”I am Moc, guardian of twilight.” He answers Einar. ”So, you have come to find Baba Yaga. Then hear my rede.”
He caws, ”Baba Yaga is not here, but you can find her, never fear. First, however you must persuade me you possess the strength necessary to bear my knowledge. My question is a simple one:”
He pauses for a while, then continues.
”Born twins, they live not,
Yet they grow until death.
Their fates are of’n tied
Ever-cresent, as the moon
Symbols of a warriors pride.”
”The answer to this question lies in the chamber beyond. Bring me the answer, and I shall give you what you seek.”
With Hirah's help Einar recognizes the carving to be a symbol for twilight, in a style favored by Iobarian witches.
Mr Whiskers can't quite remember anything about the raven. Neither can Greta.
The walls of this wide chamber are lined with gray, lifeless trees and thorny tangles of brush. In the center of the room stands a gnarled and leafless tree whose outstretched branches twist like cruel beastly talons. A boar of monstrous proportions, its hide hideously scarred[with two bloodstained tusks and red eyes gleaming with madness dwells at the bottom of the tree, stomping its hooves angrily on the ground, as the party approaches.
Mr Whiskers recognizes the boar as an advanced fiendish dire boar.
DR 5/good
The boar moves forward, trying to impale Einar on it's tusks, catching him on his ribs.
Hirah summons 3 Celestial Leopards who promptly smite and full attack the boar.
Celestial Leopard #1 (Flanking)
Celestial Leopard #2 (Flanking)
Celestial Leopard #3 (Non Flank)
The bite and second claw of the first leopard hit, and the bite and the claws of the second leopard hit. The bite of the third leopard hits as well. The other attacks bounce off its exceptionally tough hide.
Einar's bite and one claw hit, but are not fully effective. The fire does not seem to affect the boar at all.
Hirah and Crummock think that with the grevious wounds inflicting on the boar, it shouldn't be standing, but somehow, it still is, by force of will alone.
I could go back and edit out the grabs and show you if you like
Mr. Whiskers casts Magic Missile at the creature.
The magic missiles look as if they are to strike the creature, then bounce off a reddish barrier.
Mr. Whiskers softly grumbles "Resistant to fire, resistant to magic, and a bad attitude! I don't think we want to grease this pig!"
Crummock delays.
The boar draws on its last reserves and impales the cat that was ripping him apart. It dissappears in a puff of smoke.
One of the remaining cats take it down.
Einar looks at the body but realizes that since this bugger came from the lower planes, its flesh is tainted from the poisonous vapours of the abyss and totally unfit for consumption.
Moc, in the other room, repeats himself again, in his harsh cawing voice.
”Born twins, they live not,
Yet they grow until death.
Their fates are of’n tied
Ever-cresent, as the moon
Symbols of a warriors pride.”
”The answer to this question lies in the chamber beyond. Bring me the answer, and I shall give you what you seek.”
Mr. Whiskers hears Moc, then looks at the boar. "I'm no warrior, but tusks seem to fit the riddle."
me the answer." Moc reiterates with stronger emphasis.
Mr Whiskers sets about cutting out the enormous tusks out of the boar, and Einar helps him carry them and lays them on the floor of the chamber.
"You have completed the trial of strength. Here, then, is your reward." The iron amulet upon his neck rises, then is placed at the party's feet.
Moc used mage hand
"This amulet holds only one of the three clews you seek. It reveals the first ingredient for Baba Yaga's kettle. Look for this key where time catches up to us all."
He flies down, clutches a boar's tusk in each talon, lifts himself atop the glowing orb in the nest. As he lands, the orb's light wink's out and the raven disappears, but not before he caws one last mysterious phase.
"Look for the Mother when the moon is full!"
Mr Whiskers realizes that there is a rune on the back of the amulet in a foreign language and he manages to decipher the meaning of the rune as "dragon".
Inspection of the orb reveals that it has transformed into a solid sphere of rust-coated iron.
The amulet is magical and functions as a brooch of shielding.
A symbol carved upon the door to this chamber resembles a downward facing cresent resting on a horizontal line with arrows pointing outwards. A vertical bisecting line with arrows pointing both directions runs from the top to bottom.
Crummock recognizes it as the Iobarian witch symbol for night.
Mr. Whiskers mutters to himself "Where time catches up to us all? I wonder if he means death? Not likely since the amulet has the rune for dragon..."
With a sigh, he shakes his head. "At least the function of it is clear enough. Who would like to wear it?"
Wavering darkness devours everything that lies beyond the threshold. Thick stone columns and wooden beams, entangled with pale moonflower blossoms, supports the room's high vaulted celling A faintly glowing blood-red orb dangles from a black iron chain in the center of the room.
A hideous albino raven with red eyes flutters to rest atop the orb. On seeing Moc's amulet he utters, " While you have convinced me of your intentions, you have yet to convince me of your wit. To prove your cleverness, you must first find the answer to my riddle."
"I mark night's coming,
I will mark your end.
I run not in fear,
I have not a friend."
"The answer to the riddle lies within the passage of night, To find the path to what you seek, drink from the silver chalice within the grotto. Go now and do not return to me unless you can prove your worth."
The red orb provides 10 ft of dim light, but Mr Whiskers realizes the room is under a permanent darkness spell and a permanent forced quiet spell.
Hundreds of tangled roots dangle from the raw earthen ceiling of this rough-hewn, circular grotto, which is filled with dark, placid water. A narrow stone walkway leads to a circular platform in the center of the room upon which rests a stone table set with five silver chalices. About the perimeter of the grotto, a few feet above the waterline, five deep alcoves have been dug into the grotto walls. Though shadowed by darkness, a faint glitter sparkles from deep within each alcove.
The ceiling of the grotto is 20 feet high, and the water is 20 feet deep. The room is dark, and the alcoves in the grotto walls are cloaked in magical darkness. Each alcove contains an object, locked within a cage and chained and padlocked to the stone floor. The objects are a mirror, an apple, an hourglass, an athame, and a key.
We should check the library, see what the deal is with Baba Yaga and ravens.
With a puzzled expression, Mr. Whiskers mutters "Twilight?" and thinks about the symbol on the other door. Guess we have to continue with this little game.
Realizing the grotto is ahead, he follows the others into the next room.
Each of the chalices in the center are half full with dark red wine, and the rim of each chalice is etched with a specific rune in a repeating pattern.
Einar and Crummock recognizes the first chalice having the rune for mirror.
Everyone except Einar recognizes the second chalice having the rune for apple.
Mr Whiskers and Crummock recognizes the third chalice having the rune for hourglass.
Only Crummock recognizes the fourth chalice rune as athame.
Everyone but Crummock recognizes the rune on the fifth chalice as key.
1 = mirror
2 = apple
3 = hourglass
4 = athame
5 = key
Mr. Whiskers looks around, then says "Time runs, but not in fear. I suppose that could fit the other three lines?
He goes over to the chalice that matches the hourglass. If no one stops him, he will try drinking from that chalice.
The wine tastes of blackcurrant with overtones of black pepper spice and roasting meat, and is hearty and spicy.
A pale flash of moonlight illuminates the alcove for a few short seconds, bathing the hourglass.
Three stepping-stones rise from the black waters, creating a path to the alcove containing the hourglass.
Einar steps on the stepping stones to the alcove. As he is fiddling with the padlock and chains, the stepping stones fall back into the dark water, leaving him stranded in the alcove.
He eventually manages to get the padlock open and the chains off the hourglass, and retrieves the hourglass.
EDIT
Einar :(
As the air elemental takes the hour glass from Einar, its neck is grappled by some blue eldritch chains that try to squeeze the air out of it. But it passes unaffected, returning the hourglass to Hirah.
Mr Whiskers recognises the blue chains as a manifestation of the spell suffocation. But since air elementals don't need to breathe...
However, Einar is still stranded on the alcove.
The party also realizes that all the chalices are half full, like no one has drunk from them at all.
Mr. Whiskers thinks about the riddle. Noticing that the chalice still has liquid in it, he gives a shrug. It didn't kill him. He takes the chalice with the hourglass and sips from it before replacing it.
The wine tastes of blackcurrant with overtones of black pepper spice and roasting meat, and is hearty and spicy.
A pale flash of moonlight illuminates the alcove for a few short seconds, bathing Einar and the hourglass.
Three stepping-stones rise from the black waters, creating a path to the alcove containing the hourglass. Einar uses the stepping stones to move back to safety of the platform
The party returns with the hourglass, and lays it at the raven's feet.
"You have proven yourself in the trial of wits. I, Rokum, guardian of night, thus bestow my amulet upon you." The amulet that he is wearing levitates off his neck and lands at the parties feet.
"You have taken upon yourselves a great burden,”Rozum caws,"for that which you desire, the changeling holds. Know this as well—you will find the Crone only when the moon wanes.”The raven clutches the hourglass in his talons and wings off into the passage vanishing into the darkness.
Mr Whiskers identifies the amulet as an aegis of recovery. On it is a rune, in iobarian for the word, "gold"