As Sven approaches, the demonic visage fades away to that of an extremely old man, exhausted and pale from blood loss, clearly on the brink of death.
Ankih comes forward and examines the strange warrior...
" Alas no. He is beyond saving, I'm not certain what keeps him here..."
The rider feebly waves the other forward as he begins to speak in a raspy voice. "Once, I was called Illarion Matveius. Now I am know as Black Midnight. I am Baba Yaga's Black Rider, harbinger of the Witch Queens return. However, her current daughter, Queen Elvanna has betrayed her. Every 100 years Baba Yaga returns to place a new queen on the Irrisen throne, but Elvanna does not want to yield her seat. Elvanna has done something to delay her mothers arrival, and is systematically slaying all who are loyal to Baba Yaga. She hunted down the other heralds and slew my associates. I am the last of the Three Riders, and a threat to Elvanna's plans to claim all of Golarion as her personal ice kingdom. She is using portals such as this to cover the entire world in ice and snow." he pauses as he coughs up black ichor.
Avora looks at Sven, a look of pure terror upon her face. "We have to stop this," she says. "Locking the world in eternal winter will destroy the balance. We cannot permit this, even if it means our deaths."
Just like a witch, Lachna growls. One witch wants us ter help anoth'r witch. I don' like it. Could be a trick o' some kind.
As the icy apparition comes through the portal and crashes to the frozen ground, Kalt’s mercenary instincts take over. With his friends focused on the fallen man, Kalt looks in all directions, weapon in hand. A hell of a distraction this would be, if someone wants to take us by surprise.
Satisfied that they’re not in immediate danger, Kalt moves over to the old man and listens to his tale. He flicks his eye from one to another of his companions, then says, ”This Elvanna wants to cover the world in ice and snow, eh? Might make it a more peaceful place, but I doubt that’s what she has in mind. And it looks like we’re the ones who can try to stop her, since nobody else is standing by one of her portals with this information, I’d wager.”
Kneeling down by the dying man, Kalt grimaces in pain for moment, as his multiple wounds from the troll’s mighty spear pain him. Recovering himself, he says, ”Well, Black Rider? How do we stop Elvanna?”
His coughing fit ending, the rider continues, his breath coming hard as death draws near. "You must find Baba Yaga. Only Baba Yaga can defeat Elvanna, only the Queen of Witches can under what her daughter has done. You cannot close the portal on this side, it's source is the Pale Tower on the other side. This portal is but one of many, closing this one may save your kingdom, but Golarion would still be doomed." Again, the coughing interrupts his words, his breath nearly at an end.
Seeing Kalt approach with blood still oozing from bite marks and puncture wounds, Ankih will shed some of Sarenrae's light...
" Sorry Kalt. Was a little distracted. Also it should be noted that I only have a little healing left to me today..."
While Ankih heals the wounded ulfen, the dying man's last words continue, "You must use her Dancing Hut to follow her. The hut is a powerful artifact that can cross great distances, even travelling between worlds. If you can control the hut, it can take you to Baba Yaga. Elvanna stole the hut and put it on display in Irrisen's capital, Whitethrone, as a symbol of her power. You must go through the portal and find the Dancing Hut!" His voice nearly at an end, he continues, pulling out two items from his armor; a tuft of white hair and an oddly shaped wooden mask. "I have three things I can offer you to assist you. The first is the blessing of Baba Yaga, it will empower you beyond your current limits, but your path will be set. The second and third are these keys. The hut has many keys- objects attuned to the hut- and can take it almost anywhere. I managed to secure these two keys, but Elvanna has stolen their power to prevent anyone from using the hut to find her mother. Once they are reactivated, placing the keys in the hut's cauldron will retrace Baba Yaga's path."
Avora nods to the man. "I accept this quest and Baba Yaga's blessing."
"You'll give us the blessing of the Queen of Witches? So we can go find her and fight her daughter? I can't believe I'm saying it, but I'll accept the Old Crone's blessing. If we're going to do this, we'll need every bit of help we can get."
Turning to look at Sven, a sardonic smile on his face, Kalt asks, "Well, Bjornson, what'll it be? A kiss from Baba Yaga, and we'll take the hair and the mask and go for a ride in her hut? What's the worst that could happen?"
"I will continue your quest Knight. But in good faith with Milady, I cannot accept the Baba Yaga's blessing."
Much tho I might yearn to. Hopefully I will see my Irrisen again, but, with all I've seen recently, I wonder if she was who I think she was...
In spite of the grim circumstances, Kalt chuckles lightly at Sven's remark and says, "More likely, it'll be unspeakable. But it's the path we've been set, and it feels right to walk on it."
Ye'll not see me acceptin' blessin's from any witch. Lachna grumbles. She wanders off to a side, uncertain how she should even proceed at this point. It's clear to anyone watching her that she is in great turmoil.
Their choices made, he motions those who are accepting the blessing forward. Using his own blood, he marks their faces with runes while chanting arcane phrases. After but a moment, the blood seeps into their skin, and with it, some of the Black Rider's power. He then places the two keys in front of him. "My last act will be to re-energize these keys. Those of you who have taken up my burden must see them to the Dancing Hut!"
With that said, he open his hand and a wicked looking dagger forms from shadow. Plunging it into his throat, he bathes the two items in the last of his life blood, and like the runes on Avora, Kalt, and Sven, it seeps into the objects as their color seems more defines and vibrant. As the last drop falls, he collapses to one side, and his armor and dagger slowly dissolve and fade into nothingness, leaving behind and old husk of a man dressed in simple black robes.
" As I said, I will help shoulder this man's burden. I just could not accept the aid of a vile creature like the Baba Yaga. I do suggest , however, that we rest a night and prepare first. It seems the portal will still be there on the morrow."
Ankih stops to consider the old man's corpse.
"We should probably bury the man as well. I's say cremation, but as a follower of an Icy Witch, I don't believe it would be appropriate."
Nodding in response to Sven's statement, Kalt moves with surprising energy, as if the rider's dark blessing had revived him after the brutal fight with the troll and the fey creatures. "Strange way to go. I wonder who the old fellow was, long ago, before he became one of the witch's riders? He's probably done things none of us would want to think about, but now he just looks like a dead old man. Whose grave is going to be tough as hell to dig in this frozen ground..." His muttering done, Kalt sets to work by Sven, making as decent a grave as they can, given the circumstances.
As they work, he turns to Ankih and says, "I'm with you on resting a bit and preparing for our trip through that portal. Whatever did for that rider isn't likely to welcome us with open arms, if it's still on the other side."
"Whatever awaits us, we will meet it and bring it to it's knees," Avora replies grimly. Her voice is uncharacteristically strong and has an edge not present before. There is a grimness in her tone that is somewhat unnerving coming from the gentle druid.
With that said, he open his hand and a wicked looking dagger forms from shadow. Plunging it into his throat, he bathes the two items in the last of his life blood, and like the runes on Avora, Kalt, and Sven, it seeps into the objects as their color seems more defines and vibrant. As the last drop falls, he collapses to one side, and his armor and dagger slowly dissolve and fade into nothingness, leaving behind and old husk of a man dressed in simple black robes.
Bugsby watches the mans demise with a kind of morbid fascination for the magic unleashed and the sacrifice of a doomed man, his mouth forming a little 'O' of shock. Turning to the others he scrunches his face, the blood residue on his face twisting oddly with his features, "SowejustdanceintheHut?" he asks -striking up a half-hearted jig to punctuate his question. The man's recent death but truly have affected him, because he isn't able to keep the dance going long.
Kalt continues to labor at digging a grave in the frozen soil, pausing only to respond to Sven. "No, I've never seen Irrisen. When I left Icemark, I headed east and then south, thinking to cross the southern part of Irrisen and perhaps visit the Mammoth Lords. But the tales I heard of the border guards of Irrisen were enough to keep me going southward, keeping the Kodar Mountains between myself and the land of the White Witches. They say Irrisen is guarded by those same strange huts, with a deadly doll inside, that we faced not long ago. And I had no wish to encounter such a thing. I was wiser than I knew, I now understand."
Chuckling along with Sven's laughter, Kalt adds, "I'm not sure anyone will feel like dancing when we get through that portal, and if we find the Dancing Hut. But if anyone's likely to dance in such a place, Bugsby, I'd rely on you to do it."
Scratching at the ground again, he says, "All right, let's get this codger in the ground, before some other unwelcome guest comes through the portal."
Ankih nods as Sven places the body in the ground.
" You were not of my faith or of my Path thru life. But you seemed honest and brave, and LOYAL to your oaths. I can ask no better than that. Rest in peace Sir Knight."
He then head back into the cave shivering.
The group settles into the side cave and battens down the hatches for the remainder of the day and evening. Avora spends some time getting used to her new spear while the others find the best way to carry over a hundred pounds of treasure. The evening passes in blessed quiet except for the howling winds beyond the makeshift door. In the morning, the group breaks camp and makes their final trek over to the portal. With one last look at the forests of Taldor, they step through into the pillar of ice and snow. The portal whites out much of what can be seen as the magic transports the party thousands of miles to the north. After what seems like minutes, but could perhaps only have been seconds, a shadow darkens your vision as a laughing face comes into view. The gaunt face wrapped in a white hood laughs and mutters a few powerful arcane words, and the group finds themselves falling 10-15 feet into a massive snowdrift. The surrounding trees are gnarled and twisted, with the sun at a much different angle in the sky. Of note, is the temperatures are even colder than in Taldor, and even Kalt feels that if he spent significant time outside, he may find himself frozen.
The strange transit through the portal bewilders Kalt for a moment, particularly the bony face and its dark laugh. Finding himself dropped into a snowdrift, however, the ice-blooded ranger immediately feels right at home. He rolls to his feet with newfound speed and studies his surroundings, his head turning in all directions. That's odd, he thinks, I seem to be moving better than I can ever remember doing. Faster, surer, like everything around me is a bit slower and easier to anticipate. Been like that all day, now that I think about it. Maybe this winter weather calls to my blood. At any gate, I'd better figure out where we've landed up.
"Agreed, Sven. This cold is brutal and somehow different, even I feel it. Let me see what I can find - though from the cold, and how we got here, I don't doubt we have arrived in Irrisen." Kalt studies their surroundings, looking past the gnarled trees to study the shape of the land beneath, in the hopes of finding a ridge that might hold a sheltering cave, or a hollow where the wind might be less. He looks up at the angle of the sun and the color of the sky, and finally turns his attention back to the trees and plants, to see if he can recognize any of them and perhaps determine their location that way.
"It's Irrisen," Avora relies sullenly, hardly looking about. "I can feel it in my soul."
In the morning, before the others rise, Ankih goes thru his normal ritual.
He then dons his snowshoes and waddles to the portal.
Rising from a ball, he walks over to the others after the jaunt thru the portal...
That face was rather unsettling...
" It seems we were ejected from the transit before reaching our destination. And laughed at as well. Oh Milady it IS COLD here!"
Lachna grumbles and gathers herself slowly, using her hammer as leverage to help herself up. She wraps her scarf around her nose and mouth, and wraps her winter cloak more tightly about her shoulders.
Blasted witches an' ther thicks, she grumbles. Ev'ryone make it all right? Anyone hurt?
Kalt can easily tell that the group is far to the north from where they started, and in a forest. Regarding which direction civilization may be, he cannot be sure. While he is looking for a cave, he comes across a VERY unusual set of tracks. It is a series of puncture-esque footprints, like that of an insect, only one much taller than a man.
Kalt points out the tracks to the others, saying, "Never seen anything like that before, not very happy to see it now. They look like huge insect tracks, which is a damn scary thought, especially given where we are. I wonder what kind of tracks huts make when they dance?"
Shivering as he pulls his winter gear closed more tightly, Ankih trudges after Sven , again awkward in his snowshoes.
Realizing after a moment that pulling your hood really tight prevents you from seeing where you are going...
Bugsby is virtually hopping from foot to foot as they head into the portal, but his excitement is cooled considerably as they fall into the snowdrift. His diminutive body disappearing completely into the snow, and his cry of surprise cut off as his body is hidden from view. A few moments later, the shivering gnome appears out of the side of the drift, apparently having burrowed his way out. Using a quick spell he clears the clinging snow off of the others, but either forgets to use it on himself, or is trying out a new snow-covered look. "Yeah, whowasthatlaughingatus!? Theymust'veknownwewereabouttobedroppedintosomesnow! Laughingatourexpense, nodoubt!" and the gnome huffs indignantly as he watches the others get their bearings and find the tracks.
"Abug, isit?" The gnome moves to inspect the footprint, hopping to the next and giving it a good look over as well. He continues this, bouncing along as he follows the others. "It'scold!" he observes as he looks around.
Bugsby finds nothing out of the ordinary as the group treks on, shortly finding a small cave in a hillside. As they near the cave, the group notices Ankih and Bugsby's reactions slowly and teeth chattering in the cold.
" I-I c-could relieve this w-with a s-spell...But. was. trying. to . save. my .magic." Ankih stutters then grits his teeth to control it.
He lets Sven guide him on, huddled miserably in his cloak.
Once they've found the cave, Kalt says, "Wait here a moment, I'm going to see if I can't find some usable firewood and get this place a little more comfortable, maybe get a better sense of where we should be headed." He steps outside, and returns in a few minutes, saying, "Damn, damn, damn, it's cold out there! Even the dead limbs are so frozen to the trees that I couldn't collect anything to burn, and one patch of this forest looks just like another. I'm not sure what we should do at this point, except maybe follow those odd tracks and see if whatever made them has a better survival strategy than I'm coming up with. Avora, you know the cold and the wilds, do you have any better ideas?"