His magic spent, the twisted cousin to gnomes sprints past the two humans near him. With the wounds already delivered so deftly by Shanya and Sven, he is quickly struck down by the blades of Shanya and Kalt as he flees.
Greta stands up and shake her herself dry; as a winter wolf, she is unaffected by cold, yet it is clear she still seems angered by the matted mess her fur has become. Finished with her shakedown, she looks up at Sven, one ear cocked to the wind. "*Grrrr* What was that noise, the one a few moments ago? It sounded like... I don't know what it sounded like. I have never heard something like it." She paces back and forth attentively sniffing the wind for a few moments before giving up.
"I heard it too," Kalt says. "A popping sound, but the largest pop you've ever heard. Sounded like it could have come from the direction of that black storm in the center of this ice forest. We should take a look." He begins to move to where the piper fell, collecting his bow on the way. "But first, I'll see if that damned wet piper had anything of value, and maybe I'll pull a few arrows out of her."
Like the other two, the creature has a fine rapier and an equally well crafted flute. In the mud left behind by the magical water lie a dozen large oysters; a few lie with their mouths open revealing precious pearls. They could easily sell for some 400 gold if the group spent several minutes collecting these pearls.
He sees to her like he used to care for me. Are all men so fickle?
Greta rubs herself against Sven's side in appreciation. "Thank you. I am fine, it was merely... unpleasant." She growls to emphasize her frustration. "The first-born and their tricks are infuriating. Let us be done with this place."
Shanya glances over at Avora, taking note of the discomfort on her face.
"We should investigate that popping noise. We haven't yet seen where that's come from." She says as she walks next to the druidess, picking up her dagger as she goes.
"How are you feeling?" She whispers.
The druidess converses with Shayna in whispers.
I'll wager no--Sven strikes me as being sensible enough to not knowingly hurt a lady... even if she's a literal b&%~+.
Kalt collects the piper's weapon and flute, then walks back over to the party. His sharp ears pick up the whispering between Shanya and Avora, but he boldly avoids any involvement in that particular conversation, picking up a different one instead.
"I agree, Shanya, let's go see what made that noise. Maybe it was that black vortex disappearing, so we won't have to worry about it any more." With a shrug and a fatalistic smile, he adds, "Or maybe not."
He then begins moving toward the center of the forest, toward the source of the sound they heard.
Ankih waits for his vision to return before gathering the oysters and dropping them in his pack.
"Shouldn't take gifts like this for granted. Thank you. Blessed be Milady."
He then follows the rest of the group, trailing by a bit.
This land is strange. I have seen nothing of the awe and wonder that my Irrisen told me of. I have only seen cruelty and pain. Some small joy in secret. It seems she wasn't what I believed, using me to escape perchance?
The strange mutterings and cries of the alien forest seem to quiet as the group approaches the center of the forest. Where once a bluish-grey vortex of strange magic blocked the way, a simple path between trees now lies. In the grove beyond, a two-story wooden hut dominates the clearing. The hovel stands on enormous chicken legs that restlessly scratch at the ground, but a gigantic manacle of iron, attached to a huge chain bolted to a spike in the earth, shackles the hut in place. An osseous fence surrounds the structure, with various fey corpses impaled upon the sharpened bone pickets. A few ravens hop and flutter over the bodies, picking at the choicest bits of flesh.
Floating in front of the macabre fence, ten feet in air, is an woman with striking blue eyes, a flawless complexion, and lustrous platinum blonde hair. At her feet stands a man-shaped creature of ice. It is a face the groups has seen before - staring at them from a mirror in the Pale Tower, many days gone by now - Nazhena Vasilliovna, winter witch and ruler of Waldsby. It is a proud face, but perhaps a bit more worn and haggard then the last time you gazed upon it.
She looks down at the group with contempt, her blue eyes fierce and domineering.
"Shall I curse or praise my luck? I cursed Elvanna as she bade me guard this wretched hut. How could I stay here, when my Radosek's killers walked free? But great-great-grandmother proved wiser then I thought, for now his killers have come to me, even through this maddening fey magic."
She raises a sickle made of frost - the wind and flurries of snow begins to swirl around her. "You have cost me something very dear; now your lives and souls are forfeit!"
The creature in front of Nazhena is an ice golem: resistant to all damage save that of adamantine weapons, immune to cold and most magic save that of fire, by which it may be harmed. It is healed by cold magic. Its own blows are freezing cold.
Initiative
(+2 in cold from Kalt)
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles (+3 in cold)
Shanya
Kalt Ìsson
Lana Shahakh
Sven Bjornson
Greta
Nazhena
Ice Golem
"Ice golem! Resistant to all damage save that of adamantine weapons, immune to cold and most magic save that of fire, by which it may be harmed. It is healed by cold magic. Its own blows are freezing cold.
They are known to explode when destroyed, in blasts of ice and cold. Electrical magic will slow the creature. Cold magic will remove the slow effect."
Kalt raises his bow and says quietly, "Good to know, Ankih. Please burn it down. Does your knowledge of such things tell you what happens if we kill its mistress?" He takes a step closer to Nazhena and studies her a moment, then looses a flurry of arrows at the winter witch.
Three arrows stitch the belly and chest of the witch; she cries out in surprise and pain, a high pitched shriek that sends shivers down the spine. She does not, however, fall under Kalt's withering hail of arrows - some magic gives her slender frame more strength then her appearance would belie.
Shanya smirks as Kalt's arrows hit their marks. She yanks a flask from her belt and knocks it back, feeling its effects activating.
"Don't worry, witch. You'll be seeing your beloved very soon." She growls as she sheathes her rapier, her hand already moving to draw her shortbow.
burn it down he says... I have fire but maybe not THAT much...
" Dawnflower Starburst."
Avora steps forward, so as to better fix the witch in her sights, and casts steal breath on the witch.
Sven's spear plants itself into the witches leg, further wounding her. Nazhena chokes a few moments under the effects of Shanya's spell, but quickly finds her breath before the magic can take hold.
The she-wolf lopes forward to engage the Golem; she is, however, entirely unprepared for the hardness of the golems icy form and fails to do it any real harm. Ankih's blessed fire fares better, injuring the golem
Bleeding heavily from her wounds, the witch staggers back. With a face that has turned from vengeance to panic she waves at hand at her foes and summons a storm of sleet. The world is suddenly lost a blinding white haze, and Nazhena is lost from view.
However, through the snow sounds of struggle - including a short yelp of pain - can be heard as the golem and winter wolf fight.
Lana, Kalt, Avora and Sven are up!
Cursing under his breath at losing sight of Nazhena, Kalt manages to move through the blinding sleet, slipping his bow onto his shoulder as he goes. When he finds himself behind Greta, he draws his blade and prepares to confront the golem.
"Alright," Avora growls. "Try this on for size!"
She casts ray of sickness.
Nimbly balancing on the ice, Ankih moves forward to where he last saw Sven.
" Sven this cold will only heal the golem, making it harder to beat. I think we need to push past it into the clearing to stop the witch. Kalt!? If I give your blade Sarenrae's fire again, can you help Greta with the golem?" He shouts over the storm as he stands between the Ulfen brothers.
Kalt's fierce smile goes unseen in the swirling sleet, but his voice makes clear how much he likes Ankih's suggestion. "I said we should burn it down, it'd be my pleasure to melt it myself."
Although the sleet storm greatly hampers movement and vision, it (in the strange way of magic) is not very cold - thinking on the matter a bit more Ankih concludes the sleet is unlikely to heal the golem.
Avora struggles to find a target for her spell, but it seems hopeless in the flurry of snow.
In the flurry of snow you hear Greta's growl as she snaps at the ice golem once again. It is difficult to tell who has the upper hand.
Lana reaches over and touches Shanya on the shoulder. "Be careful!" she adjures.
Who can say what the witch is doing under the cover of the blinding flurry...
Between fat snowflakes, Kalt can make out Greta land a bite with mixed results. The wounds rent by her powerful bite in the golems icy form are somewhat counteracted by her icy breathe, which heals it.
+
Kalt darts across the ice as if he's been doing so all his life, largely because he has. He moves past Greta and alongside the golem, stepping inside its reach in order to get into better position. He then swings his blade at the creature, hoping to break through its icy defenses.
Kalt's blade cracks open a large chunk of the magically hardened ice. The automaton swings as he passes - its sharp and magically cold body tears a chunk of flesh, with a growing ring of frostbitten flesh around the wound.
Avora reaches out with her mind, struggling to wrest control of the elemental. She calls out to the force of nature, demanding that it turn against its master.
Kalt feels the creature's blow, but shrugs off the damaging cold it tries to inflict.
Lana moves forward into the storm, pausing only to will some of her wounds shut.
Suddenly, the ice golem ends its assault upon the Greta and Kalt. It sits, perfectly still and passive, totally ignorant to the threat of blade and bite.
Kalt stares wide-eyed through the blowing sleet at the now inert golem. "Avora?" he asks quietly. "Did you do that?"
Blade still in hand, he scans the storm around them for any sign of Nazhena.
Avora experiments, raising her arm to see if the golem will mimic her action. When it does, she looks at Kalt. "I think so. I just reached out to it and..."
Shanya starts into the storm, raising her bow. "RUN ALL YOU LIKE, WITCH! EVEN THIS STORM WON'T SAVE YOU!"
Somehow, she manages to maintain her footing as she moves in.
She presses on, stopping next to the druidess. From where she's standing, it appears Avora's controlling something...
...the golem, to be exact.
"How...?" She's dumbfounded. That sort of thing shouldn't be possible.
"Well, however you did it, it was well done," Kalt responds. "Can you make it walk toward the hut, and out of this damn sleet storm?"
He begins moving toward the hut, gliding easily over the sleet-strewn ground.
The witch screams back from beyond the veil of snow. (Skald) "FOOLISH WOMAN... IT IS YOU WHO SHOULD KNOW FEAR. I am of house Elvanna, and your death is assured. If not by my hand, my aunts, my cousins, or even Elvanna herself."
She begins to chant from beyond the snow.
Seeing the deadly bowman emerge from the storm, the witch quickly attempts to hinder him. A hemisphere of ice erupts around the warrior.
As Kalt comes out of the sleet storm, he nimbly dodges the witch's spell, then calls out, "She's here! To the left, just after where Greta and I fought the golem!" He's intentionally vague about the golem's fate.
Kalt drops his sword to the snow and slips his bow off his shoulder. With his other hand he draws an arrow and nocks it in one smooth motion, letting it fly at the witch.
Avora moves the golem forward and out of the sleet storm, commanding it to attack the witch as soon as it can see her.