Curious, Blik will scamper into the hut after Neverhome. Concentrating intently he'll keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, purposefully avoiding looking at the creepy doll. Anything else out of the ordinary...
Just in case, Blik will channel his connection with the animals he spent his life with. Blik's ears will warp and grow, his wild dirty blond hair growing down to form sideburns and then cover his cheeks, while once more his eyes will grow dark, his pupils taking up his large eyes. His new bat ears twitching, Blik will squeak quietly using his newly enhanced senses to search like he never could before.
Zses jaw will almost drop to the floor when Blik acquires bat-like ears.
"B-Blik? Is everything alright?" he will blink twice and, upon understanding that Blik changed is appearance by himself, will add "How did you do that?"
So THAT's why he always talked about eating raw insects! It all makes sense now: his ability to disappear in the foliage, to warp wood and his lack in cooking skills...
HE'S A WEREBAT!
Crow's beak made a loud noise as it collided on Zsestrian's skull.
"Focus!" the raven will shout, more than mildly annoyed.
"Uh, right." Zses will clear his throat, and point to the doll.
"That's a 'Soulbound Doll'. It's made to guard a specific location (this hut, I suppose) and it requires a person's soul to make one. I would guess it's the soul of that girl from before, but I have some doubt: first, this looks like an older version of her. Second, the place where she disappeared has something weird..."
He will pause for a second and shrug "Well, first things first. Let me scan this place"
As Zses starts his speech, Crow will look back at the shimmering area where the girl disappeared. "The girl shimmered. The snow there shimmers. Mirrors shimmer." The raven will ruffle his feathers "That mirror there on the doll shimmers. Dangerous."
Hearing Zses' astonishment at Blik's transformation Neverhome will merely shrug, "Nature Spirit?" But upon hearing Zses' explanation for the doll all the color will drain from his face. "Is... Is there anyway we can save her?"
"That's really sad. Can't we do somethin?"
Mirror on doll is dangerous?" Silence asked confused. His ears lay back as his tail flicked wildly back and forth. He took out his katana to hesistantly and carefully poke at the doll in the chair He really was starting to want to close that portal.. too many weird things were happening.
"I don't know..." Zses will respond with a pained expression "The only other thing I can remember is that you usually find these dolls near the Irriseni border. Didn't you say the name of the girl's mother was from there, Lyosha?" the witch will add while he continue to concentrate on his magic detecting spell.
"Crow may have had an hunch, tough. The mirror and the shimmering area there, where the girl disappeared, may be connected somehow. I detected no magic there, but it's also true that I didn't step into it."
"It's probably dangerous, but maybe we could look into the mirror or go where the girl disappeared, or both." Zsestrian will pause for a moment, remembering what happened the last time he felt something was off about the situation but didn't do anything.
Neverhome got almost killed by those two elementals.
"As soon as I'm finished checking for magic here, I'll step in the shimmering area and also check the mirror. I didn't contribute much in these last three days, and it's only fair that it's my turn to walk into an obvious trap, today." he will add with a broad smile.
As Silence reaches out his katana, the doll suddenly floats out of her chair and into the back corner of the hut! As she moves, a miniature snowstorm erupts inside the hut, battering Blik/Silence with chunks of ice .
"Oh, no..."
"Standing there is dangerous! Move near to her!"
I'm sorry, but...
Zses will call on his new found power to stop the doll
"नाशित चलित विधि भवती"
Thinking of the poor doll's situation, Zses will give a short, melancholic laugh.*
*
The feline samurai was certainly not expecting that from the doll! He growls out in pain and staggers out of the hut!
Hobbes will get close to the doll, drawing his blade and smacks the toy for the insolence.
Too wrapped up in searching for anything else, Blik will yelp with surprise when the doll begins attacking him.
"Aah!!"
Bat ears twitching, Blik will shiver and shake, trying to warm himself up after that intense blast of cold.
Neverhome will glumly and deathly move through the magical frost towards the doll with his sword drawn.
"You may rest now." He'll say as he lifts the cold iron blade above him, a tinge of sadness and resignation in his voice.
The doll effortlessly shrugs off Zes's curse . Neverhome's blade strikes true, but the china doll proves harder than expected, and he deals no damage . Caught in the snowstorm, Blik continues to shiver miserably until it dissipates . The doll lashes out at Neverhome with a dagger, but his armor barely stops it.
magic flying evil winter dolls!
The feline declared amazed at all the strange things they kept seeming to run across. He resheathed his katanna (move action) and then once more pulled out the naginata from Mule. and moved back to the huts doorway. (standard)
Zses eyes* the doll with incredulity "How is it possible that that attack didn't damage it? And where did she pulled off that knife?!"
*
Staring at the doll, he will laugh nervously to re-acquire some self-control.
Not even paying attention to the knife she used to attack him Neverhome will raise his sword again and then bring it down, almost mechanically on his actions.
Still shivering, but steeling himself to help his friends, Blik will send a bullet flying at the doll with a quick flick of his wrist.
Hobbes will continue to smack a doll.
Surprisingly, Zes' nervous laughter seems to unnerve the doll . Of the rest of the party, Blik manages to strike the doll, but his stone bounces off harmlessly . Meanwhile, the doll's dagger is caught in the folds of Neverhome's cloak, and it takes her some time to get it untangled.
Hobbes strikes again!
"If there is another way to free you now would be the time to say it" Neverhome growls more than shouts as he continues striking the doll.
Naginata in hand the feisty feline samurai steps once more into the fray, the viciously sharp pole arm slashing between his friends at the doll stirking it more than solidly.
Shocked that his rock failed to knock the frail looking doll out of the air, Blik will load his sling with a cold iron bullet, hoping that the harder material will help against this murderous toy.
Zsestrian stares* at the doll, and excitedly cheers as everyone pummel it with mighty attacks.**
"Come on guys, we can do this!"
*
**
The doll seems unaffected by Zes' latest curse . Hobbes' and Blik's attacks bounce harmlessly off the doll's tough body. Silence, however, delivers a staggeringly-powerful blow that cracks its exterior. It rotates to look directly at him, and he briefly second-guesses his actions. Why's he attacking his best friend? Just as quickly, he remembers that his "friend" is actually a creepy china doll that's trying to kill everyone .
For that brief moment Silence was quiet as he contemplated his actions... then he shook his mind clear and hissed slashing hard at the doll.
As he continues to attack the doll it is clear that the sadness is showing on him more than anger or annoyance.
Hobbes keeps swinging, but the weirdness of the situation was getting to him.
After the euphoria from seconds ago wore down, Zses remember who they were against. The poor doll had only fragments of her former human selves, but they were probably enough to make her feel fear and despair. He pulled out his crossbow() to help give the doll the peace she deserved, chuckling* slightly at his foolish excitement from before.
*
Mad at himself for being unable to to down the doll, Blik will drop his sling, move towards the doll pulling his spear off his back, and steps forward doing his best to move the doll into the path of Silence's weapon.
With Blik's assistance, Silence's next slash proves to be the final one of this battle. The doll's cracked body shatters on impact with the frozen ground.
Zses will catch his breath for a second and then kneel on the ground picking up a sliver of the doll shattered body "We only did her good. A Soulbound Doll only has fragments of her former self, but beside that is bound to carry her mission until it ends like this" Zses will comment, pointing at the remains of the doll. "I wanted to do something for the girl, too, but we were too late. We didn't even know how much this doll has been here..." he will continue, while searching the floor for the gemstone and mirror that were used as the doll's eyes.
Maybe they could come in handy later...
Meanwhile, Crow will exit the hut, moving to the patch of once-shimmering snow. "It stopped twinkling here!" he will croak to the party while investigating the place.
The gemstone is an Irriseni "ice diamond" that's worth around 300gp. The mirror lies nearby - intact, but cracked. Crow seems nothing else of interest.
The feline had a bit of a snarl still on his face, he was tired and cold and sore.
That little girl... her soul was in this doll?"
He asked trying to make sure he was hearing friend Zsestrian correctly. That was some foul magic to be sure, but it was what he might expect from evil mean bads who made it winter where it wasn't winter yet.
If I meet the bad person who puts little girls inside dolls..."
He said darkly baring his teeth for just a moment before he paused glancing about the hut to see if anything stuck out.
Taking in all that's left in the hut Neverhome will mutter to himself glumly, "And once again all that is left is revenge."
Zses will show the Irriseni "ice diamond" to the party, and then put it with the broken mirror in his backpack. "We're finding a lot of these lately...the Sentinels had one, too" he will start talking while searching the house for anything useful.
"Still, I really should talk less and act more. The doll looked strange to me, and I knew what it was, but couldn't come up with a decent plan"
A woman, face blurred and unrecognizable, was eying a closed box with a lock-pick in her hand.
"What are you doing, mom?" a little boy asked her as he was entering the room.
"They gave me this as a payment for the last Harrowing. It was sealed shut when they gave it to me. I mean, even the box itself is valuable, but I want to know what's inside...". She giggled "I feel like there's something valuable in here..."
As she flipped the box open, a Mudball spell flew off the box and landed on her face with a sonorous. *splat*
The boy panicked, but she just laughed heartily and lifted her index, as if she wanted to underline something very important she was about to say.
Zses will lift his index, as if he wanted to underline something very important he was about to say.
"'Follow a hunch, but bear the consequences'. My mom always used to say that..." Zsestrian will pause for a moment, and then realize what he just said "Wait, I didn't remember she used to say that until moments ago!". He will bellow to Crow, still outside "Crow, we're getting somewhere! I remembered something else!"
The raven, tough, was too occupied to jump on and peck the patch of snow that was shimmering until some time ago, still convinced that they were missing something.
"Yer a strange one, kid."
Despite all your searching, nothing else is found. Now that the chaos of battle is over, you can see the trail continues through a narrow pass descending southeast into an icy valley.
Do we have more of the healing stick? I would like more healing stick. The snow blizzard kind of knocked something out of me." The feline Samukitteh began his tail swaying in the wind. He couldn't help but feel they were getting closish... to something at least. It couldn't get much more stange and weird could it?
"Be careful you don't get addicted to those."
"Ya should try a new thing. It's called not getting hurt, pussycat."
Crow will finally give up and fly into Neverhome's hood.
"Everyone okay? We go?" the raven will croak.
"Oh, uhm could I get healed too please before we go?"
Blik will ask Hobbes, his skin still blue from the cold.
"Sure thing."
A cold wind blows through the valley, bringing a spray of sleet and broken ice. The sky ahead roils with thick, gray clouds and the sun is only a dim glow somewhere in the mist.