Einar has an awesome time trying to beat sense into a statue, which he only manages to reduce into a pile of rubble. Searching through the rubble, he finds that their longswords are still intact, and one of the longswords is even made out of adamantine!
This room features hardwood floors free of dust and debris. Double doors stand to the east and west, and a single door leads north. The low rumble of some great mechanism is clearly audible in the background, accompanied by a ratcheting sound at regular intervals.
The celling is 15 ft above the ground.
Looking at the Adamantine longsword, Mr. Whiskers comments "That would have been handy beating them up!"
He uses his runestone to cast Mage Armor and then tinkers with the spell so it will last longer. "If we aren't done before this spell ends, something has gone very wrong."
Brushing aside some of the rubble, he asks "Ready to proceed?"
Einar hears the sound of tossing and turning and two voices grumbling in an unknown language from the left, nothing from the north, and the sound of something being sharpened and growls from the west, through the constant ticking of the clock works.
North leads to the stairs up.
This large room contains little in the way of furniture other then five beds sized for giants and two large chests. A five-foot square extrusion runs from floor to celling near the southeast corner with a small rectangular access foot at its base. A heavy, pervasive musky smell fills the entire room.
The parties see two large creature has light blue-green skin and cold, piercing eyes, lying on the bed tossing and turning, while trying to use a pillow to cover their ears. They look up at the party with irritation, and grumble, ” Ez tiltott terület, kifelé! Ne bennünket akkor dobja ki, mint mi, hogy az utolsó ember!” Then they point at the general direction of the tower entrance.
This is restricted area, get out! Don’t make us throw YOU out like we did to the last guy!
Mr Whiskers recognizes them as Ice trolls
Einar rakes the one lying prone on his face, scratching it all the way to the bone.”Granny Nan, ő terrorizálják engem! Megvakarta én szép arc!” It wails, pointing at Einar.
Granny Nan, he bullied me! He scratched my handsome face!
”Kilépés a ti nyafka Marrowsnap! Menj Garskink és Korudden. Majd kell dobni ezeket a fiúkat, erőszakkal.” The other troll snaps, seeing Einar’s claws on fire.
Quit ye whining Marrowsnap! Go get Garskink and Korudden. We’ll need to throw these guys out by force.
Mr. Whiskers moves into the room behind Einar and waits to toss an acid blob until the other ice troll gets out of the bed. This may not do much damage, but it will prevent it from healing for a short time!
The prone troll gets up and Einar tries to claw him, but hits the bed post instead. He starts pounding frantically on the southern door, ” Gyere ki te lusta trógerek megvan egy csomó meanies itt! Hoztak tüzet!”
Get out here you lazy bums we’ve got a bunch of meanies here! They brought fire!
Mr Whiskers sears a small burn on the northern most troll as it stands up, and shifts closer to Einar.
The Northern troll tries to bite Einar, but clanks off his breastplate.
Einar claws into the troll pounding on the door, eviscerating it thoroughly, sending bits of mushed troll organs and guts flying all over the place. The other troll screams in a foreign tongue.
Marrowsnap! Noooooo!
"My Turn", Hirah responds, stepping through the threshold and swinging her greatsword at the nearest troll.
The troll ducks out of the way. It's really pretty fast, for a troll.
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Crummock's face shifts into a bitter-sweet smile when he sees Thora reunited with her mother.
At last. For too long, has she been mourning her daughter.
When Enda asks him for a private word, Crummock nods, and listens politely, before responding.
"I will do what I can. If there be a spark o' goodness within her, I will see what I can do to find it. But I havnae been seein' much good that has come from the gwrachod gaeaf."
The following morning, at Enda's funeral pyre, when the flames reach their zenith, some of the curve around and envelop Crummock in an embrace... but when the die down, he is untouched, although there is something... slightly different about him; a warmth that was not there before.
"Before Enda died, I had him cast a spell, which enabled him to ask some questions... and receive yes/no answers from the Gods. I am sorry to say that it confirmed your worst fears: Your wife and daughter are indeed dead; but least they have passed on to the afterlife - I confirmed that no winter witch had trapped their souls, like what happened to poor Thora, and they did not rise as undead. Please, do not dwell on the past - focus on what you still have; Nadya and her children need safety and stability, and where I am going, I doubt that I will be able to provide either. I do not want to bring suffering and despair down upon them, especially since I have risked so much to bring them a modicum of peace."
"Nadya, I am pleased to see that Thora is adjustin', about as well as could be expected. I must admit, her new friend was a wee bit o' a surprise, but it seems to have worked well enough.
However, now that she is back, I think we need to evaluate what we are doin' movin' forward. Where we are likely to be goin' is no place for a child, even one as exceptional as Thora has proven herself to be. I do not want to be the reason that your family is torn apart once more; I could not bear it."
He then sighs heavily.
"Consequently, I think you should strongly consider goin' back with Ringerr, and meetin' up with your sons. When I had the spell performed to see what happened to Ringerr's family, I asked if his village would be safe enough for you and yours, and the Gods seemed to think so. Please, live your life, enjoy your children; I sincerely hope that you manage to grow old, and have the contentment of seeing your children grow up, and have families of their own..."
Crummock's voice trails off, as a wistful sadness overtakes his features.
"Ye see, I am afflicted. I seem to be ageing much slower than a man should. I know that I dinnae look it, but I am old, far older than I have any right to be - for I have seen more than ninety summers, and yet look nae older than thirty. Ye see, I had a wife once, before I knew the extent of my curse, and we were happy - we had a good lodge, reasonable farmland, and two beautiful children... but as the years went on, and I didnae change, I saw all that I cared for disappear. Me daughter died in childbirth, takin' me grandson with her, whilst me son died in a huntin' accident in the year o' his 27th summer. My wife lasted the longest - but after the death o' her children, she was ne'er quite the same, and I watched, helpless, as I saw her wither, both inside and out, dying in her 75th year."
His shoulders then slump.
"With all I cared for gone, I left the home where I had thought to enjoy me twilight years, filled as it was now with naught but sadness, and adopted the itinerant life o' a perpetual traveler."
Crummock gives a wan smile.
"This is why the families o' others, and children in particular, are so important to me, why I moved heav'n and earth to restore Thora to ye, and why I want your family to remain safe - I may be cursed, but ye have a real chance at life and happiness."
Tears fill Crummock's eyes as he finishes his plea.
"Please, enjoy what I cannot - a proper family. I dinae want to see ye wither away and lose hope, as well, whilst I am forced to carry on, enduring gods-know how much continued existence..."
He swallows hard.
"I will always care for ye and yours, but I dinae want to see ye all die..."
Satisfied that Einar has the situation well and truly handled, Crummock delays, waiting for the Behemoth to tear the remaining troll to pieces.
A blue hand shoves the door at the south open, Einar can see an ice troll waiting, with its axe upraised.
"Garskink! Megölte Marrowsnap! Öld meg!" The troll behind Einar shouts.
The troll tries to slash at Einar with its battle axe, which is blocked by the door.
The troll behind takes it as his signal to step up, and try to shred Einar, catching Einar with its third claw.
Enda nods understandingly. "I've been given glimpses of many futures, and not all of them have her in it." He gives a heavy sigh, then leaves.
"I guess the rational part of me figured that out quite some time ago. 3 long and dreary years, alone." Ringerr answers Crummock matter-of-factly. "Ah but god...hope springs eternal in the human breast." His voice cracks slightly with repressed grief. "I wish it could've been otherwise..." His voice trails off.
"At least now I know for certain. I could have spent my life searching for Laila and Siri in vain." Ringerr sighs. "At least there is some kind of closure."
"I'll go with Nadya and meet her children in Ellsprin. You're right, there's no use looking back. I must as well spend the rest of my life helping her with the kids, so that Orm and Morjoli will grow up to be people we can be proud off." He replies.
"Yes, I don't think this is a good place for Thora. She should be out there enjoying the sunshine and not cooped up in tunnels. But I can't let Thora be running around with a city full of Winter Witches." Nadya answers. "M is..strange. She said Thora was her charge, and it was she would to guide and protect Thora as long as she drew breath." Nadya shudders. "That kind of determination is unnerving. I would have done the same, but I'm her mother."
"I wanted to get even with Nazhema for what she did. But now Thora is back, I don't want to be away from her again.It's almost worth giving up revenge for, but I didn't know if my family would be safe if I didn't manage to get Baba Yaga's protection for them. Since you say the gods have said I will be safe, then I will return to my family, taking Thora with me. Hopefully Thora can have a normal childhood." Nadya answers.
"Would you like to come along with us? You could watch the children grow up, and we could be your family."Nadya offers.
"But you don't look a day above 35!" Nadya protests as Crummock reveals his true age. "It hurt you, didn't it?" Nadya's voice is sympathetic. "I never thought immortality would be a curse,"Nadya comments thoughtfully. "But watching everyone around you ravaged by age and pass on...yes it is a curse. We were never meant to bury our children."
"I'm so sorry for causing you pain with my suggestion earlier. It would be like going through what you already have with your family, if you came with us." Nadya is very apologetic. "I guess maybe we have the better bargain, that even though our lives are short and brief, like a candle flame, at least we don't have to grief for outliving those we care for."
"I'll be heading to Ellsprin with Thora then. I'll miss you." Nadya says simply. "Thank you once more for all you've done for us. May the gods bless you with someone who is as long-lived as you are, and may your quest to find Baba Yaga be successful." She then gives Crummock one last embrace, before she turns to leave.
Einar manages to catch the Icetroll with the two claws, and it collapses unconscious, onto the floor.
Mr. Whiskers moves across the room so he can barely see past Einar into the next room. He casts his acid blob at whichever downed Ice Troll seems in better shape.
"I be just glad that I could provide ye with closure. Believe me when I say that I know we all find different ways of dealing with loss, but I feel ye have a solid chance of finding happiness again."
Crummock gives Nadya a bittersweet smile.
"Believe me when I say that I truly wish that I could spend time with ye and the children... but ye are right; I dinnae want to see all of ye grow old and die. One family was more than enough. I sincerely wish ye and the little ones long, and happy lives."
When Nadya hugs him, he hugs her back fiercely, and, taking her hand, gives it a quick kiss.
"I hope that ye remember me fondly."
Crummock, seeing that a new threat has revealed itself, moves into the room to ensure that the downed trolls stay down.
Geist follows in his wake.
One of the ice trolls in the room steps forward and begins biting and clawing at Einar."hogyan lehetne megölni Hartlegrath ?! Megöljük, hogy!"
As both claws connect with Einar, they dig extra deeply into his flesh.
The other clambers on the table and roars at Einar.
Mr. Whiskers fears that Einar is taking too much damage. I hope trolls are every bit as stupid as I've been told!
In Hallit, he says to Einar "Once you have made your attacks, I'm going to turn you invisible! That should give you enough time to drink a healing potion!"
He then readies to cast Vanish on Einar once the big guy has put some more hurt on the trolls.
Einar rips the troll facing him apart, in a gory display that sends troll bits flying all over the place.
Crummock and Geist hustle forward, trying to provide another target for the troll, granting Einar some breathing room.
Hirah follows the battle, stepping into the confined room and swinging hard at the remaining troll.
The ice troll lashes out with its battle axe as Crummock closes in with him.
Crummock sidesteps the swing.
Crummock manages to stab it, Geist savages it with its teeth, while Hirah cuts a slash from shoulder to hip. "Óóó, hogy majd nyomot hagy. Vajon mi történne, ha ezt tettem veled?"
Oooh that'll leave a mark. I wonder what would happen if I did that on you?
It gives Hirah an evil grin. "Hölgyeké az elsőbbség."
Ladies first.
The party notices the bite mark by Geist heal rapidly. It drops its battle axe, then attempts to rip Hirah apart.
It manages to chomp on Hirah's arm and claw her shin.
Suffering a large chunk of damage, Hirah decides enough is enough and promptly triggers her Bane ability as a swift action, before ducking into the monsters reach and opening up its chest.
It topples upon the table looking like an extra larged sized haunch of meat. Except with the problem that it's still breathing.
It shudders at Einar's flaming bite and finally has the decency to die. On each of the four dead trolls the party finds a battle axe.
Three giant chairs are arrayed around an enormous wooden table that is shoved into the southeast corner of this room. There's a delicious smelling stew in a pot on the table. Einar walks over to have a look, stirs it a little with a laddle, finds carrots, potatoes, and chopped humanoid bones in it.
Mr Whiskers realizes that the average age of the victims is less then 16 years old.
Weapon racks line the north and south walls of this room while two armor dummies stand in the northeast and south west corners. A long table sits near the middle of the room, covered with weapons of various sizes.
There is an armed icetroll and a squat, powerful, vaguely canine beast with foul smelling fluids oozing out of its weeping sores across its scaly skin.
The canine beast is a trollhound, it likes to drag people down to the ground with its teeth, and its bite carries bloodfire fever.
"Careful, the bite of that hound can cause a fever!" Mr. Whiskers says before using his acid blob to hurt the troll.
Mr Whiskers manages to scorch the trollhound with acid.
The ice troll walks over and tries to chop Hirah up.
It manages to hit the door instead.
Hirah walks up to the troll and swings her greatsword at it.
And promptly hits the table instead.
The doggietrollhound leaps up on the table, shaking droplets of foul smelling liquid onto the floor.
It tries to bite Hirah but doesn't get through her chainshirt.
When Mr Whiskers identifies that the trolls have been eating humanoid children, Crummock becomes stony-faced, before any intense fire starts burning in his eyes, and his features and twisted into apoplectic fury.
"I wasnae intendin' to leave any foes behind, but now I be wantin' to bring this tower crashing down..."
Crummock swiftly casts a spell , and effortlessly dodges into the room, dancing around the troll and its hound with surprising alacrity.
He then tries to stab the troll.
Meanwhile, Geist simply snarls, and pounces forward to take a bite out of the troll.
The troll sidesteps Einar's hammer swing.
Crummock stabs the troll in its kidney while Geist takes a bite out of its thigh.
Mr Whiskers tries to acid splash the troll(which hits the floor), then takes a step back.
The troll drops it's battle axe, then turns its attention to Crummock, and manages to rake Crummock on his ribs but doesn't go deep enough to hit anything vital.
Hirah attempts to launch into a striking slash against the troll, hoping to bring it down quickly.
Hirah manages to cut a diagonal slash from shoulder to hip on the troll.
The trollhound attempts to bite Hirah.
It latches onto Hirah's thigh and drags her down to the ground. Hirah feels its infectious saliva on her wound but fights off the disease.
Crummock stabs at the troll...
...whilst Geist attempts to rip it to shreds!
Einar nearly smacks Geist instead of the troll with his wild swing.
Crummock and Geist take down the troll. Mr Whiskers throws an acid blob at it to make sure it stays down permanently, but misses. Mr Whiskers moves into the room.
The trolls wounds begin to heal, but it doesn't get up.