Not sure what to make of the situation, and being woefully under prepared for flying, magic dolls, Daegan can only watch on in mild horror as Yagello fires on it. He hefts his axe, but there's nothing he can really do. Except...
The half-orc moves closer to Yagello, holding out his hand near the man's bow. Daegan's divine focus is clutched in his other hand. He chants with fingers spread, the prayer an odd mix of guttural Orc and a more archaic, flowing tongue.
Cervin continues running as best he can to get back to the hut.
"Please don't hurt me! I'm just a little girl!" The doll speaks with a high-pitched voice, disturbingly incongruous with the doll's aged face.
Despite the obvious magic, Yagello realizes that perhaps the doll is not the source of the strange images in the ice, even if the two are related in some other way. After a moment's hesitation, he lowers his bow.
Arkady still cannot pinpoint the source of the magical aura. As he gets closer to the hut, he realizes the aura is actually quite beyond the hut, near the far side of the clearing. Suddenly, a new faint aura appears, and as the wizard gets near the hut, it appears to be emanating from the doll itself.
Arkady slowly closes the distance to the hut, and tries to make out the magical auras he senses, even as Yagello strangely stops attacking.
Winded but game for a fight, Cervin charges into the hut with his bow raised.
"Alright, what's... is that a doll?"
Something strange is going on here—we can't hesitate any longer.
Igmar reaches into his pouch for a vial. He breaks the top and lobs it at the doll.
: Draw Alchemist's Fire
: Throw Alchemist's Fire at the doll
Cervin does not detect any evil auras on the doll. Igmar just misses the doll with his flash.
The flash breaks against the ceiling as Igmar overthrows, and while a small burst of flame erupts, it is not near enough to harm anyone.
"Help me! Please protect me from the fire!"
Cervin feels sorry for the doll, or wherever the voice is coming from, but cannot believe that such a creature is not evil, despite his inability to detect any evil auras on the creature.
Although Arkady cannot understand the magical auras, he is able to pinpoint their locations as he finally arrives into the melee. The aura behind the hut is in the snow somewhere at the rear of the clearing, and the new aura is concentrated in one the doll's mirror eye.
"There's something magical in that doll's eye! There's something else down here, I'm trying to find it."
Arkady continues to slowly advance, trying to locate the source of the magical aura in the snow. "Tsuritsa, do you smell anything? See if you can flush it out." The ermine's nose wrinkles as she sniffs the air.
Cervin glares at the creature and speaks up loudly.
"This doll is not what it seems, resist its charms! It must be destroyed - remember that girl spoke of being tormented by a witch with a doll."
Cervin snaps off two arrows at the doll.
Inside the hut, Cervin's first arrow misses, but the second one hit's the dolls torso, poking out through the opposite side. The doll does not bleed or seem injured, but the arrow seems to impede the doll's movement.
Turning to Yagello and Daegan, the doll cries for help again, more desperate than before. "Stop these men from hurting me! I did nothing wrong!
Daegan does not trust the doll, but Yagello now sees the doll as an innocent, and thinks of a way to stop his companions.
Meanwhile, outside Arkady approaches the aura. The trail continues through a narrow pass, descending south and east into an icy valley. An unusual pattern of lines is scratched into the fresh snow covering the trail at the edge of the clearing. The aura is clearly coming from the pattern. As Arkady gets closer, he can clearly read the inscriptions as a warning in Common, "Turn back before the winter devours you."
Seeing Cervin's arrow impale the doll, a wild look comes over Yagello's face and he quickly puts away his bow and sword. He rushes towards the archer yelling, "CERVIN, what's gotten into you!? This doll is an innocent creature who deserves our protection. Stop your attacks NOW!"
He reaches out his long arms, trying to bear hug Cervin and restrain him from any further attacks.
Something is wrong with Yagello—he doesn't see the danger here.
"Yagello! Stop!" Igmar yells as Yagello charges at Cervin. He rushes forward, trying to stop the big man from his path.
Cervin squirms away from Yagello and tries to keep an eye on the doll.
"You're going to be extremely embarrassed when this is said and done!"
While Igmar tries to take down Yagello, Cervin snaps off two more rounds.
Hearing the exchange back by the hut, Arkady turns and heads back. "Tsuritsa, watch our back!"
Yagello brushes Igmar aside and resumes his pursuit of Cervin.
"Igmar, stop this madness! We've been allies from day one, and we can't allow Cervin to keep attacking this doll! She hasn't done anything wrong!"
Cervin quickly fires two more arrows, which catch the doll in the arm and the leg. Like the first, they appear to not hurt the doll as much as a normal being, but the doll with the face of an old woman appears to have difficulty moving with the arrows shafts protruding awkwardly.
Yagello grabs Cervin's bow before he can shoot again just as Arkady arrives at the entrance to the hut. As the Varisian Wizard watches his companions fight, his only comfort is that Tsuritsa does not notice any trouble outside.
The high-pitched voice pleads to Yagello from the rafters. "Please, don't let them hurt me! I'm just a little girl!"
"Let go! You're being controlled by some evil witch's doll or something!"
Cervin gets into a tug of war with Yagello over his bow, trying to get it back to little avail.
"Yagello! Think, man!"
Daegan moves in, hoping to put himself in the way of Yagello's continued attempts to subdue Cervin. Unfortunately, with the others all crowded around, the big half-orc is unable to get a grip. "Yagello! Enough! The thing is obviously untrustworthy! Don't let it confuse you! We are your allies, not it!"
"Bah Nonsense! YOU all must be the ones bewitched! I know an innocent when I see one!"
With everyone now surrounding him, Yagello tries as best he can to maintain his hold on Cervin.
"Please sir! Take these bad men away from here! I don't like these arrows!" The doll pleads to Yagello with Cervin's arrows protruding at various angles, bobbing up an down erratically to avoid any further attacks. The voice echoes from the corners of the hut as if it were much bigger than it really was.
Arkady takes stock of the crowded hut. Cervin has just slipped out of Yagello's grasp, while Igmar and Daegan try to pry Yagello away.
Peering into the magical auras while the others try to stop Yagello, Arkady sees a an aura on Yagello now, as well as the aura in the doll's mirror eye.
Arkady cannot identify the aura on Yagello, but the Varisian realizes the doll must be some form of construct, an object brought to life by magical energies, but self-sustaining so as not to require persistent magic. The soul of the doll and the source of energy is likely concentrated in the doll's second eye, a blue gemstone. The aura in the first mirror eye still perplexes Arkady, though.
Cervin takes a five foot step away from Yagello. "Get him off of me!"
He takes careful aim before loosing one wild arrow, and then firing another arrow straight at the construct's eye.
"Go for its eyes! It has some sort of spell acting on Yagello coming from one of its eyes, and there is something else in the other. Do we have anything we can smash it with?"
Not having anything else he feels he can help with, Arkady flicks his fingers in the direction of the doll, hurling a small blob of acid in its direction.
Cervin gets away long enough to hit the doll directly in the eye. The eye shatters, and the doll begins to tumble to the ground.
Yagello stares dumbfounded as the doll falls to the ground lifeless. He is visibly shaken and mutters quite loudly in Cervin's direction, "You butcher..."
As has happened before, he remains quiet for a moment, but then his anger begins bubbling to the surface. His face quite red now, he addresses the group in a loud voice, almost yelling, "You should all be ashamed of yourselves for your role in this slaying! If it wasn't for the promise I made to Heldren and our three late women companions, I would leave the whole lot of you right now!"
Finally he motions to his sword,"Cervin, I tried to reason with you in a peaceful manner. Don't cross me again, or I may not be as gracious next time..."
"Yagello, please don't blame Cervin. That doll was a magical construct, and it was manipulating you. I could see the magic it was using, and the only way to end its influence was to destroy it. The effects should wear off soon."
The Varisian looks around. "Are there any other clues here we might make use of?"
The doll floats gently to the ground, lifeless once more. Arkady can still detect magic emanating from the remaining mirror of an eye, but the faint aura fades as he approaches the doll to take a closer look. The mirror itself appears mostly mundane, although tiny in size.
Arkady cannot help but shudder as he examines the doll. It looks identical to the girl that was running from the group between the ice boulders outside, down to the hair and clothing, but with the face of an old crone.
The interior of the hut itself is sparse, with only the chair that the doll was sitting in decorating for furniture.
Cervin glares back at Yagello before turning away, breathing through his teeth. "We. Shall. Speak. About. This. Later."
He steps over to the doll and stares down at the remaining eye. "Arkady. This magic... thing. What next?"
"This must be one of the guardian dolls. I didn't believe they existed, but here it is, in a hut just like the stories said. Somehow it looks like Irrisen is leaking into Taldor. The magic required for that would be huge ... I don't know what we could possibly do against it. I also can't think of any reason *why* it should be happening."
"Well I believe we're done with this thing. Do we smash the mirror eye?"
"That seems like the prudent thing to do. With so much magic being used here, anything could be dangerous."
Cervin smashes the mirror with his boot, shooting an apologetic glance to Yagello. "Hate me if you want, but work with me for now. This will make sense in time."
World-weary and looking more miserable by the moment, Cervin turns to the rest of the group. "Let's go."
The mirror crushes easily beneath Cervin's boot, leaving only shards of glass behind.
As the party moves towards the trail leading out of the clearing, Arkady once again detects the aura emanating from the inscriptions in the ground, which everyone can plainly read: "Turn back before the winter devours you."
Igmar hums to himself quietly, almost absent-mindedly, and then looks up.
"Someone doesn't want us here. That probably means we're on the right track."
Cervin stares at the sign for a few moments and then speaks in the least enthusiastic voice he can muster. "Hurray!"
Yagello remains sullen and unresponsive but takes his customary spot at the head of the group. He looks at the sign dispassionately, almost eager at this point to let his frustrations out on the next unsuspecting enemy.
"Let's keep up on moving. Loitering here won't get us any closer to our goal."
As the party moves forward, Arkady watches continuously between his fingers, ready to spot any magical auras of creatures or traps that might be hidden in the snow.
Arkady still senses the aura in the ground, but does not notice any traps or any other dangers, so the party proceeds.
As Yagello reaches the far end of the inscription in the snow, and takes the first step into the forest, a flurry of snow erupts from the ground, as an icy blast of air slams the party in every direction.
After the blast subsides, the clearing grows silent once more.
Cervin lets out a yell as there's an explosion of snow in front of him. As the explosion subsides he rushes in, looking for the wounded.
Igmar staggers as the blast goes off, looking around for the source. After a moment, he realizes the pain he's in, and he drops down to one knee.
His senses impaired by the accursed cold, Arkady fails to notice the glyph in time. He cries out as the blast of cold air knocks him unconscious.
Time seems to slow down, and Yagello feels the explosion go off right in front of him. He turns sideways and avoids the worst of the blast but sees Arkady fly several feet backwards. Forgetting his anger for a moment, he rushes to the Varisian's side and lays over him, trying to shield him from any further falling debris.