The Vixen lets the creature wreck her back.
“Someone keep that thing at bay!”
She uses Pilepe’s strings to tie up Mather Nithra!
Storm snarls at seeing his mistress attacked, lunging at the nochlean with jaws bared.
"Good boy!" Katrine steps back again, ignoring the claw marks on her arm, and fires another cold iron arrow.
When Ahto is hurt again, she cries out, as she hates to see him so bloody and hurt. She then looks to Mather Nithra.
"Tell them to stop and give up or I'll end your life right here! You are going to jail or to face your death!"
Her hands take on a stony, sickly color as she readies to coup de grace him. Such a selfish being she believes will side on the err of self-preservation before sacrifice.
It perhaps is all too evident that her concern for Ahto is pressing her to make this choice, but it also communicates the seriousness in her face. Whether or not she will do it, that remains to be seen. All she knows is she can't heal Ahto from here.
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Sprocket continues to savage the nochlean scratching at Vixen.
It's at this point that the invisible gnome appears with a dour look on her face, cold iron sickle in hand. Suddenly, her facial structure twists and her nose and brow both broaden. She then moves to deliver the aforementioned and threatened coup de grace to Mather Nithra.
"I don't think the jail has room for Mather Nithra, Pelipe." Wonky speaks in a strange, flat voice, her green eyes not rising to meet the arcanist as she draws the sharp cold iron blade across Nithra's throat.
Pelipe doesn't comment as the gnome slices Mather's neck. She blinks, almost stunned, but then doesn't hesitate to rush to Doo-dad and cast a healing spell upon him.
Her eyes then shift to Ahto and she makes her way toward him. Her breath is ragged, her insides burning, and yet she still doesn't look as bad as Ahto. Watching him, she swears she sees his wounds healing.
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Inside the tree, Storm finishes the nochlean in rather gruesome fashion.
With one final defiant swing of Burden, Ahto cuts down the last wooden fey before the large lord of Tamlyn takes a knee and collapses from the weight of his wounds.
Having seen his master executed by an especially small, especially stern-faced gnome emerging from thin air, the last nochlean - indeed, the last member of the decimated gang of evil fey - attempts to take a step back to escape from its own doom. However, Sprocket shares his master's grim determination, and the mighty doggy's jaws ensure that none of these wicked fey escape justice.
The Vixen rises. “Good dog,” she says to the dog who got the dark fey off her back. “Wait, no tongue —gaah!”
She then walks over to Ahto who towers over her. She is not even knee-high to him. This is a trip… oh, but he’s hurt!
“How ye holding up, Ahto? Hang in there.”
She’s not worried. Pelipe will run to him with her life-saving magic.
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Wonky regards the dying form of Mather Nithra.
”Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. You came from the Green; return there you must.” She delivers her strange benediction, then turns to Sprocket.
”Good boy. It is over now. We should go tend to your brother.”
Without a backwards glance at the dead grig, she walks to Doo-dad as Pelipe tends his wounds.
”Thank you, friend,” she says quietly and formally to Pelipe. ”I appreciate you.”
Tears stream down Wonky’s cheeks. She acts as if she doesn’t acknowledge that she’s crying.
"Of course, dear Wonky. We can't lose Doo-dad. He's too brave. I only wish I had a more appropriate spell available..."
With that, she rushes to Ahto's side. The overly large man is a lot to take in. For one, it makes her very tiny (being small-sized) perception view his gaping wounds as far larger than they truly are (given his large size). Beyond that, it is the bloodiest she's ever seen him and it shakes her.
"My Lord, are you well? I have only the one spell with me known, but I will gladly cast it upon you if you are in need of healing?" "Darn those rogues, taking off with my other spellbooks...this is such a dark spell, but it is all I have."
If he wishes, she can cast infernal healing upon him to help him heal up. She cautiously lingers near him and reaches out a hand to dispel the magic she had cast upon him, thus returning their leader to normal size.
"You were magnificent." She realizes she's a bit emotionally glad he's alright and further explains herself. "Everyone was...Especially the Vixen. She was a paragon of strength over Mather and manipulated him like a plaything," she nervously chuckles and winces at her own pain. Her beautiful new outfit is shredded and covered in blood, like most of them are.
Pelipe's magic of choice for healing is celestial in nature, and good-aligned; given willingly to help aid spellcasters by aasimars or other celestial beings. Pelipe understood the need for infernal healing spells, but it involves the blood of a demon, taken from it unwillingly in some cases, but still, it may feel warm and refreshing to not be bleeding out, but the evil feeling it entails is not enjoyable. Despite his gaping wounds, the smaller Pelipe does what she can to move him next to a tree so he can sit down. She will be there by his side, holding his hand until he recovers. With each passing moment, he recovers more and more. Then, she will pull out a stone, focus on it, and cast the spell again.
"It's probably strange to look upon me in this size," she chuckles. "I used to use this spell so often. It was great for hiding." She falls silent and winces as pain shudders through her body. "I never thought a reduced person spell would be experienced in this way, or for such a reason," she thinks to herself.
With Ahto healing more and more, she will rise again, and say to him:
"Mather is dead. All of his followers are dead or gone...perhaps one of these have a potion, or a healing spell on them so we can heal you and Doo-Dad. He almost died as well. I also need to check on Katrine and her dog as well. Just stay here and rest a bit...," she offers in a sweet tone, concealing her increasing injury. Though others are not in combat anymore, the constant casting of spells continues to harm her.
As Pelipe reveals Mather Nithra’s fate, VV explains, “I tied up Mather Nithra with violin strings. He couldn’t escape me bonds. But Wonky made the right call. Yer life was in danger, and Nithra’s minions only needed to cut the strings and illusion magic would’ve made for an easy escape.
“He was hardly injured. A lucky arrow and lucky grasp of his throat won the day. I could have easily struck his illusion as the dogs did. Luck or Milani herself guided my attacks, or the dark fey might have won, or at least taken one of us with ‘em.”
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As consciousness creeps back into his mind, slowly rises to his feet.
"Please give an account of the battle, as it pertains to the death of Mather Nithra," he says, his tone stoic, despite the evidence of physical pain in it.
It is clear that Ahto is looking for a specific moment-by-moment account of how events unfolded.
"He chose to fight instead of surrender...that for certain is the first straw. The second I guess would start with me? I had cast a spell upon the Vixen, much like on you, to empower her with strength."
VV says, “Mather Nithra cast a spell to make several images of himself. I got a lucky shot with me arrow. I knew I hit the right one when all the copies had arrows in ‘em.
“A dark fey attacked me; I took it down with swift kicks.” VV does not mention that the tiny creature took nonlethal blows. She can truthfully say she has never killed a fey, nor intended the death of a fey—though she has no quarrel with Wonky’s kill.
“With the fey down and out, I rushed Mather Nithra. Wonky’s dogs beat me to him, clones burst with each bit. Odds were one-in-five I’d get the right one, but Peliple enhanced me strength—and not size, per me request—easier to grapple a creature me own size.
“We wrestled! A larger fey struck me, Mather Nithra nearly escaped—and would’ve if not for Pelipe’s spell. I pinned him and Pelipe gave me some violin string.”
“I hog tied him. Wonky then appeared and slit his throat.
“In her defense, the fey towering o’er me could’ve acted in a way that let Mather Nithra escape, and only a single arrow had harmed him. Without me grappling him, we’d have had his illusions to confuse us. And I don’t know how dangerous his magic is, but… ye survived. Maybe he wasn’t as tough as he was made out to be.”
Even if you could not see their pale faces peering out from the undergrowth on the borders of the glade, you can feel the eyes of the half-bleached gnomes upon you as you debrief Lord Ahto regarding the fierce battle.
Katrine exhales in relief as Storm mauls the nochlean. In the background she can hear Wonky pronounce judgment on Mather Nithra. Good, means they don't have to figure out how to effectively restrain a powerful magic user. She examines her companion, determines that he should be all right for the moment, and walks over to the rest of the group.
Sure enough, the tiny gnome is standing over Nithra's body with a bloody sickle in hand. "Good call, Wonky. The mayor already warned us that she didn't think Uringen's jail could hold Mather Nithra for long." Then she notices that Ahto is not only covered in blood, he looks dangerously pale. "By the Green, they worked you over, didn't they? Hang on, Ahto, Wonky gave me a wand of healing after our fight with the hags." Katrine digs around in her pack, producing the slender white wand and touching it to Ahto's shoulder.
The ranger looks around for any other wounded, and her gaze lands on Doo-dad. "Oh, poor dog! You were a very brave boy." She jogs over to the fallen canine and touches his head with the wand.
Pelipe does have some thoughts on the event, involving her threatening Mather as well as what Wonky said, but she doesn't feel it is the appropriate time; especially since she can scarcely keep her breath.
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Wonky busies herself tending to Doo-dad. When Katrine touches the scorched canine with the wand, she looks over her shoulder and gives a scant smile.
"Is there any testimony either of you would like to give regarding this event?"
Wonky takes a deep breath and gets slowly to her feet.
"It is all true and accurate, Ahto. You know my cause and my background - Mather Nithra enslaving these people -" here, she references the haunted faces peering at them from the undergrowth - "and their families - MY people - with false hopes of curing the plague ravaging our most wise and revered is abhorrent to me in the most extreme. I know the fey - I AM the fey. Capriciousness and unpredicatbility, that is the First World way. Nithra would have taken the first opportunity to escape via magical or mystic means, and to my knowledge, he had his minions prepared to sacrifice themselves to ensure his flight. Recreating his abusive scheme by preying on hope in a panacea would have been his primary aim, and what is more, it would have been elementary to do so. I could not allow for that possibility, and if I am to be held responsible for that, then I am contented to bear that burden." She smirks.
"No pun was intended."
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Ahto nods in acknowledgment. "I would have preferred Mather Nithra had been captured alive, and that his execution and trial had been a matter of public record. However, he had already been declared and outlaw by both Mayors of Uringen, and they had indicated that they would be satisfied with him being brought to justice dead or alive. Uringen is not within our jurisdiction, so I have no authority to countermand the Mayors. From what I have seen of the baker and of these folk," he gestures towards the bleached ones who were only moments ago trying to stab him with spears, Mather Nithra was a threat to the peace and civility of Uringen. Justice has been served. We shall return, and present his corpse to the Mayors. We have served the cause of Justice and Law, and I have no doubt Abadar will bless us with prosperous trade relations with Uringen."
"I am interested to see how Ahto will deal with these gnomes."
She would address them, but she just stays where she is. She looks at Katrine:
"I am injured as well, Katrine. Is there anything left you can spare?"
She holds up her arm, which is still lightly bleeding. Her outfit is in tatters, revealing bloody flesh wounds here and there where blasts of the spray tore into her. It is clear she is bleeding there as well, but stabilized to some degree.
Pelipe attempts to shift the outfit to be more appropriate and orderly. Her mind reels with fatigue as she does so. At Ahto being healed, the tiredness in her eyes fades a slight bit and there is a glint of happiness at seeing him feeling a bit better.
"What of the gnomes?" she asks in a still quiet voice so they cannot hear it.
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"What I observed was action under coercion," Ahto replies. "If they had persisted in their attacks, I would have struck them down as I did Mather's other minions. They quit the field before it was too late, and that significantly reduced Mather's numbers, tipping the odds in our favor." He pauses a moment, then looks to the gathering of bleached ones. He speaks loudly enough to be clearly heard by them. "Was Mather Nithra holding members of your family hostage, or was he simply keeping you in thrall through intimidation? Does he have any lieutenants or other foot soldiers we still need to confront?"
Ahto's appeal through a position of authority convinces the gnomes to emerge from the edges of the glade, though they remain quite skittish. They explain the ill-fated arrangement that brought them into Nithra's clutches.
"Our kin - siblings, children, spouses - brought us to Uringen, having heard about the town's peculiar condition," begins one of the gnomish men, his hair a blend of bleached white and graying black. "In each case, our family moved to Uringen in hopes of ameliorating our conditions. Mather Nithra approached us with his lies, claiming he could treat us - even provide a cure. One by one, we each followed him here, and thus began our nightmare."
You learn that Nithra, in a way, was holding two different sets of hostages. These bleachlings obeyed his whims because the grig threatened to hurt their family in Uringen. Likewise, the gnomes of Uringen provided Nithra and his gang with information about the town and the neighboring travelers, as well as hidden routes into Uringen, because their bleached kin were his more literal prisoners.
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"You will accompany us back to Uringen to be reunited with your families. After that, if you still wish to pursue a cure for the Bleaching, Miss Prong here is researching that very subject. We can offer you a place among our First Citizens of Tamlyn. We will hold you to no obligation other than obeying the law and being productive in whatever professions you choose to pursue. We will not compel you or threaten you in any way. If you wish to join us on our return to Tamlyn, you may. If not, we wish you well."
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Wonky takes a sharp breath inward at Ahto’s words.
”What a wonderful idea! I could arrange to set up a public clinical study affiliated with the Great Library in Horace dedicated to research trials focused on….” Wonky goes on and on like this for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Sprocket nosed around the scene of carnage.
Katrine looks down at Doo-dad, frowning. "That didn't work very well. Let's try again." She casts the spell once more.
Now that Doo-dad looks a bit better, the ranger turns to Pelipe. "Sure, that's what the wand is for. Hold still."
"Ahto, do you want another healing spell or two? You still don't look so good." She gives him a concerned look.
Pelipe wonders what other horrors these fey were forced to enact. Perhaps some of them even liked being pressed into service. While Ahto's judgment is correct, she would go further and put them on trial, not to the death, but to face the crimes they have potentially caused. That would be under Uringen law, but since he is offering them a home within his own nation, she recognizes his ability to pardon and is content. The community will be devoid of any who did atrocious acts against the populous of Uringen, and the gnomes will find their 'home'. Pelipe hums happily.
With Wonky getting excited, and still being small-sized, it's almost too cute for Pelipe.
Katrine heals her a tiny bit and the bleeding on her arm stops. She is still covered in wounds, that much is obvious, but they are looking slightly better.
"Thank you. You should use it on yourself. You look like you took some hits as well."
After wiping her hands clean of the blood on them, she will pull out her spellbook and start researching prestidigitation in an effort to figure out how some spellcasters use it to clean.
The only reason she has never learned it is because she's had maids and every single need met her whole life. Now that she is roughing it with adventurers and is currently covered in blood and bloody garments, she feels the need to relook at the spell. As she does, it comes to her quite easily and she begins to prepare this spell for casting, as well as a mending spell. She has no money to replace her shredded clothing.
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"Save the wand," Ahto says. "I sense Ababar is pleased with our actions this day, I will call upon him to restore me." He touches the Iron Key at his neck, and whispers a series prayers.
"Let us police the bodies and collect whatever gear, valuables and documents they possess. We should then return. We have a bit of cleaning up to do before the night's festivities."
"Before we go, um...there's something we should probably show you," one of the gnome women says, pointing towards some manner of cleft or sinkhole in the ground just beyond where Nithra and his gang attacked from.
The Vixen moves to the sinkhole to see.
"Thank you," she comments to Ahto as he refreshes and heals her. Somehow, his healing feels more at home to her. It reminds her of her times in Abadar's temple and she closes her eyes briefly to relish the sensation. When she opens them, her wounds are gone; not even bruising remains. The only sign she was injured is her tattered outfit.
Holding her rib with a slung arm, she stands as the gnome woman invites them to follow to the sinkhole. She is wary but will explore. While there, she will pull out one of her rations and share it with the gnomes. Knowing their 'master' he likely didn't treat them well.
A wide but low cleft opens in the ground like a jagged smile. A steep, rocky slope thick with moss and ivy descends into the sinkhole, its roof formed by a canopy of roots and creepers. A faint but baleful green glow rises from the opening.
At the edge, Pelipe and Vixen see that the source of the light is some manner of oblong wooden sculpture, about the height of a man and suspended by vines a foot or two off the cavern floor. Lengths of woven ivy lead off from the object towards a side of the cavern that is out of sight.
You also spot a corner of the cavern partitioned off from the rest by carpets hung like privacy curtains. The space within is filled with all manner of brick-a-brac that Nithra's gang has collected and hoarded.
Katrine lets out a quiet sigh of relief as her wounds heal. "Thank you, Ahto. That's much more effective than the wand." She points to Doo-dad. "Pretty sure Wonky's dog could use some more healing. Storm is a little banged up, but I can take care of him with the wand if you're running low on healing spells."
A sinkhole? Interesting... that would be a good place to stash loot for a person who can fly. The ranger peers into the crevasse. "Ooh, interesting. I wonder what's up with the magic statue?" Could be anything, really. This is the First World.
Once VV grows back, she carefully scoops up her KO’d victim. “We can arrest this one, let the mayors decide the tooth fairy’s fate.”
But she takes advantage of her small size and examines the sink hole, unloading what her little self can (with extra strength).
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"Look there friends...," she hints to her companions, "It is hardly noticeable. There is a slight variation in the intensity of the aura around the statue. Its pattern and shape are far too eerily similar to that of a beating heart. It may have a link to necromantic or transmutation magic. Perhaps you should allow me to investigate it?"
With a slight whimper of pain, she casts a detect magic spell and looks toward the object.
In her fatigued, and small-sized capacity, she doesn't think she can handle the most physical of tasks.
When VV comes up with a fey in tow, she asks, "Did he have anything on him to help with escaping?"
If you had to hazard a guess, you'd say it is powering a portal - presumably to the First World.
At first, the gnomes eye Pelipe's proffered food with trepidation. They have clearly been starved as part of the fey's torture. However, as a consequence of how Nithra tricked them, they are slow to trust again. For now, they remain hungry and huddle together along the rim of the sinkhole with you.
"Each day, Nithra would make one of us climb down there," one of the gnome men says. "That wooden orb...getting near it felt...nice. It brought a brief sense of excitement, like discovering something in the attic that you'd lost or forgotten about. Then...then I'd white out. Except, instead of bright white, it'd be a swirl of colors. When I could see again..."
The other rescued gnomes nod in mute, fearful agreement as their fellow describes the same ordeal they all endured. He describes sometimes being kept in a cage of living wood and dangled from a writhing tree, left for terrible beasts to snarl and leap at. He describes being, at other times, left abandoned on a stone in the middle of an icy cold lake, with many other stones to hop to, while scaled and toothy lizards swam just below the surface, waiting for him to slip.
As their eyes grow wet and their lips tremble, the gnomes describe other such nightmare-like scenarios that Nithra dropped them into, seeming to derive entertainment from their fear and misery.
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"There seems to be a strong indication that somewhere below is a portal to the First World, specifically, to a region know as Simmaron. It is also known as the Hag's Forest. I would not recommend we attempt to cross over without more thorough preparation. Also, we will be late for our engagement if we tarry further. We can hope that nothing else crosses over in the meantime. Perhaps we can find a way to secure the portal from here to the bakery, once we are back in Uringen."
Hag's Forest? Sounds promising... and very dangerous. Katrine nods to Ahto. "Sounds like a plan. Let's grab the loot first, though. Vixen, want to come?" She still remembers watching the other woman climb up the sheer sides of a tower like it was nothing.
”Yes, I’ll help.” VV stops short of saying the word ‘loot,’ but she’s happy to be seen as strong —even with her shrunken body!
"Severing the conduit lines...err...I mean branches there...should shut down this connection to the fey world. And yes, there most certainly is a portal there." she answers Ahto in confirmation of his words.
When they consider traversing through the portal, she is glad Ahto brings up their engagement, not because it is so important that it takes precedence, but because she is concerned for their new friends, the gnomes.
"Well, I think our priority needs to care for our new friends here."
In a sweet way, she tests the food first so they know it is not poisoned and can eat it. It is mostly nuts and some jerky with some dried fruits.
"We can take them back with us, perhaps get them some treats at the baker's, perhaps get them nice hot baths, then put some real food in their bellies, and find a place for them to stay the evening before we venture off into the unknown." "I hope this pain eases before the event and if there is any dancing." She would settle for being her own size again.
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Wonky snaps out of her reverie and offers a bit of perspective.
"The experience that these poor souls ---" here, she references the Bleaching survivors --- "are describing as they came down to this wooden object seems to be tantalisingly-close to what I would imagine would be the case if the Bleaching were to be reversed! I would just as soon sever these conduit lines as I would sever my jugular vein if it meant that we might be closer to solving this problem!"
She looks to Ahto. "We should, of course, get these folks to a place of safety, but I beseech you, Ahto, a period of time that I might study this portal and glean whatever essence of hope for my kind that might be obtained from its presence, whatever villainous purpose Nithra had it constructed in the first place."
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"There is much to consider. Miss Prong, if you wish to forego the evening's events and remain here to study the portal, you may do so, but not alone, and Sprocket and Doo-dad, however loyal and true, are not sufficient company for the purposes of your safety. Protocol demands that I must be a the event this evening, lest I undermine the goodwill of our hosts. It is also necessary to present Mather Nithra's remains to the Mayors. If you wish to attend long enough for that, and then return here to begin your work, you may do so, as well, but again not by yourself. I prefer a volunteer, but if no one else wishes to go with you, I will assign our two Indentures to your guard detail. If on the other hand, you wish to attend the event tonight, you of course may do so, but it will limit your time with the device. We need to get home with reasonable haste. If you recall, there is a spy for the Stroud Sisters lurking about Tamlyn, and doubtlessly causing trouble of one sort or another."
"I'll come along as your guard." Yes! A perfect excuse to get out of the gala! Katrine probably looks a bit too eager, but right now she doesn't care. "I'm not one of Tamlyn's council, so nobody will miss me at the party." And she won't have to wear the froofy dress again.