Looking to Sven for a translation, Avora approaches the building with trepidation.
"How'd you get up there?" Kalt calls up to the man, studying him for any signs of falsehood as he moves closer to the stranded hut.
They appear to be in dire need.
"The tree grew up underneath the house when the forest came up! I twisted my ankle and the kids aren't strong enough to make it on their own." He switches to Taldane, seeing that not everyone speaks Skald.
It looks to be some twenty feet in the air. A somewhat difficult climb; the main danger being knocking the house out of the tree.
"Your weight could shake all manner of things loose," Kalt observes chuckling, giving Sven a firm poke in the belly as he moves to the base of the tree holding the hut up. Sheathing his sword, he says, "Catch me if I fall, eh, Bjornson?"
He then nimbly scales the tree, speaking to the injured man as he climbs, "I'll be there in a moment and will rig up a rope to lower you down. Would you mind standing back from the door so I can climb in easier?" When he arrives at the threshold of the hut, he waits until the man is well out of the way, then clambers inside.
He takes a quick look inside from the doorway, then affixes one end of the rope around the hinges and ties a loop in the other end. "You go down first, then I'll lower the children, all right?" He offers the loop to the man, to slip under his arms and support him as he descends. "It'll help if you can climb a bit as you go down, but I should be able to lower you if you can't climb."
Kalt easily assists the family to the ground. The man hugs his children and profusely thanks his rescuers. "Many thanks; several of the Winter Guard came by two days ago, but they ignored my pleas for help. Засранец!" He grimaces. "Come to think of it, they never came back this way."
He turns to Kalt and holds out a wooden amulet carved with an intricate pattern. “I gave this to my late wife years ago to keep her safe,” he explains. “You saved her children today. She would want
you to have it.”
Ankh will quickly check the children, then the man, for injuries.
"You should take your family, and flee this area. It's about to get dangerous."
Her expertise not required in this instance (and it's doubtful she could have been of help anyway), Shanya simply watches as Kalt climbs up and helps the family out of the tree.
"You need to get to safety as soon as you can--we're in fey territory. I doubt they'll take kindly to intruders."
The man shakes his head in acknowledgement. He will accept some minor curative magic from Ankih (a cure light seems to allow him mobility on his twisted ankle). He thanks you profusely and hobbles off with his children in tow.
From where you stand, you can yet hear more pipe music floating through the cold air, this time emanating from the exit to the north of the grove. Through the trees, you can make out the outline of some manner of earth and stone henge.
Kalt watches the man walk off, glad to have helped someone in this place. He retrieves and coils the rope, then nods to the north, saying, ”How about we head that way, see where that music is coming from? It keeps us away from the black storm over there as well.”
As they walk, he considers Shanya’s comment about fey territory and asks her quietly, ”You think we’ll meet any relatives of mine?” With a dark laugh he adds, ”Would be pretty typical of my family for us to end up killing each other.”
Shanya keeps her eyes on the forest as she walks alongside Kalt. "Potentially. There might even be a chance that my mother will arrive to make things even more awkward." She snarks, fingers tightening around her cold iron dagger. "I suppose I'd have to bring you home to her eventually--I imagine she'd be very picky about who I date."
"Be wary of the music..." mutters Lana, staring off in the direction of the pipes.
As Kalt enters the grove he beholds a strange sight. A large chunk of stone juts from the ground like a natural stage. Although the central stone is out of place, the six boulders the float in the air and slowly orbit the raised platform are wholly unnatural. The rich scent of loamy earth hangs heavy in the air.
A humanoid creature sits upon the top of the stone playing a flute. He finishes his song and places the flute in his lap. Eldritch energy burns within the eyes of the figure. Strangely colored hair crowns his head like a torch, and gleaming white teeth shine from his grin. The creature cradles a pipe in his long, graceful fingers.
"Turn back, mortals, you cannot pass. We have come to claim this reality, and we’ll take the Crone’s hovel with us. Turn away and live your lives in peace and safety, unburdened by the heavy weight of relevance.”
The creature smiles and laughs as he issues his threat.
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Not being one for the natural world, Ankih has no clue about this stranger....
" Alas, the weight of relevance has already adorned our shoulders. We are Oathbound and entreated by our Gods to stop this...Fimbul Winter."
Glancing at the others for support,
"And even if we fail, others will come. Sarenrae will ensure that it is so."
Shanya snorts. "You'd love that, wouldn't you, dawn piper? With a beauty capable of blinding normal men, music to rend their flesh asunder, and tunes to sway their allegiances to your cause? And your ability to bend reality via the elements and your music is impressive enough..."
She smirks. "...but I know what makes you bleed, fey. Perhaps you should choose your words more carefully, for we have more than enough to relieve you of your burden of life."
"We will claim the crones' hovel, and if we must go through you to do so, then we shall. I would rather it be a peaceful parting, but that decision hinges on you."
"Ah, mortals. So predictable in your desires." He giggles in a high pitch and moves to put his pipe to his mouth. The very earth shakes ominously as he does so, opening up below Shanya and and Kalt. A pit forms, some ten feet across with vicious spikes at the bottom and sides. The sides surrounding pit curve wickedly inward, making the terrain treacherous.
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles
Shanya
Kalt Ìsson (+2 in cold)
Lana Shahakh
Sven Bjornson
Kalt calls out, "Shanya, careful!" and leaps from the edge of the pit, moving closer to the piper. He slips his bow off his shoulder and focuses intently on the fey creature for a moment before loosing an iron-tipped arrow at it.
Kalt nimbly moves out of the way of the treacherous earthen maw, and lands a well placed arrow. The creature's smile turns to a scowl and it starts to chant.
"Earth and stone
echo my song
Dance, friend,
Prance along.
One mis-step...
It will grind your
blood and bone"
Thanks to Kalt's warning, Shanya leaps alongside him and eyes the piper with a contempt-filled look.
"That settles it--I'm going to enjoy carving you up far more than I should."
Shanya promptly sprints to the piper's rock, pulling a potion vial from her belt and chugging its contents down.
She immediately vanishes from sight!
Before she knows quite what she's doing, Lana is moving forward and conjuring flames to lick at the evil fey. A moment later her eyes widen and she glances around in alarm as the fires from her dream seem to spring up all over the clearing.
" I AM SICK OF ALL THE TERRIBLE THINGS IN THIS LAND!!!"
Ankih roars as he fires off a spell, two balls of golden force shoot to the fey and seem to explode upon impact.
Ankih launches a salvo of missiles, but a green shimmer flickers around the fey and his spell's energy seems to dissipate.
The same mystical field does nothing to stop Lana's fire, and the creature yowls as the flame burns it's gossamer thin clothing and delicate skin.
"Have it your way, creature." Avora begins intoning the words to a spell.
The creature plays his pipes and the earth moves again. An enormous mass of pebbles appears into the sky and begins to rain down upon the party, pelting everyone and making the snowy terrain even more treacherous.
"Sticks and stones, may break mortal's bones..." the creature taunts, stepping out of Lana's flames and patting at his burning garmet.
Kalt puts four iron-tipped arrows into the air in rapid succession, but even the best of them is poorly aimed.
Avora growls as she is pelted by stones, but maintains her focus and concentration. She finishes the spell and points at the dawn piper, letting loose a blast of lightning from the skies above.
- Tis a clear day...
- SR overcome
- Fey are ninjas...
Avora calls down a bolt light and thunder out of the empty air, which grazes the fey as it partially dodges out of the way. Kalt's hail of arrows forces the creature to dodge left and right at first, while the third arrow catches the fey square in the chest.
Seeing the fey resist his magic, Ankih curses, and sheathes his dagger. He then draws forth his crossbow, wincing as the stones fall from the sky hitting him in several places.
" Ow. Ow! Lady give me strength."
Lana directs her summoned flames to pursue the creature, then takes a moment to close a few of her wounds.
The nimble fey dodges easily away from the burning flames, but is less lucky against Sven's skilled throw as a javelin pierces through its leg. He bleeds heavily now, but still manages to put breath to his strange, deadly music.
Shanya grits her teeth and ignores the stones digging into her flesh. She looks around the stone she's pressed against, planning her route up as she moves. Her invisibility still holds...
The bloody fey limps to the edge of the rock and throws his hands up as if pleading to the capricious Eldest directly for strength. In this majestic pose, he is beautiful and terrible indeed.
Kalt blinks his eyes once and shrugs off the effects of the piper's majesty with ease. His hands move in a blur as he releases a swarm of arrows at their foe.
Kalt shrugs off any effect from the fey beauty and places his arrows well. Despite the many wounds marring his body, the dawn piper somehow manages to fall gracefully to the ground as he dies. He sighs as he falls. "Slain, alas, by mortal hand."; even in death he seems to defy the prosaic emptiness of a mortal's death.
Shanya finally ascends to the top of the font, only to feel it shake and move underneath her. The floating stones fall to the earth in six rapid thumps, while the larger stone rumbles as it is slowly swallowed by the earth. In moments, it looks as though the great stone edifice never existed.
"There may be more of those creatures," replies Lana. "In my... I saw three. Perhaps it was only my imagination, though."
Feeling less than useful in that fight, Ankih loads a cold iron bolt into his crossbow and walks over to the others.
" Gather around everybody....More you say Lana?..."
Avora smiles as the warmth of Ankih's healing light flows over her.
Shanya stares right at the piper without blinking, and its magic fails to affect her. Hmph. Kalt's prettier anyway.
Then the fey dies, and the ledge she was climbing suddenly reverts to plain, snow-covered earth. She cries out as she falls into the snow.
She manages to stick a three-point landing, though the impact sends a brief wave of pain up her arms. It'd have looked really cool if she weren't invisible.
"Dammit." She grumbles to herself as she stands up and starts brushing off her clothes.
Kalt gives his bow an appreciative pat, saying quietly, "I'll have to let you out more often. " Slipping the bow onto his shoulder, he begins moving toward the piper's rocky perch, calling quietly, "Shanya? Where'd you go? You all right?"
He makes his way to the piper's body and recovers any of the iron-headed arrows that are still serviceable, commenting, "Likely to need more of these before the day's out."