As Lana steps away to heal herself, Ankih calls the others together for a touch of Sarenrae's aid..
" Milady Bless."
" We should continue on. This 'forest' has me on edge..."
The merchants proffer multiple thanks before retreating along the route indicated by Shanya.
As the party ventures into the next grove, it becomes clear that the enormous tree dominating its center is dead. Dry leaves littering the ground are lifted by zephyrs to rustle and dance amid whorls of fine powdery snow, while dead branches creak and groan in the wind.
Among the branches stands another fiery-haired, golden skinned creature, a female version of the dawn piper encountered earlier. With catlike grace the creature stands on a high branch playing an unearthly tune on a pipe. She pauses a moment in her melody as the heroes enter the grove.
"Gone is my dear kin's tune; are mortals now to blame?
They would be wise to leave, else they shall learn quite soon
the Witch Crone's hut's not theirs on this midwinter's eve."
The creature brings her flute to her lips and blows again, but this time the notes take on a distorted, painful resonance.
Dawn Piper
TJ
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles
Shanya
Kalt Ìsson (+2 in cold)
Lana Shahakh
Sven Bjornson
TJ
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles
Shanya (+2 v. traps)
Kalt Ìsson (+2 in cold)
Lana Shahakh
Sven Bjornson
"Damn these pipers, fighting us from trees and rocks," Kalt mutters, "makes it bloody hard to get a blade into 'em." He slips his bow off his shoulder, moving a bit to one side as he does so. Once he's in position, he lays a hand on his bow and mutters something, imbuing the bow with magical heft.
"Come here!" cries Lana to the piper. "You who haunt my waking dreams; come!"
" Ware! One of those little things that shot Sven with splinters, back at the cabin, is coming at us from the side..."
Greta scrambles awkwardly through the dense brush surrounding the base of the tree, attempting to follow Kalt's lead.
The dawn piper laughs at Lana's command. "I think not, mortal." She spies the warrior drawing his bow.
"A pity, some mortals would die to be with my kind while - but you can hardly stand me!"
Kalt makes a face of profound revulsion, as if he's smelled something rank and disgusting and then been forced to eat it. Retching as he moves, he hurries back to the party, slowing only when he's far enough from the piper that he feels he can tolerate the horror of its presence.
He turns to face it and says, "Foul thing!" then looses an arrow at it.
Grabbing his holy symbol, Ankih says a word and points his finger at the Twigjack...
" Immolate!"
The piper's smile turns to a pained grimace as it fights off the burning of it's blood, but it does not ignite. Meanwhile, Avora shoots a yellow-green ray at the piper, but the magic sputters and sparks off of the skin of the strange fey as her magic fails to overcome its otherworldly defenses.
Ankih's shouts a mindful warning regarding the twigjack, but perhaps too late. The creature moves up and sprays Greta and Sven with a painful burst of splinters. Greta yelps painfully - focused as she was on the piper, the spray hits the worg square in the side. She turns around to push her way back through the leaves and bite the tiny fey, but in her fury overreaches and it just barely dodges out of the way.
Lana takes a deep breath and summons a set of magical flames, flinging them at the Twigjack with both hands outstretched.
The tiny fey cackles with glee as bite, blade and blast all miss the nimble creature. Kalt's arrow likewise the arrow misses the dawn piper.
However, the twigjack's laughter suddenly ends as the fiery spell jumps from piper to twigjack - the creature howls in pain as it catches fire, its woody skin burning with a merciless vigor.
Shanya rolls her eyes at the piper and takes off, running towards its perch while drawing her knife. She has no idea what the piper did to Kalt, but suffice to say, it was probably a terrible idea.
"You really didn't think that taunt of yours through, did you? Kalt doesn't NEED to be near you to kill you, you bloody idiot. He's an ARCHER. Archers have these things called BOWS. They're excellent at killing things from a DISTANCE. Like YOU." She snarks condescendingly at the fey creature.
The creature does not deign to answer Shanyas. Instead, it summons the magic of flight and glides through the air towards the rest of the group, while keeping out of easy sword reach. It raises it's flute to its lips, perhaps to summon some terrible, painful sound.
It seems, however, to need a second to catch it's breath before it can play its terrible note.
Remembering his inability to bypass the other pipers magical defenses, Ankih drops his holy symbol to his chest. Drawing his dagger he fires a spell that ignores spell resistance.
" Stupid. Evil. Fey!"
The blob of acid sails underneath the feat of the quick-moving fey. It pauses for a moment. "Mortals, so dull. However did you manage to slay my kin?" Its words are distant and disinterested, as if it were commenting on a painting.
Meanwhile, Avora moves through the tangle of undergrowth surrounding the tree with spear in hand to join the small cluster attempting to subdue the tiny twigjack. Like the others she misses the tiny twigjack.
Although it deftly dodges the attacks, the twigjack is rather distracted by the fact that its woody skin remains alight; it attempts to pat itself out to no avail. Burning and surrounded, it melts away into the surrounding brambles and reforms some sixty feet away on the other side of the heavily wooded grove.
Though he fights it, Kalt feels himself compelled to keep his distance from the piper as it approaches his friends. He backs away, managing to loose one wild arrow as he does so.
"That's right, run!" calls Lana to the Twigjack. "Run and tell your friends that it is death to face the warriors of this world! Go!" Turning to face the piper, she calls out, "Don't you want to run as well? You have the chance to save yourself!"
The piper calls down again, almost wistfully and in a halting voice. "Mortal, I will agree with you. This place is full of the song of death. But safety is nowhere; if it is my fate, then so be it!"
Shanya drops her dagger in the snow and yanks her shortbow from her back.
She nocks an arrow and lets it fly...
Arrow and javelin fly wide of the piper, who only flies a little out of the way to dodge the projectiles. Although the piper seems in a malaise from Lana's taunts, it does not lack for nimbleness in its movements.
Greta growls in frustration at the disappearance of the elusive twigjack. She turns and looks at her new pack-mates. Seeing their attacks against the flying fey miss, she moves up and unleashes her breath at the piper. The nimble piper dodges most of the blast, but some large chunks of ice still pelt the creature.
She barks at Kalt. (Skald)"Hah! Who needs man-paws!" Still, the worg looks well winded by the efforts of her attack.
The dawn piper whirls around in anger. "Hunters subservient to their prey; what a disgrace." She blows hard, a low note on her pipe, and the sound tears through the air with a malicious life of its own. Ears ring as the blast of sound hits the heroes. Greta grunts as she partially dodges the blast.
The druidess reels backward from the blast of sound, her ears bleeding. "I'll kill you!" she screams, charging the piper.
Reaching into his haversack, Ankih pulls up a scroll case. Pulling a scroll out he reads it, pointing at the airborne fey.
" Dawn Sunbeam..."
The mighty gout of fire from Ankih's hands withers the gold-red hair of the nimble fey, fails to connect with the nimble fey.
On the far side of the grove, the twigjack howls in pain; although it rolls on the ground, the fire still leaps and bites at the fey with a life of its own.
His stomach finally under control with enough distance from the nauseating fey, Kalt sends a flurry of iron-headed arrows through the air at the piper.
The dawn piper, smug from its floating vantage point a few moment ago, screams in pain as two Kalt's two arrows tear into its back. It writhes as it tries to reach around to its back to pull the hateful projectiles out; the cold iron almost sparks and glows in the fey's wounds.
Sven's javelin falls short of the creature.
Shanya throws her shortbow down and scoops up her dagger. As she rises, she sees Kalt's arrows pierce the piper's skin and takes note of where they've struck.
Right in the back. Most damaged area. Throw dagger there--compensate for distance and wind shifts.
She takes a few steps forward, then throws the dagger as hard as she can...
Lana frowns. "Perhaps you could yet escape that fate, if you flee now!" exclaims Lana to the fey.
With a well placed throw Shanya plunges the dagger into the desperate, despairing fey. With a shudder its eyes close and it floats to the ground, alive but unconscious.
Seeing its mistress fall the burning twigjack winks away, presumably deep into the surrounding woods.
Shanya picks up her bow and walks over to the dying fey. She plucks the dagger out of her spine and turns to the rest of the team.
"Well, that went well. Now to decide what to do with her."
Kalt calls out, still keeping his distance, "Nice shot, Shanya! Now kill the disgusting thing!" He takes a tentative step forward, wondering if he'll be able tolerate the piper's vileness.
Shanya shrugs. "Very well then."
She starts stabbing the piper.
Once.
Twice.
Three four five times.
Ankih nods, but looks away at Shanya's actions.
" Milady."
Bowing his head, he remains silent for a moment, then changes gear again, loading his crossbow with a cold iron bolt, and carefully shouldering it to draw his dagger.
Looking around he says..
" Still more to do I think, before we can get to the hut."
He stands ready to move on or back as needed, looking anywhere but at the fallen fey.
Once the thrill and anxiety of battle fades, the party can see more clearly the power of the dead tree in the grove. The winds that blow through the branches and scatter the leaves about almost seem to have a life of their own. Those with magical senses can see colorful auras about the tree, bluish-green strands of energy that wind through the air. The strands pass through in spidery web winding through the thorny tree walls in the general direction of whirling mass of energy you saw earlier.
Among the roots of the tree Shanya spots a small transparent Beryl. A strange, whirling figure can be seen withing the confines of the gem.
If someone points it out, Ankih will look...After casting detect magic...
" Impressive. Someone without magic should carry this. It might give us an advantage...."
As Sven ends the life of the piper the dead tree seems to grow grey and brittle; it quickly crumbles and blows away on the wind leaving an empty grove.
"I only remember seeing three, I think," replies Lana, glancing around as if the remaining piper might jump out of nowhere.
Seeing that Lana is looking more and more wounded and weary, Avora casts cure moderate wounds on her person.