Faerin responds quietly while preparing an arrow.
Marcus cautiously approaches the door thinking, 'The crone is supped to be dead and this place unoccupied, but it doesn't hurt to be polite just in case...'
Assuming he doesn't notice anything untoward, Marcus knocks on the door, clears his throat and calls out, "Hello?"
If there is no response, after a few minutes he will try and open the door but not enter.
She looks at the tree for a short while, then decides to move towards it slowly to get a better look at it, and see if there are any druidic symbols present by hill, strange tree, and the clearing.
Aerflae keeps an arrow knocked, with all but his simplest spells available to him. He's carefully aiming over Marcus' shoulder should there be a threat.
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As Marcus knocks on the door, a raspy and hoar voice harrumphs. "Yes? Mhm, who? What?!" The hill in front of you suddenly shivers and you can now see a large round wooden door in front of you, as well as several windows in the grassy wall overlooking the knell. The door warps and an old male bearded face appears in it. The face is animated and looks completely alive, except it's obviously wooden. "Mnyha! Who wakes me? What do you want?",, the face asks looking at Marcus and narrowing its eyes.
Ihar'ryathlas jumps back quickly at the huge transformation taking place before her. Then moves besides the paladin standing upright, taking a good look at the transformed house.
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Marcus rocks back and blinks with surprise, 'A talking door!'
"Uh well met?", he ventures, "We are travellers fated to stay the winter till Auril's grip fades. We were told this place lay empty. Name's Marcus, I'm sure the others will introduce themselves."
Looks back at the door then proudly speaks, "I am Ihar'ryathlas, of the proud Blue Bear Tribe, guardian of the Tree Ghost Tribe and protector of the nature. We seek shelter from the harsh cold night, will you aid us?"
Anwyn nearly drops her end of the litter she is carrying as the door animates and speaks. The look of surprise is easy to see here While not understanding the words of the conversation, it was fairly easy to determine the gist of it.
She keeps her mouth shut for now but her face betrays her impatience and worry. Such wonders I have seen here in my short time in this place! Would that Mother were here to see this...Still if we do not gain entrance by words then violence must be used here. She thinks to herself.
"Ah, the key." interjects Rave taking out the goblin witch wand from his pocket.
"We may have it, but could you be more precise about its shape? Could it be something like that?"
Ihar'ryathlas taps her chin as she speaks softly, "A key you say.", she turns to the others, "I hope you have a key with you.".
She turns around towards the door and moves closer to inspect the talking door to if there is a key hole, to get an idea of possible key size.
Aerflae smiles and introduces himself. "I have no key I am aware of, perhaps, good door, you could help me understand why somewhere empty would need a key."
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Aerflae smiles and introduces himself. "I have no key I am aware of, perhaps, good door, you could help me understand why somewhere empty would need a key."
"Empty? What is empty? Except your words, that is... And empty words are a pretty good indication of an empty head, I think - even if I am just a head!"
"Well, why don't you try and find out?""Ah, the key." interjects Rave taking out the goblin witch wand from his pocket.
"We may have it, but could you be more precise about its shape? Could it be something like that?"
Raven concentrate on the wand, trying to pass himself as a witch to activate it and approaches the door, trying to open it.
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As Raven approaches the door, the wand twitches in his hand, almost as if leading it towards the door, slightly to the left and bellow the face in the wood. A strange-shaped hole appears and the wand slides in it almost in its entirety. And then, even more strangely, a loud click rings and the mocking wooden face assumes a serious expression. "Welcome, Master", it says and the door opens slightly.
Marcus' eyebrows raise at the sight. "Well isn't that a coincidence... I wonder how the wand fell into the hands of those goblins? Did they knew of its significance? Have they or anyone else been inside since the crone died? I guess we're about to find out," muses Marcus.
Marcus' eyebrows raise at the sight. "Well isn't that a coincidence... I wonder how the wand fell into the hands of those goblins? Did they knew of its significance? Have they or anyone else been inside since the crone died? I guess we're about to find out," muses Marcus.
"Well, my thought was that the goblins had to live somewhere and that the wand was the most personnal item the goblin witch had and it was tuned to him only.", replies Raven, pocketing back the wand.
"I think the goblin witch adapted his wand to make it a key rather than finding it."
Stepping towards the door, he pushes it open and steps inside, wary of any other surprise this cottage may yield.
Aerflae keeps his eyes peeled as well, watching for any dangers. He is more nervous without access to his spells.
Anwyn watches the exchange between the half-elf and the door silently, though her face picks up when he uses the wand to gain entrance. Hmmm...so the goblins were living here? Interesting I think. Best be extra cautious. This place holds many secrets.
Once the door is open and the way cleared, she pulls the litter inside and sets it on the ground. Once secured, she pulls her spiked chain out and scans the interior of the hut for any sign of ambush.
Marcus warily follows Raven inside, hands resting on his sword just in case...
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You enter a large and well-lit room circular room, with a huge fireplace on the wall in front of the door. The floor is covered with light-colored wood and the whole wall next to the door is one huge window, completely invisible from the outside. In the middle of the empty room there's a circular staircase made from giant tusks that extends both below the room and above, seemingly into the large tree that grows on the hill. It seems obvious that below this main room there's a cellar or something like that, but as you look more closely you realize that there is no chimney and that the empty fireplace has no funnel for the smoke. The large room is clean as a whistle. There is no dust anywhere and no cobwebs, and the huge windows are spotless.
Ihar'ryathlas watches closely as the half elf inserts the wand into the appearing hole resulting in the door opening, speaking softly, "Wand for a key. Rather interesting."
Hearing of the goblin witch was one who had captured her, "This is a witch house you were told about. Prepared for other strange magical traps and strange devices inside."
She takes her scimitar into her hand, she places the edge of her scimitar into the opening so to help open the door some more with out touching it.
She looks in awe at the cleanliness of the interior and notices it to be much larger than outside, whispering softly, "The whole house is magical in another realm, with the door connecting it to the world we come from, with magical viewing portals into the world."
She walks slowly to the stairs to look up and down the spiral stairs to see if she can spot anything of importance or danger.
Faerin enters, studying the place in apprehensive wonder, a shudder that has nothing to do with the cold, passing through her body as Ihar'ryathlas says something about being in another dimension.
Raven exits the house for a moment, taking the time to bring inside the wounded samurai and the remains of the golem.
Laying the first one in front of the fire, he asks. "Faerin, as you seem to be the best healer amongst us, can you check on our companion?"
Aerflae assists Raven in bringing the two into the house, silently watching the others.
I don't know who they are, but I am in their debt.
Faerin crouches down next to the arrogant foreigner, treating his wounds, but her exhaustion gets the better of her rendering her attempts ineffective.
Marcus watches Faerin's ministrations frustrated that he can't help. Feeling the need to do something he suggests, "Maybe we'd better explore this place a little, make sure there are no unpleasant surprises when we rest..."
Marcus walks over to the staircase and looks back to say, "Let's see how far this goes up."
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As you explore the hill, you realize that there are two levels beneath the ground floor: a kitchen and a cellar beneath it. The staircase leads upwards as well, straight into a massive tree that grows on the hill. The trunk is separated into floors that are obviously intended to be separate apartments. All the floors are accessible through the staircase, except the last one. There are large wooden doors there, with the same face as on the front door of the hill and it watches you grimly as you ascend.
"Hello guardian, where does this door lead to?", asks Marcus.
Ihar'ryathlas follows the paladin down and up the stairwell until they reach the door with the face on it. After he speaks she speaks softly, "Does it lead outside into the canopy of the tree?". Remembering the wand, "Do we need the key to gain access."
Aerflae, looking to Faerin, realizes his own skills with medicinal herbs are limited to ones used for survival rather than healing. He makes a mental note to learn more about healing salves in the future.
"I will assist in watching over your injured comrade this eve. I need little rest, and I should be able to study some, to be a little more useful in the morn."
Ihar'ryathlas follows the paladin down and up the stairwell until they reach the door with the face on it. After he speaks she speaks softly, "Does it lead outside into the canopy of the tree?". Remembering the wand, "Do we need the key to gain access."
"I don't really know. But it would be surprising to have a second door after the first one that responded to the same key, unless it's another door to go out. Let's check for any surprises first."
Raven takes out the wand again but before trying to use it on the door, looks around for any possible traps, using detect magic.
"I wonder if that's you Raven?", muses Marcus, "Anyway I guess we'd better rest soon. Probably need to go hunting tomorrow, lot of mouths to feed..."
Ihar'ryathlas chuckles, "Oh well. That answers the answer of access to tree canopy. Guess I take next available room below the Masters".
She places her backpack on the bed before heading down to see what is happening and take a look at the injured. "I can't provide any magical healing today considering I was captured and unable to mediate in calm environment. I sure be able to help tomorrow with magical healing, though I can apply some herbal treatment to the wounds to begin the healing process."
She takes out a few different leaves from her pouch and heads off to the kitchen to use a bowl to crush and mix the leaves with some water into a paste. She applies the paste to the wounds.
"I wonder if that's you Raven?", muses Marcus, "Anyway I guess we'd better rest soon. Probably need to go hunting tomorrow, lot of mouths to feed..."
"Good point.", replies Raven, going back down the stairs. "While the master may be me. I'm not about to try that today while we are weary and we have injured. I propose we spend the night downstairs in the main room. Tomorrow, there will be time to heal our injured and try again the master's room."
Anwyn stays back near the entrance making sure no one follows the group inside. Once the main area is secured, she finally sinks to the floor her fatigue finally getting the best of her. As she sees the others starting to split up and explore the tree, she unrolls her blanket on the floor and lays down while covering up her body as best she can. She mutters softly to Faerin, not particularly caring if the others overheard her,
Taking out her bedroll the lays it down alongside Anwyn then goes over to the door to ensure that it is sealed.
Aerflae stays near the entrance as well. His face, strained and haggard from the time he was caged, looks somewhat more at ease, but still worried.
Sylvan:
Not really waiting for an answer, he unrolls his bedroll, and lies down during his reverie. Once that is done, he rests for a few more hours, until it is light enough to read his spellbook and prepare proper spells.
Once treating the injured man, she returns to fetch her belongings as the group had decided to remain in the open area of the house.
Time passes without any interruptions and you manage to heal your wounds and replenish your spells. The face in the wood appears from time to time, following Raven arround along the walls and doors, but does not speak unless spoken to.
As every one is rested and wakes up again, Raven reaches towards the strange elven druid they rescued: "Master Druid, are you able now to heal our companion? I'd like to look at the last room But I would prefer to have every one awake and fit."
Once rested and seeing some stirring, she makes her way to the kitchen to put a kettle on the stove. Hearing Raven speaking behind her, she turns to face him.
"Yes, I shall prepare all healing spells so to heal all the injured for today. Tomorrow, I then be able to prepare adventuring suitable spells for the unexpected."
As she starts to mediate she changes into bestial form as if natural to do so.
Marcus examines his dwindling supply of rations and announces, "I think it's time we went hunting for food and perhaps explored the area a bit. Got to say I'm pretty glad of this place, the trek out here wasn't promising. Still lets not lull ourselves into a false sense of security. Something happened to the crone, I for one would like to know what."
Sudden inspiration strikes and Marcus says, "Perhaps I could ask the house..."
He wanders back up the stairs to where the guardian was last time and calls out, "Guardian are you there? We where told this place used to belong to someone called the crone. We were led to believe she died, but not told the circumstances. I uh guess I was wondering if she needed avenging... The folk in town, well I wouldn't be surprised if they enjoy a spot of murder now and then."
Joining his efforts to Marcus, Raven adds "And while you're at it, open the bedroom door, please."
Aerflae shares what's left of his provisions with his companions during the day when all were healing.
[b]"Marcus, I believe you are correct. Hunting or simple snares should get us a rabbit or two. That would do, if we had time to cook them. Perhaps some winterberries or other fare if we cannot snare anything? Who will go out to hunt? I am willing to assist as much as I am able, but a small bit of fresh food sounds wonderful right now.[/ooc]
Deiros
