Beyond that, it also depends on the definition of witchcraft as a word, furthermore one could say that...
...
...
this is not very relevant to the situation at hand is it?"
The Tengu manages to look just a little embarrassed at having gone off on a pointless tangent.
"Apologies, Worldkeeper." Ragnar rumbled.
The statue radiates with a moderate aura of abjuration magic and a faint aura of illusion magic. Beyond the statue, numerous containers within the room glow with various schools of magic at different strengths. And the goat is a female.
"This place is crawling with magics," Droviz says without thinking.
He grimaces behind his mask, but then goes on:
"Well, I figure we can come back and loot the joint later, unless one of you lovely ladies can pinpoint something immediately useful. Other'n that, we've a damsel in distress to save, and a door to close, right?"
"Agreed, at the rate we are currently going, she will either have died from boredom or old age by the time we find her, either that or she wil have rescued herself and scold us for taking too long."
Ragnar nodded, ready to keep moving.
"Come along, Nanny," Elen says to the goat. "We're not going to find the captive we're looking for in the bedroom, apparently. Let's try downstairs."
"Marching order?" Droviz asks. "I'll take point if no one minds. We hit serious resistance, and I'll drop darkness, blind them, then light them up for archers to shoot at. You ready to do some shooting into the darkness, Stormcrow?"
"Well, I am agile and fast enough to move to the front if needed, and skilled enough to hold the line until help can arrive, so I shall cover the rear.
...
The rear of the line, not the rear of the ladies, keep your mind out of the gutter."
"No worries. Feather trousers would itch horribly anyway."
"You hear that sound? That is the sound of nobody laughing.
As far as jests goes, it is a sign meaning "Try again".
BUT, not to worry, one day soon you will succeed I am sure.
And how we shall laugh..."
"Ooh. Ouch. Yae verily, I am cut to the quick," Droviz snorts. "Such a cruel fate, burned by a fowl..."
"Oh really? Well, you only have yourself to blame if you decide to put roast fowl in your pants.
Roasts generally go into your mouth, not your pockets.
I feel you have misunderstood the mechanics of eating."
"That, or you're unfamiliar with how an over-spiced fowl can burn you in the pants," Droviz says, still grinning.
The group falls back to the ritual chamber and begins to clear the floor. The ritual room itself contains a translucent image of a glove hanging suspended in midair, slowly rotating in place, above a summoning circle in the blue-tiled floor of the large chamber.. Lines of arcane energy glow across the globe's surface, faintly humming with power as they connect multiple endpoints in a radiant glow bright enough to illuminate the domed ceiling overhead. Many tables and shelves covered in books, maps, and large scrolls line the room's circular walls, and a large ornate mirror hangs between two open windows to the west. Twin ice sculptures of demonic fiends flank a bubbling cauldron in an archway leading into a deep alcove in the southern wall. The cauldron itself radiates magic.
In the north room , a large bed, reading desk, padded chair, bookshelf, and storage chest furnish this long, angular room. Two windows provide ample light, and several paintings of winter scenes hang on the wall. The only things of value in this room are the paintings, altogether worth 500 gp. Inside the storage chest are additional paintings that depict other seasons.
The room to the southwest is empty except for a few sparse furnishings. The eastern room contains a large bed, wardrobe, reading desk, and bookshelf take up most of this circular bedroom. A carved ice statue of a striking, robed woman with an owl on her shoulder stands next to an alcove of crystalline tiles. In the alcove on the eastern wall of this room is another ice crystal teleporter.
To the south , a white curtain hangs in a doorway. Beyond the curtain are several crates, urns, decanters, and storage boxes. A mirrored vanity and chair sit next to the east window. An ice statue of a tall, imperious woman stands in the center of the room.