Another one of those minions of Rapsutin!
Sigurd, next to Vasily, was a man in the middle of adulthood. He originally hailed from Petersburg, but had roots with the Sâmi people, the "Laplanders".
He had travelled far and wide across the globe in search of anomalies and mysterious things such as what was before them now. And, at times, had been successful.
So he was well aware that what they were doing, approaching openly, was quite a dangerous gamble. Alas, if half of what they had learned of Rasputin was true, there was no time to hesitate, to doubt.
He did not share his youthful companions boastful confidence, however, and his hands remained close to the blades on his belt.
"By Bieggolmai's grace, I hope this works out as you hoped.", he comments to his companion, while petioning his goods for their protection.
Sigurd has reddish-brown long hair, and a beard of the same color. He wears a somewhat luxurious fur coat that is cut in a way that gives a wide range of movement, not hindering his agility - no doubt a custom-tailored item. His eyes are a light brown near the pupil, transitioning to green on the outer rim of the iris. The coat does not make it easy to estimate his build, be he seems to be tall and wiry.
A tall, thin figure steps forward, face hidden in the depths of a fur-trimmed hood. Pale, almost translucent hair spills from the hood. Drawing back the hood, the visitors find themselves looking into two enormous eyes of a deep blue without any whites - as though the iris of each eye had expanded to fill the entire eyesocket. She solemnly considers them for a moment before bowing slightly and addressing them in a husky, yet musical voice.
Not an attack. So far, so good.
<Russian>"What does it say?"</Russian>
Jetro keeps a wary eye on the duo.
Unable to help himself, Vasily spits into the snow and snarls out a response in the same tongue*. ”Yes, I know that foul name. If you are in league with that accursed traitor, that false monk, the one responsible for the downfall and murder of the Romanovs, then we will have no more civil words.”
*He doesn’t often speak common, so he has quite a thick Russian accent.
<Russian>"What. Does. It. Say?"</Russian>, Sigurd repeats his question, emphasising each word. He had no idea what Vasily just said, but he saw his companion spit and tense up before snarling something.
He does not, however, allow his gaze to wander from the creature in front of them, in case she - it seemed to be a she - decided to react to the words with hostility.
She smiles a rather nasty smile at the reaction and gestures the men to approach.
Turning apologetically to Sigurd, Vasily replies.
Turning back to the thin woman, he says
She directs his attention to Jethro and to Titian and introduces each of them. "And I am Duardlara. What brings you here so close to one you despise so strongly, ..." she lets the question hang as she doesn't know how to address the newcomer yet.
Next to the woman is a tall, rangy man covered in an ordinary fur lined helmet and furred cloak. He looks at you all suspiciously with sharp eyes that look out from a battered face adorned with a scowling snaggled toothed mouth. He grips a long bow with expert hands and looks like he could easily impale both of you from quite a distance.
Vasily will translate for Sigurd. For himself, he says
If you're looking closely, you might notice that despite the warmth of the room, Vasily's breath still seems to fog when he speaks quickly.
Sigurd cautiously observes the others in the hut, not touching anything inside, listening to Vasily translate.
When it comes time to introduce himself, he keeps things short.
<Russian>"My name is Sigurd Koshchey. I travelled far, hunting things that come from beyond the veil. I kill things from the world of Fey, I kill things from Hell, from dark places and others. They should not be here, and they bring only sorrow to people, prey on them. There were more, recently, and at the center of the storm stands Rasputin. He needs to perish."</Russian>
And you need to return where you came from, he thinks, but does not speak it out loud.
After listening for a while and eyeing the newcomers cautiously Titian says in common, "Ask them about the witch Baba Yaga. Though she hails from our realm she seems to have had a presence here. Maybe they know of her. Their legends may be different than ours."
Sigurd recognizes the name spoken, but little else of the sentence. He looks to Vasily to see how he responds.
Vasily will continue to translate. For himself, he says ”We have legends that speak of Baba Yaga. They are fairly common here in Russia. Largely stories peasants tell to frighten their children into behaving. Most people think they are only legends. I am no longer surprised to learn that “fairy tales” are truer than the commoners believe, though I must confess I do not know how much of what children’s stories say about her are true.” Vasily will then try to recall some of the details from a few of the tales he’s heard.
Sigurd and Vasily, you both know of the name of Baba Yaga through your extensive history and experiences of the magical side of Earth. Yes she is a real person with great magical power that was born on Earth. However, you do not know for sure what is fiction and what is fact. This is due to 2 main reasons. First Baba Yaga left Earth to travel to other realms and lost some of her connection here. Second, Earth has transformed to an extent where magic is now fairy tales and as such things become distorted and exaggerated.
You know she is a very high level witch with a magical Hut. However you did not actually think that it had chicken legs that moved it from place to place. You know she like cold habitats and has an affinity to fey/mystical creatures. On all accounts she is an evil creature that will twist any arrangement to suit her wishes. Rumor has it that she gained her magical powers after eating a child that was magical in nature and she must devour new children every full moon. You are not aware that she has been missing, her granddaughter captured her, or that her granddaughters are royalty in other realms though you have heard that she has offspring. You don't know that Rasputin is her son. All of this though the party can fill you in on.
Who would have thought that just trying to close some magic portal would have ended up with us being tossed all over the place.
Viktor, who speaks Russian by also has the communication spell active on him, chimes in. I know this Rasputin personally and have a score to settle with him. If you can get me to one of the corner towers I can see about bringing his stronghold to Earth. However if that happens he will call all of his forces to him to defend himself. Otherwise I can stay here while you clear out more of the complex. Either way it matters little to me as I will have my revenge upon him!
"Tell us of his forces. If you do this to his stronghold, will he lose some of his minions that cannot follow? We know there are what appear to be humans in the towers that can see through my invisibility. There are some sort of phantom with strange weapons that seem to lose their power when deprived of the weapons. Headless men on horses and great shaggy beasts that walk like men. What else can you warn us of?"
We best keep you hidden by magic or something. Plus protect you from getting shot since those gunners can hit a long way off.
"I believe we might be able to obscure where you are working so they cannot actually target you."
I know there are undead that live in the fog to the north of the ruin chapel. To the east of that is a building with a sentient tree that has been corrupted by this place. Rasputin also has his 3 chaplains that suck the blood from their victims to grow stronger. Beyond that he has 2 automated tanks that I helped him create, numerous troops, a bear woman with he bears. There may be more but I don’t know what is in the small building to the north of a well. That was kept off limits to everyone.
”Blood-sucking ‘chaplains’. Vasily scoffs, ”By Saint Vladimir my forefather, is there no perversion he will not stoop to?”
After some rudimentary translations, Sigurd thanks Vasily solemny:"It would seem beneficial to learn this tongue. I will ask my God for assistance on the manner, but if you'd be willing to teach me, I would be in your debt."
He looks at the others, then Victor:"So, I admit even with the translation I have little understanding of what exactly it is you are trying to accomplish, but what is our plan? Eliminate some of those followers of his so they don't encircle us when we face him? If so, where to we head first?"
Putting Rasputin down that is for certain, he has this magical device that gives him protection Jetro's brow furrows. Plus, I think, keeps him shifted away from the reality we are at. So wrecking his fancy tools will let us go get him.
"Let's get this man into a tower. Is there any special defense that we should know about?
The towers are conduits of electricity. They are the strongest conductors I could make out here with the materials I had access to.
"Aye...so sabotaging that tower will bring Rasputing within our reach. But Viktor said that all of Rasputins minions will also swarm there to defend him. Taking them out of the picture beforehand would seem reasonable, but I have no idea of your capabilities - if you think you can take on both Rasputin and his allies, I will do my best to help you."
"Well met, Sigurd, and that is a most welcome question. I am primarily a wielder of magic. I have some small ability in combat, but I have little business being in the melee. I have been spending much of my magical energy lately transporting my friends into the camp. I am unsure of your capabilities, as well - are either of you able to control the battlefield through magic or skill? That is something I can do at the expense of other options, so if you have something to offer in this vein, let us discuss the relative costs."
"I suppose we should get this out of the way..." Vasily says, before removing his hat. As the hat of disguise ceases function, his true form is revealed
My family are sorcerers, descended from an ancient silver dragon that took up residence here several millenia ago. Given that you speak this tongue he taught me, perhaps your world was once his home. Our line has watched over hidden places in this world ever since. In addition to the sorcerous powers that run in my veins, I'm not bad in a fight." he says, smiling a smile as toothy as it is mirthless, and cracking the knuckles of his clawed hands. Then he puts the hat back on and resumes his human appearance. "These changes only really began after puberty, the hat allows me to resume a form approximating what I would've looked liked, if not for my...origin."
I'm primarily an archer, but if I need to, I can get into melle and crack skulls.
Sigurd listens, and carefully watches the others reaction to Vasily's reveal. He knew of his companions nature - they had almost come to blows when they first met - but the lack of utter shock seemed to suggest what he had long suspected: That there was a world beyond this that was the origin of anything unnatural - something that would require additional investigation from any scholar worth his salt: "Well, I offer no such surprises as my travel companion. Just a regular human. I stab things. And the God of Winds among my people, Bieggolmai, answers my prayers, to empower me in cleansing this world from all that does not belong. I do have decent knowledge of Myths and Fables, and attempt to adapt to the foe I face. You are not from Earth, but your purpose with Rasputin is the same as mine, so I am confident Bieggolmai will allow me to extend his grace to you."
”Very good. Our recently departed ally was strong in his faith and that allowed him to provide us succor when we needed his divine aid.”
To Vasily, she adds, ”If your magic is borne from your nature, as I often see in dragonkin, we should coordinate our plans. I can change my focus more easily and need not duplicate your abilities unnecessarily.”
"My magic tends toward the destructive, but I do have some more defensive or generally applicable tricks I can use as well." he says, before launching into a long and detailed description.
Seems we are all set. Let's head out to catch a mad monk.
"A more tactical approach to each tower seems like a prudent idea."
Vasily blinks a couple of times. ”Not the sentiment I was expecting from a troll, if you don’t mind my saying.”