The golem lashes out as Kalt approaches, but the strider's halting approach saves him and the bony arm sails overhead.
Avora commands the ice golem to move forward and then follows it into the room.
Shanya looks nonplussed as the bone net sails over her head. "Huh. And I was standing still--I wonder if that says more about me or it."
She moves off to the side, preparing to flank the beast with Kalt.
Shanya waits for her opening while the ice golem lumbers up slowly, directed by the arctic druidess.
Sven's hammer just barely penetrates the bony mass that composes the skeletal guardian, but the skymetal does shatter the bones and leaves a might gouge in the construct. Meanwhile, Greta darts around the far side of the golem, taking advantage of the opening made by Kalt's advance. Her bite lands, although somewhat blunted by the creatures magical toughness.
" I believe it is also slowed by Holy aura's and healed by Profane ones..."
Lana frowns and lets out a breath, concentrating on releasing her inner energy in a burst.
With the wave of positive energy washing over the construct, the golem staggers and slows. It lashes out at one of those hurting it - in this case, Greta. It lands a solid blow, tearing flesh and causing the worg to snarl in pain.
The ice golem, following Avora's directive, continues to advance. The bone golem attacks as the smaller golem closes and hits, although the icy hide absorbs some of the damage. The bone golem lands a solid blow in return, if equally ineffective due to mirrored toughness.
Greta snaps again at the golem, but this time the blood in her eyes causes her to miss.
Brandishing his Holy Symbol, Ankih intones a prayer..
" Blessed Be, Milady."
Kalt raises his blade and brings it down with incredible power on the golem before him, then swings again with slightly less power.
Bone splinters crack and fly everywhere as Kalt smashes into the golems leg. The fragments rain among the ghostly images of Irrisen as though they were huge, misshapen meteorites.
For all the might of the blow - and despite its freshly maimed limb - the bone golem manages keeps its balance. With the tremendous power invested in his first strike, Kalt misjudges his backswing and misses.
With Sven's blow the skull of unliving guardian splinters and caves in, the hulking monstrosity crumples at the feet of the heroes.
Greta pants, still bleeding a bit from her wounds. She sniffs the air. (Skald)"The first born is still here.". She growls, eying the corner of the room. "There."
Lana nods in agreement and stands ready, her mind poised to react to a new threat.
Emerging from the cloak of invisibility is a powerful looking fey with fiery red hair and antlers. He wears a red robe, beneath which poke out the hairy legs of a goat, ending in cloven hooves. He speaks, and his voice burns with a raspy anger.
(Skald)"Who are you to threaten me, mortal? You are the one who has invaded my home and wrecked its guardians. By what manner of trickery have you found your way through the door? Flee now, despoilers, before I part your head from your necks!" He flourishes his sword, an action accompanied by a pronounced whoosh as the blade cuts the air.
Kalt listens to the creature and says nothing, thinking on whether he's ever heard of such a creature.
Shanya rolls her eyes and draws her cold iron dagger. "Oh, lovely. Another bloody fey with an attitude problem."
She glares at the new arrival. "And one of the Red Rider's ilk, no less." She takes a couple of steps forward. "I thought you'd be more informed than this. One of great Baba Yaga's servants ought to recognize others who have been accepted into her service."
"Oh, don't act so bloody surprised. Her dancing hut only allows her and her servants to enter. Which you clearly must be as well, if you're standing here and not in pieces." She stares the Riderkin down, nodding at the pile of bones that used to be a bone golem. "Although, if you don't give us the egg to the Hut, kind sir, that will swiftly change."
It's clear to everyone watching that her tolerance for fey posturing has well and truly reached its limit.
The horned creature raises up and holds its sword above its head; its left hand it holds outstretched and points at Shanya.
(Skald) "Even so? Perhaps there is some truth to your words - but why do you need the egg. Do you intend to assault Irrisen directly? That is one dance the hut is ill suited for."
After some time, Sven determines that nothing in this room reeks of specifically evil agency.
The creature grows impatient and fire begins to wreathe its horns. For what purpose do you want egg? Even if you are servants of Grandmother, why are you here?
"The hut is shackled here, and we mean to take it away from this place," Kalt replies frostily, "is that not enough reason to give us the egg, so we can free the hut? "
"The egg cannot free the hut; the bonds must be undone or cut. Nor can it take you away from this place, unless you intend for it to walk out of this city." The creature lowers its blade. "Elvanna stole all the magic tokens which allow the hut to travel time and space. You are trapped here"
"Where has Elvanna gone?"
"How should I know? I only saw her take the tokens of of power. She stole the frost giant's beard, the plague doctor's mask, the dragon scale, the gold nugget, the two-headed eagle and the bearskin. All gone! "
The voice from the red figure turns strange. Although the threatening tone remains, the voice begins to lose some of its gravitas as it quickens into almost a chatter.
"No! No, no, no, no, no! Why would I, so you can smash me like you smashed that pile of bones? I told you what you need to hear, but you have not ears to listen. You want to leave, but with the shackles and no key, you go nowhere! The egg is not what you need. Now goodbye!"
The image freezes in mid-sentence. A few seconds later, it slowly unravels into wispy strands of colorful streamers of light. The more scholarly among the party quickly realize they are looking at a major image.
Greta snorts, sits on her haunches and scratches her ears. (Skald)"I don't smell it anymore. Good riddance; I never liked the firstborn."
"Damn!" Kalt exclaims as the image fades away. "Would have been nice to ask him where we can find some of those things he mentioned - beard, mask, scale and so on."
He looks around the chamber and continues, "Well, I had thought we would try to break that shackle and use the egg to take the hut out of here - which is not a sentence I ever expected to say. But if what the fey says is true, that may not work. So what do we do? Go after the two-headed eagle and all the other things? In a pinch, we could use Sven's hide for the bearskin, I'd wager."
Sven and Kalt emerge out of the cozy interior and are quickly greeted by the freezing of Irrisen They make short work of the shackle with otherworldly weapons - blue sparks of magical energy fly as the fetter is sundered. Finally free, the hut lives up to its namesake - it kicks its legs and scuttles about in a motion that can perhaps be interpreted as some sort of dance, before settling back down upon its haunches.
Inside, all that is felt of the dance is a faint shudder. As the others explore the interior, they find several rooms of interest. Up the ladder is a loft with a window that seems to stare out from inside the beak of the house. This room is filled with blankets, buckets, candles, cooking utensils, extra pots and pans, linens, rope, washtubs, and other mundane instruments of survival.
The western door opens to a flight of steps that leads to a cool, earthen chamber somehow located beneath the hut. A grinding sound fills the air, emanating from a millstone in the center of the room that turns endlessly, powered by some unknown force. Faint traces of what appear to be bone grist ring the mill. Several small bins sit along the north wall, next to a few bulging sacks in the northeast corner. A small wooden box wrapped in chains sits in the southwest corner.
The greatest treasure is found behind the secret door. Tall bookcases stretch from floor to ceiling in this chamber, flanking a row of tables standing in the center aisle. Numerous books are strewn upon the tables, along with blotters, vials of ink, sheets of vellum, and abundant quills. A fire burns merrily in a fireplace built into the eastern wall.
Within this library are many tomes of alchemical and magical lore, as well as mundane volumes on history and myth - many in languages that look utterly alien to even the most erudite among the group. Truly, the room is magnificent drink to one thirsty for lore.
Greta promptly fishes out an oversized, illustrated tome with her teeth and curls up in front of the fire with it. She somehow manages to turn the huge pages with her paws - the story seems to involve a wolf and a girl in a red cloak, and ends with a lovely meal for the wolf.
Finally, as the party searches through the rooms the more astute among you find small, blue runes inscribed on some of the walls in hidden places.
Enthralled by the library, Ankih , while noticing the runes, takes no notice of them...
Anxious to put the encounter with the recalcitrant fey behind her, Shanya's eyes widen and her mouth almost waters at the sight of Baba Yaga's library.
Shanya is so engrossed by the sight of the legendary witch's books that she doesn't pay the runes much thought either.
"Alas, I fear the knowledge of the witch has caught up to us at last." She quips as she steps into the library. "I shall hold it off. The rest of you--"
She looks around and sees that nobody else seems to have taken notice of her. "--go split up and--find your... own books to read. Fine by me." She huffs. I hate it when the wind is taken out of my sails like that.
Shanya fishes around in the library for research related to the items they need to acquire to enable the Hut's powers of dimensional travel...
...well, that's what she starts doing.
Then she sees a book about the history of the Winter Witches. And an anthology of collected Ustalavic folklore. A detailed history of Galt pre-Red Revolution. A collection of common legends surrounding the ascension of Norgorber.
She collects them all, plonks herself in a chair next to Greta, and promptly gets sidetracked.
Although Shanya pours through the library with all the powers of her keen mind - the haphazard mess of books proves frustrating and unenlightening. Surely the answer to her questions must like somewhere in here though - it seems another day of labors may be needed.
The hour grows late - although in truth it is difficult to tell in this magical place. The wearies of several days of fighting catch up with the half-frozen adventurers, but the bedrolls and dried goods found in the storeroom of the house prove more then adequate to feed and warm them. The dried meat and fruit taste strangely sweet and flavorful - a bit off-putting, but rather tasty and perfectly harmless.
******************************************
In the morning, Ankih is awoken by a large rat sitting on top of his chest. It seems to have a note tied to its neck.
You are still here, and making a mess in my home! Take what you want and leave, thieves! Real servants of Grandmother would know when to mind their manners - Z
The Z is signed with a dramatic flourish.
" Ahh. rat!"Ankih wakes with a start and a shout.
Grabbing the beasty he removes the note then sets it outside the front door of the hut.
It seems in the night, he has had a magical epiphany. He can somewhat blend his spells if he wishes, and has grown slightly in both divine and arcane magics.....
He will look around for the proper rituals and enchantments...
"I wish I had a library like this!"
He states as he happily pulls books and scrolls of the shelf, looking for what he needs.
"That's a good idea, Bjornson," Kalt offers in reply to the hulking Ulfen's suggestion. "If we tell the tricky fellow that we do have what's needed to steer the hut, maybe he'll put the egg on the table and we can get going."
Looking at Shanya and Ankih, he continues, "And maybe you all can look through the library and see if it mentions any fey that pretend to be what they're not, and may serve Baba Yaga, if we can trust what he said. It might help us to know what the thing is." In a quieter tone, he adds, "And what its weaknesses are."
Shanya starts awake in the morning, her head snapping up from the pile of books she found the night before.
"GAH! JUSTICE RUNS IN CRIMSON RIVERS! Oh..." She starts before looking around the library. "...that wasn't real. Just a dream." She looks down at the book she was using as an impromptu pillow.
Of course. The bloody Galt book. She blinks several times before wiping away the streamer of drool she left on the book's pages. Hope that's not going to be permanent...
She gives Kalt a confused look. "What...? Right. Of course." She shakes her head, trying to wake up. She tries to ignore the growling in her belly as she delves into the library once more. This time, she searches for information on the fey Kalt described, since Ankih appears to have made more progress than her regarding the ritual items...
...it appears having a good night's sleep has done wonders for her!
Shanya eventually finds several rather informative book on fey, and eventually settles on a likely candidate: a kikimora, from some strange place called Russia. They are often called “house spirits”, as they will adopt a house as their own, protecting and cleaning it. They have a variety The appear as hunched, old crones with a long bird’s beak, donkey ears, horns, and stringy black hair. The clothing they wear mimics those of a human; specifically, they sometimes wear things like peasant dresses.
Like many house spirits, they favor flatter and bribery to direct conflict; their power run towards illusion: invisibility and images, among others. The books also indicate that kikimora live in magical hidey-holes, the entrance of which are marked by small runes.
*********
In the meanwhile, Ankih makes great progress. He discovers the simple words to say during the ritual, and simultaneously deduces something of the nature of their destination: distant Iobaria. The wild land there is known for both frost giants and its frequent, population decimating plagues.