Is it possible to break the compulsion Letitia? she looks from Letitia to the man. Thinking about what the options here are.
We have permission. Baba Yaga is not here, Elvanna has murdered her Riders and has done something to her. Whatever compulsion or contract you are under, how can we break it. it would inconvenience us
Letitia's head whips around to Ashling. "Compulsion? Is he compelled to defend this door?" She thinks quickly and shakes her head. "A geas by Baba Yaga will not easily be broken. I doubt it is possible without Grandmother."
It seems to be something like that, he is choosing not to attack us now because he doesn't have too, but the same will not be true if we return...he says he is bound to a duty. Which is inconvenient for our current circumstance, at the same time i feel combat is...a non option. he could prove useful as it seems he has worked with Baba Yaga for some time Ashling thinks and takes out a journal, If we knew the exact wording of the contract, we might be able to by pass it
Letitia nods as she considers Ashling's explanation. "You are right. See if you can coax the exact wording from him. In the meantime, I assume that he will not object to us exploring this room?"
Letitia looks around the room, seeing as the immediate threat of hostilities seem to have been pushed back to a later time.
"Oh we can definitely leave." Llewellyn told Mr Samuel, "He's going to make the return journey interesting however..."
Llewellyn wasn't at all sure how Ratibor would react to the fierce Yong one's question. He decided to wait and see his reaction before saying anything else.
reentering is the only problem, why do you suppose he speaks draconic...it seems somewhat random Ashling returns her attention to Ratibor.
Ashling assumes her black rider form ,Ratibor, what are the terms of your contract with Baba Yaga specifically? this presents a unique opportunity, help us help you. We are allies against her true enemies, She has disappeared and is in danger, so much so that Twas Black Midnight that sent us on this quest.
Samuel helps searching the room.
"Well, let's go then" once it is clear they can get out, the man makes it to the exit door "If we survive Artosia, then we can think on the problem of how to come back to the hut. Until that is not a fact, this is not a problem."
Letitia looks around the room and the guardian makes no move to stop her. There is not much worth examining, however. it looks like the room is well stocked with food clothing and mundane tools.
"it was not so much a contract as a forced servitude. I was a leader of men, uniting the clans in an army that made the witch queen tremble. but she slipped into our camp and whisked me away under the noses of my men. she enchanted me with foul magic using some ritual from an anceint tome. I never saw what was written there, and i suppose it is unlikely I would know what it meant even if I could.
You say you are allies of Baba Yaga, but that does not make us allies. If someone out there is attempting to end the evil woman, I wish them all the luck. Maybe when she dies my curse will be broken and I can finally leave.
Samuel moves to the door. he can see out the windows that the hut is in a snowy clearing in a forest. the door opens easily. when he opens the door, the hut kneels down, bringing the porch down close to the ground allowing a short step down tot he snow.
It is clear that you are no longer in Irrisen. even the cold air of Whitethrone does not compare to the bitter chill in this land.
something is moving, mostly concealed by the dense forest around the clearing. it looks big.
On second look, there are a lot of them out there beyond the tree line. at least 8.
Letitia steps out to the porch and closes her eyes, savoring the bitter cold.
Humming a jaunty tune, Llewellyn took a moment to center himself before stepping outside into the frigid air.
His eyes were drawn to the treeline and suddenly he knew they were not alone. Softly he warned his companions, "Don't all look, but there's something moving in the forest, something big."
Not quite... Baba yaga set something up in case she didn't return.... You want to be free... Ill see if we can help
Callix nods, "Can't say I'm surprised there'd be a welcoming committee. And, with this one, I'm suddenly doubting we can count on the Hut to protect us."
The hut has legs... it can move, we need to.figure out how to use it. And from the looks of it, quickly Ashling is quickly switching her attentions, and plqces her hand on her blade.
Samuel wraps the furs around him as they visit the hut's exterior "Aye. I was starting to miss the chilling ice of the snow." he laughs openly.
When he looks further beyond though, his laugh is taken "Indeed. Something big as Mr. Llewellyn points out. But not only one but eight of them!"
The High Sentinel is fast to check the musket is loaded and sets himself against the wall cover "Hi there! Are you just shy or scoundrels looking after travelers? Show yourselves!"
Callix says nothing, but her hand drops to the axe on her belt, just in case.
Ariadna stays behind in the doorway for now, waiting for the all-clear before she comes outside.
several large shapes move into view from where they were concealed and sitting behind several of the trees around this clearing.
there are 8 of them, and they are quite large, blue-skinned humanoids with axes. they advance with threatening gestures
these are Frost Giants, aggressive and dangerous giants that are known to take captives, and use them for food as well as slaves and commodities.
they are immune to cold damage and weak to fire.
Ashling, Samuel, Letitia, Giants, Callix, Llewellyn
Letitia's eyes snap open at the alarm of large humanoids approaching. "My, there are a lot of them, aren't there?"
She shouts to Ariadna, "Look for the bowl and egg! We should consider using the Hut to flee! Ashling, tell the Hut's defender that we're being assaulted!"
She sends Lazlo inside with a thought as she conjures a small but vicious thunderstorm into being.
Ashling draws her blade and speaks Draconic . She's waiting in place for now.
Ratibor, we're being assaulted, will you help us?
"We are surrounded" Samuel growls seeing the towering figures around the hut "Let's see if we can make a safe passage through the woods"
Taking aim at the closer giant, the Taldan shots sure his bullet is to fell the giant instantly.
But instead the trigger misfires and the bullet remains mid-point blocking the firearm "Rats! Not now!!!"
With an expert movement he hits the trigger to quick clear the cannon.
The giants advance on the hut slowly. one reaches Callix, another gets near Llewellyn.
Callix takes a big hit, but Llewellyn is untouched.
the other giants move up and throw big rocks at the people on the porch
Samuel gets clipped by a rock, but no one else is injured.
Ratibor does not come outside
Ariadna rushes out.
"I found it, Letitia! the same bowl and egg we found last time. it was sitting on a box!"
She steps to the doorway but sees the giants and doesn't come all the way out. she hands the controls to Letitia, or whoever takes it from her.
the giants are coming in very cautiously instead of rushing in all at once. they are quite strong but the hut scares them
the party may act!
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 30/58 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 42/42 - AC: 18/12/15 Status: mage armor
Llewellyn HP: 52/52 - AC: 23/21/13 Status: defensive fighting
Samuel HP: 35/51 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 44/44 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Cold 5NPCs:
Blue Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Purple Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Green Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Yellow Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Red Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Cyan Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Black Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
White Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
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Callix says, "Good work, Ariadna. Now someone go get the hut to peck these things to death."
She then spins the axe in her hand, Bloody giant hits... like a giant, I guess.... Too bad he rushed in, would have been nice to get some defensive... or offensive... magic up. But, since there's no way I can heal myself faster than he can hit -- so I guess the best we can do is hope to get him to back off... or at least harry him until the hut starts moving. She smiles at the giant, "You hit like a goblin," she offers, even as she mentally calls on the Drunken Hero for aid. , before striking back at the giant.
Samuel is still distracted clearing his gun when the two rocks crash on him, splattering his face with blood "Rats! Someone! Have this hut moving! They are going to savage us!"
The Taldan raises an eyebrow "They are scared of the hut!"
"Llewellyn, Callix, what are you doing there down?! Someone, make this move while we attack them at range" he follows this with reloading his musket using a flare alchemical cartridge and shots at violet.
Pressed by the many giants, he takes another of his precious paper alchemical cartridge bullets to immediately reload the musket for another shot.
Ashling looks at the bowl and egg...then the giants We should all go inside...let's use the hut. They're afraid of it for a reason, lets figure out why...Such a powerful artifact, maybe it's got attacks or something She'll take the bowl and have the hut Move toward the giants, then pass the bowl off to Letitia.
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"Bit of a frosty reception here!" quipped Llewellyn as he hastened back to the comparative safety of the hut.
"Maybe it's got attacks or something."
Grinning like a small boy with a new toy he laughed, "Now that is something I've gotta see!"
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Hut. kill.
Letitia instructs her thundercloud to float into the giant approaching from the northwest (green). First, though, she hexes the giant with an Evil Eye, reducing its resistances.
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Callix hits a vital spot on the giant in front of her, doing big damage!
Samuel hits one giant with a flare.
the giants are hardy and shrug off most of the effect.
He shoots again, hitting one more time.
Llewellyn retreats, hopping up on the porch just before the hut rises on its legs and starts pecking at the red giant. The giant is bloodied but doesn't fall yet.
Letitia focuses on another giant, hexing and sending a cloud after it
The giant next to Callix tries to retaliate
Callix is badly injured, but so is the giant...
the others try to fight the hut. white and black move in with their axes. the others throw rocks
the hut swipes at white while it approaches.
the giants bounce off of the hut with no noticeable damage
the party is up!
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 3/58 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 42/42 - AC: 18/12/15 Status: mage armor
Llewellyn HP: 52/52 - AC: 23/21/13 Status: defensive fighting
Samuel HP: 35/51 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 44/44 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Cold 5NPCs:
Dancing Hut HP: 188/188 | AC: 34
Blue Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Purple Giant HP: -25 | AC: ?? | dazzled
Green Giant HP: -22 | AC: ?? | hexed
Yellow Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Red Giant HP: -113 | AC: ??
Cyan Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Black Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
White Giant HP: -21 | AC: ??
Seeing the giants are still standing, Samuel scowls "These are hardy. We have to focus on one at a time" deciding to go for the same one under attack by Letitia's thundercloud, the Taldan quickly reloads his musket with a new bullet and shots at green "Defend the hut!"
"Ashling! Defend Callix!" Letitia shouts. She briefly thought about sending Lazlo to the Ulfen to bestow her healing hex, but that was a stopgap measure at best. Better to trust the Hut can bring down that foe while she uses her gifts to remove another giant from the fight.
Then she levels her Slumber hex against the giant coming up from the south.
I don't know, i think the hut is fine actually Ashling focuses on controlling the hut to attack now, seeing how powerful it is. She Has the hut Attack the Giant nearest Callix, On it!
"Woah look at that!" enthused Llewellyn as the Hut's chicken legs ripped into the closet giant. Humming a jaunty tune that uplifted your spirits, he grabbed hold of his orcish bow and drew a yard long arrow from his quiver which started to glow softly. In one smooth motion he nooked it, rolled his shoulders to draw the arrow, sighted one of the rock throwing giants and loosed!
the green giant is hit by Letitia's lightning and Samuel's musketball.
The hut kills the giant in front of Callix with one massive hit, then Ashling turns to attack the same one the Llewellyn injured already. two more attacks hit White.
Llewellyn fires another arrow hitting the mark
the giant move it trying to use their big axes to chop the legs of the hut
The axes find purchase this time, chipping away at the wooden feet of the magic hut.
the last two throw stones at Samuel and Ashling
the cover of the porch protects both of them
the party may act, Callix take 2 rounds of actions including one before the giants move in
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 3/58 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 42/42 - AC: 18/12/15 Status: mage armor
Llewellyn HP: 52/52 - AC: 23/21/13 Status: defensive fighting
Samuel HP: 35/51 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 44/44 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Cold 5NPCs:
Dancing Hut HP: 170/188 | AC: 34
Blue Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Purple Giant HP: -25 | AC: ?? | dazzled
Green Giant HP: -59 | AC: ?? | hexed
Yellow Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Red Giant HP: -152 | AC: ??| dead
Cyan Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Black Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
White Giant HP: -77 | AC: ??
Letitia keeps the thundercloud pursuing the giant she had previously hexed (green), while targeting another giant with her Slumber hex.
Very pressed by the stones falling around him, Samuel covers himself by a short margin, all while quickly reloading his musket with a new bullet "Turn a second I am going to catch that one before it can reach us!"
Then targets green, or white if that one is already down.
Having a moment to breathe, Callix takes her place on the Hut's porch, and quickly casts a spell on her axe to allow her to strike from a distance, then fills the blade with holy might.
Feeling somewhat safer on the porch, Callix calls on the Drunken Hero to close some of her wounds before throwing her axe at one of the giants closing with the hut.
In between humming a catchy tune, Llewellyn grinned "Welcome back!" to Callix.
Pleased with his previous shot, Llewellyn tried to follow up but this time his aim wasn't so good.
Ashling commands the hut to attack again
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the lightning hits green, and is then followed shortly by a bullet from samuel and an axe from Callix which finishes it off.
yellow suddenly stops moving towards the hut and lays down for a nap.
the hut attacks white, killing it as well.
the giants continue to attack
two attack the hut
the others throw rocks, one at Letitia and one at Samuel
Letitia is hit hard, but nothing else happens as the hut continues to shrug off most of the attack
the party may act
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 20/58 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 22/42 - AC: 18/12/15 Status: mage armor
Llewellyn HP: 52/52 - AC: 23/21/13 Status: defensive fighting
Samuel HP: 35/51 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 44/44 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Cold 5NPCs:
Dancing Hut HP: 170/188 | AC: 34
Blue Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Purple Giant HP: -25 | AC: ?? | dazzled
Green Giant HP: -150 | AC: ?? | dead
Yellow Giant HP: ?? | AC: ?? | asleep
Red Giant HP: -152 | AC: ??| dead
Cyan Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Black Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
White Giant HP: -140 | dead
Letitia winces as the boulder slams into her, nearly knocking the wind out of her. She grits her teeth and sends her thundercloud after the giants throwing rocks, then turns to level her hex at the nearest giant who she hasn't hexed yet.
Following Letitia's lead, Samuel reloads his musket and shots at the purple one attacked by the thundercloud "The hut is shredding them to pieces! We can win this ambush!"
Callix catches her axe as it returns to her hand, spinning it and with a sliver of concentration, causing it to burst into flames. "It's certainly looking better," she agrees as she throws her axe again
for
Llewellyn almost started to feel bad for the giants as the hut ripped them a new one. In between humming his song, he remarked "I'm quite glad I didn't know what the hut is capable of when I was forced to enter it..."
With that he drew another arrow, booked it, drew it to his cheek, took aim at the closest giant still standing and loosed!
[ooc]Free action: Maintain Inspire Courage +2
Swift action: Arcane strike
Standard action: Shoot Black
Ash keeps working the hut diligently
Another giant is zapped by Letitia's cloud but her hex fails this round.
Samuel and Callix continue to damage giants, while Llewellyn misses this time.
the hut continues stomping on giants, dealing heavy damage to one of them.
The giants are angry but not stupid and see that their attempts are doing very little to the hut. they begin to pull back, leaving the sleeping one behind.
the cyan giant is hit one more time as it pulls back
the party may act
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 20/58 - AC: 20/14/16 Status:
Letitia: HP: 22/42 - AC: 18/12/15 Status: mage armor
Llewellyn HP: 52/52 - AC: 23/21/13 Status: defensive fighting
Samuel HP: 35/51 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 44/44 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Cold 5NPCs:
Dancing Hut HP: 170/188 | AC: 34
Blue Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
Purple Giant HP: -62 | AC: ?? | dazzled
Green Giant HP: -150 | AC: ?? | dead
Yellow Giant HP: ?? | AC: ?? | asleep
Red Giant HP: -152 | AC: ??| dead
Cyan Giant HP: -98 | AC: ??
Black Giant HP: ?? | AC: ??
White Giant HP: -140 | dead
Letitia's ice-blue eyes glitter as she watches the giants retreat. She then looks to the one sleeping due to her hex and a cold smile grows in her face.
"I could try to charm that one when he wakes," she suggests. "There is some risk, of course, but we could learn much from him about why they attacked the Hut like they did."
Callix nods at Letitia, "I like the idea of getting information from him. Does anyone have a chain we could use to bind him, just in case? Or just have the Hut standing ready to strike him down."
Callix also hurls an axe at a fleeing giant, for good measure.
for
Llewellyn also tried to shoot one of the fleeing giants but a sudden gust of wind ruined his shot. Irritated but trying not to show it, he readily agreed with the Jadwiga's plan, "I think it's worth a try, we're kind of in the dark here after all."