Nadya has a look of initial surprise... seeming as though she just intended for you to see the witch dead... though after the idea dawns upon her her jawline sets and she nods grimly.
Moving back into the house Hilde and Bastagar make entreaties to seek the aid of Hatch...
Kelgar watches thoughtfully as Nadya comes to understand the full extent of her loss and the plan is formed to repay Nazhena in kind for the imprisonment of their hostess's lost daughter. His gaze is distant, and his thoughts are of his own children and their safety back at home.
Home...
Kelgar watches with some confusion as Hilde departs to the house in an effort to find "Hatch".
Turning to look at the Halfhand, he wonders aloud - "Did ah miss who 'atch is? Some sort o' fey, or...?"
"Something along those lines." The Halfhand confirms. He turns, and begins to walk slowly back towards the house. "From what I've heard, she rescued the creature from the snow. No doubt the thing has some sort of... voyeuristic attachment to her."
The wizard shudders at the thought.
"Or if her call it fails to heed,
Not a soul will know it's plight.
Bastagar shall curse it's name,
and it shall know true-winter's bite."
Bastagar's threats find no ears to answer them nor mouth to speak in response. Silence fills the downstairs area of Nadya's house.
Bastagar gleefully pats himself on the back for a job well done.
Call on the Vaetir
Hilde is never at her best with Winter Fey I'm afraid. Motioning Bastagar outside with her, she kneels down,
"Friend Puck, protect me
with your shadowed sight.
Stay away, be cautious,
and avenge me should I die tonight."
With either concern of diffidence, Hilde is left to converse with Hatch alone.
Hatch conveys that he does not trust the withered one.
She is able to convey that Hatch lived within the Pale Tower for many years... and knows much of both how it is laid out as well as it's secrets. You need only ask of what you would like to know.
Kelgar shuffles into the sun, attempting to extract whatever warmth he can from its rays, while giving Hilde free reign of the house.
Grunting with effort as he rolls a firewood log over as a makeshift seat, he begins to examine the edge of his axe.
"Ah know we're paying ah visit t' th' tower soon 'nuff."
"Greetings friend,
from the Court of the Sun.
In aid to thee I've come
to avenge a little one.
Ere the Judge's gate
dost close and turn again,
a tower brought down,
the crows to those within.
Please, illuminate to me,
the laying of the shields,
the manner of their dressing,
the guarding of their fields."
Hilde says that she will attack the tower before the next new moon and plans to kill all those within. She asks Hatch to tell her the layout of the tower, the number and placement of the men there, their general arms and any traps she can expect on her approach to the tower.
She's asking a lot, but then, considering the depth of Hatch's failure, she feels she's entitled if she's to set it right.
Her payment for helping Hatch in this matter has yet to be discussed.
Snjorrin listens impassively as the rest of the party interrogate the Fey creature.
The Halfhand scratches his chin. "No doubt the witch has more than just men guarding her keep. Perhaps he knows what slavish and wicked things may lurk there... and how to defeat them."
The arguments that you're making are really for Hatch to make in character. If Hatch doesn't see things the way Hilde does, the two will argue it out and the consequences will lay where they should.
---I wrote this big long post and I've deleted the whole thing. This is an in game argument and not one between you and I anyway. ;)
"A home protected,
this is a part of thee.
'Tis in thy nature,
and not a demand by me.
A youngling's soul,
bound in earthen streams,
thanks thy'll carry not
as she's free to dream.
Winter lingers as
crones now ride the stag,
frozen hearths unguarded now
domovoi cast in witch's bag.
Towers fall assuredly,
this one and likely more,
I fight for my own purposes,
you ask I fight for yours?
Mistook, I did, for domovoi,
of course your savior I will be.
If thy wish for me to save you,
my heart goes out to thee."
She states that she freed the young girl already and Hatch did not. Hatch is free to read into this what she likes. If asked, Hilde will make clear that she doesn't care. If the shoe were on the other foot however, Hilde would be very bothered.
Hilde feels that the alliance between the winter fey and the witches have taken all of the other fey and tossed them out with the bathwater. The fey are now doing the witch's bidding and the needs of the fey are not being taken into account regardless.
Hilde says that she will take the tower with or without Hatch for her own reasons. She asks who is representing Hatch's reasons in the fighting?
Lastly, Hilde says she must have made a mistake. She assumed Hatch would insist on offering fair exchange for Hilde's efforts as a matter of pride. Of course, Hilde will help Hatch for nothing because she feels very sorry for Hatch - although she leaves it up in the air as to whether she feels sorry for her because she failed so badly or because she is so low that she asks another to give her debt.
Hatch fades back into view ahead of Hilde, his eyes still wary - but less affronted "Acts unknown attract no debt... and while the freeing of Thora was in Hatch's will, endebted he cannot be because of the sun-licked one's actions. She has come instead, seeking knowledge... that which Hatch knows and can share. Hatch's mouth can move and spill forth the words... but it is not to bind or force Hatch to do what Hatch does not wish. The sun-kissed will come and go, by your words with or without... but Hatch will need stay... for Nadya, for twins..."
A puckish lilt forms at the corner of his mouth as he turns away from Hilde "Hatch will tell the wall what lies in the tower... Hatch does not fear owing the wood forcing him to kneel... Hatch knows where the axe is kept."
Hatch describes first where the Pale Tower is located "Upon a hill near town is the Tower Pale... forest surrounds it but to come near is to cross open ground. The tower rises into the sky, but before it is a courtyard ringed with walls thrice the height at least of a man. The gate is guarded always and the path is blocked by a wall of ice formed through will and not water.
In the courtyard once dogs were kept... but no longer. An iss trow dwells, bought with yellow steel and left to bar the way."
Hilde reaches into her pack and pulls out some trail rations, removing the woven leaf wrappers and then returning them. With dexterous fingers, she absent-mindedly weaves the leaves into the shape of a small boat.
With her fingers occupied, she doesn't appear to be listening to Hatch at all.
Satisfied his axe's edge is sharp, Kelgar stands from the snowy stump and moves to join the others in the house, presuming his arrival will not scare off Hilde's "fey friend", or if it does, the bulk of questions have been answered.
Hearing the sounds of Hilde's voice within, he stops and leans against the closed door to listen in on her relay the details of the Pale Tower.
Hatch nods as the inanimate timber before him asks further queries "The gate is of ice, unyielding and strong... conjured not from the earth... but able to be melted and re-formed by those that dwell there.
The men that stand at the gate are two or more... if the tower expects that guests may come then more may stand. Of flesh and blood... and this world and not ours."
"Hmmm... So a frontal assault would be a bad thing. Please, move on, and describe more of the place."
The Halfhand waits patiently, his mind quickly assessing each detail as it's conveyed.
Hilde places the small reed boat on the stones of the back stoop, resting on a constructed beir of twigs and leaves. Even more twigs serve as oars as the tiny ship looks ready to sail.
"Within the door is a pool of water heated from the earth... that bears a creature made of the same. It is also where the guardsmen sleep... and perhaps will be if not at the gate.
There are no stairs within... instead passage above is borne through ice and magic. Stand upon the symbol and speak A gathering within the hall, take one, take us all and it will take you... through and above."
"Floor the second is where food and drink is taken... and ones of winter blood hold sway. To flee back down the words are Spiral downward to the ground, every ounce, every pound."
As Hatch is not speaking to me, Hilde sits still and listens.
"Teleportation magic!" The Halfhand says, his curiosity piqued. "To have something so extravagent within the tower... We mustn't underestimate the resources at their disposal."
He repeats the words to himself a few times, committing them to memory.
"I wonder... Are the gates the only way in?"
Hearing the wood ask a question, Hatch responds to the wall "Only the gate... unless one has wings."
Kelgar grumbles to himself from the far side of the door as no mention of ingress through a less watched avenue is described.
He ponders the creature of heated water, and its relative strengths and weaknesses.
Ah' wonder... some sort o' elemental? A mephit?
Kelgar wagers that it's likely the creature that dwells in the spring is an elemental of water.
"The keeper of ravens dwells also on the second... and the third was beyond Hatch's domain."
Kelgar nods to himself sagely as he continues to eavesdrop on the interior of the cabin, content with the reconnaissance they are obtaining from Hatch detailing the various threats within the Pale Tower.
He catches his stubby hand anxiously tugging on his beard and can almost hear Brundir's voice reminding him that such habits will leave him beardless unless he gets a handle on them.
Ah'lright. Can't do much harm t' enter 'nah. If tha' Hatch is scared off, so be 't."
Taking a few steps back in the snow, Kelgar intentionally coughs and makes several stomping sounds as he walks up the wooden porch to the cabin's front door and pauses for a moment to shake the snow from his clothes before pushing the door open.
Face red from the cold, and a look of guilt on his face, he inquires to the others.
"Sooo... what'd ah miss?"
Keeper of Ravens?
"What sort of Winter creatures, exactly, are on the second floor? Also, who, or what, is the Keeper of Ravens?"
Hilde waits patiently, happy with the information she has gotten and quite willing to let the others ask questions.
Bastagar doesn't correlate the name with any of the fae beasts he knows of... perhaps Hatch is merely speaking literally.
The little domovoi shrugs at the insensate timbers before it "The Keeper of Ravens is a servant of the lord of the storm and sea and creature of air. She bears a spear and shield and speaks the raven's tongue."
"The fae are small and winged, skilled more in key with Hatch than the trow that walks the courtyard. Their hearts are cold as winter still."
"Above the earth there are portals to see and portals to fly... the black winged messengers of the white witches"
The Halfhand runs his fingers through his beard contemplatively, trying to recall any of theses creature's powers... and weaknesses.
"No doubt these numerous creatures will require... Special preparations."
Of atomies you have faced in combat one - accompanying Teb Knotten at the winter portal.
Conjured creatures of acquatic origin are known to be near invisible submerged in water and strike with powerful limb like protrusions.
Of the spriggan there is merely a fragment of memory.. that they can conjure fear and their size swells and fades with their will.
Halfhand knows of Gozreh and his tenets, wagering that the one in the tower serves more the ice than the witches... but still would likely not have qualms about killing. From what little Hatch knows of matters divine you cannot tell how connected she might be to her deity.
Kelgar nods.
"Aye, if plan t' see more trolls, we should bring more fires."
The old dwarf sagely nods and pats his pack.
"Ah've got a few. But tha' last one nearly laid us low due to the deep snow more 'n anything else. We need ah way t' counter 'tha - not in tha' tower but outseed 't."
"Bastagar has but one..." he says, clutching the earthenware pot. "But one pot of burn-bright."
Hilde shivers a little at the memory of the last troll. Both the sight of her blood sprayed across the clearing and the smoke of Olaf's bier fill her with caution.
The Halfhand frowns. "We have the potions for the snow. As for fire..." He pauses for a moment. "I can call forth the flames if it comes to that. Many years though it has been..."
"I've heard what I need."
"Troll warded, our path,
and the guards not few.
Shall we go with the moon,
or set out with the dew?"
Kelgar shrugs at Hilde's inquiry.
"Either, or. It's all th' same t' me. Moon might be best. Most o' the guards should nae be able t' see further than a stone's throw."
Kelgar gestures out of the nearest window towards the horizon, estimating about how far sixty feet may be, imagining at best whatever guards the tower sees as well as he does himself.
"By dark or deceit,
shall our approach be made,
to me, the night's no barrier,
but disguise is another
trick of the trade."
"Men are creatures of the light, it's true." The Halfhand begins. "But it will be more than men we must deal with. The tower's monstrous guardians will likely have no trouble by night either."