"No, no, no! You're helping us avenge Thora and bring down the Winter witches. That makes you good people! Fangs? I have them too, when I'm a cat. What matters is what you choose to do with them." Hatch stands up to his full height and lectures Einar, despite not even reaching his knee.
"Radosek bragged he laid a mighty dweomer on the vaults. Any theives would have their life force siphoned off. And anyone who took anything from the vaults would die a horrible death."He starts quivering with fear as he mentions the wards.
”Sometimes Radosek has cold fey visitors. He usually puts them in the dining room.” Hatch continues.
”And Jairess is usually in the aerie, surrounded by her ravens. She commands them to snoop on others, if you get what I mean. She’s nice enough, if a little crazy, but again what can you say about people who care only about their birds? “As he mentions the ravens his fingers crook into claws. ”Those birds really make me fingers itch.” Hatch mutters under his breath.
The next day morning, Nadya makes some sandwhiches out of salami, gerkins and edam cheese and flat bread for the party, drops Orm and Morjoli at Kashka, then the party including Hatch set off for the Pale Tower. ”Sorry, I’m not really very good in a fight.”Hatch proclaims, then turns invisible.
As they are on the way to the Pale Tower, they run into a Pale Tower Patrol of 4 guards commanded by a hulking man in blue winter gear, wielding a longsword and a spiked shield. ”Ah, Nadya, you’re 4 days late. And you deserve a whipping you lazy b*tch.”He looks down his nose on her. ”But I’ll let them pass, because I’m SOOOOOO generous.” He says with his voice filled with sarcasm while stroking his moustache. He paces on the snow, glaring intently at Geist. ”Isn’t it an interesting set of coincidences? I hear there is a Siberian Tiger in the woods. I lay a bear trap. I return to find the trap disarmed, with some blood and tiger fur on it. Clearly the tiger was caught, and SOMEONE set it free. And the next thing?” He spreads his hands out in a shrug. ”I hear from some peasants,” he winkles his nose as if the word peasants was a bad smell, ”That someone walks into town with a Siberian Tiger. That was supposed to be MY FUR COAT.”
Geist bares his teeth and growls at the man in question.
”Lets put it this way. I am Sergeant Volan, leader of the Pale Tower Guards of Walsby. As such I can have anything I demand from the lands of Walsby. Hand over the tiger, and we’ll part amicably. Otherwise, we’ll take it by force.”
Crummock gives Nadya a sad smile.
"There be some rage in my galon as well, but it is directed solely against those who would harm the diniwed, whether they be animals, or children. When this is over, I would be happy to assist with the burial, if ye would like the help. I am sure that it will be both physically and emotionally exhausting."
Crummock glowers at the Sergeant.
"Ah. So ye be the chief of the lesser gwehilion responsible for keeping the locals in fear o' lives. There can be only one response to that."
He then nods to Geist...
"Ymosodiad!"
...before drawing his starknife, and moving to attack.
”Kill them!”Volan commands.
The Pale Tower Guards move swiftly through the snow, trying to swiftly surround the party.
One tries to cut Einar, making a rather large gnash on his arm, and the other nicks Ziva’s shoulder.
"Now help us out, unless you want the same fate to happen to you, Nadya, or your little girl. Remember we still have her in our thrall..." He gives Nadya a cruel smile.
"Thora is dead, you treacherous, lying b@stards! You lied to just to make use of me!"Nadya retorts back, her voice filled with rage.
"Oh, you found out?"Volan says with mock disappointment, making a tsking sound. "Too bad. You'll be joining her soon. I'm sure she's missing her mommy on the other side."
With a snarl, Geist pads forward, and tries to bite one of the guards.
Crummock narrows his eyes, and gestures at Volan with his starknife.
"'N annhymerus' fod gyda chi cyn bo hir."
Crummock then strides swiftly through the snow, and slams into one of the other guards.
"You bastard!"
Letting out a pained cry, Nadya carefully moves around the main melee, and shoots at Volan...
...apparently, aiming straight for the man's black heart.
Ziva, extremely ticked off that some random person walks up and tries to poke her with a blade, decided to retaliate, swinging her Greatsword through with a large arc.
Vernai, for her part, decides to step lightly to one side, and then full attack the man who just took a swipe at the man her friend knew as Einar, lashing out with both claws.
Einar rips into the Pale Tower guard with tooth and claw, leaving him bleeding and unconscious in the snow.
Nadya’s arrow catches Volan in the chest. He staggers backwards, badly wounded but somehow still remaining standing.
Ziva swings her sword in a great arc and neatly decapitates the Pale Tower guard who attacked her.
Vernai's first claw impales the Pale Tower guard, but does not manage to grab him fast.
Volan switches his longsword over to his shield hand, pulls the arrow out of his chest, then takes out a potion and drinks it, before switching his longsword back to his right hand.
”You’ll pay for that you b!tch!”
I'll go rest now for the night I think.
I'll make a R2 post when Whiskers has something up, but you can bot me in the meantime. If so, Vernai would probably go do a flying flank on Volan, and Ziva would probably try and step into a flank and trigger Outflank. Man, in later levels Ziva and Vernai are going to have insane bonuses when triggering AoOs
Geist rips into the guard in front of him...
...whilst Crummock, full of bile and fury, charges forward to engage Volan!
Meanwhile, Nadya keeps up a steady stream of arrows in Volan's direction.
Crummock stabs the guard south of Einar in the chest, and he goes down.
Do not worry we will keep the birds away from you, I’m sure that Geist will find them tasty enough.
Hatch replies, "That wasn't the point. I LIKE to chase birds. But you don't chase other people's pets! It just isn't nice!" Hatch sulks.
A mighty Dweomer zat siphones za life force, is such a zing possible? I vould not vant to leave za vault untouched."
Mr Whiskers knows that yes, curses can do that. And there are things like cursed items as well...
Ziva and Mantis Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Einar Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Mr Whiskers Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Crummock Init: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (16) - 2 = 14
Pale Tower Guards: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Volan: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
GM combat style for Ziva is going to either be flanking with Vernai and triggering Outflank / Paired Opportunists/ Broken Wings OR (when she gets large) going mounted with a lance. Just if it helps :)
Hatch replies, "That wasn't the point. I LIKE to chase birds. But you don't chase other people's pets! It just isn't nice!" Hatch sulks.
Do not worry we will keep the birds away from you, I’m sure that Geist will find them tasty enough.
Mr. Whiskers smiles and nods agreement. "Both I and Nivean are glad you feel that way, Hatch!"
A mighty Dweomer zat siphones za life force, is such a zing possible? I vould not vant to leave za vault untouched."
Mr Whiskers knows that yes, curses can do that. And there are things like cursed items as well...
"Yes, Einar there are traps like that. As I understand it, many cursed items appear to be beneficial, hiding their cursed properties. The curses can take effect just from carrying the items."
He pauses a moment, then adds "I think the better reason not to attempt it is because a Hatch asked us not to. Treat it as a favor to him. Consider also that if the items are stolen, it is likely they would punish the whole town. Then they would likely use their scrying magics to locate the more unique of the items and slay us."
Shaking his head, he says "I think it is a good idea to leave the vault alone."
Mr. Whiskers casts daze on the guard attacking Crummock's tiger.
The man just stands there dazed, doing nothing, as Geist bites his shoulder, then rips a large gnash in his abdomen and he collapses on the snow.
The vengeful Crummock stabs Volan in his side but he still remains standing.
Ziva follows up alongside Crummock, running foward and slashing with her sword, while Vernai flies overhead, flanking with Ziva and striking with a claw.
Mr. Whiskers moves to a position where the leader doesn't have cover and fires his acid blob.
Ziva walks up to him and shoves her great sword in Volan's guts. As he is going down, Vernai stabs him im his vile black heart.
On the body of each pale tower guard, they find:
potion of endure elements, chain shirt, light steel shield, cold iron longsword, dagger, light crossbow with 10 bolts, cold-weather outfit, 15 gp
On Volan, they find:
potions of cure light wounds , potion of endure elements, potion of interrogation(CL 4th), screaming bolts (2); chain shirt, spiked light steel shield, dagger, mwk cold iron longsword, mwk light crossbow with 10 bolts, an attentive mirror, cold-weather outfit, 24 gp
Looking at the dying guards, Mr. Whiskers mentions "They probably would know if the pass phrases have changed."
Better to find out now rather than when we get there.
Having said that, he moves to the nearest one and trys to stanch the bleeding.
The guard continues to bleed.
As the party is frisking the bodies, they hear from above them, "Ello, Ello there! It seems like we may have a common enemy. The Winter Witches chased me away too! Maybe we could talk about things together?"
The entire party believes the voice is coming from the tree next to them, but Crummock realizes that someone is projecting their voice from the tree on the opposite side of the trail.
Crummock, Ziva, and Mr Whiskers all think there's something about what the voice is saying that doesn't ring quite true...probably something with regard to ulterior motives....
Mr. Whiskers replies "If that is true, you could come out into the open now that the soldiers have been defeated."
He continues to try and staunch the bleeding.
He admits "I may not be able to prevent this fellow from bleeding out."
Crummock casually gestures in the direction of one of the guards, and his bleeding stops.
Stabilize.
The other man, however, is allowed to bleed out.
He then turns to address the tree (on the other side of the path) where he is confident that the voice is actually coming.
"I be thinkin' that there may be somethin' else that ye are not sharing with us; something about other motives... That said, if they do not pose a risk to me and mine, I have no objection to talkin'. Show yerself!"
A jet black crow with an unnatural gleam in its otherwordly eyes appears in the tree south of the party. "Yeah how was I know you lot won't be sticking me with arrows? Adventurers."
"I fly.I see a lot. I could tell you what's around here...just for a small favour." Her beak twitches, as if smelling something."I smell magic in," The crow points at Einar, "His pack. Strong magic. If you could just hold the items out so I can see them, so I can just get a glimpse of the magic item...I'd be content."
Mr Whiskers, with his experience with traders, thinks she sounds like a slippery Scarnzi swindler, trying to sell snake oil...she might not stop at a glimpse...
The rest find her genuine.
Both Ziva and Mr Whiskers recognize the creature as a greater witch crow but know nothing else except they like shinies .
The guard Crummock does not stabilise bleeds out.
Seeing the soldier he was trying to save bleed out, Mr. Whiskers stands and casts prestidigitation on his clothing. Clean once again, he looks towards the tree.
"You only want to see the item?" Mr. Whiskers asks. "A clever crow like you, hopefully you realize that we protect our belongings. What do you hope to accomplish?"
"Ohh...yessss. Just a little glimpse...what could it hurt?"She replies. "I've got a birds eye view of the surroundings!" She sniggers at the pun.
She tries a different tact. "Come on...you're all powerful adventurers...you wouldn't think Old Lytil would dare to steal anything would you?" Her voice has a wheedling note in it.
The rest believe her, except for Crummock who could totally picture her carrying off the party's magic items squawking, "See ya, s*ckers!"
Einar hears Hatch yelling enthusiastically from behind him, "Bird, bird! Must chase bird!" Then they see a tabby cat leap into the air falling waaay short and landing unceremoniously onto the snow. It gives a mournful meow.
"Cats." Lytil gives a derisive snicker.
Mr. Whiskers laughs at Hatch's antics. "Thank you Hatch! That certainly lightened my heart."
Crummock grins at Hatch's antics, before addressing the crow.
"I be thinkin' that we should be respectfully declinin' to acquiesce with your request - I think it might be too much o' a temtasiwn for you, and that could lead to all sorts of regretful annifyrrwch."
"Fine...if you want to be that way, then Old Lytil will go off elsewhere. Where SOMEONE appreciates her." She squawks disgruntled as she takes off from her perch.
Nadya brushes the snow off the tabby cat. "Hatch, if you're going to be chasing birds in the snow, you're going to catch your death of cold." She chides him.
The tabby cat has the grace to blush, then there is another shimmer in the air and Hatch appears in the crook of Nadya's arm, batting snow off his long beard. "Sorry," He apologizes. ”My instincts got better of me. Jairess was pretty nice the last time that happened, since I got off with just a stern scolding. And she still allowed me into the Aerie after that. I promise I haven’t chased ANY of her birds after that incident!” Then he hops off Nadya’s arm, and turns invisible again.
"You make Jairess sound nice, Hatch. Not like these soldiers." Mr. Whiskers says to the invisible spirit, gesturing towards the defeated troops. "Is it possible we could parlay with her?"
---
Mr. Whiskers suggests "We should ask them both questions we know the answers to and those we don't. That way we can check how truthful they are being." Looking to Nadya, he asks "Would a normal villager know the names of the leaders in the tower?"