"Cervin, no!"
Arkady calls out as the hunter sends his arrow flying. He is visibly relieved as the crow flies away.
"Much as you may despise it, I don't think firing on it is a good idea. At best it is merely a spy, and if killed easily replaced. At worst it is actually an avatar, much as my familiar spirit, and may have means of retaliation we aren't aware of."
He doubles over at this point, succumbing to a violent round of shakes. Once they pass, he resumes. "Speaking of which ... so you all know, my ancestors have spoken to me, and Rom has been sent away. This is Tsuritsa." He motions to the ermine wrapped around his neck, who playfully nips at his fingers.
"I am not sure whether tracking the creature is a necessary distraction. Our goal is to find the origin of this unnatural cold ... and hopefully with it a cure to this condition I have acquired."
Cervin hangs his head as Arkady shouts and the crow flies away.
"You are wise as always. My apologies. The cold, the illness, the brutal fights are starting to wear on my and my temper is starting to fray." He smiles a bit as Arkady shows off the ermine. "And hello Tsuritsa. Keep your master warm."
Cervin unshoulders his pack and rifles through it before he produces his battered copy of the Parables of Erastil.
"Perhaps this will give us some wisdom. The book on hunting is arcane and difficult to interpret. I function better as Erastil's arrow than his voice. But..." He thumbs through, his brow furrowed.
"Not much here about weasels. A wounded animal is unfinished work; a danger to the hunter and others. So we can take that literally and hunt the weasel. But the lesson in these words is that we cannot leave work unfinished, and our work is to stop these fey. Also, A man who chases rabbits catches none."
Cervin closes the book, looking slightly annoyed. "I'm going to change my mind, which is my failing. These tracks are days old so unless the weasel has circled back here we are going to go very far off our course. Let us keep to the path. If we find fresh tracks we can reconsider."
"I will bow to the wise judgement of you both. Let us keep our eyes open, though; the weasel is still a threat."
The group continues down from the ridge, and eventually turns south as it heads into the valley between two ridges. After another hour or so of walking, the trail opens into another clearing. More than a dozen boulder-sized chunks of ice litter the clearing ahead where a strange hut sits perched on tree trunks atop a raised mound of snow-covered earth.
His head spinning from all this talk of visions, ancestors, and Erastil's parables, Yagello looks downwards to hide his visible annoyance. Nonetheless, he cannot question the wisdom his friends had to offer. "I agree with both of you, Arkady and Cervin. If the beast were near, we would be obligated to take it out of its misery. However, it appears to be back up the ridge, so it wouldn't make sense to backtrack like that..."
Walking into the clearing, the hair on the back of his neck rises at the sight of the peculiar hut.
More infernal magic, he thinks ominously.
He scans the area looking for any discernible threats before reluctantly turning to Arkady.
"Arkady, you're our expert on anything magical. Any idea what this means?"
"This would be the hut our unfortunate hunter described in his journal. We should approach with extreme caution. Are there any tracks around here that would indicate who is coming and going? We should also scan the trees for any fae."
Anticipating trouble, Arkady first casts the spell to surround himself with magical force, then he speaks the words of his spell and peers through his fingers, scanning the nearby area.
Upon reaching the field of boulders and the strange hut Cervin nocks an arrow and crouches, a deep frown creasing his face.
"I have no idea what any of this means. Those boulders can't have been put here naturally, so either powerful strength or powerful magic moved them. I suppose we see what Arkady says and then approach. Very, very cautiously."
Cervin's eyes flash white briefly and he scans the area.
Cervin notes no evil auras in the ice blocks ahead, and Arkady does not see anything magical peering through his fingers.
As the party waits cautiously, a young girl comes into view from between two of the ice blocks. Looking to be about six or seven years old, her blonde pigtails and pale skin betray her northern ancestry. The girl is wearing a light coat, and is clearly shivering from the cold.
The girl looks around, appearing to be lost, and when she sees the party, she jumps and holds her hands up to her face in defense. "I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! I never meant to call you names!"
Axe unsheathed, Daegan's eyes grow wide as he watches the young girl step out from the blocks. He lowers his weapon hurriedly, and throws a hand out behind him, to still his friends from any sudden movements. He raises one hand to his throat, and his companions can see his holy symbol clutched in it. It glows golden for a moment, and when Daegan speaks, his voice is deeper and louder than before. It's as if his voice has come a long distance, echoed from some high mountain.
"We will not hurt you, young one. Please, do not fear us. And, so far as I can recollect, you have not called us any names. Are you mistaking us for someone else? Why are you here, by this strange hut?"
Cervin almost drops his bow as he stares at the girl. He lets Daegan speak for a moment and then speaks up behind him.
"He is a good man, and holy. You can trust him."
Trying to make his face as soft as possible, he confirms Cervin's statement.
"Indeed he is, young one. We mean you no harm."
The girl focuses intently on the party. "You aren't Nazhena, the..." she looks around before dropping her voice to a whisper, "the witch." The girl jumps, scared by her own voice, and looks around again. "Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The girl puts her hands on her ears, and runs back into the clearing. The party loses sight as she disappears behind one of the icy boulders, but occasional distorted glimpses of the girl can be seen reflected and refracted through the ice.
That poor girl! We must -- wait a minute.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me eight or more times..." Cervin shakes his head as if to clear it. "The strange-talking girl in the maze of ice boulders beside the enchanted witch's hut may not be as innocent as it seems. I don't know what else to do but proceed though."
After looking around hesitantly for a moment Cervin mutters "Bah!" under his breath and stalks after the girl. "Please come back! Let us talk to you!"
Still a bit unnerved by the hut and the peculiar blocks of ice, Yagello remains silent during the interaction with the girl. However, his right eyebrow arches upon hearing her refer to this Nazhena as a witch.
"Wait little girl, is this Nazhena bothering you? Is she a bad lady? Maybe we can help..."
He quickly trots after Cervin into the clearing, his elven curve blade still sheathed. His hand covers the pommel though, the knuckles white with tension.
As Cervin and Yagello set out after the girl, Arkady casts a worried glance at Igmar and Daegun. "I have a bad feeling about this ..."
The party follows the girl, Cervin leading the way through the boulders in the direction of the hut, where he thinks the girl is heading. As the party moves past a couple of boulders, Cervin gets a glimpse of the girl off to the side, heading towards one side of the clearing. Either she has changed direction intentionally, or Cervin was chasing after her reflection in the ice.
When the girl sees the party again, she drops her hands from her ears, and clasps them together as a beggar. "Please don't keep me here," she says. "It's so cold. I miss my mother."
Igmar nods in agreement with Arkady.
Something doesn't feel right about this girl—is she being genuine?
As he gets closer, Yagello studies the girl's face, trying to discern her true motives. His weapon remains put away, but his senses are on fire, vigorously scanning the area for any signs of a threat.
Bewildered as he stumbles through the ice blocks, Cervin finally sights the actual girl and keeps a good distance from her as the party catches up.
"We are here to help. My name is Cervin. Please nod, or give me a sign that you know I am here," says Cervin as gently as possible.
To Igmar and Yagello, the girl seems genuinely terrified, but she is obviously confused or seeing something they cannot, as she is reacting to something that isn't there.
Meanwhile, Arkady notices a single faint aura, somewhere in the direction of the hut, perhaps even behind the hut. Without being able to see the source of the aura directly, he cannot determine the nature of the aura, but he is sure there is something there.
She nods silently to Cervin, and then turns her head to the entrance of the clearing, as if she has heard something. Cervin does not hear anything, but the girl wipes a lone tear from her eye and walks off, slipping out of sight behind another boulder of ice. Her reflection appears simultaneously in a few directions at once, so Cervin tries to remain focuses on where he last saw her.
"There is something magical in the area around the hut. I am concerned this girl may not be what she appears, and is leading us into a trap. Be careful!"
Despite Cervin's best attempts, the girl surprises the group again, approaching from the opposite direction that Cervin last saw her. The blonde-haired girl has frost on her ears and nose that wasn't there before, as if she had been out in the cold for much longer than the few moments she was out of sight.
She looks off in another direction, angrily gritting her teeth "I don’t want your stupid doll!" she shouts. "I want to go home! Take me back!"
Cervin looks over to Arkady.
"Of course - witchcraft is afoot here, I fear. Strange magical hut, a little girl talking about witches and--augh!"
He starts as the little girl comes up from behind the group.
"Doll? Who else do you see, little girl?
As the group moves, Arkady continues watching to see if he can get a better look at the magical aura he caught a glimpse of.
Yagello's temper slowly starts rising, initially beginning as a trickle of irritation but soon contorting his whole face into a beet red scowl of fury.
"Whoever's vexing this little girl, SHOW YOURSELF TO ME! Only a miserable coward would harass a child like this!"
Ignoring the girl's appearances and disappearances, he takes the last few steps towards the hut. He takes one final look around before heading moving straight to the doorway.
The girl turns to Cervin at his question. As the frost begins to crawl across her skin, her eyes make direct contact with Cervin. Whomever she was shouting at before is forgotten, as she shouts a final warning. "I have to get away! And you should, too, before they see you. Run!"
As he runs towards the hut, Yagello notices a sudden chill wind. Ignoring the reflections in the ice, he heads towards the small hut. The hut stands on four legs, each one a single tree trunk whose gnarled roots resemble the toes of a giant chicken. The hut is constructed of heavy logs with a patchwork roof of shaved bark shingles. Inside the hut’s open doorway, a small figure sits on a carved wooden chair. The figure is staring across the clearing at the trail on the other side, where the party had come from.
A few paces behind, Daegan notices more figures in the reflections of the ice, in addition the the girl. Before long, the rest of the party also sees the figures in the ice. Men of women of all ages, many with flaxen hair, all wearing simple drab clothing. A different figure appears as if inside each block of ice, as frost slowly creeps across them. Each one eventually turns frozen solid, appearing trapped in the boulders.
In some blocks, images of the same Ulfen girl appear, crying out in one, stomping angrily in another. In one, the girl is holding a small doll.
Igmar looks around and sees the horrifying images.
What am I doing here? What have I gotten myself into? I must leave this place at once!
Igmar turns and moves at full speed away from the images, away from the hut, and away from his companions.
As the people frozen in ice become visible, Arkady is briefly mesmerized as a vision of himself and all of his companions becoming part of the tableau crosses his mind. Horrified at the thought, he turns and runs away, all thoughts gone other than escaping the terrible fate.
Cervin's eyes go wide as he staggers back from a boulder, slipping and falling.
"People! There are people in the boulders! That's how they got here!"
He panics and begins running after Arkady, desperate to get away from the horror of it.
Yagello sees his companions flee back towards the entrance to the clearing. After he moved beyond the boulders, the images dissipated, and Yagello realizes the images were some sort of illusion or figment. Yagello turns back to the hut, considering what to do.
Daegan has remained quiet since having followed the others into the mess of boulders. The place sets the hairs on the back of his neck on edge, but that witchcraft is present and that the little girl might be involved is something he doesn't quite agree with. Or doesn't want to agree with, more accurately. He tries to focus on the direction the little girl's gone, and to follow. Teeth gritted, he still holds his axe. Whatever was causing the unnatural happenings was sure to be met unkindly by him.
But all such thoughts are erased when he sees the other people, encased in the ice. Daegan's eyes widen, horrified. He takes a step back, raising his axe in one swift motion. He can see himself there, nearly aligned with each as he faces them. The half-orc desires very much to calm himself, but there's something indescribable creeping over him. Panic and the sensation of having been plucked from his once sensible world and placed elsewhere, an elsewhere that he would like very much to leave.
"What is this?"
The half-orc shifts nervously, before calling out.
"Please, We simply want to help! Little girl? Who is doing this? Please!"
At first, Daegan doesn't notice the fleeing of his companions. But then Cervin calls out, and Daegan looks, and he finds himself alone in the ice.
No. Why...?
"YAGELLO!
Daegan moves, rushing in the direction the ranger had gone, trying desperately to make his way out of the ice.
Yagello looks in horror as his companions flee out of the clearing.
What sort of black magic turns brave heroes into blustering cowards!? Now I don't know anything about magic but, what did Arkady say earlier about avatars? Calm down and think, Yagello...
The memory reforms in his head, and his jaws steels in determination. He takes the final steps into the hut and draws his elven curve blade as he enters.
He raises his sword and strikes at the sitting doll screaming, "DOWN WITH YOU!"
Yagello slips on some ice near the entrance to the hut, and misses the tiny figure sitting on the chair as a result. The figure itself remains motionless, and it is unclear to Yagello whether this is truely the source of the threat or just some object left to confuse or scare somebody.
The porcelain doll has the same flaxen hair and dress as the girl in the ice maze, but instead of that girl's face, the doll appears to be modeled after an old woman, wrinkled with age. The dolls eyes are mismatched, with one a polished blue gemstone, and the other a small round mirror the size of a coin.
Cursing the constant ice and snow at his feet, Yagello grips his sword a little tighter and takes another swipe at the unusual doll.
With surprising agility, the doll literally jumps to life and off the chair before Yagello cuts into it. After it jumps out of Yagello's reach, it begins to rise up into the air, out of Yagello's reach.
What the...?! Yagello—he needs our help!
Igmar begins to run back to the hut as quickly as his stocky legs can take him.
Cervin snaps back into reality and lets out a loud groan. He spins on his ankle and starts charging on after Igmar.
I'm going to have plenty of penance for this cowardice...
Confounded by the strange turn of events, Yagello stares in bewilderment at the flying doll. However, his confusion quickly turns into anger, and he executes his next course of action.
Giving his blade a final loving look, he drops it to the floor at his feet and draws his short bow. He quickly cocks an arrow and sends it upwards at his new nemesis.
Once the effects of the horrible scene wear off, Arkady thinks for a moment to try to figure out exactly what happened.
Hearing Yagello shout, he turns and joins the rest in running back through the deep snow toward the hut. Once he gets close, he tries again to spy the elusive aura and identify it.
Inside the hut, Yagello misses the tiny doll, mainly due to difficult of hitting the small target above him.
Arkady did not notice any magical event that caused those images in the blocks of ice, although they are gone now.
As Arkady moves closer, he can detect the faint aura, somewhere in or beyond the hut.