"I might be able to get to them. But I'd need to fly. I am NOT wading through thick snow. They can't shoot what they can't see."Zorka suggests.
Shaking his head, Mr. Whiskers says "Much of the damage I took was from little things flying out in a huge area!"
Seraphine walks up and channels to heal.
The first group of humans react, and start throwing mortars and shooting at Seraphine.
Seeing Seraphine down, they proceed to mow down Greta.
Greta tries to retreat back to the hut as quickly as she can.
Seeing that Mr Whiskers is gone, Seraphine is down, and Geist is dead, Crummock frowns, swallows hard, and casts Breath of Life on Geist.
"Nam skazali, chtoby kto-to vyshel iz khizhiny nashemu Messiyu, Rasputinu, mertvomu ili zhivomu." One of them states indifferently. "Zhivoy budet delat' tak zhe khorosho, kak i lyuboy. Shag vpravo - vy bol'she ne khotite otklyuchat' miny."
"I nikakikh tryukov, ili my KIL VAM." And both platoons turn their faces covered with alien looking gas masks at him. "I etot tozhe." And Greta is pointed out.
Crumock realizes from the tone of the voice, and their body language, both platoons are under influence of an enchantment effect.
We were told by our great Messiah Rasputin, to bring anything that came out from the hut to him, dead or alive. Alive will do as well as any. Bring your wounded and dead and step to the right - you don't want to trip those mines off."
And no tricks, or we KEEL YOU. And that one as well.
Greta was hoping to take the opportunity to retreat back to the Hut...but on being pointed out, nervously shuffles along with the party, but not before pulling out a potion.
The officer nods his head but all eyes are still trained on Einar and his group.
Greta carries Seraphine's limp body and sullenly follows along with the party, as Mr Whiskers tries to get the Hut to work.
On third try, he finally gets it, and the battalions start in alarm as the Hut dimension doors right into their midst. Time slows as Crummock sees a rain of mortars fly towards the party, but he manages to get the planeshift off, and everyone transported inside the Hut, in the now ruined candy room.
The troops open fire on the Hut, and this time lob grenades, while firing with their rifles. And the world explodes into chaos once more.
The machine guns from the tank hits, but does not damage the Hut.
The Hut briefly shakes for a moment when a lucky burst of rifle shots catch it, but otherwise stands as steady as a mountain before the howling winds, then takes matters into its own hands.
And then the battalion of humans start running away, screaming from the giant chicken legged hut that just appeared in their midst. The flames seem to be particularly effective against the battalion of troops.
Throughout the entire commotion, a slim man with an unkempt beard and a long black cassock stares calculatingly at the Hut, his blue eyes piercing the haze like chips of chiseled Hut.
"So you have learnt to use the Hut. But it is too late. Her Thrice-Tenth Kingdom will soon be mine. And there's nothing you can do to stop me." He taunts the party as he vanishes, like he was never there.
The Hut, as if sensing something, makes a headlong dash into the woods, trampling trees and the like along the way, with the tank firing on it, totally ignored. Soon it leaves the ruined village, and the tank behind.
Mr. Whiskers tells Zorka "The only way I could make you fly is changing you into a different type of creature, in which case you couldn't turn invisible."
The forest ends abruptly at a muddy field riddled with snow-rimmed craters and punctuated by gnarled trees, twisted coils of barbed wire and deep trenches. Beyond a high fence, cracked and blackened onion domes hint of a ruined temple reaching for the stormy sky, where dark clouds churn and boil. Eerie gray shadows dance and writhe across the dusky landscape, giving it the appearance of a maggot-riddled corpse. The Hut stops and refuses to go any further, making scratching motions in the direction of the coils of barbed wire, as if waiting for the party to bring something from there.
Searching the woods, Einar manages to find a cache of army supplies, there are 6 Nagant 1891 rifles, 10 gas masks with relevant suits, 1 assaen mortar, and 100 steel cartridges.
Crummock regards the complex in the distance critically.
"Well, after what we just encountered, I think it be best if we do a little scoutin'..."
He then casts Summon Totem Creature to produce a Small Earth Elemental, and directs it to scout the periphery (predominantly using earth glide and tremor sense), before reporting back to him (paying particular attention to the trenches).
"Feel 2 big heavy things above me. They move in circles. Then another 2 come. Feel things sticking into the Earth. Feel many smaller things in holes in the ground. Feel many things being pushed into the ground. Ground smells wrong. Like it's sick. Want me to go look above ground, master?"
Crummock translates for the others.
"It sounds like there are a total o' four big things, movin' in circles around the site. The trenches also have lots o' people inside them. It sounds like there is a bunch more o' those same traps we encountered before scattered throughout the area, as well."
He then frowns.
"My ally also says the ground smells wrong, like it is sick..."
Crummock then turns to Seraphine.
"Shall we punch our way through the defenses? I figure a bushel o' Fire Seeds should do the trick for each o' the trenches...."
As the party moves closer, they see strange machines run caterpillar-like through the snow, patrolling the grounds. Coils of barbed wire line the perimeter of the camp, and the trenches beyond them hold alert soldiers armed with sophisticated modern weaponry. Behind the trenches, a tall electrified fence bounds the camp, and there are 4 watchtowers cackling with purple lightning and another 7 with white light spacing the fence over the no man’s-land. Metal tubes point out of the watch towers.
Seraphine nods in agreement with Crummock. "You have an excellent grasp of tactics. I can cast my own Fire Seed if you like, I only have one, but its stronger than usual, and should also cause destruction. I can also follow up with a number of fireballs if you like, assuming we want to go for Shock and Awe. I think it is time to show them the power of our weapons."
From the trees they hear a voice, "Ey, syuda!YA ne prichinyu tebe vreda."The voice belongs to a haggard looking man wrapped up in tattered overcoat. His eyes are sunken-in and weary, and he is shivering with cold. He raises his arms in the air showing that he is unarmed. "Ukhodite iz lagerya Akuvskoy tyur'my - vy ne khotite byt' tam. Mne yedva udalos' sbezhat'."
Hey, over here. I mean you no harm. Get away from the Akuvskaya Prison camp - you don't want to be there. I barely managed to escape.
Seeing the man and having Crummock confirm that he is telling the truth, Mr. Whiskers asks Zorka to get a bowl of food from the caldron for the man. He then calls out to the man "Idi syuda! Vy skazali, chto sbezhali iz etogo mesta? Chto vy mozhete skazat' nam ob etom?"
Mr. Whiskers comes to the door, holding the bowl of food and a spoon.
Looking to Crummock, Mr. Whiskers asks "Do you mind if I talk to it a bit?"
If allowed, Mr. Whiskers asks it some more detailed questions about the ground to try and get an idea of what might be wrong. Then he turns to Crummock and asks "Could you ask it to get a sample of the bad soil? I could examine it with my alchemy lab, try to determine what is wrong."
"Menya zovut Dimitriy. Tam, vnizu, posle Velikoy voyny ya byl zdes', i vot odnazhdy etot stroynyy chelovek s nechesanoy borodoy i dlinnoy chernoy sutanoy podoshel k lageryu, nazyvaya sebya Rasputinym, trebuyushchim nashey sdachi. Ne mozhet byt'! Sumasshedshiy monakh Rasputin byl ubit svoimi politicheskimi sopernikami 3 goda nazad."
My name is Dimitri. It’s hell down there – after the Great War I was posted here – and then one day this slim man with an unkempt beard and a long black cassock walked up to the camp, calling himself Rasputin demanded our surrender. It couldn’t be! The mad monk Rasputin was murdered by his political rivals 3 years back.
"My smeyalis' i strelyali v nego patronami, brosali v nego granaty, no NICHEGO ne proizoshlo! Oni proshli cherez nego, kak privideniye! Zatem on podnyal ruki, i sama zemlya nachala tryastis'. On skazal, chto yesli my budem nastaivat' na nashem uporstve, on slomayet ves' lager', i, kak on skazal, chasovnya i mnogiye zdaniya upali na zemlyu, sokrushiv vsekh vnutri. Zatem v okopakh nachali otkryvat'sya treshchiny, pogloshchaya bol'she moikh tovarishchey po vzvodu. Uvidev, chto my byli protiv chego-to, s chem u nas byl shans vyzhit' protiv krys, my ustupili."
We laughed, and shot at him with bullets, threw grenades at him but NOTHING happened! They passed through him like he was a ghost! Then he raised his hands and the earth itself began to shake. He said that if we persisted with our stubbornness, he would bring the entire camp to the ground, and as he said that, the chapel and many buildings tumbled to the ground, crushing everyone inside. Then fissures started opening in the trenches, swallowing up more of my platoon mates. Seeing we were up against something we had a rats chance of survival against, we yielded.
"On osvobodil vsekh opasnykh zaklyuchennykh i brosil nas vsekh v kamery. I vot odnazhdy on voshel i skazal, chto u nego yest' spetsial'nyy plan dlya nas. Nas soprovodili v kazarmy, gde on derzhal etu shtuku v kassu pravoslavnogo svyashchennika, daruya nam yego «Blagosloveniye». Eto byl ne svyashchennik, ya nikogda ne videl svyashchennika s vypuchennymi glazami, seroy kozhey, ostrymi ushami i reztsami, poka moy Palets!"
He released all the dangerous prisoners and threw us all in cells. Then one day, he came in, and said he had a special plan for us. We were escorted to the barracks where he had this thing in an Orthodox priest’s Cassock grant us his “Blessing.” That was no priest, I’ve never seen a priest with bulging eyes, grey skin, pointed ears and incisors as long as my finger!
"No bol'shinstvo moikh tovarishchey po vzvodu, kazhetsya, chuvstvovali sebya inache, oni smotreli na svoyego svyashchennika, kak na svoyego Spasitelya. Kak budto eta veshch' kakim-to obrazom zakhvatila ikh soznaniye ..."
But most of my platoon mates seem to have felt otherwise, they looked at their priest like he was their Saviour. As if that thing had somehow taken control of their minds…
"Kogda delo doshlo do menya, ya pochuvstvoval, chto on pytayetsya pereubedit' menya, i ya srazhalsya s etim kovarnym prisutstviyem. Rasputin pokachal golovoy i zastavil menya vydelit' neskol'ko chelovek, kotoryye takzhe soprotivlyalis' prikosnoveniyu etoy veshchi. Zatem menya vernuli v tyur'mu, a tekh, kto popal pod gospodstvo tvarey, byli postavleny okhranyat' lager'. YA malo znal, chto u menya byla yeshche odna sud'ba. Kazhduyu noch' sushchestvo prinosilo dvukh drugikh sushchestv, podobnykh yemu, chtoby nakormit' nas. Da, ya skazal, pitaytes' nami, i ne zastavlyayte menya zapirat'sya v psikhiatricheskoy bol'nitse, ya ne sumasshedshiy. Eto sushchestvo pitalos' nashey krov'yu!" His eyes are open wide, desperate and hoping that the party won't think he's crazy.
When it came for me, I felt it try to take over my mind as well and I fought that insidious presence. Rasputin shook his head and had me singled out with a bunch of others who also resisted that thing’s touch. Then I was brought back to prison while those that had fallen under the creatures domination were set to guard the camp. Little did I know that I had another fate in store for me. Every night the creature would bring two other creatures like itself to feed on us. Yes, I said feed on us, and no don’t get me locked up in an asylum, I am NOT crazy. That creature was feeding on our blood!
He shows off teeth marks on his neck. "Nekotoryye iz nas umerli ot krovopoteri, i tela byli unichtozheny. Poetomu ya sygral mertvym i sumel vybrat'sya iz lagerya. Mne udalos' nayti koye-chto iz etogo potrepannogo pal'to ot togo, kto zastyl na meste, i otpravilsya syuda. Pozhaluysta, skazhi mne, chto ty ne poydesh' v etu adskuyu dyru...YA uzhe poteryal vsekh svoikh tovarishchey po vzvodu etomu monstru, ya ne khochu, chtoby bol'she lyudey popadali v ruki etogo d'yavola."
Some of us died from the bloodloss and the bodies were disposed off. So I played dead and managed to get thrown out of the camp. I managed to find some this tattered overcoat from someone who froze to death out there, and made my way here. Please tell me you’re not going into that hellhole..I’ve already lost all my platoon mates to that monster, I don’t want more people falling into that fiend’s hands.
He gratefully eats the food that Mr Whiskers offers him.
The small earth elemental gets some soil for Mr Whiskers. Mr Whiskers detects that someone is trying to call Baba Yaga's Thrice Tenth Kingdom to the world, making the place very unstable, and probably a bloody big astral beacon to supernatural horrors.
As Dimitri eats, Mr. Whiskers assures him that he isn't crazy.
Looking to Zorka, he asks "Are there any clothes in the hut that might fit Dimitri?" gesturing towards the fellow.
He then asks permission before casting share language on Dimitri so that everyone can more easily communicate.
"We are from a place that has such creatures. I am not quite sure what sort of creature it was that dominated you -- it sounds like it may have been a vampire?" At this, he looks to Seraphine for confirmation. "We would like to ask you a few more questions about it."
"The good news is that we should be able to break the hold that they have over your comrade's minds. The bad news is we need some way to stop what this Rasputin person is doing."
He asks a few more questions about what the man knows, trying to judge if he has used illusions for the initial contact or something else. He is also very interested in anything Dimitri can tell them about the camp.
Dimitri is what he is. Dimitri doesn't know what you're about to do to him, but consents anyway, since you gave him some food.
Zorka is invisible and she gleefully pulls clothes out of the cupboard for Dimitri, just to see his eyes nearly pop out of his head when he sees clothes popping out from no where.
Dimitri tells you about the dangerous prisoners that Rasputin released - there was a tribe of Zemlmers(Yetis) - which were from Siberia, that were incarcerated here because they enjoyed hunting people down just for the fun of it. Rasputin offered them positions to hunt any intruders down and they all signed up happily. They were given a building to stay in.
Next - was the bear hunter, some crazed woman who went around keeping large polarbears. That she'd sic on people, for the fun of seeing people torn apart. She was so attracted by Rasputin's charisma, that she offered to join him and was given a barn in the outer camp. Presumably she managed to get new bears...
Perhaps the most dangerous prisoner he released was Viktor Miloslav - who was locked up for his dangerous inventions. Dimitri is pretty positive that those large things patrolling the grounds - tanks - they are called, are part of Viktor Miloslav's inventions, since they weren't originally there. And the standard tanks he saw in the Great war have super long range on their guns.
So are the purple lightning towers - he was calling them world anchors. And he heard Viktor brag about a special light that would reveal all invisible creatures, besides providing sizable illumination. However, once the deed was done, Dimitri heard him plead before Rasputin to spare his life, then heard him scream. And he was never seen or heard from again...
The ruined chapel is occasionally bathed with the same purple light that comes from the watch tower and sporadic appearances of the restored monastery building can be seen.
Dimitri has heard Rasputin parade the heirs of the Romanov Dynasty, Anastasia and Alexei, but is beginning to wonder if his ears are playing tricks on him, since they were both brutally murdered by the firing squad 3 years back.
The procedure to get into camp has not changed. Upon approaching the gate is to stop approximately 80 feet from the gate and give a signal—a military salute with the right hand brought palm-down to nearly touch the right temple, and the shouted phrase (in Russian), “Patrol returning!"
Of course trying to pass of as Russians while having horns is a bad idea, he tells Einar, still touching Einar's horns for reassurance that they are real, but if there was a full body suit...
He has seen none of his dominated comrades enter the inner courtyard - he suspects they're too scared of the strange things walk and wander about.
"So the patrols are the former guardsmen?"
Looking to his friends, Mr. Whiskers comments "Considering the towers are called world anchors, it would be prudent to destroy them. I'm not sure how right now, but we will want to keep that in mind."
"Yes." Dimitri answers.
6 tanks patrol the perimeter of the camp. They patrol in twos.
Through the arcane eye, Mr Whiskers sees two humans carrying metal tubes in the watchtowers, and two humans carrying different tubes in the purple lightning towers.
Dimitri identfies the tubes by those carried in the watchtowers as being M1891 Rifles. And those in the purple lightning towers as Madsen Light Machine Guns.
Each trench has a troop in it. He is unsure of the deployments exactly but there are 4 machine gun troops, 4 mortar troops and 2 rifle troops. And he doesn't know how many are patrolling out there.
He also sees the patrol returning, and doing the procedures that Dimitri described. Some patrols consist of more men then others, up to 20. They are told in Russian to go straight to the barracks and not wander about until next posting. But the officer at the watchtower does not seem interested in seeing that they actually do that, and instead are more interested in looking at people entering the camp.
As the sensor gets closer, it suddenly becomes visible, and Mr Whiskers sees a bullet fly at it and then the sensor is no more.
Baba Yaga's library does not have any information on the subject.
As the sensor gets closer, it suddenly becomes visible, and Mr Whiskers...
Putting his eye on top of the wall, Mr Whiskers realizes that the outer courtyard is surprisingly empty. He sees a little creature is dressed in the garb of an undertaker and resembles a tiny gargoyle. It has tiny black close set eyes, and its skin is slate gray, in a field of headstones and wooden crosses at the northwest corner of the prison camp. Upturned bone from centuries of burials crunch underfoot, hidden beneath the packed snow.
Mr Whiskers recognizes it as a tombstone faery
The eye is visible, but no one bothers it as it goes into the camp. Right until it starts going past the inner gates, which seems to be covered with a strange purple light
Mr Whiskers sees 2 tanks and 6 grim, headless riders with ragged black robes and tarnished armor, speaking to the shadow demons that ran off earlier. Then one of them takes out a revolver and shoots the eye out.
Mr Whiskers can't remember what those headless riders are.
Having seen the shadow demons, Mr. Whiskers wonders aloud "It seems that the shadow demons who took are shadows are aligned with Rasputin. I wonder what use they have with our shadows?"
"Would anyone like to help me research that in the library?"
Mr. Whiskers then checks the library to see what can be done with a stolen shadow and how a victim can reclaim their shadows.
Mr Whiskers finds out that when shadow demons steal shadows, they also gain knowledge on the person they stole. Killing the shadow demon in question gets you your shadow back. He also finds a spellbook containing Emergency Force Sphere.
Zorka starts pulling out gear out of the wardrobe, to outfit Dimitri, and comes up with the following items:
Belt of Incredible Dexterity +6
Cloak of Resistance +5
Eyes of the Eagle
Handy Haversack
Endless Bandolier
The party turns in for the night, and as they step out of the hut, a large wormhole appears next to them. Despite their best efforts, everyone is sucked into the void. Crummock, Dimitri, Einar, Geist, Greta and Mr Whiskers manage to grab onto each other, but Seraphine is pulled away from them, to destination unknown. After what seems like an eternity in cold and darkness(which leaves Mr Whiskers magically drained - but also the party with a strange connection to the Hut), with a wave of disorientating nausea, Crummock, Dimitri, Einar, Geist and Greta are spat into a compound fenced with barbed wire, with many damaged buildings all around them. Seraphine is nowhere to be seen. The compound is strangely free of soldiers.
Mr Whiskers recognises the place immediately from his earlier attempts at arcane eye - the wormhole somehow spit them within the prison camp itself! One thing however is markedly different - the front trenches are clear of any troops. There is a whole swarth of footprints in the snow, as if the troops just decided to march off into the snow on their own...
Mr Whiskees determines there is nothing stopping the party from teleporting in and out anytime they wish to, nor anything barring dimensional travel.
"If that's the way you travel..." Dimitri makes a face. His eyes light up as he spots a familiar building. "That's the weapon shed. " He points to one of the buildings. "They might be keeping Maggie in there, after they confiscated her from me."He raises a cautionary finger, "You need to key in the right passcode to get access or you get electrocuted. I bet they changed the passcode, it was previously 12345.Not to mention there is an officer in there that will take note of everything you requisition. We might be able to bluff him we're part of the perimeter defences if we put on those suits." He takes out a gas mask and a suit.
Einar goes to the door, and realizes that, like Dimitri says, is trapped. It would discharge a massive electric charge if the right code was not keyed in. . Einar disables the trap, then peers through the door using the ring. He sees a palid bulky creature with dead, vacant eyes, in a trench coat. The trenchcoat seems to be covering armor. At its belt is a revolver and a b@stard sword. Stange metal tubes mouned onto something and large spotlights are stacked in the chamber beyond.
As soon as he has recovered from the wormhole ride, Crummock casts Cultural Adaptation(Russian).
Following through with Dimitri's suggestion, he puts on an outfit.
Crummock puts a restraining hand on Einar's shoulder.
"Just a wee moment."
He then rips off a salute, and addresses the officer in perfect Russian, with a Slavic accent:
"Приветствую вас, товарищ. Мы здесь, чтобы забрать новое оружие для этого солдата."
The "officer" waves Cumnock and Dmitri on. Peeking from the corner of his eye, Mr Whiskers realised the officer isn't what he seems to be.
Mr Whiskers realised the officer is actually a fext, and is unkillable unless a glass or obsidian weapon is used.
Dmitri gratefully reclaims "Maggie" and helps himself to 1000 cartridges with the officer busily marking with an exasperated expression what was taken, as well as the name tag on the suit Dmitri is wearing, spelt as 'Anatoly'.
Mr Whiskers detects 7 faint auras of evocation and divination, and 4 strong auras of conjugation from the items stored in the shed. After getting Maggie back, the party examines the other buildings, one that emits a growling noise, and the other, the sound of boots. Einar uses the ring to peek into both.