"Which explains why we don't allow him to handle our animals." Mr. Whiskers replies. "Don't worry, he still knows well enough to follow orders."
Looking at Lt. Bragda, he asks "There were just the two perytons remaining, right?"
"I don't know. There could be some flying in the woods out there that we didn't see."
'Obviously Crummock has a plan for this fool.' Looking from the wolf-woman to Crummock, Einar scowls and bites his tongue. Walking closer to Crummock, he whispers softly. "Crummock, let me know when we are done conversing with her, I may have something to add."
Crummock grins.
"Whilst that might be entertainin', I honestly don't think it would work; it's more wishful thinkin'. He's useful to have around - and thus far, hasn't betrayed me directly, so there has been no need to put him down."
He then grows more formal.
"Now, do ye want us to escort ye out of the Market, or are ye happy to get out o' her yerself, knowin' that we have cleared a path to the entrance?"
"Please escort me out of the Market Square." She answers.
The party turns back to find Ravathiel no where to be seen.
After the party has escorted Bragda out, the party searches the abandoned hut, finding the bodies of three human Winter Guards who have died here from their injuries. Searching them yields a masterwork composite longbow (+2 str), 3 potions of lesser restoration, and an efficient quiver holding 10 +1 cold iron arrows and 30 normal arrows.
Ravathiel pops out out of the trees, pulling out thorns out of himself, grumbling. He remarks, ”So you know what mercy means. I did not expect that of mortals."
As the party proceeds on through the forest, Ravathiel asks, ”Do you know what happened to Auraneos? I felt him drop out of the weave."
Crummock clears his throat, and has the grace to look apologetic.
"Unfortunately, when he found out our goals with regards to the Hut, he insisted upon attacking us, saying that his Queen would not be satisfied with anything less, and that if he didn't kill us, his Queen would destroy him anyway... So regrettably, we had to put an end to him."
’Not betrayed me directly, I haven’t betrayed anyone ever, well, not that I wasn’t related to.’ Waiting patiently until Crummock and the she-wolf have finished speaking. Einar looks at Crummock, ”You know I’m standing right here, right?” Once they have reached the end of the forest, turning to the guard officer. ”What my gentle friends are not telling you is that I spoke the truth. We are not members of the Winter Guard. As a matter of fact we are servants of the great hag, sworn to the black rider before he died. We are the ones who killed the white dragon, the armor I wear are spoils of that battle. We are the ones who released the iron guard upon you.” Nodding back towards Crummock, ”Because my sword-brother has promised you safe passage, I will not attack you. But if he had not, your hide would decorate this armor, as has other white-wolves before you.” Nodding toward the end of the forest, "But you have my permission to run away now."
'He attacked us is that how it went? I practically had to beg him to do it.' Still feeling self-righteous Einar rolls his eyes at Crummocks comment, mumbling under his breath "Insisted, very regrettable."
"Yeah, I think you really ought to get him checked out really quickly. You know...I think those hooves must really have rattled his brain." She backs away nervously from Einar and runs out from the Market Square.
"He knew the risks, coming here. Him and Wortleby both. And this was a great opportunity to take the Dancing Hut to right those wrongs. Queen Titania is still going to be very put out with us." He sighs.
The party comes across a large camp fire burning before a house that squats beneath the eaves of the forest. Several logs are arrayed around the fire as if to serve as seats. Empty wine bottles and charred sharpened sticks for roasting food over the fire litter the ground.
There are three attractive women with long flowing, rich, red hair and emerald green eyes, in brown robes talking and laughing with 3 drunk merchants over some wine. ”Come and warm yourselves up by the campfire for a while. It’s cold and dreary outside.” The women offer. One of the drunk merchants looks owlishly at the party, ”Yeah you eard er. The fuds and drink’s r’ gud, and company’s even betta.”
Ravathiel mutters something under his breath. ”Zephimere was always fond of parties…” while touching his thumb and forefinger to his eyebrows, as if slightly embarrassed by everything. Ravathiel raises his eyebrow. ”Do you want me to handle this, or would you like to stop for some drinks?”
"Yeah, I think you really ought to get him checked out really quickly. You know...I think those hooves must really have rattled his brain." She backs away nervously from Einar, hiding begin Crummock.
As the officer leaves their company Einar looks from Crummock to Mister Whiskers and finally Hirah, shrugging his shoulder.
'A drink would be nice.' Einar nudges Mister Whiskers, "We probably shouldn't drink while in the middle of this right?"
Mr Whiskers recognises the women as Baccae. The handmaidens of Baccus-Dionysus. Some say they were once his priestesses who succumbed to the madness of the grape. Others say they were a race of fey created by him who reflects his ever-changing emotions. When in peaceful playful moods, these women are comely and attractive with long hair the color of red wine.Baccae are a reclusive race of fairy who spend their time in their forested lair away from humankind. While friendly toward humans and humanoids that share their alignment, they spend most of their time associating with others of their race and other fey creatures of the same or similar alignment.
DR 5/cold iron.
Seeing that Einar is slightly put out but some of Crummock's characterisations, Crummock shrugs apologetically.
"I was playin' a role; I figured it be a good idea to make ye seem... somewhat unstable, both as a way of bein' able to explain yer comments, and make her be wantin' to move on, without asking too many more questions."
Crummock shrugs in response to Einar's question.
"Maybe after we've been finishin' our mission? Business afore pleasure, and all that..."
After Bragda has left, Mr. Whiskers starts up a conversation with Ravathiel while they are walking. "I fear that my education to this point has never prepared me for meeting with your queen." or any royalty, really. "So that we don't embarrass ourselves, could you please give us an idea what proper etiquette is?"
---
Getting to the fey party, when Ravathiel offers to handle it, he replies "Yes, please do."
When Einar nudges him, he whispers back "That would be best, yes. If you drink with these women and get them mad, they will tear you apart." he whispers back to his friend.
"Address her as your majesty, mind your manners, and bow like this. You'll also want to stress the importance of your quest, and how the hut in your hands will make things better for the Summer Court. Like your lives depended on it."
Ravathiel marches up to them and speaks brusquely, "All right, ladies, parties over. Now stop fooling around, and scat, we've got matters to attend to."
The baccae pout, "You're such a spoilsport, Ravathiel." Then their leader starts pleading with him, "You sure you can't even let us have one of them, just for a while? I want the blue one, he looks like the kind who loves a good time!"
"No. We have important business." He answers them flatly and stomps a foot on the ground for emphasis. Then he leads the party through their ranks, despite their entreaties.
”Zephimere, we’ve got a problem.” He addresses his fellow dawnpipier, flying in the air. ”We need to take some mortals to see our Queen,”.
Zephimere asks, ”Where’s Auraneos? And why are we taking mortals to the First World?”
Ravathiel explains briefly about the party’s quest, and what happened to Auraneos
”I don’t like it. They killed Auraneous. What makes you think they can be trusted?”
”They understand the meaning of compassion, and I believe they are amendable to reason.”
”So be it, then.” Zephimere flies down to the snow, then she and Ravathiel touch the party. The world shimmers for a moment, then the party is somewhere else.
The party finds themselves in a vibrant clearing speckled with colourful flowers with verdant trees the height of mountains towering all around them. The winds blow the smells of summer wildflowers all around them, and the temperature is pleasantly warm. The party feels refreshed, as if all their troubles and worries have been blown away. All around the party can see pixies, brownies, faerie dragons peeking out from the bushes.
”It’s good to be back.” Ravathiel remarks to no one in particular.
”Behold the majesty and wonder of the first world, and mourn for what was lost.” Ravathiel gestures at the surroundings. ”This was what Irrisen was, once. Before Baba Yaga came.” He leads the party through a concealed path in the forest, to another clearing.
The clearing this time is populated with more faerie creatures, dryads, nymphs, unicorns, elementals, treants and jyotis, gnomes, forming a semi circle around a beautiful, regal woman with hair the colour of gold, with emerald green eyes in a gold dress. There is a golden coloured halo around the woman. The woman addresses Ravathiel, ”Why have you brought those with the smell of Winter into my domain?”
"I am Queen Titania. Winter-touched mortals - what has brought you to the Summer Court?"
Crummock bows formally to the Queen.
"Greetings to ye, o' Summer Queen. Thank ye for deignin' to grant us the opportunity to speak with ye. 'Tis true that we be linked with Winter, courtesy o' the Mantle o' the Black Rider o' the Great Crone, but we do have common ground with ye.
'Tis true that the Great Crone did bring eternal winter to the land now known as Irrisen, which is, after a fashion, a crime against Summer - something which I will make no pretense at denyin'. However, we come seekin' a boon from ye, to prevent an e'en greater crime against Summer.
The Great Crone's current daughter seeks to usurp her mother's control o'er Irrisen, and to extend the eternal Winter to cover all o' Golarion in frigid iciness - permanently banning Summer from that world.
In order to prevent this, we need to find the Great Crone, and in order to do that, we need her Hut. I am sure that a being of such great wisdom as yerself can see that, although 'tis true we are promotin' the status quo of localised eternal Winter, 'Tis a far better fate than losing an entire world..."
Seeing that Crummock has finished speaking, Mr. Whiskers steps forward.
"Your majesty." he says, bowing as Ravathiel had shown him. "I am Wiktor Waskarski, more commonly known as Mr. Whiskers."
"It is as he has told you." he says, gesturing to Crummock. "We have come here to prevent Queen Elvana from spreading winter across our world."
I feel our reasons for taking the quest are as important as the quest itself. I should explain mine.
"We originally became aware of what was happening while we were in Taldor, near the Borderwoods as those people call it. The woods were covered in a blizzard and we were asked to find out what was causing it and if possible stop it. What we found was one of the many portals Queen Elvana and her witches have created linked to the Pale Tower."
With a sigh of regret, he admits "We were able to close that portal, but so many still remain active."
"In our travels, I have promoted working with the fey. It was in those woods that I first met one of those known as the Winter Touched." Mr. Whiskers spits out the last two words as if they were a curse. "I consider what has been done to them a horror, one I would gladly undo if given the knowledge and ability to do so."
"We became linked to Baba Yaga after we found one of her Black Riders -- Illarion Matevius -- dying from a cursed wound. He convinced us that the best way to stop the winter was to take on his mantle and find Baga Yaga. In order to do that, he told us we needed her hut." With a smile, he admits "It has not escaped my notice the irony of our situation. When I accepted his geas, it was as a way to stop the winter storms."
"We have heard rumors of Baba Yaga. It is said that she is harsh, yet fair. She imposed limits on her daughters, and Queen Elvana clearly seeks to usurp that control. We seek Baba Yaga so that she can take care of her misbehaving daughter."
Did I miss anything important? I hope not.
"Please allow us this boon, so that we can put an end to Queen Elvana's reign."
”Why have you brought those with the smell of Winter into my domain?”
With that, Ravathiel gives a start and his eyes widen, as if it was something that he did not realise earlier. He bows respectfully to her, and apologizes, ”My Queen, I did not recognize that they were touched by Winter. They speak the truth I have seen them prove their worth, both by skill of arms and strength of will.”
Queen Titania considers your words carefully. "Your quest is a true one. Even if it is for a being inimical to our Court. But heed my words well."
”Many covert the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. The forces of the multiuniverse would come after you to claim it. Can you defend yourselves from them to fulfil your quest? Those that you fought were just gnats compared to the forces that will be arrayed against you once you claim the Hut.” She pauses for a moment. ”Prove it, in front of the Summer Court then. In a trial by arms.” A gigantic , heavily muscled man with reddish brown shoulder length hair, in a silver breastplate, with a longsword, hammer and spear steps out from the crowd. On his back is a bow, a quiver full of arrows, 20 javelins, a Lucene hammer.”He will be your opponent.” Queen Titania points at him.
”Any one knocked unconscious or slain will be removed from the arena, and the fight will go on until one party is defeated. I will ensure that no permanent harm will come to either side.”
Mr Whiskers recognizes the man as a Nephilim, an offspring of a demigod. Hirah can't remember ANYTHING about that man.
DR 10/magic
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EDIT
Seeing that everyone is still close enough together for it, Mr. Whiskers casts haste. He then moves over to the side so as to be out of other's way.
"It looks like we need magical weapons to injure this creature. Let me know if you need help!" As he moves, he pulls out the wand of magic weapon.
Hirah wades in and deals the Nephilim a large cut on its forearm.
"Whoo! I haven't had someone do that to me in a while!" He exclaims excitedly.
In a blink of an eye, he draws his longsword, then lashes out at Hirah, stabbing her in the shoulder. Hirah returns the favor, opening a large gnash in his thigh with her greatsword. He then calmly runs Hirah straight through her heart.
From the sidelines, a colourful haired female gnome calls out, "Half orc down!" An air elemental whisks Hirah's body to the gnome, where she quickly checks for pulse, finds none and motions for a jyoti to pop over. "Dead."
The jyoti touches Hirah's body with one golden glowing hand.
Hirah finds herself lying on the grass, staring at at the blue sky, her chest still aching slightly, on the spectator side of the arena, with a concerned Jyoti looking over her. "Welcome back. At least Grundir didn't mess you up too badly."
EDIT
Mr. Whiskers grimaces when he sees how quickly Grundir dispatched Hirah. He decides they need more of an edge, so he casts glitterdust on the demigod, pushing a point of arcane reservoir in to increase the chances of it working. "I hope this works..." he mutters as he casts it.
The nephilim is nice and glittery, but not blinded.
Einar shrugs at Crummock, ”I understand your logic, but I would have rather beaten the information out of her that allow her to believe she was our superior. But it matters not, she is irrelevant in the big scheme of things.”
’They are very attractive women.’ Einar waves to the women with the alcohol, ”Ladies, I will take you up on the drink later, but for now I must continue with our quest.”
Understanding how nobility works, Einar Bows low to the queen, keeping an eye on the crowd. As the Nephilim steps forward, Einar nods, and whispers ”Finally a worthy opponent.”
’Hirah's end was sad, but I will not waste her sacrifice.' Watching, Hirah attack and be quickly dispatched, Einar begins to rage Causing his Cambion ancestry to become very prominent. Moving in quickly while the swordsman is distracted, Einar rakes at him with a claw "Greatings swordsman, I am Einar Bjornson branded "Kinslayer".
Einar, showing Mister Whiskers his hands, "When I rage, I can feel the magic flow through my claws, but for some odd reason not my mouth, I don't understand why."
Hirah gives a relaxed smile. "Thanks for the healing help, that Grundir is quite the customer. Still, I got a couple of really good hits in and he isn't looking quite so swift as he was before. I'm confident the rest of my friends can finish what I started."
"But Ravi won't let you, right? He's always all about business."The baccae sulk. "Damned right." Ravathiel glares at them and snaps.
"I'm Grundir. Pleased to meet you. I'd shake hands, but they're a little busy at the moment." He beams at Einar, showing his pearly white teeth.
After the claw, Gundir starts favoring his left leg. Though the fire doesn't seem to harm him any. "Man, if I knew the mortal realms had such great warriors, I should have gone there throwing gauntlets!" He then swings his longsword at Einar, thrice, with two blows being turned by his plate armour.
"Yeah Grundir is pretty tough. He pumps weights everyday, spars with anyone he can catch...then whines when no one wants to spar with him." The Jyoti pauses for a moment. "But if there's anything that needs heavy lifting, he's always ready to lend a hand. So he isn't really a bad sort.
"And I've told him countless times he shouldn't be hacking off limbs, or lopping off heads. They're really hard to reattach. He seems to have taken my words to heart at least."
The Jyoti touches Hirah, and she feels as good as new.
Einar, showing Mister Whiskers his hands, "When I rage, I can feel the magic flow through my claws, but for some odd reason not my mouth, I don't understand why."
Mr. Whiskers quickly shouts out "Explanations later. I can't change that!"
Mr. Whiskers casts magic missile at Grundir and then runs to a position behind Einar.
The missiles fly towards Grundir, for a moment seemingly stopped by some blue barrier, then go through and strike him in the chest.
Talk to Hirah about Magic Fang.
Uh, why?
Crummock stands there, waiting patiently for Einar to get hurt.
Crummock strides forward, and heals Einar, causing blood to start seeping from his own chest.
Einar curses as the sword catches his thigh, 'need to move quickly, that feels better Crummock must be healing me, I need to remember to thank him.' Feeling the healing begin, Einar, continues to rip into the fey swordsman, with tooth and claw.